Do you Loctrac or Autotrac for moderate to mineralized soils?

[TC-NM]

Just trying to get your opinion(s) on you using Loctrac or Autotrac when ground balancing in your area in which you detect. What is best? Here in NM we have moderate to high mineralization, but no consistencies. Some of the guys that are using the V3 and V3i are split on what they use. I read somewhere that it is best to manually re-ground balance after every dig or another words, when you set the detector on the ground and then pick it up to start detecting again. . . re-ground balance? True or false. This seems like alot of time spent, right? . . . or not.

Trying to get your thoughts,

Thanks,

TC-NM

 

[Rob (IL)]

Well we all have our opinion on how mineralized our ground is. There were people who reported losing the G/B after digging a target in high mineralized ground. That was the reason for the re-balancing you mentioned. All you have to do is pull the trigger and lower the coil and if the sound doesn't change there is no need to ground balance again. This test only takes a second. If the test shows your G/B is not drifting you don't have a problem and there is no need to re-balance. If it ain't broke don't fix it or look for a problem you don't have.

If you are losing G/B after digging you could switch to LockTrac. But I would first test it to see if there is a problem of losing the G/B.

One thing to try is not to have your coil too tight. When you lay the detector on the ground if the coil lays flat on the ground it will still see the ground and not just the air. Another solution is to hit menu when putting the detector down this locks the autotrac while digging. ROB

 

[Rob (IL)]

Here it is straight from the manual.

"The Autotrac system expects to see some amount of ground
signal; when you lay the detector on the ground such that the
loop is tilted upwards, there is not enough ground signal available
and the tracking gets

 

[Mike Hillis]

Lock it.

HH
Mike

 

[Rob in (Ca)]

lately I have been using loctrac after Ground Balancing and have noticed that my VDI Numbers are not bouncing all around & are more stable / solid Readings.

It's working good for me, it only take 3 minutes to try it.

Good luck & HH

 

[Rob (IL)]

You said the guys using the V3 and V3i are split on what to use. The tracking is not the same on the v3 and v3i. If the tracking can't handle your ground use Locktrac. Just remember if your ground has no consistency you will need to re - balance in Locktrac as the ground changes. I explained why you might have to ground balance after digging and how to test to see if you need to. This problem doesn't mean the Tracking can't handle the ground. These are 2 different problems. ROB

 

[Larry (IL)]

My ground is pretty consistent and I lock the tracking and maybe every half hour I might do a manual GB out of habit whether it needs it or not. It might be my imagination but the V3i seems to run a little more stable too.

 

[TC-NM]

Thanks to all that responded. . . I better start locking.

TC-NM

 

[TC-NM]

Well I went to our monthly club hunt yesterday morning. I changed my settings from Autotrac to -----> Locktrack (going by your experiences/opinions) and was really surprised that the Vision was more stable than in autotrac. This made hunting more enjoyable. I did as you suggested in ground balancing every half hour or so, but it seemed that the ground was consistent throughout and the need to re-ground balance (I think) wasn't necessary. Well you learn something every day!

Thanks for all the responses,

TC-NM

 

[Neil in West Jersey]

You said the guys using the V3 and V3i are split on what to use. The tracking is not the same on the v3 and v3i. If the tracking can't handle your ground use Locktrac. Just remember if your ground has no consistency you will need to re - balance in Locktrac as the ground changes. I explained why you might have to ground balance after digging and how to test to see if you need to. This problem doesn't mean the Tracking can't handle the ground. These are 2 different problems. ROB

Rob hit the nail on the head. I used AutoTrac before getting my upgrade to the V3i. One of the first things I noticed was the "drift" in GB with the "i" upgrade. It seems like the drift increases with sensitivity. I do not have any problems in the mild to moderate soils of South Jersey with the tracking locked. Just remember to GB when going from grass to gravel or other drastic changes. I need to GB when going from a field to a bordering pine forest.