Mike Hillis
Well-known member
My ground is high in minerals. So my experiences with metal detectors are based upon use in high mineralization. Black sand stuff that even PI units scream on unless the coil is kept 3 or 4 inches above the ground, or unless they have a ground balance feature.
In Disc mode, 19kHz is pretty sparky in my ground. Remember this unit is sensitive enough to pick up the salt in your hand. My FE304 graph is 5 bars, and the little 5x10" DD coil ground balances out several whole numbers above the turn on preset level of 82.9 That frequency just lights up much more of my ground minerals. When ground canceled spot on, or just a tad positive I get a lot of signals just because of my level of mineralization, which many of you will probably never experience, and tiny trash. By the way, this detector likes quality headphones. It does great with the normal cheaper brands but it does really good with the quality ones. But that is nothing new, all detectors like good phones.
Also, you will want a good electronic pinpointer. I had sold my Uniprobes and boy am I missing them! I'm trying to get along with a F-Pointer I got when I bought a new detector and I tell you, that is one handicapping pinpointer. The F19 responds hard on little targets, and if you don't have a good pinpointer, you will be spending extra time on recovery and trashing your plugs. So I am definitely pinpointer shopping.
Ok, where was I....oh yeah...ground balance. In my dirt, In Disc mode, I prefer to leave it at the preset level, which make the ground balance negative. It toned it down a little and let me hear the little targets better. Cleaner. So where your ground balance settings readings are higher than the preset readings, I'd recommend leaving the ground balance negative to start with and then adjust as you get a better feel for the F19 and the affect of your minerals. Its just super sensitive and needs a little extra guidance that you can get out of the ground balance feature.
Regards EMI....For the most part it is stable. There are places where the EMI type and level will make it chatty (just they did with my Goldbug and my G2 and my Uniprobes) but I never had to lower the Gain below 80 to quiet it down. When you air test you will notice that there is not a lot of performance drop between 80 and 100. You are just pushing the audio 'intensity' further out. (Get the good headphones).
HH
Mike
In Disc mode, 19kHz is pretty sparky in my ground. Remember this unit is sensitive enough to pick up the salt in your hand. My FE304 graph is 5 bars, and the little 5x10" DD coil ground balances out several whole numbers above the turn on preset level of 82.9 That frequency just lights up much more of my ground minerals. When ground canceled spot on, or just a tad positive I get a lot of signals just because of my level of mineralization, which many of you will probably never experience, and tiny trash. By the way, this detector likes quality headphones. It does great with the normal cheaper brands but it does really good with the quality ones. But that is nothing new, all detectors like good phones.
Also, you will want a good electronic pinpointer. I had sold my Uniprobes and boy am I missing them! I'm trying to get along with a F-Pointer I got when I bought a new detector and I tell you, that is one handicapping pinpointer. The F19 responds hard on little targets, and if you don't have a good pinpointer, you will be spending extra time on recovery and trashing your plugs. So I am definitely pinpointer shopping.
Ok, where was I....oh yeah...ground balance. In my dirt, In Disc mode, I prefer to leave it at the preset level, which make the ground balance negative. It toned it down a little and let me hear the little targets better. Cleaner. So where your ground balance settings readings are higher than the preset readings, I'd recommend leaving the ground balance negative to start with and then adjust as you get a better feel for the F19 and the affect of your minerals. Its just super sensitive and needs a little extra guidance that you can get out of the ground balance feature.
Regards EMI....For the most part it is stable. There are places where the EMI type and level will make it chatty (just they did with my Goldbug and my G2 and my Uniprobes) but I never had to lower the Gain below 80 to quiet it down. When you air test you will notice that there is not a lot of performance drop between 80 and 100. You are just pushing the audio 'intensity' further out. (Get the good headphones).
HH
Mike