A "Manufacturer Glitch?" Yes, not a specific Detector Glitch, but one within the Customer Service group with the manufacturer.

When there is an obvious detector glitch, or one which might be missed by many but someone finds it, then you want to know what is causing it, why it behaves the way it does, and most importantly can it be fixed. Long ago I would find something that just didn't seem to work right, and by "work right" I mean work in a way that seemed 'logical' or just work like I was used to having a detector perform. Early-on it wasn't such a difficult things because detectors were rather simple and straight forward in what they would do. I am referring to the early I/B or Induction/ Balance detectors which are more popularly known as T/R or Transmit / Receive principle of operation.

BFO's, or Beat-Frequency Oscillator types, were the first most popular but quickly the I/B or T/R models gained more attention due to their quicker-response and the fact you were listening to a loudness-change and not a pitch-change. Those earlier models were called Metal / Mineral Locators and soon the name started being accepted as Metal Detectors. Terminology gets confusing along the way because a Metal / Mineral Locator allowed the operator to tune it to find Non-Ferrous targets (Metal) or Ferrous targets (Mineral). targets. This was before we had manually adjustable Discrimination, and detectors worked quite well in ferrous-target littered sites.

Detectors were easy to figure out, simple to learn, and if there was a problem it was more mechanical, such as a White's I bought brand new in May of '71 that kept shorting out. Problem? A cold solder spot. It was quickly repaired at the factory. I had issues, or glitches, with other detectors early-on that were a simple fix, or when evaluating prototypes for a few manufacturers I would note a problem that was easy to resolve in the engineering department and taken care of before production of the model.

However, it seems that as we have progressed to more adjustment-featured models some design engineers, or by instruction from above, decided to eliminate some of the normal consumer complaints the companies would hear, such as falsing when a search coil is raised or lowered or swept over uneven ground with holes, furrows or depressions. What generally causes that? Not having a proper Ground Balance setting for the mineralized ground being searched, in the search mode being used.

Who should be responsible for having a 'proper' setting? The detector operator.

Who was responsible for poor performance due to NOT having a proper Ground Balance? The detector operator.

Many detector models do NOT have a true, Threshold-based All Metal mode and simply 'suggest' an All Metal search by using a motion-based Discriminate mode with close-to-zero rejection.. A lot of those detectors operate with a silent-search Discriminate mode but some do provide an audible Threshold reference audio, and, in either design, it would be to the user's benefit to use a properly-set, functional Ground Balance.

So, what approaches are used to have a GB setting that will eliminate false responses from an improper GB setting? They are these:

1.. An external Manual Ground Balance control for both an All Metal mode and a Discriminate mode.

2.. A factory Preset GB using an internal trimmer that adjusts a GB that is functional for both the All Metal and Discriminate modes.

3.. An automated (aka Ground Grab or Auto-Tracking) function to either momentarily-adjust or adjust during the coil sweep for both the All Metal and Discriminate search modes.

4.. A model that relies on a circuitry-designed GB 'compensation' the manufacturer feels might handle most conditions, and the device has an internal trimmer that is more of a coarse-tune GB adjustment, but possibly only for either the All Metal OR Discriminate function, not both..

5.. A model that relies on a circuitry-designed GB 'compensation' the manufacturer feels might handle most conditions and the device lacks any internal trimmer to correct the GB setting.

6.. A model that provides a button or toggle selected Automated GB, and might even have a Manual GB feature for the All Metal mode that functions with the threshold All Metal mode and Pinpoint feature ... but it does NOT tie in with the motion-based Discriminate mode. Instead, that GB setting is non-adjustable as the device is factory Preset in the Disc. mode.

7.. A model that has an Automated or manual GB adjustment that does carry over from the All Metal mode, at least within a determined range, to affect the motion-based Discriminate mode.

8.. A model that doesn't have a true All Metal mode, and doesn't have an external control or have any function to address Ground Balance.


Of the above, my personal preference is to have a detector that fits the 1 or 2 category for handling Ground Balance in both the conventional All Metal as well as motion Discriminate modes. Don't get me wrong, I am liking the Vanquish 540 more each time I get out hunting, but yesterday's journey afield brought a couple more questions up for me to get answers. Today I'm going to give Minelab a call here in the USA and see if I can get straightforward answers that honestly address the questions I have about what I feel is a design glitch as well as some related to Ground Balance and something else.

Customer / Consumer Service is an important part of every business so this is when I find out if Minelab takes care of this customer's needs and questions, or if I get blah answers or am shuffled around to different people who also can't help. If that's the case, then the 'Manufacturer has a Glitch.

It's 8:15 AM and I've been up and working with most of my detectors on some comparisons and adjustments since 1:45 this morning. I've learned a few things, especially with regard to the F44, ORX and 540 units. Now I'm headed out the door to try and beat the wind and storm that's coming our way.

Monte

By the way, do you know which of the above 8 categories of Ground Balance design your detectors fit in? You might be surprised.

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