Running Salt Compensation Affects?

[MartinL]

Let's say that the soil is not saline, and not fertilized, yet the salt compensation mode in the V3i runs it quieter. Will we lose anything in performance by running salt compensation, such as depth? Just because it is quieter, does that mean totally positive and a good thing? Tia. martin

[CyberSage]

This is a very good question Martin. In short, Yes, you will loose depth and sensitivity. The Whites DFX by the way ran in this mode all the time.

The answer to your second question, Just because it is quieter, does that mean totally positive and a good thing? is a common perception among many detectorist. You will find a varying opinion on this subject. On one hand you have a school of thought that the quieter and more rock solid the better. On the other extreme you have those who want to hear everything in the ground, and do quite well. I guess this actually comes down to a preference, and how much noise you can tolerate. I feel that if you crank down your RX, DS, and use BCR, and put on smaller coils in the name of quieting the V3/V3i, then might as well have saved some money and bought a cheaper detector. That being said, there are many different levels of settings that give a full range of sound to choose from. Find one that suits you. I have set the program I use all the time for fellow detectorist and immediately got the response, thats really noisy isn't it? So preference definitely comes into play. I tolerate some noise when I hunt, and feel that I am rewarded with more keepers pulled from trashy areas for this reason.

Jack

[MartinL]

That is all good to know Jack. Question though...can the gain be elevated and the disc setting increased in salt compensation, and possibly cheat some of the performance back into the V3i, while lowering the noise? Maybe I'm trying to make it too hard. If I was only a coin hunter and just hunted the parks and tot lots, I think the salt compensation would be my automatic choice. I hate to think I'm missing 7-11, old coins though. Seriously though, if it was all surface level, to 3 targets...I'd rock out with salt compensation. martin

[CyberSage]

In the event of EMI situations it is my understanding that the Salt Compensate can be effective. In my own experience this has not been the case. This mode certainly has it's uses that it was designed for.

[MartinL]

Whatever gets the credit, be it salt comp or running relic mode(that prog has become interesting lately), I squeezed another dime from my super hard hit front yard. I practice out there during the heat wave, and that plot has tons of hours of detecting since becoming a THunter with the 5900 last May, then the V3i. The dime, in this super dry Texas soil, rang a good signal, and there it was. No biggie, but it beats the pull tabs and beaver tails. More than one coil has been over that dime, I guaran-teee. It hit today. Anyway, the quietness of the salt comp probably gave me an advantage in seperation to aid in finding the dime.

I might figure this V3i out afterall ;-) I'd challenge anyone to hunt my front yard and find anything else in coins! That would be fun.

Later,
Martin

Forgot to mention that the dime was just 2-3 deep, sitting almost directly underneath a power transformer. Could be that the Salt comp let me weed it out this time. ml

[CyberSage]

Sounds like my front yard Martin. lol I have had 5 detectors over it many times, including the MXT, DFX, and the V3. Nothing out there now but my coin Garden I buried about 4 years ago. My neighbor gets his jollies throwing his pocket change out there, thinking he is causing me grief. He always laughs at me. I bought a 12 pack of beer with what he has thrown out so far. :grin:

[midas]

Jack, I run salt compensate all the time. Seems it punches thru the difficult soils in my area. Running without SC, I'd be lucky to pull a 5 inch deep coin. With SC, I get down to 9+ inches for a dime. It also gets the coins next to iron very well.

[CyberSage]

So you are saying that the subtraction algorithms get better penetration through stronger mineralized soils? Do you have a high salinity content in your soil? That certainly is good depth for a dime in bad soil. Good to know Midas. Thanks for the input on this. Martin, listen up, Midas knows his stuff.