Hi All ! 
I want to be sure that my Tesoro Bandido II ?Max metal detector is setup correctly as one factor in favor of achieving my main goal of recovering Gold and/or Silver Jewelry. I'll also dig coins if and when encountered of course.
Whenever I go metal detecting, inland hunting at public parks has always been my preference. Water hunting doesn't appeal to me now at age 79 with health issues. 
Below are Setup Steps I have arranged for my Bandido II ?Max, and following those are a few COMMENTS of things I want to remember on hunts, and as time goes by I might add more, but for now those are all I have. After receiving replies to this thread, and making any changes necessary to the setup steps and/or COMMENTS, my plan is to make some Pocket Cards with final setup steps and Comments, to take with me afield for reference.
In conclusion, I would appreciate your review, and critique if any, and if these setup steps and COMMENTS appear to be correct, your reply one way or another will be appreciated.
Setup Steps in Sequence for Hunting in ALL METAL mode:
(Steps 1,2 and 3 can be set in any random order.)
1..TUNE: toggle set to NORMAL.
2..MODE: toggle set to ALL METAL.
3..DISC LEVEL: set to MIN (Ohio mineralization is not high, so wouldn't require 'POWER BALANCING'.).
4..SENSITIVITY: When hunting in AM mode, Sens. is designed to function at full Sensitivity in-circuitry, so I'll power
ON and leave the dial near setting #1. (See COMMENT #5 below.)
5..THRESHOLD: Adjust dial for slight audible Hum.
6..GROUND BALANCE: Adjust dial ccw or cw while bobbing the coil until I have adjusted to "spot on" (If ground mineralization allows.), meaning no increase or decrease in the original Threshold Hum level as the coil is being raised & lowered over the ground.
COMMENTS:
1..When turning the Bandido II ?Max 'OFF', it will turn back 'ON' with the settings for Threshold, Discrimination and
Ground balance right where you left them.....unless those dials get bumped or intentionally moved.
2..Pinpointing a target requires no re-adjustment of settings when using the setup steps above, other than to flip the
RETUNE toggle left (and allowing it to spring back.) to re-establish the Threshold Hum after encountering a target and
X-ing it E-W and N-S. Also, RETUNE can be repeated to further narrow the target signal if desired.
3..When Ground Balancing, if you get an increase (positive) in the Threshold Hum as the coil is lowered toward the ground, or a decreased (negative) response as the coil approaches the ground, it should only take a few seconds to make a subtle adjustment of the control to establish a 'proper' or 'functional' GB and then get busy detecting. Seldom will the GB control have to be turned more than 1/4 to 1/2 turn from where it was last used. Just a very slight change is normally needed.
4..Remember that Jewelry spans a broad range of conductivity.
5..If you happen to be hunting in Silent Search DISC. mode with adjustable SENSITIVITY, increasing Sensitivity Lowers the Threshold, exposing more Target and Ground Mineralization signals, whereas reducing Sens. Raises the Threshold, masking these signals partially or entirely. In these instances the amount of lowering or raising the Threshold and exposing or masking targets and mineralization naturally depends on the Sens. level you set.
Thanks for reviewing and critiquing this for me.... sorry for the length.
HH.....ToddB64

I want to be sure that my Tesoro Bandido II ?Max metal detector is setup correctly as one factor in favor of achieving my main goal of recovering Gold and/or Silver Jewelry. I'll also dig coins if and when encountered of course.


Below are Setup Steps I have arranged for my Bandido II ?Max, and following those are a few COMMENTS of things I want to remember on hunts, and as time goes by I might add more, but for now those are all I have. After receiving replies to this thread, and making any changes necessary to the setup steps and/or COMMENTS, my plan is to make some Pocket Cards with final setup steps and Comments, to take with me afield for reference.
In conclusion, I would appreciate your review, and critique if any, and if these setup steps and COMMENTS appear to be correct, your reply one way or another will be appreciated.
Setup Steps in Sequence for Hunting in ALL METAL mode:
(Steps 1,2 and 3 can be set in any random order.)
1..TUNE: toggle set to NORMAL.
2..MODE: toggle set to ALL METAL.
3..DISC LEVEL: set to MIN (Ohio mineralization is not high, so wouldn't require 'POWER BALANCING'.).
4..SENSITIVITY: When hunting in AM mode, Sens. is designed to function at full Sensitivity in-circuitry, so I'll power
ON and leave the dial near setting #1. (See COMMENT #5 below.)
5..THRESHOLD: Adjust dial for slight audible Hum.
6..GROUND BALANCE: Adjust dial ccw or cw while bobbing the coil until I have adjusted to "spot on" (If ground mineralization allows.), meaning no increase or decrease in the original Threshold Hum level as the coil is being raised & lowered over the ground.
COMMENTS:
1..When turning the Bandido II ?Max 'OFF', it will turn back 'ON' with the settings for Threshold, Discrimination and
Ground balance right where you left them.....unless those dials get bumped or intentionally moved.
2..Pinpointing a target requires no re-adjustment of settings when using the setup steps above, other than to flip the
RETUNE toggle left (and allowing it to spring back.) to re-establish the Threshold Hum after encountering a target and
X-ing it E-W and N-S. Also, RETUNE can be repeated to further narrow the target signal if desired.
3..When Ground Balancing, if you get an increase (positive) in the Threshold Hum as the coil is lowered toward the ground, or a decreased (negative) response as the coil approaches the ground, it should only take a few seconds to make a subtle adjustment of the control to establish a 'proper' or 'functional' GB and then get busy detecting. Seldom will the GB control have to be turned more than 1/4 to 1/2 turn from where it was last used. Just a very slight change is normally needed.
4..Remember that Jewelry spans a broad range of conductivity.
5..If you happen to be hunting in Silent Search DISC. mode with adjustable SENSITIVITY, increasing Sensitivity Lowers the Threshold, exposing more Target and Ground Mineralization signals, whereas reducing Sens. Raises the Threshold, masking these signals partially or entirely. In these instances the amount of lowering or raising the Threshold and exposing or masking targets and mineralization naturally depends on the Sens. level you set.
Thanks for reviewing and critiquing this for me.... sorry for the length.

HH.....ToddB64
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