A magnitude and direction of at least one of a reset current and a second stabilization current (that produces a reset field and a second stabilization field, respectively) is determined that, when applied to an array of magnetic sense elements, minimizes the total required stabilization field and reset field during the operation of the magnetic sensor and the measurement of the external field. Therefore, the low field sensor operates optimally (with the highest sensitivity and the lowest power consumption) around the fixed external field operating point. The fixed external field is created by other components in the sensor device housing (such as speaker magnets) which have a high but static field with respect to the low (earth's) magnetic field that describes orientation information.