New to the Garrett AT Pro a Few ??s

mpro1

Jr. Member
Feb 22, 2008
89
91
Long Island, New York
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
At Pro
Ace
New to the Garrett AT Pro a Few ??'s

Hello, I am new to the AT Pro, I started out with the ACE 250. I like to hunt the saltwater beaches on LI NY. The AT Pro seems very very chirpy in the wet sand and rocks. With the Ace 250 I was able to overcome this by notching out all but the top 4 bars. With this the 250 was able to pick out the silver no problem and function was stable with sens at six....It was my hope that the ATPro would function more stable in the salt so that I would not have to discriminate so much and miss targets. I ran the AT Pro in Pro mode Coins.....sens 6 Ground balance Auto around (35) sometimes (40) near the wet........I found it very difficult to pick out the difference between falsing, and a possible deep good target because of all the noise, chirping, & falsing .....Shallow good targets were easily Identifiable.......Also No issues in the dry sand or parks..

Any Suggestions on Settings etc?


BTW I purchased it from Big Boy Hobbies, and would highly recommend them Great prices, fast shipping!
 

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Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
13,398
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In Michigan now.
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Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
Primary Interest:
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AT Pro is more sensitive and has adjustable GB. It can be GB in the dry sand for hunting in the dry sand. An you need to GB again for hunting the wet. Your 250 was lucky to hunt the wet at all. Even with the AT Pro GB set for the wet sand, your going to have to cut down the sens to stop the chirping. Thats why the Excal's, Sov GT, and CZ21 are so popular for the wet sand along with the PI's which aren't bothered at all.
 

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mpro1

Jr. Member
Feb 22, 2008
89
91
Long Island, New York
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
At Pro
Ace
AT Pro is more sensitive and has adjustable GB. It can be GB in the dry sand for hunting in the dry sand. An you need to GB again for hunting the wet. Your 250 was lucky to hunt the wet at all. Even with the AT Pro GB set for the wet sand, your going to have to cut down the sens to stop the chirping. Thats why the Excal's, Sov GT, and CZ21 are so popular for the wet sand along with the PI's which aren't bothered at all.


Thanks.....I will try a bunch more settings and see.......In lieu of the auto ground balance (which I applied fairly frequently while hunting). Is there any rule of thumb (numbers wise) to set the manual ground balance for the salty/highly mineralized conditions? Manual says GB20??
 

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funkapotamus

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Feb 25, 2012
75
7
Placerville, CA
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Garrett Pro Pointer, Lesche
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I have had my At Pro for a few months, I have only got to the ocean once. I was having the same problems, till I turned the sensitivity down a couple notches. If it started chirping again I just ground balanced it again. I hunt in Pro mode zero, and set my discrim at 35-40. The Garrett website has some good training videos, has one on saltwater hunting that helped me before I went out. I hope you get it all figured out, if you figure out any tips or tricks post them on here. I wanna get down to the ocean again soon so any info helps.
 

Sandman

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Aug 6, 2005
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In Michigan now.
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Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks.....I will try a bunch more settings and see.......In lieu of the auto ground balance (which I applied fairly frequently while hunting). Is there any rule of thumb (numbers wise) to set the manual ground balance for the salty/highly mineralized conditions? Manual says GB20??

I don't trust any detectors AUTO GB and rely on doing it manually. There is no set #'s to set for sens as the salt and black sand concentrations can vary within feet of the last setting. Even different beaches can vary in conditions due to concentrations from wave, currunt and wind conditions. This is why two or more freq detectors operate so much better.
 

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mpro1

Jr. Member
Feb 22, 2008
89
91
Long Island, New York
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
At Pro
Ace
I don't trust any detectors AUTO GB and rely on doing it manually. There is no set #'s to set for sens as the salt and black sand concentrations can vary within feet of the last setting. Even different beaches can vary in conditions due to concentrations from wave, currunt and wind conditions. This is why two or more freq detectors operate so much better.


So after so about 20hrs on the AT Pro....And some ground Depth testing.....This machine has less depth than my Ace 250 with the same size 8.5x11 DD Coil......The 250 picks up a silver quarter at 8" (Very intermittent but detectable) the AT Pro in Pro mode zero gets nothing????? Go figure. Contact Garrett??
 

s.c.shooter

Bronze Member
Jul 28, 2008
1,063
730
SC
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I don't understand the depth problem.I have found a quarter at 10" with mine and it gave off a nice clear signal.
 

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mpro1

Jr. Member
Feb 22, 2008
89
91
Long Island, New York
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
At Pro
Ace
I don't understand the depth problem.I have found a quarter at 10" with mine and it gave off a nice clear signal.


I gave this a try with a 1940 silver quarter.The AT Pro Pro Mode Zero SENS -2bars @ 6" gets it with correct ID and good signal. @ 8" Numbers bouncing 30's 40's 50's....@ 10" around 53 nickle. Go figure???

The Ace250 with 8.5X11DD SENS -2bars ALL Metal @ 6" Hits solid between Penny and Dime @8" Solid Nickle @10" Nothing.

The ATPro in standard mode zero was very jumpy at 6" & 8" and nothing@10"??. The Ace 250 hits @ 6" & 8" were solid & repeatable...........I am starting to wonder if the AT pro is just a water resistant Ace 250 that comes with good marketing????
 

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mpro1

Jr. Member
Feb 22, 2008
89
91
Long Island, New York
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
At Pro
Ace
I gave this a try with a 1940 silver quarter.The AT Pro Pro Mode Zero SENS -2bars @ 6" gets it with correct ID and good signal. @ 8" Numbers bouncing 30's 40's 50's....@ 10" around 53 nickle. Go figure???

The Ace250 with 8.5X11DD SENS -2bars ALL Metal @ 6" Hits solid between Penny and Dime @8" Solid Nickle @10" Nothing.

The ATPro in standard mode zero was very jumpy at 6" & 8" and nothing@10"??. The Ace 250 hits @ 6" & 8" were solid & repeatable...........I am starting to wonder if the AT pro is just a water resistant Ace 250 that comes with good marketing????


..........I've buried a quarter at 5" two days ago (and it rained) only a very faint scratchy iron audio is detectable actually says its trash......I am gonna send it in.
 

MongoLloyd

Jr. Member
Mar 20, 2012
28
10
Mendocino County, CA
Detector(s) used
NEW DETECTOR: Minelab CTX-3030
Garrett AT Pro w/ Black Widow headphones; Garrett Pro-point; Lesche digger; "The Bomb #2" Sheath
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I use mine in wet sand. I don't have the problems you mention. I simply auto-balance it... and then, I go to manual ballance, and decrease it by about 4-5 numbers from the auto-balance setting. I might also drop sensitivity down 1 bar, but no further. I got this GB method from a Garrett instructional video, I believe. It seems to work for me. I don't think there can be any set numbers, because each beach will differ. For that matter, areas on one beach can differ widely. I have read people complaining about not being able to find silver. I find it just fine. As I posted on another thread, I found a small silver necklace piece at about 6", beneath 3 quarters at 2". The VDI was ranging from low 80s to 99... simply because it was picking up both. At 6", it rang loud and clear, and it has far less silver than a silver quarter.
Your unit must have problems.
 

lookindown

Gold Member
Mar 11, 2010
7,089
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Florida
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Detector(s) used
ACE 250,AT PRO, CZ21...RTG pro scoop...Stealth 720
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I gave this a try with a 1940 silver quarter.The AT Pro Pro Mode Zero SENS -2bars @ 6" gets it with correct ID and good signal. @ 8" Numbers bouncing 30's 40's 50's....@ 10" around 53 nickle. Go figure???

The Ace250 with 8.5X11DD SENS -2bars ALL Metal @ 6" Hits solid between Penny and Dime @8" Solid Nickle @10" Nothing.

The ATPro in standard mode zero was very jumpy at 6" & 8" and nothing@10"??. The Ace 250 hits @ 6" & 8" were solid & repeatable...........I am starting to wonder if the AT pro is just a water resistant Ace 250 that comes with good marketing????
My AT PRO reads a silver quarter 86 to 88 at 10 inches. Any depth less than 10 inches it reads 87. The only time my numbers are jumpy is on a bottlecap.
 

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mpro1

Jr. Member
Feb 22, 2008
89
91
Long Island, New York
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
At Pro
Ace
THANKS FOR ALL THE REPLIES. .....I CONTACTED GARRETT AND THERE CUSTOMER SERVICE IS GREAT! THEY ARE GOING TO SEND ME A NEW COIL TO TRY FIRST.IF THAT DOESN'T FIX IT I WILL SEND THE ELECTRONICS IN TO BE CHECKED OUT.
 

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