At Pro vs Hot Rocks

Jay In NewKen

Sr. Member
Jun 24, 2012
465
130
New Kensington, Pa
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Garrett Ace 250, Pro-Pointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Has anyone dealt with an area that had hot rocks in it? I'm been swinging the coil at a river dock location that is about 50' away from where railroad tracks used to be. This area hosts plenty of summer parties, alcohol, dating back to the 1930's. However, i keep getting fooled when I encounter these rocks. I'd hate to dis them out and risk missing silver. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jay
 

Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
13,398
3,992
In Michigan now.
Detector(s) used
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
Golfers have many clubs to play a round of golf because all the fairways are different. Detectorist too must use different MD's for some locations. The AT Pro is a single freq detector and will only disc out hot rocks with more disc dialed in which makes you miss other targets. Other detectors, mainly Minelabs don't see the hot rocks and still report on gold rings under them.
 

LinkHylian

Sr. Member
Dec 21, 2012
393
107
WA State
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro + ProPointer
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Turn your sensitivity down enough to where it JUST BARELY stops talking to ya. Maybe like 3 or 4 bars total and all should be well. Good luck, Sandman is more right than I am btw, he KNOWS.
 

OP
OP
Jay In NewKen

Jay In NewKen

Sr. Member
Jun 24, 2012
465
130
New Kensington, Pa
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Garrett Ace 250, Pro-Pointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Good info. I will dial down a bit. Sandman, i'll be honest, never knew that was an advantage of the multi's. Thanks again. You learn something every day.
 

gleaner1

Silver Member
Feb 1, 2009
4,495
1,038
Gateway to the 1000 Islands
Detector(s) used
Sometime(s)
Primary Interest:
Other
atpro will not report on hot rocks if iron scrim set up into the higher thirties so dont worry about missing gold or nickels which the thing loves. In zero iron scrim, atpro sounds like low tone babble over hot rocks, they cannot fool the atpro. They sound really crappy low tone and broken up.
 

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George (MN)

Hero Member
May 16, 2005
829
98
What Gleaner said is good!

I use the STD mode, but hunt low to moderate trash areas. STD mode loud to max 10" on dime. IDs may be less reliable in Pro mode? In air tests I got high beep on dime to 10" STD mode, but at 10" Pro mode was mixed high & middle tone, which is what the detector does in real ground detecting when it is a zinc cent. I make sure I have manual ground balance set correctly for best depth & ID. In really trashy areas, finding a spot free of metal to properly ground balance could be a challenge. Might be best to test an area for ground balance by sweeping over small area in motion mode & low or no disc. With iron disc at 40 (complete rejection), coins mode, I never hear iron or dig much trash.

In bad trash, the Pro mode may be preferred & may get a coin under a nail, if iron is partially accepted. Another thought is if 2 or more items are under the coil at same time ID may be wrong & could seem like 1 object. it could be worth considering a smaller coil, 4,5" Sniper coil or 5.5x8" DD coil. If you get ID #99, it is very unlikely a coin would ever ID that high. I've never seen a coin ID below 52. Nickels 52-53, dimes 80-85, copper pennies high 70s & lower 80s, zincs & some older wheats & Indian cents, mid 70s, quarters 85-86, half dollar 89-90 are typical IDs. Hope this helps. Best wishes & HH, George (MN)
 

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bush13st_beav3r

Full Member
Apr 22, 2013
224
50
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Oh man, I know its to each his own preference, but on the riverbed where I hunt, I have hot rocks...and I HAVE to use pro mode, I need to hear the low tones ...you could have had low high mix if your sens was capped and it just barely started to pick up some iron...I also have sens up to 33-37ish(depends where I'm at), with iron audio on...I love it.. ..but, I started w a 250, then got atpro...when I got it...I immediately started off learning in prozero iron audio and i have to say I'm really glad I did, but in still learning and my future hunts in the river could contradict this post... I watched a YouTube video on benefits of iron audio, and (i believe) if you have a coin at 53vdi n a nail at 7, that are on one another, they will average out at 30, so you shouldn't have iron disc higher than needed or in trashy areas you could be loosing some goodies..
Best of luck all and HH
 

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