Calling all Pros!!!

[The_Griffyn]

Calling all Pro's!!!

Alright, I've had my detector (Garrett GTI 2500) since Sunday night and I have a few questions so far. Any help is greatly appreciated.

1. What should I make of a good signal that sounds off a couple times as I pass over it only to disappear after I make a few more passes over it to pinpoint it?

2. How do I know if I have my sensitivity to high or low?

3. This is for GTI users specifically- How come sometimes I'll get something that shows as let's say a coin sized object at 2 inches and then when I dig a little and recheck it will change to a different sized object at a different sized depth? Sometimes I'll dig a little and check again and get a whole different result. Any thoughts?


So far I'm extremely happy with this machine. It's is built well from what I can tell, isn't hard to swing back and forth, and seems to be very good at it's job. It is a bit heavy after an hour or more but I don't mind. I just switch arms every so often. I could see where someone with any issues in regards to their arms, shoulders, elbows, or whatnot might not be so tolerant.

Hope everyone is finding lots of stuff. You guys have been great helping this n00b learn. Great community here.

HH,

The Griffyn

 

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[vayank54]

Re: Calling all Pro's!!!

I don't know a thing about the Garretts but my Tesoro will sometimes give a good signal over a big piece of iron the first time or 2 you go over it but then null out. If you are hunting with you detector in discriminate that might be what it is. If the ground is highly minerlized it can mess with detectors and cause the readings to be different. I know a guy who dug a brass cape pin with his DFX. the ground was terrible and his machine said it was big iron. If the ground is bad enough it can sometime cause a machine to give different readings almost everytime you go over an object. I don't know if this will help or not but saw no one had commented. Hopefully it will be of some help toyou.

 

[kenley]

Re: Calling all Pro's!!!

I have had my 2500 about 14 months. Sounds like your picking up a bunch of different targets.
Drop disc to 7 or lower and slow down. I find if i get a repeat at least twice...it's good stuff.
What size coil get a "sniper for trashy areas. The depth will surprise you.
Picture is loot from first battery change...(+-) 12 hrs.

 

[Sandman]

Re: Calling all Pro's!!!

1. You must have the target in the center of the coil and coil moving to pinpoint it. Slowing down tunes it out.
2. Normally you turn up sens. till you get a chatter and then back it off some. To low and targets don't respond well.
3. This is something that happens with the target imagining assuming you are seeing the same target and not a different one.

As for the weight issue, make a harness to take some of the weight off the arm. A loop of cord around the neck and fastened to the 2500 should help a lot. It is what I do for my GTI 1500 and DFX too since these can't be hipmounted like the Sov GT.

 

[Iron Patch]

Re: Calling all Pro's!!!

1) Your detector is discriminating/rejecting a target. A lot of the time this will be iron, but sometimes not, which is why it's good to learn to hunt with the lowest disc. possible.

2) Like number 1, but on steroids.... really noisy with broken signals.

3) You would have to be more specific, what the target was, and exactly what happened. Newbies can make any number of mistakes. It's possible you have broken the halo and the detector's disc. is now kicking in and giving a different reading, or another possibility is not being centered when pinpointing. Again, I can tell you what is going on but have to know all the details.

If the weight continues to bother you trade for a 1500. (same guts in disc. mode as the 2500. The extras you have I doubt you would miss)

 

[DGDancer]

Re: Calling all Pro's!!!

The GTI2500 is a great machien. I originally bought mine when it was still the GTI2000 many moons ago and had the
guts upgraded to the 2500 *kept the original stickers and that throws some people for a loop*. Mention this only to
let ya know I've some history with the critter.
I'm guessing your using the 12 coil? If you can find one the 9 inch scorcher coil is better with the depth and
sizing information so ya may want to look at that *if my assumption is correct*. Word of note : If you get a smaller
coil than the 9 inch make sure its a garret compatable for the graphic depth feature or you'll just dumb down the
machien by loosing your graphic depth feature. *I found the feature very useful in seperation of shallow junk from
good depth targeting in messy parks.

As to targets changing size there could be a few factors~ some of which were mentioned, Halo effect/Multiple targets/
sensitivity/discrimination adjustments. I'm going to touch on Multiple targets and halo effect. I've never really found
it benificial to mess with the sensitivity or discrimination except to set my machien up for stable operation *emi or soil*
for sense and the block edit for discrim. The machiens preset programs are pretty tight. *shrug*

Multiple Targets:
With a large coil multiple targets *both good and bad* will often get you inconsistant size/depth readings due to
halo and target presentation when not in a pinpoint mode. This happens to most detectors~ stick a bunch of metal
under the coil and it starts guessing. Great thing I found about garret was that if the bell goes off its seeing something
interesting.
My experience says listen to the bell tone~ sounds good
after two sweeps then check for multiple targets if the size indication is jumping from class C to D *not a class B target*.
How do you check for multiple targets? Pinpoint mode or All Metal mode.
Pinpoint mode:
Press the button once and do a sweep around the edge's of your target area and find the boundries.
Your looking for multiple indications.
Next pick a side to go in from then when you hit the first target hit your pinpoint again, the garret like most
other detectors will "ratchet" its sensing window to narrow down on the target nearest its center.
The more times you hit it the tighter the sense window is.
Release the pinpoint and just lightly shake your coil over the target~ not more than an inch or two
if its a good target it'll often sound off very energetically.
Your size and depth info should update and you can begin to pick apart the mutiple targets.
Dig the shallow stuff and big stuff out of the way~ Yeah your digging junk or *shudder* zincy's and if there is
a good coin you want to keep from damaging it so you'll want to pinpoint the plug as best you can.
Got the junk? Now check the target *provided it didn't come out with the other stuff*.
My experience has led me to a better size and depth indication once you've worked to this point.
Still good, then plug it, recover it, fill your hole in and get on with business.
All Metal Mode:
If you dont want to wear out the button you can switch over to All Metal mode to. I usually set my machien up
in the mode I want to operate in and then switch over to All Metal, then back to discriminate so that I can
quickly toggle between the two using the last mode function. This helps for large patches of debris~ my
experience.

Halo effect:
The older it is, the deeper it is the more likely it is that it'll show great on the graphic.... and the more likely it
is to "disappear" once you disturb it. I pull plugs for this reason. I found dimes are notorious for vanishing
when I try to recover them with a screwdriver~ alot of times they go edge on or the soil conditions suddenly
mask the coin. Pennies do to on occassion. Old Iron will often show good to and disappear so check your
hole/plug for rust if the target vanishes. Most of all be patient. The graphic for such halo'd items often
jumps a bit for size and depth *over 3 inches usually* so listen to your bell tone. All Metal helps alot
to~ especially for size A targets.

A note on dimes : My experience has led me to listen for sharp little belltone breaks to find deep ones.
When pinpointing them be lenient with "racheting" your pinpoint mode to locate them unless they
show as very shallow >3" or the pinpoint mode can, and will, loose them. This happens move the coil
to the side of the target over clean ground and start again. That bit of advise is true for most ratcheting
pinpointers but I found it to be very true for my garret. Also try not to swing over the target more than
3 or 4 times~ if its deep the machien may very well discriminate it out.

Hope this helps a bit. I'm running a DFX now, my garret needs repair, but I found alot of money
with it and some nice and odd stuff as well.

Oh, if you having a problem with the wieght of the machien *I did* try out one of Doc's Swing Thingy's.
One of the best bits of support I've ever used~ especially if you marathon your detecting
like I do.
Cheers.

 

[The_Griffyn]

Re: Calling all Pro's!!!

Thanks for all the tips and info everyone. I went out at lunch today and found 3 dimes and 4 cents. One of the dimes was about 6 inches down and standing on it's edge. I just need to practice practice practice.

Going after work =)

Special note to DGDancer- thanks for the lengthy reply. I'll apply what you have said to my afternoon hunt.

 

[Dedimus]

Re: Calling all Pro's!!!

So many good Pro suggestions.