Advice on At Pro or GTI 2500

[Normsel]

I currently own an ace 250. The places I hunt are heavily laden with pull tabs, bottle caps and beer cans. One is a very old park and another is the site of an old building. Anyway my 250 chatters constantly even when i eliminate every thing below 10 cents. The coins I find are newer than my car so all the old stuff within 2 to 6" has been hunted. These places have been hunted alot but are big areas so there is alot of ground to cover.

Anyway I am planning on getting a new detector and been bouncing between the AT Pro and the 2500. I know make and model depend alot of preference but i am wanting something better to hopefully cut down on digging trash. One day alone i dug 25 cans showing up as 10 or 25 cents, more than 40 bottle cap showing up as 10 cents not to even mention how many pull tabs i found and this was in 4 hours. I did find $1.29 in quarters, dimes and pennies. All of the coins were 1999 or newer.

I have read alot about the the AT and the 2500 and both seem to have great features and of courrse there is a price difference. I am not so much concerned about price as much as quality of the detector meaning it's ability to discrimate. I know everything you did is a crap shoot and no detector can weed out all trash and i understand that but I am 67 yrs old and getting down to dig every 2 minutes takes it's toll on an old guy like me....lol If I am going to dig every cpl of minutes or so I am hoping i can find a detector that at least is right 1/2 the time.

I just hopefully want to make the right choice and not wish I had picked the other one. I have read about the othe makes and models by other companies and it seems as thoughy unless a guy is going to spend over $1400 no one brand has an advantage over the other. I am leaning toward Garrett because I have one and have heard about the great customer service.

I just want an honest opinion from some of you guys with lots of detecting experience.

Thank you

 

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[Sandman]

I have the AT PRO and have used the 2500. I'd go with the 2500 as my Pro is close to sucking. The AT Pro s lighter weight but both lie to you if you believe the screen all the time. I am 70 and can hardly hunt the land any more.

 

[Hosensack]

As Sandman said the AT Pro is lighter so that may be a benefit, it is also similar(in platform) to the 250 so you would need only learn the new features, it does very well in trash as well. The (25) cans you have found is just a matter of changing your approach. If you are getting a lot of cans you need to raise your coil, the target will more than likely disappear if it is not a can. If you still have the signal when raising the coil a good distance off the ground it is probably a can or similar. The larger size of the can is still being picked up where a coin would disappear, also check your depth meter when doing this if your coil is 8" off the ground and the depth indicator is reading 8" it could be a surface coin, if it's reading 4" or so it will most likely be a can.

There are those who love it and those that hate it. A lot who hate it were burned by early issues, also some are more experienced with "higher" tech machines and tone only machines. The platform is so similar to the ACE series that it is almost to simple for many, for an experienced tone ID hunter it leaves a lot to be desired, and for a VDI hunter the same. That however does not take away from it's capabilities which those who love it have learned, despite its simplicity you can learn what the audio is telling you and it can be very advantageous. The VDI is also simple but gives enough information to assist if you prefer to utilize it. As mentioned above it will do well in trash and has a very nice depth range.

 

[dale68]

I've never used a 2500 so can't coment on it. Do own at pro and like it , mine is very good in trash with the 5x8 coil in the pro mode. The iron audio is very good when used to check targets.

 

[signal_line]

Just thought I'd add something here. I use an AT Gold. I have heard a few people say the AT Pro hits on bottle caps. I have never used one so I don't know, but I suspect there are a few naysayers out there trying to raise a stink. It's a dirty trick used on the internet. Of course there must be a few people who haven't got it figured out just yet. You gotta go out and check every target with the Iron Audio then dig and see if you were correct--maybe an hour at that and you should have it down pat. The AT Gold will recognize a bottle cap 99 times out of 100 with the Iron Audio (unless they are very deep) and I can only assume the At Pro will do the same. I'd sure go with the newer technology.

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

I dot disagree with Sandman often as he is one smart feller but here I do.

The Garrett AT Pro with the 5x8 coil 2 coil special on it is THE BEST setup around I have used for general metal detecting. #'s can and will be off but the audio is always king. If your in a cleaner area put the stock 8.5 X 11 DD coil back on for maximum depth and coverage.

I love the AT Pro and have used it in relic hunts with Garrett several times. Check out the clip from the big video where found a cannon ball. There is a another 30 some minute video with all kinda of Civil War relics we found. Great machine! Holler with questions or for best deal around!

 

[Rick60]

I own a GTI 2500 and do have the 8.5 X 11 DD coil on this detector and it does go extremely deep and accurate finds but alot of guys using the 2500 think it is too heavy, it can wear you out sooner than you would like when hunting, the AT PRO and AT GOLD sound like good units but I have read some reports about the PRO and GOLD falsing, I thought my GTI 2500 was doing that but it was not when hunting for coins it hits very small pieces of iron nails and wire at extreme depths something I thought the GTI was not able to do, in the coin mode it hits rusty iron like a good target, so I tested the same target with my other 6 detectors and all of them gave me the same reading including my Whites TDI, common problem with detectors, have you thought about a Whites DFX or V3 Whites has an excellent service department just like Garretts.

 

[Rick60]

alot of metal detectors hit bottle caps that is a common mistake the detector makes esp in the highly mineralized ground I detect in, my not cheap Whites TDI loves bottle caps and cannot tell the difference between it and a gold nugget so does my Minetrash X-Terra 70 and the Minetrash Eureka Gold and my Garrett GTI 2500 and my Fisher Coin$trike esp if they are deep they send back a good signature to the detector closer to the surface they are usually detected as trash, galvanised nails can cause detectors alot of problems and rusty nails really respond well as a good target so most detectors are not perfect and you do have to dig trash and hot rocks when you detect, it would be nice if a detector would eliminate these targets but most don't.

 

[Rick60]

Is the AT PRO really that bad?

 

[Dwight S]

Is the AT PRO really that bad?

No. The early production AT Pros had some issues with falsing and some leaked. Some folks had some bad luck and some had good luck. I had good luck. I have an AT Pro built in Oct. 2010 and it has been great. I sent it in for the upgrades they offered and got the extended2 year warranty. I trusted it more than my White's XLT and I ended up trading it in on White's TDI for hot ground relic hunting. My AT Pro is my daily go to detector. I've got several friends that have them as well and everyone loves them.

 

[kayden]

Is the AT PRO really that bad?

I love my At pro Rick!

 

[NW Digger]

I got a GTI 2500 not long ago, and I do have to say that all in all it seems to be a very good machine. As far as digging trash goes the only thing the GTI has that seems to make anything a bit easier is the sizing feature, it works I want to say 90% of the time. Helps weed out soda cans etc. but you can do that with pretty much any machine by raising the coil and practice. It does get heavy but hip mounting the battery pack helps a lot (it comes ready to hip mount, no tools or mods required)

I don't think I'll ever get rid of it, but I live in the NW and will get an at pro/gold soon, just for the waterproof capabilities, I hunt in the rain a lot but for now a regular old shower cap is keeping it dry lol.