Ausgoldhunter, I can make you a video. I just dug a penny at elbow depth in the sand at a tot lot. I don't own a AT Pro but saying there are detectors out there that can hit 20" inches on a coin. Is it common, no, I don't normally run in all metal mode. But you are correct, you never see a bottle cap in any of the ads. But we all dig em. One of the reasons your At Pro may have been a dud is sound. Being able to adjust the sound to ones own hearing is really important for a deep digging machine. My understanding is you get three tones, no threshold on the AT Pro. Also for the price, you are getting what you pay for. Its a real good beginners machine. I may get one just for hunts I cant use my F75, as it is too sensitive to EMI in some locations. Its would just be easier to buy a dumbed down machine for that fine hair trigger setting on my F75. Unfortunately, how may guys say, I really hate my detector as it does this and cant do that? You are at least honest, and most likely owned a better detector than the AT Pro in the first place. But I will say this, I don't care what detector you own, if you don't put a few sets of battery's in it, you don't know it. I don't think folks hate the At pro, its the wild claims and post that go on every day. When I see a really good find, I always smile and say to myself, "If I only could have searched behind him". I am considering making videos for beginners on what the difference is on a few of the brand name detectors. Why you pay more for a little more. Those digger shows probably run a fisher or minelab to locate the targets before they film a AT Pro finding it lol.
UPDATE: I recently prchased a AT Pro with the 5x8 coil. Yo already know the results.