The GTI was my first detector that I really liked. But you gotta consider where I was coming from, an old Heathkit Groundtrack that I built from a kit, which worked pretty well but didn't get much depth, especially in higher discrimination settings which I used for coin hunting and a Bounty Hunter Quickdraw IV and a Time Ranger which don't even count. They're not even in the ball park with my Ace250. There's just something about the imaging on the 1500 that's addictive. Like was said before, it's awesome, especially when using it for the purpose it was built for and that's coinshooting. You can definitely hunt without it , since I do with my 250 and I have even gotten pretty good at determining size when pinpointing with it. But still miss the imaging. My GTI1500 is still my main detector with the Ace250 with all three coils my backup. Love that little sniper coil on the Ace250 in the really trashy areas. I think you'll like the 1500 even though Sandman seems to have had a bad experience with it. I know it's maybe not the deepest , quickest or the lightest, but it is well balanced and you can sure have fun coin shooting with it and you don't have to rob a bank to buy one!