How good is the Garret GTI 2500?

[steve2010]

Hello everyone I'm thinking about purchasing a Garret GTI 2500 I heard some good things about them. I am a big coin hunter and also like to find jewlery. I like to find the deep old coins. Is this a good detector for coin/jewlery hunting? And does it find coins deep?

 

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[Sandman]

The 2500 is a fair to excellent detector depending on how deep your targets are located. With it's target size image you have a better chance of not digging up a old beer can because the detector has the right conductivity and would show coin on other machines. It is fairly accurate on it's ID, but of course the depth can be off if you don't have the target in the center of the coil just like other detectors. It is not really all that deep in my opinion, but that depends on your ground.

All detectors can find gold rings if you don't have the disc turned up to cancel out pull tabs. The expensive white gold rings usually show up in the foil range, so if you also want to find them you gotta dig a lot of foil too. Makes no difference which brand you buy, this is a fact or detecting. Best to also plan on getting a good premium set of headphones like Black Widow, or Grey Ghost, Killr Bees.
http://www.detectorpro.com/headphones.htm

 

[John-Edmonton]

I have done extremely well with mine. When relic hunting, I often hunt with the large 12.5 imaging coil. I try to hunt in the true all metal mode if there isn't too much junk. The sniper coil with the true all metal mode id great for detecting amongst a lot of junk and can get good depth too. Most of the targets in the to 5-6 inches can be sized quite accurately using the Imaging feature, althouth thhe detector can go much deeper. The accuracy of this feature is dependent on how well the coil is centered over a target. You can also adjust your discrimination without any loss of depth. I think that there is a sale on a package deal at thhe moment. And they are made in USA with great customer service.

 

[Texasgopher]

I love my GTI 2500. It is great on depth for me but depth is relative to where you are. I have dug lots of silver from 6 inches deep. That is about as deep as coins are here though. A handful of times I have dug deeper stuff.

1920 wheat at 7 in.
1936 silver quarter at 8 in.

Just a couple of specific examples off the top of my head. I have also dug a lot of coins much older then the examples above at shallower depths. It is very sensitive to small objects. I have dug some old rusty ball barrings that I couldn't believe it picked up (with the stock coil.) Over all I love this machine. It has found me many many good finds. I am not one of these "100% loyal to one brand" kind of guys either. I would like to, in the future, try some other brands. Having said that I also believe that someone who really knows their detector will not miss the good stuff. So even if I do experiment with other brands I think I will always find my best stuff with my 2500 because I know it the best and know what it is saying when it speaks to me.

I was going to end there but I thought I might try to think of some things I don't like so much so you get both sides of the story. A lot of people say they think it doesn't get the best depth. As I have already said it gets great depth for me so I don't agree with that assessment. And I'm digging in hard dry west Texas dirt.

It does get false signals with rusty iron, old pulltabs, and foil showing up as silver sometimes. But I dig anything that sounds even close to good ever since I dug a merc dime out from under an inch of foil. It was an iffy signal but now I dig most iffy signals. You can counter this most of the time by making a 360 turn around the target and if it isn't consistant in all directions it's probably junk 90% of the time. It is also pretty heavy and only seems to get more so the longer you hunt and the more tired you get. But you can also counter this somewhat by taking you time and going slower so your Not swinging like crazy. That is another perk of the 2500s circuitry is that you can swing as slow as you want and it doesn't affect the detection. Anyway, there is my 2 cents. hope it helps.

TG

 

[outdoors]

It's a great machine have no problems with any of the different modes that you go in to
beach hunting I have hit dimes quarters ear rings at 8-10 inches with no problems
at lakes in the grass coins and one ring hit at 7 inches loud and clear... deep seeking mode
is unbelievably deep you can't go wrong
pinpointing is great (dead center) on mine

 

[Rick59]

2500 by Garrett

The 2500 is a fair to excellent detector depending on how deep your targets are located. With it's target size image you have a better chance of not digging up a old beer can because the detector has the right conductivity and would show coin on other machines. It is fairly accurate on it's ID, but of course the depth can be off if you don't have the target in the center of the coil just like other detectors. It is not really all that deep in my opinion, but that depends on your ground.

All detectors can find gold rings if you don't have the disc turned up to cancel out pull tabs. The expensive white gold rings usually show up in the foil range, so if you also want to find them you gotta dig a lot of foil too. Makes no difference which brand you buy, this is a fact or detecting. Best to also plan on getting a good premium set of headphones like Black Widow, or Grey Ghost, Killr Bees.
DetectorPro Professional Metal Detector Headphones

This detector goes deeper than any other VLF machine I have ever tested and that includes the Whites DFX in almetal mode and Fisher detectors also and Minetrash, that is in the ground testing not air tests that are meaningless, if you use the GTI in coin mode it nulls out about every kind of metal and misses alot of targets, Garrett was to conservative when they designed this mode, that is one of the big reasons hunters dismiss this detector it is all in the settings you choose for the 2500 I have never found another unit that comes close to the versatality of this unit, if you want to dismiss this extremely powerfull detector then you have not given it enough of a chance to learn the 2500s features. I also have 26 years experience as an Industrial Electronics Technician working on very expensive industrial metal detectors, and optical inspection equipment down to component level.also the headphones any good quality head phones with independant volume control can do an excellent job without spending $150 I have tested several brands with my SPL meter and Oscope with a spectrum analyzer and the well made less expensive units did a superb job.

 

[Rick59]

You are correct sir I have tested mine in the ground against 8 other top of the line detectors and my GTI went deeper on targets than any other VLF machine that I have tested. In almetal mode. This is an extremely powerful green machine, I have been an Industrial Electronics Tech specialising in industrial food processing metal detectors and optical inspection equipment for the past 26 years.You really cannot go wrong with the 2500 alot of hunters make the mistake of not learning what a truly powerful machine this unit is and then posting bad reviews because they are unable to undrstand the 2500.

 

[Rick59]

All of my other VLF metal detectors 8 in all react to rusty nails,old pulltabs and foil almost universally the same way as good targets. disc circuits are not always right..the 2500 even though it is a little heavy is still my favorite detector.

 

[phs3194]

I loved my 2500 and would still be using it if my back would let me. I have bought a Fisher F75SE that weighs a lot less. The 2500 is a very reliable machine that found a lot of targets for me.

 

[marke17026]

I thought that the GTI 2500 imaging doesn't work with the smaller coils?

 

[marke17026]

Has anyone used the Sun Ray GI-1 inline probe for the GTI 2500?

 

[hoosierguy]

I am very happy with my 2500! You will learn that opinions on detectors are a lot like religion and politics, but there are some members on here with a lot of expertise that really know what they're talking about. Listen to them, and learn. Like another poster said, I'm not totally brand loyal, but for the price range, I think the 2500 is top-notch.

 

[sgriffith59]

I had a 2500 couldn't find anything with it. Sold it on ebay bought a Whites MXT and I love it! Find all kinds of things with it!

 

[brazilian]

Hello all.

Sometime ago I knew about one treasure that my father buried in a family's farm.
Some jewerly... but the farm has too much trash buried... Im looking for a metal detector who gives the size and deep of the finded object. Because I know that it isnt a small treasure buried... and its not deeper... its anything around 1 meter or less... so, what do you think about this Garrett GTI2500 with that 2 box coil treasure hound?
I like this price range...
Or I spend more money in a CTX3030 minelab?
Sugestions are welcome, please!!!!

 

[Digger2]

I've had my GTI 2500 for about 10 years. I use only imaging coils with mine, and I find it to be very accurate on quarters, and dimes.
I find it very easy to get exactly over the find, much easier than my explorer.
As far as depth goes I have never really did a lot of experimenting, but I am satisfied with it.
I dug up an old locket, a little over 12 inches deep, it was heavy and I thought it was a solid gold locket, it turned out to be gold plated over lead. I'll bet the buyer thought it was gold also.

Roy

 

[DangerDude]

Is the GTI2500 comparable to the At pro? I'm looking at buying a pro and the GTI looks to be a great machine too. I know the GTI has alot more features than the AT, is it more of a preference thing or is the functions similar .

 

[dirtscraper22]

Hello Danger Dude!

I have the 2500, and love it!

The imaging is what seperates it from other detectors!

The at pro will detect deeper, but you give up imaging!!!!

Hope this helps!

Regards! Dirtscraper!!

 

[nfunk]

Years ago I upgraded from the ACE 250 to the GTI 2500 and love it. I find it to be very accurate in the soils I hunt (southern Louisiana) and the imaging drastically reduced digging up junk. I found you can fairly quickly learn the few little quarks about the machine as previous posters have mentioned. I have found BB's at 6 inches in discrimination mode and the all metal mode is fantastic where there isn't much trash in the ground.

The only negative is that it is a little heavier than other detectors, but even this 62 year old with a rotator cuff problem can still swing this detector for hours.

 

[gselestow]

I dig a lot less trash with my GTI2500 over my ATPro. Imaging is a great help but the different sounds of the pro is great. For me my GTI2500 is my Cadillac and my ATPro is my jacked up Jeep Wrangler.

 

[I DIG]

I've had my GTI 2500 for a couple of years know. I'm still learning it. I'm trying to get used to the all metal mode. I take the battery pack off and put it on my belt. And for the long hunts I got a shoulder strap.