(Part 2) AT pro, not impressed!!

[detectingpro]

Part 2 of an unhappy AT Pro owner. Got my AT Pro last Friday, I've had it out for 4 hunts/ 11 hours and so far, it's not impressing me. I CANNOT tell the difference between bottle caps and good targets. Caps come in with a solid 82 (dime) with no squeek or iron tones. I tried raising the coil and I still can't tell. After tons of tests, I can't say anything good. I'm not sure why 3 dealers pushed me into buying one! I probably got Caught up in the hype. The machine will find coins just fine, but for me, it's no better than a F2. If anyone has any tips that might help me, please feel fee to chime in. -Ryan-

 

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[fella]

AT Pro is the best detector I've ever used at id'ing bottle caps by far!

They give a distinctive "low high low" tone. It happens quick but it should be easily discernible with some practice.
Flattened out caps can be more tricky but they give off a bigger audio "footprint" while pinpointing than coins do.

I really wasn't all impressed w/the ATP when I first got either and it took me about 20hrs to start to really understand and warm up to it.

You only have 11hrs on it and it's a bit more complicated than what you are use to. Keep at it and it will reward you.

 

[John-Edmonton]

All DD coils read a lot of bottle caps as good targets. Having said that, you really need to put on some hours on that AT Pro to understand the tones and use the iron audio to it's advantage. Another option is to switch to a concentric coil, which gives better ID. In case you don't know, myself and many others do in fact dig a lot of bottle caps. It's the nature of the hobby. If you are not digging junk targets some of the time, you are missing out on a whole plethora of good finds. I hope you are not expecting to discover a metal detector out there that will ID every target as proper. Such a detector simply does not exist. Perhaps you should lower your expectations a bit and enjoy the hobby for what it is.......finding surprises under that coil.

 

[Stevo007]

Which mode do you detect in, the pro mode zero has the extra tones which should give you a better indication of what is under the coil. If you go over the bottle cap it should give you a high tone and as soon as you go off it it should give a low tone, (high.....low) have you also tried using iron audio? As i always say between all the bad bottle caps there is something good hiding inbetween. Hang in there jump onto youtube and watch a few garret tips and tricks videos i learned allot from just watching. I have only done an hour and 30mins on my at but about 5hours worth of youtubing atpro vids. There is allot of good info and help out there that you can take in and play around with. Dont give up, the guys that sold this to you was not wrong these machines specs wise are amazing. Most trusted and all round machine that 100's of people buy and use.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[signal_line]

Watch the instructional videos at the Garrett Website. You need to use Iron Audio to check the iffy targets that don't pinpoint well. You must have the iron discrimination probably in the thirties. You absolutely can't miss a bottle cap with th e Iron Audio. Now if you are talking about aluminum screw caps, well they sound louder than a coin.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Watch the instructional videos at the Garrett Website. You need to use Iron Audio to check the iffy targets that don't pinpoint well. You must have the iron discrimination probably in the thirties. You absolutely can't miss a bottle cap with th e Iron Audio. Now if you are talking about aluminum screw caps, well they sound louder than a coin.

Just this year I figured out "WHAT" the iron Audio really does....and it has saved me ALOT of digging up trash

 

[oxbowbarefoot]

AT Pro is the best detector I've ever used at id'ing bottle caps by far!

They give a distinctive "low high low" tone. It happens quick but it should be easily discernible with some practice.
Flattened out caps can be more tricky but they give off a bigger audio "footprint" while pinpointing than coins do.

I really wasn't all impressed w/the ATP when I first got either and it took me about 20hrs to start to really understand and warm up to it.

You only have 11hrs on it and it's a bit more complicated than what you are use to. Keep at it and it will reward you.

I agree with your assessment of the ATP being the best at identifying bottle caps. The ATP provides me with as good or better bottle cap ID than my Deus in most conditions. I am too new with the CTX3030 to discount that as being superior to the ATP in this arena. After hours if practice, I can tell a bottle cap with 90%+ accuracy with the ATP. It took time to learn, but they sound clear as day to me. I still dig them all since I'm wrong 10% of the time.

 

[cooper1841]

Iron audio, iron audio, iron audio, Learn it, and use it...................11 hours is nothing, and certainly not enough time to give up on it.

 

[dustytrails123]

Its interesting to me coming from the ace350 to the at pro i too find bottle caps to like that dime 81 82 range with no hint of iron with the iron audio on and in pro zero mode....i have been hunting with the ace and the at together comparing signals and the ace can pick the bottle caps out over the at pro but then again i have many more hours on it ...as for depth's i havent hit any coins that the ace350 couldnt hit and ive had a few that were getting close to being out of range of pin pointing so im not drinking the cool aid yet

 

[fella]

so im not drinking the cool aid yet

Thought you bought an AT Pro not some Minelab!

 

[Budman231]

I've only had the ATP for a few days and did come from a 350. The biggest difference in the 2 machines is that the 350 is a binary tone machine. The tone is either ON or OFF so its easier for the user. The ATP in Pro mode gives you a "ramped" audio tone which gives you much more information than a 350. This ramping prior to and following the targets center is what has to be learned in order to make the ATP standout. Read page 15-18 of the user guide and then try it. You will see (actually hear) the difference...

Its interesting to me coming from the ace350 to the at pro i too find bottle caps to like that dime 81 82 range with no hint of iron with the iron audio on and in pro zero mode....i have been hunting with the ace and the at together comparing signals and the ace can pick the bottle caps out over the at pro but then again i have many more hours on it ...as for depth's i havent hit any coins that the ace350 couldnt hit and ive had a few that were getting close to being out of range of pin pointing so im not drinking the cool aid yet

 

[signal_line]

You need some iron discrimination to get the Iron Audio to sound off on steel bottle caps. How much I don't know, but if you have it set at zero it is not going to sound off at all, ever. It's not going to sound off on aluminum screw caps because they are not iron. I could see someone calling them bottle caps, but most people call them screw caps or even aluminum bottle caps. "Bottle caps" are like beer bottle caps and usually no higher than 75. The term came about before the aluminum ones were made. Ancient history. The aluminum screw caps come in like 77-81 and they might sound real good but it's like they are too good to be true. They are quite a bit louder, but it takes some getting used to hearing them. Typically aluminum is not a pure clean sound and they drop off at the edges.

 

[Kodiak43351]

I can def tell when I pass my coil over a silver coin verses an aluminum bottle cap. The steel bottle caps are easy in my opinion. They have a low high low tone if you slow down your swinging. Some people may not like the pro just like some May not like another machine. Give it a chance and if you don't like it after 50 to 100 hours trade it off for another machine you may or may not like. I love the pro because I gave myself time to learn it. Good luck.

 

[gleaner1]

Pro mode, zero notch, zero iron, its the best way to tell a rusty crown. Not sure? IA ON. Dont forget to turn it off.

 

[TampaTroy]

I only have about 10 hours on my atpro and I can tell bottle caps with no problem. I can even tell that the flattened wine bottle caps are probably not coins because the profile is too big. (I dig em anyway just in case) But this is my first MD and I don't have any pre-conceptions from other machines swimming around in my brain to confuse matters. I'm also not looking for reasons to hate on the atpro.

 

[limitedthoughts]

Honestly its even better if you just dig up everything. I was checking air tests and gold / silver is very much all over the board. So with that said I am using it as a tool and I am digging anything that's not iron

 

[fella]

I would also suggest buying the 5x8 coil. I know you may think you don't want to sink any more money into something you're not sure if you're going to like, but it DOES make a world of difference on the ATP. The audio feedback is so much more pronounced plus the added benefits of target separation and much better balance make it a must have IMO.
If I hadn't taken the chance on the 5x8 (I bought it still unconvinced of the ATP's abilities), I probably would have traded it off and added it to my list of detectors I didn't care for. It's what turned the ATP from a struggle into my favorite.

 

[barrywk]

just two days ago i was detecting a property with my T2 and was digging bottle caps.I caught myself telling my partner that was with me i should have used the at pro ,then i would know before i dug that they were bottle caps.The at pro will 9 times outta ten be right determing if its a bottle cap or not.......Use your iron audio...dont leave it on but if u suspect a target could be a bottle cap...turn iron audio on...it will tell u if it is

 

[detectingpro]

For all you who tell me to use the iron audio, I never hunt with it off.. in other words, its always on.

 

[Dwight S]

For all you who tell me to use the iron audio, I never hunt with it off.. in other words, its always on.

There is the problem. Turn it off and detect then when you get a questionable signal, turn it on and check.