Questions for GTI 2500 Owners

[madforclad]

I have the opportunity of picking up a used GTI 2500 for a pretty good price. Before pulling the trigger I have a couple of questions for anyone who currently owns, or has owned one:

1) The shaft does not have camlocks. Does the shaft have any wobble issues like the Sea Hunter MK II does?
2) With respect to threshold, do you hear threshold noise in both discrim mode and all metal, or only in the all metal mode?
3) How accurate are the Graphic Target Imaging/Anayzing features?
4) How well does the machine perform on wet salt/sand?
5) Seeing it has a few different features, would it really be a "step up" from an AT Pro performance wise?
6) What kind of depth can one expect on average with the stock coil?

Any other issues that you want to comment on please feel free.

Thanks

 

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[DDancer]

Good questions madforclad,
1) Never had any problems with a wobbly shaft.
2) Threshold works in all modes and can be set up for pitch as well as volume.
3) The GTI is the most useful feature and is reasonably accurate in terms of depth and size. It can be a bit of a bugger when there are multiple targets so you will have to slow down and sort them out as well as dig'm up. Example is a coin spill... multiple targets on the Imaging can show up as a very large target but the detector will tell you that there are multiple signals in the audio. I found the imaging to be very useful when in trashy areas where the trash is shallow and good targets sit below it to help me screen the area. Surface elimination works ok to but can be a bit erratic. Imaging is pretty accurate to determine if your digging on a can as well
4) The results are about the same as with any other detector when it comes down to wet sand and salt. With salt imaging is a bit less desireable as it can show targets larger than expected and responds to heavy salt and minerals poorly. But in this case your audio is best used and I find it quite reasonable.
5) The GTI is an older technology than the AT series and I cant really say what the comparison is because I've never run an AT. The AT appears to have some advantages in that its water proof and has a higher ablility to distinguish between ferrous and non ferrous items and may be better at target separation.
6) Expect that the size of your coil and ground conditions will give you the performance of any other machine. I suggest the 9.5 imaging coil for better performance in trashed areas. Its good to remember that the Imaging feature will only work for imaging coils. Other coils will work as well but will knock out the imaging feature when used.

Overall I feel the GTI is an excellent machine and you wont be disappointed. It is a Heavy machine though so I recommend you pick up a bungee harness should you get it. EMI can be a problem in some areas but you can lower sensitivity to adjust for it~ this is sad but true for most detectors. Battery life is good but if you use rechargeable batteries NIMH get the highest mAh ones you can and keep them charged for best performance.

 

[madforclad]

Thanks so much Dancer. This was the kind of information I was looking for. With respect to the weight issue, I swing an eTrac so hopefully I should be able to handle that and if not I have a harness. # 6 response is very interesting as I was not aware that the imaging feature would not work without an "imaging" type coil, however that does make sense. The seller says the package comes with 4 coils - 9.5" imaging, 12.5" imaging, 6" x 11" DD, and 4" Scorcher. I find the AT Pro to be a tough machine and I have certainly put mine to the test over the years so I'm not expecting anything less with the GTI. The shaft issue was the main concern for me as it really bugged me with the SHII. In fact, so much so that I ended up selling it in the end.

 

[John-Edmonton]

If you can get the GTI for a great price, get it! The imaging really works great when you learn it properly. The true all metal mode gets great depth. It can also be manualy ground balanced.

 

[DDancer]

With all those coils your pretty much set for just about anything. As a side note the there is a feature called Treasure Talk~ I call it b*tching betty Never found much use for it but if you get lonely detecting you can turn it on. Problem is betty never tells you about the good stuff just random facts about the bottle cap your about to dig up