Hey, JasonB had asked for my thoughts on the PI Pro, thought I would share with everyone . . .
Hey Jason,
I think it is the best machine in its price range. I've had mine for 2 years or more. There are several things I would tell you:
1. Don't bring it to a park. Use it where you are pretty sure you want to dig everything, such as a farm, beach, lake etc. (Parks without picnic tables are probably doable)
2. Don't try to learn what sounds certain things make, it doesn't work, everything sounds like everything else. (almost)
3. Coins will usually be a solid hit, while rusty metal will sometimes be a little softer, you will understand what I mean when you use it.
4. Quick double beeps are usually bobby pins or fish hooks, however, once I got a really SOLID double beep and it was a penny and a gold ring.
5. The factory settings marked on the dials are OK, you will get about 8 or 9 inches on a penny in beach sand.
6. Turn the unit on with the coil in the air, away from metal.
7. After turning on, crank the gain up to about the "M" in Max. I have found this will get pennies at 12 inches on fresh batteries. It seems to make pinpointing less accurate, so you may need to back off the gain a little to pinpoint.
8. If you hear a spitting noise, that is lightning, and it doesn't have to be close
9. If you hear wavey signals all the time, it is likely a cell phone within 30 feet.
10. If the sound is vibrating on a target, change the batteries.
11. Don't EVER change the batteries on the beach, go back to your car.
12. If you are in waist high water, the bottom segment of the rod fills with water and it does not have a drain, so when you put it in your car, it leaks all over. Make sure and tilt it back and let it drain from the holes in the second stage.
13. Buy a dive belt, they are only about $10 and you can belt mount the case, gives me an extra hour or two without getting so tired.
14. The first target you dig on a day, throw it on the ground and pinpoint it from about 8 or 10 inches in the air. It seems that some days my PI pinpoints right in the middle, others, it pinpoints about two inches to the back. This may have something to do with the ramped up gain setting too.
That's all I can think of. Just remember, I have posts on here talking about days I was digging nail after nail then found something good. Just because you just dug a pop top, doesn't mean the signal right next to it won't be something from a different decade or century. I find that two signals next to each other rarely seem related.
Jack
Jack thanks alot for all this info. I ordered a Whites dual field pi yesterday, I think its the replacement for the surf pi. I tried a pulse detector in the past but it was just beep and dig and I didnt pay much attention to it, the way I pay attention to detectors now I mean.
I was going to post and see if someone could give me some pointers on how to use it. I was recommended to get one because of the
depth they get. Im mainly a beach hunter, both fresh and salt so I am hoping for deep recoveries. We get sanded in here alot in NJ, I was digging pulltabs at 10" today at the beach so you can imagine how much deeper the coins and gold are.
Does the detector get the 25hrs that whites says on a set of batteries and also wondering if youve used any rechargeables in it and if so is it worth it?
I will order one of those divebelts also, great idea there.
HH
Neil
