Test Runs With Garrett GTI 2500 Pro

Re: Test Runs With Garrett GPI 2500 Pro

Am I going overboard with my apppraisal of the Garrett detector? I am trying to be objective and haven't stated anything that I haven't actually done and found to be true in my experience. I have no connection with nor do I receive any considerations for praising any particular aspect of my Garrett detector. I have no undieing loyalty to Garrett or any other brand of detector. That being said I will continue to call it as I see it. If you prefer Minelab, Whites, BH, or any other brand of detector that's fine with me and I wish I had one of each. If you would like to convert me just send me one and I will gratefully accept it. Should I be looking for the BBT to deliver my new free "Whitelab Coinbumper" any time soon? ;) JIM
 

Re: Test Runs With Garrett GPI 2500 Pro

Nope....You are not going overboard,I've been reading this thread with a lot of interest since I will be receiving my 2500 on the 8th of this month and I am getting some good pointers thanks 8)
 

Went out after a rain storm th morning. Took the ACE and sectioned off a small plot about 10X20 and went over it to remove the surface clad. Took off about $2.00 mostly dimes and pennies. Then I got out the 2500 and set it up with the 8.5" searchcoil to skip the surface and hunt below 4". This is a feature touted by Garrett. I was at a location where there should be some silver at deeper depths. I either didn't have it set up right or it isn't working as well as I had hoped. It still picked up the shallow surface stuff and did not show any coins at all below 4". One reading it showed consistently was a target the size of an aluminum can at 12"! Now I know for a fact that the area is not paved in aluminum cans at 12 "! So, I don't know what that was about? I should have been receiving readings of 5 B at 4+ inches on the imaging scale but didn't .
How about it lonewolf? Have you used this feature much? Any suggestions? Oh and I see your Garrett found the gold!
At any rate, I am getting the manual back out and reread to be sure I was doing it right. JIM
 

That feature works good in "trashy areas Jim"

what it does is,

it ignores most everything in the top 2 to 4 inches of ground (where most trash/tabs, etc. are) and sees thru it & mask out the junk to see the coins/etc. buried deeper.

it's not 100% accurate and you'll still pick up shallower objects depending on their size, thickness, etc. (but it does work pretty well).

I use the feature in old parks where deeper silver may be present but, there is more trash on top of the ground or within the 1st few inches.

Generally it will ignore the junk targets within the 1st 2 inches in depth pretty well, after that, it gets more iffy, but usually, your trash/tabs, etc. isn't much past 2 inches or so anyway... It's a great feature, almost like "iron mask" on some detectors...

Also, you need to "scrub" the ground with your coil, (keep the coil directly on the ground while swinging/hunting) to get the best/most out of the feature..

HH

Lonewolfe
 

I still can't figure out why it keeps telling me there is something huge at 12" no matter where I might be hunting. It acts as if it is confused so it just defaults to an E at 12 inches? Could it be telling me that it cannot read below 12" deep with the coil that's on it? Sounds reasonable so I'll put the bigger 13" coil on and see if it gives the same reading. Glad I thought of that! ;) JIM
 

Hi Jim,

Often when I find a crushed aluminum can at 4"-6" it will display as a 50c. Have you had that problem with the 2500?

Mike
 

Mike I have not had that problem. I followed the instructions in the manual and have set up my custom program to discriminate aluminum cans specifically. I use the custom program a lot as none of the others completely satisfy me and my method of hunting. Most of the time when I hit an aluminum can it will give out a warbling sound rather than a coin signal. Another thing you might try is to discriminate out the half dollar icon and it shouldn't give you a hard signal on the cans. Grab an old can and bury it and try it. A half dollar should still show up as a quarter however. Hope it works for you as it works pretty good for me. JIM
 

I have had the GTI 1500 for over a year. In the last year I have dug over 2500 coins including over 40 silver coins. Most of the coins that I have dug register to be 6 inches deep. However, it seems that they are much deeper than that. Also, I bought an excelerator coil for the machine and have only used it a few times. I took it to a very productive ,but trashy area in an old fairgorunds near my house. I recovered an 1880 Canadian Half-Dime at 1 inch, an 1893 S Barber quarter at 3 inches, an 1892 Barber Dime at 4 inches, and an 1864 Indianhead at 4 inches. No doubt that I have missed these targets many times with my 9 1/2 inch coil. The only downside is that it is non-imaging so the size of the target does not register. Anyway, the GTI's imaging is very useful. I have only dug a few coins that registered as A or C size targets. They almost always register as B-Size targets. However, I have dig two Canadian Large Cents that registered as C-Size, and a Barber Dime and a few Indianheads that registered as A-size targets. However, I dug 3 Barbers and 7 Indianheads in May, all of which registered as B-Size. It is pretty accurate though. Good luck.
 

Deerhunter24, I would guess that the size of a coin shown on the ID size screen would depend a lot on the position of the coin. If it were on edge it probably would register as an A or B. Does that make sense? Objects with a large or solid mass wouldn't look different at depth if my theory holds water?
I am going out this morning to an area where I picked up an extraordinarily large amount of clad near the surface (2 to 4 inches.) I am going to set the machine to search for targets below 4" only as I know the area has been used regularly since the early sixties. It was in especially heavy use from 1961 to 1970 and there should be some silver down deep. I tried this feature once before with limited success but I have received a few tips from experienced 2500 users since.

For others of you who have been monitoring this thread since I started it, I can truly say I am quite pleased with my 2500 so far. I have found 4 rings with it, three of them in places I had already been over with another brand of detector and missed them....assuming they were there at the time? I believe the reason I am getting the black out signal over 12" so much is because if there is nothing under the coil it automaticaly defaults to that reading. Also I have tried running it in the all metal mode with the 9.5" standard coil. It hits so many targets at various depths that it overwhelms the machine and you get an almost constant tone which in reality overwhelms the operator. I am going to try both the small coil and the larger 13.5" coil to see the difference. I will report on it when I do. That's all for now so until next time...... JIM
 

Went out this morning and set the surface depth to 3" and ran it over an area I had seen some deep targets but didn't dig. It did OK but not spectacular. Every tme I'd nail a deep target I'd pinpoint and find out it was only at 2" or so...but the machine would always say 3" since that was my minimum depth set up on the custom program. I am not too impressed with this feature....if I am doing it right? Finally I turned it off and searched in normal mode and found a quarter at 8". Didn't get all those confusing signals like when I had it set on 3'. In time I will try it again when I have more experience.
I ran into a problem when I would hit the All Metal/fast track button instead of the pinpoint button. They are side by side on the LCD monitor. When it went into the All Metal/Fast Track mode I couldn't get it to shut off unless I turned the detector completely off, That cased me to loose all my custom program settings! I talked to Garrettdealer on the personal mail and spent about two hours with my manual and figured out how to turn it off without loosing everything. Simple...go the the last program button and it will put you right back where you were! It was so easy and so obvious it was hard! Oh, did find a 1965 quarter at 8" this morning! My first successful "deep" dig. JIM
 

I haven't posted here in a while so thought I'd better update. Got a chance to try the "big" coil and the "small" coil. Teh big coil is way too heavy for my taste. It throws the whole detector out of balance and fatigue sets in rather quickly. Even put the power pack on my belt and the detector was very end heavy. Probablly won't use this coil much unless I have a dead set reason to. The small coil worked a well as expected but is not an imaging coil. Basically you are right back to basics with it. It does help differentiate between multiple targets but many times you have no clue which target is the "good" target.

Ran into a major problem while beach hunting last week. Encountered several layers of black sand. The GTI did not like it at all and didn't deal with it well. It caused the detector to set in with a defeaning whine and you couldn't read the signals through it. Didn't have my manual with me but read up later. It said that you need to manually ground balance in all metal mode, set the ground balance or fast track feature to fast and then hunt with your coil held about 3" above the black sand. Didn't have a chance to try it yet. Went back to using my first detector today, a BH LandRanger just so I wouldn't forget how to operate it. Found out right away what a tremendous aid the target imaging feature is on my GTI! I dept waiting for the nice voice to come on and give me a hint at what I was getting ready to dig. Sure missed her and dug more trash than I have in a long time! Continued........JIM
 

Went back to the beach with her this morning and had no problems! I must of had a loose connection or something from climbing ukp and sown that darn cliff? Everythjing worked as it should and I passed over several strips of black sand without a hitch. Puzzling to say the least. Oh, well probably operator error. JIM
 

Went back to the beach and had no problems with black sand. ?I may have had a loose connection or something ?last time out. ?Chalk it up to operator error as I didn't check and later found the tightening ring really loose. ?Hope that fixed the problem for good. ?This post is getting so long I think I'll cut it off here. ?Any new 2500 owners will soon find out all this stuff for themselves. ?I hope you have all the luck and get rich quick! ?JIM
 

Be carefull skipping those large targets......

I have a GTI 2000, I don't know how similar it is to the 2500, but I once found a Silver Morgan dollar that was barely under the ground.
I almost didn't dig it since it regestered as a large target (I assummed an aluminum can) and did the overload type of audio signal ....the brrrr brrrr sound that you were talking about.

Do you happen to have a silver dollar to test how the GTI 2500 behaves with it?
 

Yes, I tried a silver dollar and it rang through loud and clear as a dollar and you know how loud and excited it sounds when you hit silver. I had it laid flat on the ground when I tested it so I guess I should put it down a few inches and on edge for a true test? I get curious about that aluminum can sound every now and then, you know, just sounds a little different for some reason. So far it's always been an aluminum can. Those that are smashed flat sometimes ring in as a dollar and I've dug a bunch of them. JIM
 

Re: First Test Run With Garrett GPI 2500 Pro

Monty said:
Yep, I now have four detectors!? (My wife thinks I have two).? I had five but returned one!? I just hadn't found one that I'm comfortable with yet.? Kinda' like searching for a bride or buying new shoes, they have to fit!? What I wanted in the first place was a top of the line detector for my heavy work and a less expensive model without all the bells and whistles just to have fun with, teach my Grandkids, etc.? My ACE 250 and now my GPI 2500 Pro fits the bill.? I have one of the other ones up for sale and plan to give another to my son for Christmas.? So, you see there is method to my madness after all.? I won't be buying another for some time which was also part of the plan.

Anyway, that being said, I had a chance to do some coin shooting with the 2500 late this afternoon.? I went to the highschool where I had worked the surface pretty hard with the ACE last week and went back over it with the 2500. I was planning on digging some of the deeper signals but ran into more clad right where I had already been!? My plan was to work the shallow coins first so what the heck, not much time.? Anyway, I picked up 5 quarters, 3 dimes and 3 pennies all clad in about an hour.? I had the machine set on the "custom" mode with? everything but coins discriminated out.? I targeted and dug an aluminum soda can,? and using a feature of the 2500, was able to discriminate out soda cans even though it falls within the large coin range.? Instead of the familiar belltone of a coin strike, a soda can thus discriminated still rings in, but with a distinct brrrrring, brrrrring, brrrrring sound.? No more wasted time digging soda cans!? None of my other machines will do that and it is a needed feature at least for me.? It was usually right on deciphering the denomination of a coin.? This was facilitated by using the size of the target scale and the liniar scale combined.? The machine only missed two, a Lincoln cent that it said was a dime and one I will describe later.? None of my other machines will reliably tell the difference between a dime and a cent.? I found two quarters in one hole one on top of the other, barely under the surface and this confused the machine as well as me.? It wouldn't allign the scales, was showing 50 cents, and the size and depth was bouncing all over the place, wouldn't pinpoint and the repeating belltone was blasting away!? Since it wouldn't pinpoint, I dug a 4" plug where I thought the coin was and nothing.? I enlarged the hole and still nothing.? While running my handheld pinpointer around the hole I got a hit right on the rim just outside the hole.? ?Using just the tip of my Gator digger I popped out the two quarters....and there was also a dime right beside them.? No wonder the machine went nuts!? Continued.........
Click to expand...

I bet that Lincoln cent was a pre 1982; therefore, all copper NOT zinc. My ACE250 (and probably all good MDs) will ID copper pennies as dimes. BUT, dimes are always IDed as dimes. Zinc pennies will always be IDed as pennies. Just my experience with my NEW ACE250.
 

Update. My GTI 2500 loves dimes, silver and clad. The loudest and purest signal comes from dimes for some reason. Quarters are always kinda' "iffy" for another reason I suppose? I am finding out every day that the detector is only as good as the operator and I am not a very good operator but sometimes just get lucky! End of this thread? Monty
 

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