I finally got the OK from my surgeon to metal detect. My restrictions are no lifting articles greater then 5 lbs, no sitting for more than 45 minutes and no exercising with my arms above my shoulders. The AT Pro International weighs 3.30 lbs, which is under what I am allowed to pick up. Man....it's been 3 long weeks since I detected. I really missed it. The cold weather didn't stop me today. I hunted for about 2 hours, then called it a day as it started getting cold out.
Here's what I did to winterize the AT Pro International. The pic pretty well explains what I did. I have been winterizing my metal detectors for about 15 years. I have used Garrett GTA's, GTI'ss, ACE's and my Scorpion in such fashion. The push-button designs are the easiest to use, as there are no knobs to get seized from the cold. The AT Pro International is exceptionally good to winterize, as it is water proof, and there is a space between the front cover and the LCD screen. The dead air space allows for some increased insulation. The setup I used today worked great! The hot pack kept the batteries warm all afternoon.
Here is a tool I have been using for water hunting. All Canadian coins including certain year circulated pennies stick to magnets. When water hunting, especially in areas with gravel, I stick this magnitector in the scoop hole if I didn't get the coin the first time, move it around, and often times I get the coin or metal object I missed scooping. Now if I don't get it, it usually means that it is a silver ring, a gold ring, a silver coin, a cheap penny or junk.
Today I used it to pick up my found coins in the snow. I didn't have to bend over except for some pennies and junk targets.
Here's the finds of today's hunt. I ran the AT Pro International at 2 bars sensitivity, as the snow cover was up to 3-4 inches. The manual ground balance locked in at about 3. I hunted in standard mode, zero discrimination. On each target I got, I switched it to Pro Mode for a comparison. All my pennies, nickels, dime, quarters, loonie & toonies gave a nice strong signal in Standard mode. They also locked on nicely on the digital target ID with a small variation. However, that was with the coil at least 3-4 inches over the coins. If is was less then that, I would get some chatter and the odd iron grunt. The digital target ID would also not lock on and had a large variation.
Now in Pro Mode, the dimes, nickels and quarters, the AT Pro chattered and when I turned on the iron audio, it remained chattery with the iron audio and the digital target ID numbers fluctuated all over the place. The loonies and toonies locked on nicely, with a small variation on the digital target ID.
The bottles caps were easy to identify, using the tone roll audio in the Pro mode. However, the coins would not repeat that 3 tone audio roll that was apparent on the bottle caps. I was constantly switching back and forth between Standard Mode & Pro Mode to compare my signals. The grommets I dug gave a very strong signal bell-tone in standard mode and high audio sound in Pro Mode. This is a good thing, for the AT Pro international will probably be hot on rings like the Scorpion is. Both machines seem to really like holed objects.
My summary on the AT Pro International for Canadian Clad is that it is a good machine. The only other metal detector that I have ever used that picked up our clad with ease was the Garrett Scorpion Stinger, and the ACE 150/250 Series. It's best to hunt the clad in Standard mode, keeping the coil at least 3-4 inches above the ground. All locked on targets with a small variation with the Digital Target ID should be rechecked in the Pro Mode and or dug for further investigation. Remember....it costs you nothing to find out what a target is.
I am looking forward to many more hunts using the AT Pro International. I have just scratched the surface for the learning curve. Hopefully, by the end of next year, I will be able to tell the AT Pro what is under the coil......not the other way around.
Glad to hear that it does OK on your coins. Man that must be a tough gig going after iron core coins. I take my hat of to you. (But not for very long or I'll get sun burned.
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Good clad haul!
I just duct tape a rare earth magnet to the end of my walkin' stick
One of my rock picks that I use while nugget shootin' has a rare earth magnet on the pick end and that darn thing is STRONG! I usually have my old M1911 ACP in a shoulder holdster and sometimes I'll forget and wear that rock pick on my belt on the same side as my pistol. "CLANK" they'll stick together because of that rare earth magnet and I almost need a crowbar to pry it loose!
