First Hunt Disaster

[JunkShopFiddler]

Unfreaking believable, what is this thing doing? poppity-crack-a-doing-a-skinky-skunk-a-boppity-zonk...cannot move the coil 2 inches without getting a digital version of the 1957 hit by the Marcels "Blue Moon"...bom bom a bomp a dangitty dang dang a dingitty dong ding (and then the low tone iron audio button grand finale)... bluuuuuuuuuuue moooooooooooon.
Tried the ground balance ,the frequency change, turned down the sensitivity to the equivalent of rhino skin, drove to three different locations where I could easily find three to five dollars an hour before in shallow clad with some silver to boot and got nothing but bottle caps.
Got clean high tones in the 80's in std mode...bottle caps...clean high tones in pro mode with and without iron audio...bottle caps...every time at all disc. settings in all modes...bottle caps. Been going to these locations for years with the old Master Hunter 7 and got a 50 to 1 ratio of coins to bottle caps, today dug 300 clean high tone signals with the AT pro and got 2 jeff nickels, 1 zinc penny, and... (drum roll please)...297 bottle caps, (the bottle caps that I missed all those years with my MH 7)... I cant get that blue moon song out of my brain...

Blue Moon,
you saw me standing alone,
without a quarter in my pocket,
without a dime of my own.

Should I ask anyone for a fix, a solution, a suggestion...this is incredibly bad...I don't see how this CAN fix. They should make criminals listen to this, after a few minutes of this cacophony of horrors they will confess to anything! How can anyone hear a faint coin at 6 to 8 inches during this non-stop do-wop concert in the headphones...My freaking goodness! I cannot think of anything bad enough to discribe the awfulness of this torture device....600 bucks, I think I'm gonna be sick.
Someone wake me up, this is a complete nightmare.

 

[Forrest Mc]

The next thing I would try is your coil and earphone connections. Make sure they are not loose.
Today, I was having iron tones on everything, even a shiny quarter. I popped off the coil cover, cleaned the cover and coil, replaced it and got back to good solid tones.

 

[ralph]

Be shure to ground balance at each location on clean empty ground, I always use pro mode iron disc about 35. In trash i run sens a couple bars off of max, the 5x8 coil is good in trash. The frequency shift can quiet things down sometimes. If too noisy just notch out some of the trash, you might lose some jewlery but in extreme trash it'll helps.

 

[JunkShopFiddler]

Thanks guys for the tips, I am no stranger to ground balance and discrimination adjustments, been treasure hunting since the old manual ground balance days...this is something else all together, even while I am digging and the detector is sitting on the ground not moving and untouched it growels and dinks non stop. In the pinpoint mode the signals can go on for a couple feet in each direction, they never stop. Again, this is a complete nightmare. Even holding the coil six feet in the air produces non stop signals, the only time this thing is quiet is when it's turned off. Contacted Garrett by email but haven't gotten a response yet. Will try the coil and earphone connections first thing tomorrow! Thanks again. Meanwhile I'm going to go throw up my spleen...

 

[Sailorman]

I recommend calling Garrett, in a busy office an email can get lower priority but a phone call is dealt with that moment. I've only needed them once but they were very pleasant and helpful and took great care of me.

 

[mudpuppy]

Ok Ok...that happenend to me one day right after I got mine and I nearly busted a spring...I just went back through the assembly, and especially the coil wire wrap on the first loop from the coil...ever since everything is just fine and dandy...but I hear you...man I bout puked in my pants! So I run in Pro Zero mode with 35 disc, iron audio on, mid level sens...damn thats a lot of bottle caps!
Mud

 

[MikeLab]

Be sure the iron discrimination is high enough--35 is a good place to start. Also very important when learning this machine is to find an area with less trash. It can be overwhelming. Been there, done that. One place had so many targets I counted almost twenty in one sweep! Sounds very much like you might be picking up interference, too. Lower the sensitivity a bit or even try a different area until you learn what is happening. Watch all the instructional videos at the Garrett website.

At first you will probably be picking up a FEW bottle caps, but you need to learn them and how the iron audio works. The Iron Audio feature should get you almost 99% accuracy on bottle caps but you need to learn it by checking all targets you plan to dig with the Iron Audio before digging. I've worked an old city park for four hours and did not dig a single bottle cap or nail. Maybe you should put out some test targets and practice hearing them with (and without) the Iron Audio.

 

[John-Edmonton]

Learn the audio in combination with the VDI numbers. You are probably using a DD coil, and all DD's like bottle caps. In all probability, the CX+ had a concentric coil on it. If you haven't yet seen it, watch this video and baybe you will get some tips. I have personally got one of the concentric coils for the AT Pro, which makes it easier to ID bottle caps. http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby_at_pro_basics6_video.aspx

Good luck!

 

[JunkShopFiddler]

Thanks J-E, I have already got that basic video part6 saved to my hard drive...the coil idea is interesting, I will look into that, went out today in STD custom mode, 40 iron disc, and all the notch cells eliminated except the last 4 on the right...nice and quiet and had a few dollars of clad in about an hour, no bottle caps or trash, I will call that the "sanity mode". No silver or jewelery comes with the sanity mode but good for the soul today, Thanks again

 

[jimmy jam]

WOW, I have only had that problem when hunting under high power lines, or to close to a someone else detecting, i would check the bottom of the coil for hairline cracks.

 

[JunkShopFiddler]

Thanks everyone, I am a new member here and completely lost with AT Pro and have been treated to some good suggestions and friendly comments by all, Thanks again

 

[marcomo]

Junkshop - Properly working, the AT Pro is a very stable detector. And the AT audio connects with me better than any other detector I've used.

It sounds to me like something is wrong with your detector or coil. With discrimination low and the iron audio on the AT Pro is noisy by design, but If you are holding the coil in the air, assuming you are in an area where there is no chance for excessive EMI, the detector shouldn't be going crazy like that.

In addition to what you said you've already tried, also make sure all your connections are good, make sure there is nothing between the coil and cover, and do a hard reset by holding the power button down for 5 seconds.

I'll also second what sailorman said. If you need to contact Garrett call, don't email. Garrett is known for great customer service. They've always done right by me and I'm sure they'll do right by you if you need to send your unit in for service...so you can be done with the doo wop.

Good luck!

 

[JunkShopFiddler]

Thanks marcomo, I just recieved an email response from Garrett, they were puzzeled by my AT's behavior as well, they gave me some suggestions similar to those from this forum's members and said if it doesn't improve in performance I can send it in and they will make it right, meanwhile I will try the hard reboot as soon as I can stop shaking when I get near the detector.

 

[vargg]

i had the same problem with low power lines.

 

[senda]

Please press the power switch for 8 seconds (I think) in a row and will reset the machine to factory settings, to me it has worked with the same problem.
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