Bought my AT Pro last week and had my first chance to use it today. I've been doing a lot of research on my town at the library but got my best information from a professer at the local college. He was conducting a tour of the campus and I went along to see if I could learn any of the local history. I came away with a wealth of knowledge about the area in the 1800's including the fact that there was a popular pond that was used for swimming and boating but it was now dried up because the RR came through and drained it. Well, I've been drooling all week thinking about what's left of this pond and the treasures that must be waiting for me on the bottom and next to it where people peeled off their clothes to go skinny dipping.
I've also been reading a lot about the problems people have been having with the AT Pro and was wondering how mine was going to work. Well, it was a learning experience. After reading the owner's manual for a week I decided that I'd search in the STD COINS mode, nothing fancy. I went through the woods and found a big tree that must have been around for a couple hundred years and started searching around its base after ground balancing my detector. Half way around the tree I heard the bell go off; the LCD was saying 81. OMG, I thought, I've found some silver in less than a minute of hunting. I dug down a few inches and swept the detector over the spot again. DING DING but only in one direction. Oh well, I thought, maybe the silver is on edge. I dug some more and scanned again. DING DING in a different spot. After about 5 minutes, I had a hole about a foot wide and 6 inches deep and still DINGING, but not in the same spot. After more digging, the dinging stopped. I said WTF and filled in the hole. I then proceeded to the bottom of the pond and changed the setting to PRO COINS and backed off on the sensitivity a couple of notches. The machine quieted down quite a bit, some chatter but every now and then a solid signal. Long story short, after one hour I came away with 1 Wheatie, 1 shotgum shell, and one .38 cartridge. I did go back to the big tree and tried again in PRO COIN but there was no signal at all.
All in all, I'm happy with the machine so far. I've got a lot to learn and look forward to spending the time doing it. I may go in the water tomorrow just to make sure she don't leak like some I've read about. HH guys and girls!
I've also been reading a lot about the problems people have been having with the AT Pro and was wondering how mine was going to work. Well, it was a learning experience. After reading the owner's manual for a week I decided that I'd search in the STD COINS mode, nothing fancy. I went through the woods and found a big tree that must have been around for a couple hundred years and started searching around its base after ground balancing my detector. Half way around the tree I heard the bell go off; the LCD was saying 81. OMG, I thought, I've found some silver in less than a minute of hunting. I dug down a few inches and swept the detector over the spot again. DING DING but only in one direction. Oh well, I thought, maybe the silver is on edge. I dug some more and scanned again. DING DING in a different spot. After about 5 minutes, I had a hole about a foot wide and 6 inches deep and still DINGING, but not in the same spot. After more digging, the dinging stopped. I said WTF and filled in the hole. I then proceeded to the bottom of the pond and changed the setting to PRO COINS and backed off on the sensitivity a couple of notches. The machine quieted down quite a bit, some chatter but every now and then a solid signal. Long story short, after one hour I came away with 1 Wheatie, 1 shotgum shell, and one .38 cartridge. I did go back to the big tree and tried again in PRO COIN but there was no signal at all.
All in all, I'm happy with the machine so far. I've got a lot to learn and look forward to spending the time doing it. I may go in the water tomorrow just to make sure she don't leak like some I've read about. HH guys and girls!
