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Frustrated 2500 owner!

H

Hangar18

New member
Needless to say, I was very excited when I received my Garrett 2500 GTI. I immediately went out to give it a try. Excitement immediately went to frustration. I buried three coins to see what readings I wouuld get. Everything went as I thought it would. So then I decided to venture out on my property( I have 6 acres in Rough and Ready , Ca) Immediately the tones started filling the air. This is where the trouble began.
1. How is it that I hit a target and it will go from 12 to 8 to 4 and back to 12 again. The tones where all over the place! How is that you can scan over a target and get one reading and then immediately go over it again and get a totally different reading. I have it in the factory preset coin mode. I would literally hit a target and have it register as a "B" target at 2 inches then go over it again and it would register as a "D" target at 12 inches????? Frustrating.... How do I determine whether or not to dig?
2. My second problem is as follows.... I have lots of huge rocks around my property. Every time I wave the detector over the rocks, I get tones. I'm guessing these are "HotRocks"?? How do I eliminate these?
3. I did dig up one pull tab. I immediately set the detector to reject it. I then proceeded to go over it again and I got tones???Why is this?

I am a beginner. I have however watched the garret videos and have read the instruction booklet 20 times. I'm a patient person and I know it will take many hours to master this thing.
Any help would be appreciated. Any tips on when to dig and when not to dig would be extremely helpful.

Eric
 
Eric, signals that "bounce" around or give different target ID signals could be anything from large pipes at deep depths to buried junk to a buried power line. Also, you could be running your sensitivity too high for the soil conditions you're hunting. I find that my GTI 2500 could really unmask good targets in those junkier areas by going really slow with short swings. Eventually, experience will tell you all those things. My advice to all those who are trying to learn a machine, dig, dig and dig. The only way to really know what the target is under your coil is to dig it up. No machine is perfect, eventually though, in capable hands the GTI 2500 will give you enough information that you will make the correct choice of whether to dig "most times" and be able to predict the ID of the target. The machine is the tool, in the end, it's the operator that is the discrimination.

Have fun learning the GTI 2500, it's an amazing machine!
Craig
 
One other thing is that a detector gives the most accurate readings ehen the target is centered up under the coil. This is especially true when you are in pinpoint (imaging) mode. If you are in search mode and swing the coil so that it just catches the target under the edge of the coil then it is going to give you false target ID.

If you are in imaging mode it is very important to get the target exactly under the center of the coil to get the correct size reading. If you have it off center even by a little bit it will give a size reading that is larger than the target really is. So in the case you mention where your target was a B size one time and a D size another time then you probably had the coil centered over the target when it was reading a B size and it was off center when it was reading a D size.

Remember that imaging or pinpoint mode is a no motion mode so you can hold the coil completely still in that mode, or just move it very slowly and very slightly. When you are pinpointing the target watch the signal strength meter and slowly move the coil around until it reads as high as you can get it to go. The smallest size indication you can get it to go is usually also a sign that you are right over the target so you can watch that too.

Good luck and don't give up. It takes a lot of practice to get good at pinpointing so be sure to spend some extra time really making sure you are really centered over the target.
 
Try lower sensitivity. Around 6. Use stock coil. Start in coin mode. Make sure search with image is off. Check connectors real good. Make sure coil wire is wrapped fairly tight. Make sure batteries are strong and set properly. You can try changing the frequency as your problem might be interference. I suspect in about 10 hours you'll be much better. Start someplace easy with loads of coins. A playground. Just to practice. Practice, practice practice.

Chris
 
I had similar probelms with my 1500
and for that matter the ACE250..

It tok me a while ( im slow) but sooner or
later it all made sense ( most times)
Im still learning but im Better than i was
and another new year is comng soon ( i HOPE)

HH

Ron

Rangers Lead The Way :usaflag::usaa:
 
After you dig 1000 targets, you will own that machine. You might need shoulder rehab, but you'll know your machine.
 
If you're a beginner you picked a tough one to start out with. Should have picked an easier model and worked your way up. The 2500 has quite a learning curve and even poses problems for experienced users who have used other brands. First of all switch to coins mode and stay there. Turn your sensitivity down to 6 or 6.5 and leave it there. Cut the threshold down to a faint hum.

You have to scan slow with this machine as it has a lot of info to process. Centering the target correctly when pinpointing is absolutely crucial for correct readings. Hunt with the coil at least an inch off the ground. When pinpointing watch the signal strength indicator at the top of the display to tell you when the target is centered. All of this takes a good deal of practice so don't expect to master it overnight. Just go slow and take your time. With what I have told you things will improve dramatically as you were going about it all bassackwards. HA.

Bill
 
Normal when my 2500 jumps around like you descried there are several targets under the coil of different metal types. Using the 12 inch coil I run into this more often. Try pinpointing one of the targets ,without moving the coil re-pinpoint this will separate one target from the other. Dig the target and check the hole again. As far as the rocks, could be hot rocks . Try removing the rocks and check the soil underneath. The other thing is sometime when the signal jumps around and it is one target the target is usually made up of several metals , like a watch. Sometimes its better to hunt an open field to begin with. Fewer targets to deal with and less confusing. Believe me its not your detector . Of coarse I'm assuming your new at this.
 
One more thing sometimes when the signals jumps around and it reads larger than a coin I get excited. I have found in many cases it is a number coins that somebody dropped in one spot. Its just a matter of experience and a whole lot of digging.
 
Don't get frustrated. I have owned and used a 2500 for 10 years, the first time I had it out I was very frustrated, actually ready to wrap it around a tree. Just take your time and practice, put a good 100 hrs on the machine and it will start coming together. Take a piece of cardboard and tape some targets to it and practice pinpointing, that will help in the field. Deeper targets will throw you off until you get lots of practice you may dig a couple inches off center. That is where the pro pointer will come in handy. The 2500 is a good machine.

It will all come to you in time.

HH
BCOOP
 
Bill,

I'm using the factory set coin discrimination mode always. I have not tried anything else.(like the manual states). What is the factory coin discrimination mode sensitivity level? I actually had a White's DFX previous to this Garret. I was under the impression it would be easier than the White's. Maybe I was wrong.
Eric
 
Never start out in "factory set" anything. You have to go into the menu and select sensitivity then set it at whatever level with the plus and minus buttons. Same for threshold. Then punch "operate". It is easy once you understand how it works and how you set it.

Bill
 
Be patient Eric. The 2500 is waaay easier to use than the DFX. It doesnt operate like the DFX either or any other VLF for that matter, it is its own beast. I like to run my 2500 HOT as I'm used to all the noise, but do as the others say and set sensitivity to around 6-6.5 and give it ago. It operates a bit faster with Imaging off until you get used to it. I been using the 2500 since 1999. Love it, and now I have the new 11"x8.5 DD for it and WOW is all I can say.

Alan
 
bearkat4160 you said that you use the 11x8.5DD on your 2500, thinking about getting one for my 2500, been using it for about six years now. no imaging on this coil am I right? This should help alot on the beach at low tide...
 
Correct...no Imaging on the new DD coil, but it gets the depth of the 12.5" coil and it handles hot dirt MUCH better!
 
turn sensitivty down a little...if its jumpy its deep bigger items...dont dig those signals for now..if its steady on something dig it...once you start learning that machine it will all make sense..good luck
 
If you're trying to use the large coil in anything other than dead dirt, you won't have much luck. You can turn down the sensitivity down far enough the problem goes away. However, in most soils, the smaller coil will do much better, even in the depth department, as a result.

I get about 40 hours on a set of batteries, and I just put my 10th set in this past weekend. The more I use it, the better I like it. No doubt the hardest thing to learn, was proper ground balance. While the auto function works, manual works much better in the hot soils we have here in New Mexico.
 
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