GTI 2500 Day 2

[cwilk]

I shortened up the shaft as suggested and that helped a lot. Didn't have to hip mount the battery pack. Detected for 4.5 hours all in jewelry mode. My feet are killing me but my arm is ready to go. Made a morning of it. Brought some bagels and coffee and had a nice brunch break an hour in. Chose a new spot. First hour under one of those old metal dome shaped jungle gyms. Big sucker. 29 coins and 8 pieces of junk. Moved over to the side of an old ball field. Slow going and very dry digging at first. Got to a shady area and the coins began jumping out of the ground. One hole had 11 coins 9 quarters a Penny and a nickel. Another had 6 quarters. Many double finds. I bet I found 50 coins the second hour but I didn't count. Redid that area to find some of what I missed for the third hour. Found about 30 more coins. Last hour I meandered around and didn't find much. Real dry everywhere but the one shady area with all the coins. Some kids were playing at the playground so I took off for the soccer fields. I have hit this area to death with the Ace 250. Found maybe 15 coins in a half hour. Monkeyed around with some of the settings. Feet very sore, wasn't doing a thorough job, so I headed home. 126 modern coins for $16.20. 2500 is already 2 percent paid for! I was very surprised I didn't find any jewelry mixed in with all those coins. Did find two arcade tokens that really signaled strong. Must be brass. I dug a lot of old pop tops a few screw caps. Didn't dig much over size C. The few I did dig were flattened cans.

I also like treasure talk. I have it on for menus and imaging. They should have used numbers instead of letters. B sounds like C sounds like D sounds like E.

I am not using headphones much. I really like to hear what's going on around me, I guess. I should probably force myself to wear them.

My only complaint about the detector is that the shaft wobbles a bit. Not the lower slide but the top one. There isn't enough of the small top shaft extending into the adjustable shaft in my opinion. I'll filed about 1/16th of an inch off the sliding shaft so I could get the pin into the second hole which helped a lot. I'm going to call Garrett as I read they have a fix for it in the form a a free replacement shaft.

Not sure how I feel about the depth I am getting in discriminate modes. A bit deeper than the Ace 250 but not a great deal. I'm sure when I get proficient and try All Metal I'll see a big difference.

I really want to try out the bigger coil which I will save for next weekend.

Keep tips coming, please! I buried a few rings yesterday and the all hit a few notches above nickel. 10K and 14 K about 5 - 8 grams. Gold tips especially appreciated. I still think finding gold is 95 percent luck.

Chris

I am asking for some general metal detecting help on a different thread.

 

[John-Edmonton]

You sure pulled a lot of coins out on your second day. I doubt if your learning curve will be very long, as there are many similarities between the ACE and the GTI series. I have a wobble with some of my machines, and I find it is more then an annoyance more then anything. I have never found it interferes with my hunts nor have I ever really corrected any of my machines to remove it. I noticed you went 4.5 hours with the GTI 2500 and never really tired out except for your legs. I am sure a lot of people don't use good body mechanics, so as a result, they get sore muscles not just from heavier machines, but also from light ones too. I worked with a bunch of physiotherapists at work to help design good posture and good body mechanics for swinging metal detectors. There is another thing out that someone invented called the "SWINGY THING", which has helped some people.

That true all metal mode works real well in the outfields where there is little trash and deep coins. Give it a try! I too like to listen to noised around me, so I usually use a pair of those feather light headphones. that way, I still hear the targets and also the noise around me. I don't like those large headsets, unless I am water hunting.

Keep those finds coming. You will notice better targets and more of them as time passes and you learn the imaging and its limitations.
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[cwilk]

Thanks for the encouragement. The weight is higher than the Ace 250 but I like the balance better, at least with the stock coil. With my current handle length it balances on my index finger if I open my hand. I'll try all metal out on one of the few outfields I have permission to dig. I found deeper stuff this morning by swinging slower in discriminate modes. Ive stuck to jewelry mode since hour 1. There is a place for both the Ace 250 and 2500 in my arsenal. I also have a 7 year old Bounty Hunter Tracker 4 that I had a lot of fun with. Thought it was broken so I ordered the 250. Turns out it had a loose connection. I give it to kids who are following me around to let them have a try.

If you are an expert on body mechanics can you tell me how to fix my "metal detector pinkie?" It has developed a little hitch (sticks when I try to open it.) I have to imagine this is a fairly common MD ailment.

If you have a second, could you read my post called A Small Monkey....... and answer my question about the 12 inch coil.

I fixed the wobble. I think the hole placement on the adjustable shaft was not well thought out. Either that or mine were drilled wrong.

Best,
Chris

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah our buddy Stan has an attachment that fastens to the 2500 and makes it light as a feather. He sent me one long ago and it works great. Don't know if he still makes them or not. Stan my bud are you out there?

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah swinging slow with the 2500 works much better as it doesn't have the rapid response and recovery of the 250, mainly because it's packing a lot more electronics including an extra receiver in the coil. What kind of sensitivity are you running? Once you learn the all metal you'll find stuff deeper than you care to dig.

Bill

 

[cwilk]

I am running sensitivity of between 7 and 9. I bumped it up to 10 on a real clean outfield that I had thoroughly searched with my Ace 250. I found a little enameled heart pendant down about 7 inches. I don't know what the metal is but it didn't corrode in the ground. Also some coins including a lot of zinc pennies way down. Those zincers ring up on 3 or 4 different notches depending on how corroded they are and how deep they are.

One of my problems is the longer I stay out for a day the faster I start swinging. I am much better on a 2 hour hunt than on a 4 hour hunt.

I figure there is only a month or maybe 6 weeks left to really get out up here. I don't plan on digging in any frozen ground. I should get pretty good with the detector in that time. I have two new areas I've been saving which hopefully will round out the season nicely. I also think I'm going to put my clad coins toward a week in Florida in January or February. Still researching where I want to go. I'm between the Daytona area on the East Coast, which I would have to plan around the race, and Fort Myers to Naples on the West coast. I also don't want to stay in a hotel where there a thousands of teenagers running in the halls all night, puking in elevators, sleeping in the parking lot so I may stay inland a few miles and commute to the beach early every morning. I have no experience on beaches so it might be an expensive lesson.

Chris

I slept many a night on Daytona beach when I was 20. Seems awful looking back but they were great times, for sure.

 

[mickey]

Hey Cwilk, I have a 2500, and can detect unlimited time with my swingy-thingy. Best investment I made to save my arm. Try it, and never have arm pain again. Mickey.