GTI2500 rookie,use tips needed for hunting old sites

[wallstwins]

Hello to all you veteran hunters from a rookie with a GTI2500!
Would appreciate tips on the best way to go about hunting turn of the century former home sites; where to start, the methodology for searching, best settings (want to ideally focus on coins,jewelry, relics) for the machine. It seems when I've tried this previously, I was digging a lot of junk including flip tabs, bottle tops, and misc iron and lead trash. The setting was usually coins or jewelry. I know part of it is still needing to get to know my machine, which I've spent approx 25 hrs. on so far. Any common mistakes that rookies tend to make with this machine? Any tips for the most accurate pinpointing? Finally, any books to recommend that might address some of these questions or hunting methodology/techniques in general (have read "Treasure Hunting with Metal Detectors" by Gerry Edwards, "The Urban Treasure Hunter" by Michael Chaplan, and yes, I have read my owner's manual-a few times)?
Thank you to all and I look forward to continuing to read all the great insights from this community!

 

[Orion42]

When I'm hunting an old homestead site I eliminate the first and last segment. This ignores a lot of nails but still hits on the bigger iron relics. I'll leave all the other segments and do a best guess by where a target hits and the size. You'll dig a lot of trashy items, but that's the only way to get experience to make future educated guesses.

John

 

[jlopez5555]

I just got the GTI 2500 about a month ago. So far I'm still learning it. I had been using a GTA400. The one thing that was recommended to me was to turn the sensitivity down to about 6.5. The other thing that I do is to turn off everything but the high end .10 and higher. And I keep two notches in the middle of the gold section. Since then I've picked up less pull tabs but I still feel like I'm missing things. There have been times that I go over an area with the GTI then my wife will go over the same area with the GTA400 and find coins that I missed. Why can't I discriminate trash and get more coins like I did with the 400? I'm hoping it's just because I haven't properly tuned my machine. Be real curious to see how you fare with yours.

My wife was using the GTA 400 but I sold it so I could upgrade her to the AT Pro....hehe. So between the AT and the GTI 2500 we should be able to get a ton of info before digging. I'm in Texas also (San Angelo).

 

[Uncle Willy]

First of all, which coil is it equipped with? What you need is lots of practice and familiarity with your machine. GTI's are a breed all their own and should be treated accordingly. First of all run your sensitivity at 6 or 6.5 till you become somewhat familiar with the machine and hunt in coin mode.. GTI coils are ultra-sensitive so keep them off the ground an inch or so. Always scan slow as they have a lot of information to process.

Centering the target correctly when pinpointing is absolutely critical. Always move the coil all the way off the target then press pinpoint and move it back and center your target. Watch the "signal strength indicator" and when the cursors are lined up all the way across the display your target will be centered and your target will be in the center of the hole in the middle of your coil. You can't get sloppy with pinpointing on this one or you lose. To show how sensitive this coil is it will often ID quarters as pennies until you move the coil around slightly and get it centered right.

If you get a strange sounding target or a non=repeatable one do the "twitch" over the target and it will often turn into a good signal and may be a coin on edge or a corroded coin. Good luck.

Bill

 

[jlopez5555]

When someone finds a ring or nice piece of jewelry I wish they would post the sensitivity settings, discrimination notches, coil they were using and mode they were in along with their pic. This would be very useful to us newbs.

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Might add your unit has an all metal mode that ID's and will go as deep as any on the planet but be prepared as its noisy as heck...Dug my deepest dime a barber at 13 inches or so in this mode and should work well in an old area with minimum trash and real deep coins...

 

[Uncle Willy]

Often we don't remember as we don't write down and record every reading and I'm from the old school. I hunt by sound not what is posted on the display as ID's are probabilities not fact. No detector made can 100% accurately picture and ID what is in the ground no more than you can see into the ground and ID the target.

Bill.

 

[wallstwins]

I've only used the 9.5" but do have the 12.5" also. When is the 12.5" more advantageous to use? Your info is helpful - thanks!

 

[wallstwins]

When I'm hunting an old homestead site I eliminate the first and last segment. This ignores a lot of nails but still hits on the bigger iron relics. I'll leave all the other segments and do a best guess by where a target hits and the size. You'll dig a lot of trashy items, but that's the only way to get experience to make future educated guesses.

John

Thats very helpful - thanks!

 

[wallstwins]

First of all, which coil is it equipped with? What you need is lots of practice and familiarity with your machine. GTI's are a breed all their own and should be treated accordingly. First of all run your sensitivity at 6 or 6.5 till you become somewhat familiar with the machine and hunt in coin mode.. GTI coils are ultra-sensitive so keep them off the ground an inch or so. Always scan slow as they have a lot of information to process.

Centering the target correctly when pinpointing is absolutely critical. Always move the coil all the way off the target then press pinpoint and move it back and center your target. Watch the "signal strength indicator" and when the cursors are lined up all the way across the display your target will be centered and your target will be in the center of the hole in the middle of your coil. You can't get sloppy with pinpointing on this one or you lose. To show how sensitive this coil is it will often ID quarters as pennies until you move the coil around slightly and get it centered right.

If you get a strange sounding target or a non=repeatable one do the "twitch" over the target and it will often turn into a good signal and may be a coin on edge or a corroded coin. Good luck.

Bill

I've only used the 9.5" but do have the 12.5" also. When is the 12.5" more advantageous to use? Your info is helpful - thanks!

 

[Orion42]

If the area is more open and I'm not hitting a lot of trash, I'll switch up to the 12.5". Or after "working out" an area. I usually start with the 9.5 though. Although in one open foundation my third time there I started with the Treasure Hound 2-box and got a nice padlock we had missed before.

John

 

[Johnny Cache]

Some good advice I got: wear good headphones! Even when alone in the country, you'll have a much better understanding of what the detector is telling you.

 

[wallstwins]

Some good advice I got: wear good headphones! Even when alone in the country, you'll have a much better understanding of what the detector is telling you.

You know - thats a great tip. Have not used them much to date since they are pretty hot to wear in our Texas climate. But you make a good point. I'll start using them.

 

[wallstwins]

I just got the GTI 2500 about a month ago. So far I'm still learning it. I had been using a GTA400. The one thing that was recommended to me was to turn the sensitivity down to about 6.5. The other thing that I do is to turn off everything but the high end .10 and higher. And I keep two notches in the middle of the gold section. Since then I've picked up less pull tabs but I still feel like I'm missing things. There have been times that I go over an area with the GTI then my wife will go over the same area with the GTA400 and find coins that I missed. Why can't I discriminate trash and get more coins like I did with the 400? I'm hoping it's just because I haven't properly tuned my machine. Be real curious to see how you fare with yours.

My wife was using the GTA 400 but I sold it so I could upgrade her to the AT Pro....hehe. So between the AT and the GTI 2500 we should be able to get a ton of info before digging. I'm in Texas also (San Angelo).

I'm still trying to learn the sounds/readings of trash vs coins - can be confusing. I'll try your sensitivity suggestion - thanks!

 

[bearkat4160]

After you get used to the 2500 at a lower sensitivity setting (6-6.5), if you want more depth in dicriminate mode you have to turn the sensitivity up to 10.5. Or keep it at factory setting (9). Above that (10.5) it get a bit eratic. Unless your using the DD coils you can crank it all the way up except in severe electrical areas.

And while searching with that sensitivity (10.5) setting, turn off Imaging while searching and you will get faster recovery speed.

Its seems the recieve circuit needs a little help in disc mode as to get better depth to keep up with its all metal mode. The disc mode is digital, if it was analog I think it would do a bit better for depth. The all metal mode is an analog send circuit but processes the signal in digital.

If your looking for deep coins/silver in disc mode you must run it HOT...to keep up with the depths of Minelabs multi, multi freq machines. 2500's disc mode is close to their (ML) depths disc mode when using the 2500 with the 12.5 image coil. Their stock coil is 11".

Practice, practice,
Enjoy it!

Alan

 

[wallstwins]

After you get used to the 2500 at a lower sensitivity setting (6-6.5), if you want more depth in dicriminate mode you have to turn the sensitivity up to 10.5. Or keep it at factory setting (9). Above that (10.5) it get a bit eratic. Unless your using the DD coils you can crank it all the way up except in severe electrical areas.

And while searching with that sensitivity (10.5) setting, turn off Imaging while searching and you will get faster recovery speed.

Its seems the recieve circuit needs a little help in disc mode as to get better depth to keep up with its all metal mode. The disc mode is digital, if it was analog I think it would do a bit better for depth. The all metal mode is an analog send circuit but processes the signal in digital.

If your looking for deep coins/silver in disc mode you must run it HOT...to keep up with the depths of Minelabs multi, multi freq machines. 2500's disc mode is close to their (ML) depths disc mode when using the 2500 with the 12.5 image coil. Their stock coil is 11".

Practice, practice,
Enjoy it!

Alan

Great info - thanks!