Sounds like you have the signal balance up too high.
The XL Pro will go deep even with the Sig Bal fully counter-clockwise. Make sure you ground balance twice before detecting.
Also, it is equally important to make sure the area that you ground balance your coil on does not contain any targets.
If the area you are hunting in has a multitude of targets within inches of each other, (like a trashy park) drop to a smaller coil, decrease your sig bal and put your ground balance in the "lock" (center) position.
Large targets like buried cola or beer cans can also cause hot rock signals, which is what the needle pegging to right indicates.
You will know that you have your sig bal set correctly when the detectors threshold is a smooth even tone.
If you listen closely to the threshold, it will have a warbly quality to it when the signal balance is on the threshold of being set too high, or too low.
This not all the information by any means. But I hope this helps.
