Couple of AT Pro Questions

First, what mode are you in?
Standard coin mode is supposed to be for beginners and should give a clean signal.
Never used it myself, you get much more info from pro mode.

I'd suggest using Pro Coin mode to start. With Iron Audio turned off.

Make sure you wrap your coil cable starting by going over the shaft for your first wrap. You want it snug but loose enough so the coil can pivot through its full range of motion without putting too much tension on the coil connection or the other end connection at the head.
The connection at the control box should pushed all the way in so the metal is flush before tightening the knurled locking ring.
You can set your ground balance at about 85 manually to start.
The explanation on doing it in auto will take a few minutes, and I'm trying to get you started.

To pinpoint, moving your coil flush with the ground, visualize on the ground the exact spot where you get a repeatable signal both audio and in the readout within 2 or 3 digits. I.e. 81 or 82 for a dime, 76 to 81 or so for a penny, 88 or so for a quarter, 52 for a nickel.
Once you memorize the spot, go around and do the same thing at 90 degrees from your first position. That is, your second position should make an X over the spot where the coin is. The location on your coil that is the location is the first opening in the coil just in front of the shaft attachment.
Where your second swing position intersects your first memorized spot is where to dig. If you are unsure, you can go back and check where your first location intersects your second location.
I always keep my eye fixed on the intersection of my X while squatting down, and put my finger on that spot while I grab my digger. Usually am accurate within an inch. You get better with time.
Watch the YouTube videos by Garrett, will give easier to follow info.
Takes practice, don't get discouraged.

Thanks, Mntnclmbr. I'm in pro coin mode, metal discrimination at 33, automatic ground balanced, wire around shaft, connection securely bottomed and screwed in. I'll try to get a you tube video up today so you can hear what I'm hearing. I'll also try out the waterproof headphones and see if that's better.

Mntnclmbr said:

To pinpoint, moving your coil flush with the ground, visualize on the ground the exact spot where you get a repeatable signal both audio and in the readout within 2 or 3 digits. I.e. 81 or 82 for a dime, 76 to 81 or so for a penny, 88 or so for a quarter, 52 for a nickel.
Once you memorize the spot, go around and do the same thing at 90 degrees from your first position. That is, your second position should make an X over the spot where the coin is. The location on your coil that is the location is the first opening in the coil just in front of the shaft attachment.
Where your second swing position intersects your first memorized spot is where to dig. If you are unsure, you can go back and check where your first location intersects your second location.

Click to expand...

Thanks, again. That's how I do it in pinpoint mode, but it doesn't work for me well in normal. Is it the center of the coil or the tip I should be using?

That`s ironic , I just got my New ATP last Tuesday and it does the same thing , Scratchy n Garbled in the Pro Mode`s and it did it only twice in the Std Mode`s , ive been inside air testing it in the pro mode and changing frequencies and sensitivity and it seem to help it out , cant go out now n try it , it`s snowing it`s @$$ off , pin pointing to me is a lot easier with this ATP , than what it was with my Bounty Hunter , I`am still wondering if I got a bad ATP , but ive been finding coin`s with it n got a chain the other day , I don't know , maybe I could be wrong too but ill find out soon as this snow get`s done with ,,,

If you are in an area with a lot of iron junk, and are running discrimination, you will hear a lot of audio "clipping" and bleed through on the iron.. More or less just a bunch of aggravating garbling bs...

I highly recommend these steps/settings...

1) Ground balance
2) Set up in Pro Zero
3) No discrimination
4) One notch below full sensivity
5) Iron audio off

The above settings will allow most iron to sound off as a low tone, if you are running the smaller 5x8 coil, all iron will sound as a low tone..

Testing indoors is about the worse place, too much EMI...

Good luck!!

<*)))>{

Ice Scratcher said:

If you are in an area with a lot of iron junk, and are running discrimination, you will hear a lot of audio "clipping" and bleed through on the iron.. More or less just a bunch of aggravating garbling bs...

I highly recommend these steps/settings...

1) Ground balance
2) Set up in Pro Zero
3) No discrimination
4) One notch below full sensivity
5) Iron audio off

The above settings will allow most iron to sound off as a low tone, if you are running the smaller 5x8 coil, all iron will sound as a low tone..

Testing indoors is about the worse place, too much EMI...

Good luck!!

<*)))>{

Click to expand...

Great comments Ice Scratcher, and I can't improve on a single one. I'll add though that what makes the AT Pro as bad as it is good is its rapid recovery rate. It does automatically ground balance, and will continue hunting even when laid on the ground while digging a target. This chatty dialogue with your headsets gets really irritating very quickly. I run mine in Pro Custom Mode, Iron Discriminated to 35 and Sensitivity down 2 notches, Iron Audio Off, and it usually Ground Balances at 92 in this area. That said, some places around here makes the AT Pro possibly the worse machine you could own. Our soil is mineral rich, usually damp, and highly conductive. Lessening the sensitivity helps here but also eliminates possible targets. The static and garble is characteristic of nearby cell phone towers, buried commo cables and, my arch enemy, the large boxes housing equipment used to distribute high voltage electric circuits. Many of our parks are terraced with fill dirt from deconstruction sites rich in metal scraps and debris including tiny pieces of aluminum, copper, steel, tin and, a real time killer, rusted window screen. It's wide range of discrimination and rapid recovery between targets makes the AT Pro a great machine under normal circumstances. But such a density of diverse targets and their close proximity makes searching in these places a chatty and tiring experience. My advice, at least untill you get more familiar with your machine, is to stay clear of such areas, always point your coil away from the ground when you turn the detector on and always keep the coil clean.

AT Pro/Garrett Pro Pointer/Fiskars Diggers/Bounty Hunter Outback/HF Pin Pointer

Diggum said:

Hi Experts!

First, the AT is brand new and my dad's, for whom I'm breaking this in. The sound is very scratchy. When it pings on something, even a quarter I've placed on the ground, the noise it makes has me thinking "blown speakers". It seems like the videos I see on YouTube all sound clean. Could it be bad speakers, bad AT, or is there some adjustment (beside ground balance) I can make to clean it up?

Second, it has the standard coil, and I can't figure out where the target is without going into pinpointing mode (which gets me very close but not quite dead center). Are there any tip is you all can help me with, on this?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

...just a quick note - do you hear the crackly/scratchy sound both with and w/o the headphones? If different, that would help narrow down the problem if it's indeed speaker related...

Yep, see above statement.

Great Garrett videos:
http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby_at_pro_videos.aspx

Like was said before, turn down sens a notch or two.... also change the Freq and see if same....

I would try STD coin (Iron Audio Off) and put that qtr on the ground (Clear spot, no iron), should get nice "bell" tone...


Jim

Try it with and then without headphones. Should sound the same and if it is scratchy with the speaker it could well be the speaker is bad. Garrett will make it right, and within ten days of receiving it from you. It should pin point in the small space in front of the rod. It takes practice and there are different techniques. Off the nose, off the heel and the wiggle. You also can pin point and then do a 90 degree turn and pin point from a second angle. Drawing an + , while in pin point mode. Listen to the tone and watch the indicator as you move the coil.
The smaller 5x8 coil pin points to a smaller area, but it still takes a little practice.

Watch the videos on the Garrett site. They are the best, but others can add some to your knowledge.

It is difficult to pinpoint with the big coil.....I want a 5by8 coil.

Diggum said:

Thanks, again. That's how I do it in pinpoint mode, but it doesn't work for me well in normal. Is it the center of the coil or the tip I should be using?

Click to expand...

Center of the coil.

Take it out into a clean place and lay a coin on the ground and practice! Raise the coil a few inches above it and hit it from every side.