Frustrated new AT Pro owner

Are you using the ground balance feature? That can be very important.

Sounds like your just not getting your coil over the silver
Next time your buddy thinks he's found one see if
He'll let you check it with your machine before he digs it..

Put the coil to the ground.

Go back to basics. Confirm you gb properly and the machines is working properly. Check your connections. Look right in front of your coil to verify you have it level to the ground. Check your swing speed. Start at the lowest settings or factory settings and adjust from there. There is a lot going on and I see these mistakes with new folks. Your not new, if the spots arent producing, try another spot. Hope this helps.

Sometimes you are trying too hard. Sometimes the location stinks. Here the old coins sink fast in our sand. It takes some rain to wet the ground here to get some depth. Start trying after a rain. Would also recommend making a test garden with a few silver coins planted at certain depths. You can tell if your machine is working properly among other things.

When you get an 8" deep indicator, lift your coil off the ground and swing. If you're still getting a signal whe your coil is say, a foot off the ground, don't waste your time digging.

gordonquixote said:

When you get an 8" deep indicator, lift your coil off the ground and swing. If you're still getting a signal whe your coil is say, a foot off the ground, don't waste your time digging.

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yeah it will be something big ... as stated above, dry ground will effect on depth readings

I first went to a school with my AT Pro. Nothing deep found, thought it might be defective. Then went to a park near me, nothing deep found at first. Seemingly no advantage over an Ace 250. Then I decided to try to adjust the ground balance, and to make sure I got it right. First, silence was interrupted by a loud beep from a quarter several inches down & very tilted. The detector still knew what it was.

Next, I got a loud beep, bouncing in only 80-85 range, all correct numbers for a dime. The depth indicator said 8". I dug down 7" & there it was, a dime just like it had displayed on every sweep. Pretty smart detector! Most detectors around here can only ID most coins correctly down to about 4". The ground was moderately mineralized and very dry & hard.

Used STD mode, so even deepest coins were loud. Sensitivity 7 of 8. Iron was totally rejected (40). Used coins mode, so I rejected any gold, but dug almost no trash at all & what little trash found was mostly small round objects, like a button.

I know people will say PRO mode is better, as 1 can sometimes hear a coin under a nail. But it still finds goodies pretty close to trash in STD.. Got a shallow nickel that IDed correctly, popped it out with my screwdriver. For whatever reason, I then turned on iron ID & learned the nickel had been surrounded by *five* pieces of iron! This was just using the big stock coil.

I also noticed when the ground balance is set properly, the ID has always been in the correct numbers for the type of coin. It has been so accurate, it can even tell the difference between a copper penny & a dime (copper penny upper 70s-lower 80s, dime 80-85). Best wishes & happy hunting, George (MN)

I believe that IF you get your coil over something your machine will let you know! The best education on any machine is to use it and learn it. Just because your buddy is finding stuff doesn't mean yours won't. Get that coil over the top and it will happen.

I agree. If you're in the right spot, it will find it

My at pro finds anything and everything, if you GB and then remove 5 from the setting its touchy feely and will give you that background sound well...

The thing then becomes your ears that love the high sounds which turn out to be coins but the mid tones are the other finds that are interesting, yes the ring pulls but also a helluva lot more.

When im pulling out ring pull after ring pull I know im in the gold zone and have to subdue myself from lifting the tones higher and going into my comfort zone of clad and silver but the effort is more likely to find some real stuff amongst the dross.

I'd say to maybe go around some antique stores and buy some cheap old coins and then air test them with your machine and get the numbers and sounds from them, to teach your ears the sound of some nice old finds..maybe you'll even recall places or hunts where you heard that before and didn't dig thinking it was more trash....and aybe you might consider a 5x8 more or even a sniper if its high trash cos the iron beside something is attacking your sense to dig

Dougmeister said:

I had a Bounty Hunter 3300. Only ever found clad. Thought it was the machine. Got an AT Pro. Still only find clad.

Even when it says 8" or deeper, I never seem to find any deeper than 4" or so.

Could be the places I'm searching, but a buddy off mine from this forum has found silver a few times while out with me. (dift brand).

Maybe a 5x8 sniper would help, but I really think it's my technique. I've watched the Garrett videos 2 or 3x each. I've read the manual. I've practiced in the yard in holes I've dug (only for about an hour). Have about 20-30 hrs in on the AT Pro.

I use standard or Pro coin, 35 or 40 discrimination, and sensitivity usually bumped up unless I'm getting too much chatter. Focus only on 50+ signals. Try to get a repeatable signal, then switch to pinpoint mode. When it is full bar, I do the "pull-back" and dig. If deeper than 4", I usually find nothing.

Help. Thx.

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Ground conditions can change even in the same park or field, so I quite often re ground balance every now and and then, if the gb vdi doesn't change you know its gb correctly.HH