AT Pro Freak Out at the Beach - Metal Detecting 

Hello I found that the wire at the bottom of your detector needs taped you wrap the wire counter clockwise cause the wire overhangs over the center of the coil head and picks up the wires which causes interference it really helped mine I used electrical tape right at the bottom and also manually ground balance in salt water it also could be the problem hope u the best!!

Enjoy your videos very much, but think a lot of folks are jumping to conclusions about the AT Pro. If you read the manual, it specifically states that if you should experience the machine having the issue you were having (erratic readings/tones) to change the frequency. There are four different frequencies to choose from. Simply hit the "PP and Sensitivty + or - buttons" at the same time to cycle through the four different frequency options. Should the issue persist, then contact Garrett. Give the engineering of the machine a chance... Just sayin'

Had a similar problem with my AT Pro and discovered the batteries were not of good quality, and think they were picked up at a Dollar Store, so the shelf life was bad even though the meter on the AT showed they were ok. Once I replaced them with fresh batteries I was back in business. Hope this is helpful. :) :)

Yes I’ve had this happen. Usually lower sensitivity and/or change frequency to eliminate the interference.

My new AT Gold did the same thing. Had to send it back to Garrett. Took about a week, they replaced a few faulty components in the machine. They stood behind their product very well. They covered shipping both ways.Good Luck, Great videos by the way.

I would have done a factory reset in the field if that started happening (not to say it would have fixed it). Then I would have swapped out the coil and done another factory reset. I also run in Pro Zero Mode only now.

If water got in, that's a problem, if not, try changing the frequency. If still a problem, turn it off, turn back on and reset to factory settings. But I saw how you said one of the connections was loose and water got inside. That's why there are O=rings on the connections for the cable and the headphones. Keep your connections tight. Bob in Germany

I love going through your videos and hearing "alllright.." at the start of all of them lol

Just drove from Oldsmar to Honeymoon island. Right before the gate, I learned the first rule of metal detecting....bring your metal detector. My wife is probably still laughing at me...Good times!

Not knowing much about detectors, but knowing some about electrical....Looks like a water infiltration problem. Maybe a wire connection got wet, or water got into the coil...Your instinct about a short is most likely correct. Good to see this is an issue since I am thinking seriously about a garret unit. GREAT VIDEO! AquaChigger uses one in the river w/o issues.

Hi, yep, all nice answers. I had the same problem lately, just awfull when you're out playing. This fixed my problem: I cleaned the coil and the coil protector thoroughly and that seems to help. Sometimes salt and sand builds up between coil and coil protector and causes problems. Please try and confirm.

Mine did the same thing last weekend. I did the Garrett AT Pro factory reset setting. It seams to be back to normal. hold the mode button down for about 5 seconds till you here the double beep. Good Luck.

No matter what she girl I enjoy watching your you tube stuff. keep up the good videos you good looking detectorist

Check the coil wire at the control box. Make sure its tight. Try a freq shift or do a factory reset. Mine does it when the coil wire comes loose.

Uncle Jeff's World, Ron Buskirk, sdesic all have good points. First off, give the entire unit a really good fresh water cleaning! Next thing is check all of your connections with a bright LED to make sure a piece of salt or anything got into those lines. Next, don't test in your garage! Yes, there is rebar in all of the floor and sometimes the walls that will make your detector go nuts! Take it outside and air test it. And finally, if all else fails, call KellyCo. HTH.

1.reset 2.check the connection. 3.reduce the sensitivity 4.change the frequency you can try all of them..and it wont fix the problem. they gonna ask you to send your detector to be repaired(more money to spend) and time...after 2-3 months later the problem will come again...thats how they suck your blood...

It's probably electrical interference, maybe from power systems on that nearby boat. You can try changing the frequency, there's four choices, sometimes that fixes it. And when you were in your basement(?), are those florescent lights? They create quite a hum. The larger coil is way more sensitive to electrical noise than the smaller one. Do a factory reset too, hold the power button for 15 seconds until it beeps twice.

I had same issue. Leak in the coil. Garrett replaced the coil free, no questions asked. Can't beat their customer service.

OK Figured out what the problem is-was you are having. Ironically I was out yesterday and my AT Gold did exactly the same thing, well after being a little freaked out thinking something major had happened to it because it has work so well. So here it is and so simple to fix and so easy to forget. Between the pin point button and the ground balance is a little unassuming button the could easily be pressed while pressing the pp or gb buttons. This is the frequency button and if you are around another metal detector or any number of electrical things you may need to change this. Simply press the button one time and try if that doesn't work try the next setting, there are 4 on the at gold. This was an immediate fix for me and I think it is the same as your issue as I just watched again and it was exactly what mine did. Good luck and happy hunting

Just want to add, I always use a coil cover. It protects the coil and doesn't interfere with the detector. On my third now. My AT Pro is awesome.

That happens to my pro too. I shut it off, turn it on and ground balance again. Sometimes its the batteries. Make sure the cables are tight,they do loosen up.... I rifle through the settings when I am hunting. Ground balance more often. Also clean the coil... Good hunting. Peace

That's one good thing about getting to "test" it out, you can always take it back to Kellyco. I understand they are really good to their customers. Enjoyed the video, thanks for sharing. GL&HH

I just seen another one and you have to lift it up and down while holding the ground balance until no noises and then you are good to go

Either the coil connector is loose or there's water in the connector. Both connectors need to be checked every time you're about to get in the water because the often work loose.

My Excal did just that when I got water in the connector so make sure your coil connector is dry maybe try dielectric grease on the connectors. Like the others guys have stated there is always a possibility that the coil went bad or got water in it. Don't you just love those bar b Q grills they do give a good signal even a two feet deep.

Water inside of the head unit somehow! Turn it off, pop her open and let it dry out. Isopropyl alcohol and qtip to clean the board. Try when its completely dry and you should be fine. Happened to me on a old Whites detector I was using, the head unit was not water safe lol.

check your coil wiring and use some electrical spray to clean up the contacts on your machine.

Someone else had it right. There is water in the coil connector where it screws into the detector head unit. I've had the exact same thing happen to me. It was in there long enough to actually leave a little rust stain. I took it apart, let it dry, and carefully cleaned it out with some fine, rolled up sandpaper, and toothpicks, and it's been fine since. In my case I think I did it to myself using the hose on hard spray to clean off the mud. I don't do that any more. Otherwise, love my AT Pro.

You are getting a lot better at centering in on the targets. Way to go.

Maybe water seeped into the unit. I know they are waterproof and I have seen them operate totally submerged but maybe a seal cracked or was not seated properly at the factory. Maybe they will tell you what is wrong for future issues. Thanks for sharing.

I had the exact same issue with my AT Pro a couple of months back, no amount of drying or reconnecting the connectors would fix it. I had to send it for repairs and Garrett changed my coil and that fixed the issue.

I didn't read all the threads but I noticed that you didn't try a different FREQUENCY? I've read that sometimes changing frequencies can clear up extraneous interference!

Hold your power button down for reset 5 seconds.it will beep twice.

The ACE and AT series will all go wonky when in saltwater, while freshwater is totally fine.

Did you try the factory reset setting? I have the AT Pro and that freak out usually happens when I get near water. I do a ground balance in the water but never manually lower the balance as I have seen you do. Hope you figure it out. My wife and I like your videos and also live on a Florida beach so we appreciate the trash clean up you do.

Send it back to kellyco, for a different machine. Any different machine will do. After 3 failed propointers I'm not surprised. Location is more important than what you swing, $10 + per hunt is not uncommon. Beaches make great looking videos, you just need to find some hot spots for jewelry and coins

Hmm, and that AT-pro about underwater metal detector .. Interesting. I thought he was and is. Once again convinced that the best detectors for underwater search equipment australian company is Minelab - Excalibur 2 (the best of the best) or Ctx 3030.

Have you checked that your coil is plugged in securely and tight? On the AT PRO the chrome wheel naturally loosens over time for some reason, and when my PRO goes unstable it is usually the reason. Also, to avoid leaks, always keep the o-rings silicone greased and clean to avoid leaks on the coil and 'phones connectors.

Sorry that you had issues with your detector. It is never fun to have your detector crap out when you are out in the field. Just based on what issues my fellow TH'ers have had up in Northern Virginia my guess is you have one of the following: 1. weak battery in your battery pack, 2. loose cable connector, 3. misaligned pins in your coil cable, 4. bad coil, 5. moisture in the box via a crack in the housing or bad seal on the headphone jack or coil cable, 6 If you have a coil cover you might have dirt build up between the coil and the coil cover. or 7. loose connection inside your control box. My suggestion is to return it to Garrett for a check up and see if they can fix the issue(s). Good luck and I hope it is something simple that won't cost you much. I am a Whites Detector user so can only share info from what I have been informed about from those that I TH with. I am looking forward to hearing what is found out so please share the fix with us all! Thanks Good Luck ;-)

Love the way the beach looks

Oh, that was no problem She, just some fine gold dust from a wrecked Galion stuck to the coil. Simply avoid that area and the machine should come back to normal slowly as the dust drops off from use. ;D... My first serious thought was batteries then I saw the indicator was full, now I would guess a faulty coil or bad solder joint/connection in the control box... Here's an idea, don't tell us what it was and make us choose one possible problem for the next giveaway contest, then choose a winner from the ones who guessed correctly. Anyhow, good vid She, you functioned a whole he!! of a lot better than the detector this trip!

Your metal detector is a VLF and they are great until salt comes into play. Salt is a conduit for a conductive path and therefore shorts the field out in the presence of humidity. You need a pulse induction detector (transmit/receive)

Sorry you had problems with the detector. Probably an easy fix, there's been a lot of good suggestions. I might be wrong but the sea hunter PI machine you have is probably the best detector for salt water beach hunting. Thanks for sharing!

My guess is water - check the connections on the box. Make sure the rubber O-rings are in good condition and make sure the seal is good.

Yea thats a great detecter for fresh water, but not for salt water , i loved my Seahunter but really love my Excaliber does really good on the salt beaches as well as the fresh water , Goodluck

My AT Pro has done that to me a few times and it"s turned out to be overhead power wires or failing, weak batteries. If you move out of the area and it clears up, it may be underground power service cables for the island, if it doesn't clear up, probably just weak batteries.

Once again, you were the first I saw with a bias ply tire...and now a barbecue grill....what's next, a mobile home? Lol...great video, please keep us updated on how you fix the problem with the Garrett.

Try re-grounding when you enter into water and when you come out of the water or any changes in the soil and only ground in the area that you're going to be detecting so if you have dry sand after being in the water or wet sand those are three different groundings I hope it helps

Wow! Mine does that too! Ever since I got it it was doing that. It is increasing every time I use it! I did the same as you, checked the connection, changed the battery, reset it back to factory settings, restrung the coil, (several times) but it does that wild fluctuation. I also have like a rainbow haze on my screen. It was like that when I got it and thought it was because I was detecting in cold weather. (I got the AT Pro from my husband as a Christmas gift and had to try it right away even though it was winter in Michigan) When it works it's a great machine the rest of the time it is just frustrating!

Water in the coil cable connector or housing, call Garrett ASAP.

You were 'tirred' the last time now you've been 'grilled'. :) All the ideas you had and the suggestions from the other fans are all possiblilities. Another great video.

enjoyed the video thumbs up

sometimes u need to change frequencies it has four to choose from and if u go water hunting u need to ground balance under water .... well I mean that helps me out some times .... hope I could help

Sorry, you're having issues but I'm sure Garrett will take care of the problem. If you haven't already done so remove the coil connector from the control box and power up the unit to see if the problem remains or goes away. If it goes away with the connector removed, check the bottom of the coil carefully and the connector. If you don't find the cause of the problem call the fine people at Garrett's.

My AT Pro did the same thing after my first time out with it. First detector. First time out was in shallow salt water. Kinda disappointing but Garrett sent new coil and seemed to solve the problem.

And that's why I got out of the Garrett business bought a mine lab 😁

hi she detector; you may try this. turn your at pro on and the hold down the the power button for 5 seconds or so, you should hear a few beeps after that and it should reset the unit. hope that helps. thanks for the great videos. take care

Mine did that the other day, I replaced the batteries and now its OK. Otherwise Garrett will help you out, they have great costumer service. Keep @ it and HH !!

I had a problem one day while using that same pinpointer..... I had to change the frequency on the AT.... I was afraid my connectors were loose too...

If your testing on the concrete remember there is metal rebar in the floor and that could be messing with you.

Saw you bring up that grill grate, reminded me of when I found a brand new Weber grill (wheels and all) buried in the sand after a fourth of July weekend detecting at Pacific Beach in San Diego, CA.

I think you had a micro crack in the coil. Water got in and shorted out the coil.

Sounds like water got inside the search coil. Try getting another coil hooked to it to see if that sorts it out.

Stand it next to the MX Sport for a couple of hours. The Garrett AT Pro will start working properly in order to defend it's honor from the supiriority of the MX Sport....just a thought. Nothing more frustrating. Still enjoyed watching the hunt as always.....so keep em coming!

definitely looks like a leak or moisture buildup inside from temp.diffs. dry that sucker out,remove batts,check for moisture. leave hatch off lube rubber o rings with a lube,dry it out good or you'll damage it.

They are going to grill some food? I'm not sure what happened to your Garrett AT Pro Misses She Detector. Hopefully you can get in touch with Garrett.

The salt water has a lot of mineral and electro magnetic fields and if u were to turn it on fully in the water u will mess it up and get false signals so next time do the ground balance at the edge of the water line but with the coil slightly in the water and u should be good

If you have a home brew supply store near you can buy it. I use Haynes lubri-Film you can find on line works great on o rings and Seal's for waterproofing just a thin coat.

My AT Pro with the 5x8 coil does good on gulf coast beaches and in the water is does pretty good still.

Really enjoy your videos. Except for your ATPro giving you fits. You see I just bought my first detector...right, an ATPro from Kellyco. I'll be heading down to South Padre Island, TX in a couple of weeks on vacation for my first hunt. I'm going to remain optimistic, though, in spite of your misfortune. Sure hope inexperience will be my main problem. Keep up with the videos...I really enjoy 'em. Almost like I'm right there with you, learning. Even my feet start feeling wet and sandy.

I have one and the ATP does not excel in salt water. I have 4 beaches thats pretty stable. GB between 12-19. Now there are 3 beaches that theres no way I could detect on water. It simply goes nuts! Lower the sens and after you auto balance the machine try to manually gb it. I usually go 2-3 numbers down manually after I auto gb.

Love your videos.

did you reset the machine? hold down the power button for about 10 seconds until it beeps twice.

I think it's freaking out because it's detected a ghost nearby lol

Got a cellphone with you? My ace 250 does that same thing until I put my phone on airplane mode...then it calms down...I use mine in salt water with sensitivity way down with no problems...but as a general rule anything nearby that can cause electrical signal interference can make a detector do that.

I personally think garret is junk. Much better options out there. Keep up the work!

90% of the problem is the coil or wire is wet something ... attention to the connectors, remove the batteries and put them back. Double check that you have not drilled the coil or a cut in the wire...

And your garage floor has steel wire .

Picking up the steel rod in the concrete

Be careful not to turn into the beach janitor. ;)

If you get a chance try the Tesoro Compadre on the dry sand or a park it will find everything to about six inches deep and it's only 160.00 bucks , give it a shot and see , only drawback u need volume control earphones because it's loud

Mine has done that ,check the cable connectors ,and hold and do a reset. helped me ! love your videos.HH😉

is there a crack in the coil. if salt water touches the copper it can do that

Do you have any discount codes for Garrett AT Pro from KellyCo ?

I keep watching these detector videos and notice everyone does the same thing. You come across a signal, then you keep moving the coil back and forth, slowly over and over, back and forth saying, "Hmm.. could be a bottle cap, or a pull tag...Hmmm" It seems like forever watching the video. Maybe everyone does it because your recording, I don't know, If I get a strong beep, I simply put my scoop in and go, I hate wasting time, wondering what it could be, scoop it and find out.

For a minute there I thought you were going to dig up a whole grill Lol. To bad your detector went half crazy on you. Better luck next time and happy hunting !

try disconnecting the cable from the coil

Good video. Thanks u

I was of the opinion that AT Pros are no good in wet sand? yes/no?

Hi She. Yo creo que el problema con el AT Pro, es la Bobina (Coil), Creo que es muy grande para detectar bajo el agua. Una Bobina de tamaño mediano circular (Coil 8") pienso que sería la más apropiada, para no dar esas falsas señales. Saludos. Escribo en Español porque no tengo tiempo de ver por el momento a mi maestro de Inglés (Mr. Google)

Oh forgot got to mention the Whites PI Detectors also Fantastic

I usually run f4 unless lots of chatter them I change frequency reground balance then notch up or down a few then Lower sensitivity if still hear noises I go back to dry sand lol

My 2nd AT pro was doing that right out of the box. I played around with it for a while, I had to reseat the plug several times into the control box, eventually I called Garrett and they sent me a new coil and everything was fine after that.

I had the same thing but I hit factory reset and it,s fine now, unreal how much and deep the sand is hh

hey was wondering if you could tell me if a bounty hunter 2200 can be used in salt water...and when it's says it's waterproof is that just the coil or the whole unit....thank you for answering my questions as well.....happy hunting

I've had 2 at pros and they both did the same thing.....sent to garret they fix them and said water got in the control box threw the buttons

Kick It!!! lol.... Hopefully it's something simple like a loose cable. The cables on my AT Pro come loose once in awhile. Good luck.

I find those grills in the deep woods too, that's funny! It possibly could be the marine radios on the boats. Or there's a leak on the coil connector. Send it back to Garrett.

Their quality is something that's really annoyed me over the last 10 years. The ace 250 was great machine (still have it) so I bought the original garrett pinpointer, what a frustrating piece of junk that was. Moved to a different brand of detector

Great video! I've had odd targets on the beach like that grill grate. Dug up a trailer hitch that was deep and heavy. Took awhile to dig it up. Atpro looks like it swallowed some water? Single frequency machines have a hard time in the salt water because of the mineralization of the salt. Causes a lot of falsing even in low sens. But your machine just looked drowned.