Garrett GTI 2500
Street Price $850 - Coin, relic
Number of Reviews: 53
on 6 pages.
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Garrett GTI-2500 -haven't found a damn thing with it!
Rick Rogers in New Orleans Louisiana -
I really wanted this detector to be as good as they say it is. I read the book 6 or 7 times and viewed the video several times. I have yet to find anything more that four or five coins. I am experienced with a metal detector. I had one when I was a kid back in 1970. My first detector was a Bounty Hunter Quickdraw I bought in the early 1990's and I found a bunch of relics. Then I switched to a Fisher CZ-5, wish I still had it. I got the Garret in 2007. I don't want to stop anybody from getting this machine but I have done everything I can to find good relics or coins but this think is just JUNK! After two years I gotta give the machine up, sell it and move on.
Apr 26, 2009
16 Yes
21 No
Most versatile detector out there-period.
THer in Wyoming, USA -
For all of those who just purchased a GTI for the first time, do us all a favor and don't comment until you have used one for 6 months-1 year; it takes time to understand what it can do. Good, accurate imaging from 6-12", depending upon soil conditions, excellent depth in "All-Metal" mode (not for beginners,) good versatility with multiple coil choices available (2-3 coils std. from the factory w/ the right package.) For coins, relics, moderate beach hunting (prepare to dig trash-one of the joys of MDing,) I feel that this is the most versatile detector out there and one that you can buy to enjoy for years to come.
Feb 19, 2009
29 Yes
4 No
GTI 2500 better than I thought!!
Josh in Portland, OR -I have owned my 2500 for about 7 months now and I was wondering why everyone was saying what a great machine it is, I was having just the opposite experience until I purchased an older white 9.5 imaging coil after that the performance improved by detecting faster deeper and smaller objects now it really does live up to its advertising claims, it is surprisingly fast and accurate with the imaging feature, I also like the voice in low light situations by hitting the TI button you get size and depth of target info announced to you. It also picks up placer gold very well great for nugget shooting, it is a very good detector. It also detects deeper than all of my other VLF detectors.
Jan 15, 2009
20 Yes
2 No
Great machine but takes a bit of time to understand it.
Mirin123 in Europe -I'm a seasoned hunter have been for many years. I've almost always used Garrett Machines but have had several others.
I must admit like many others here that you have to read the book and DVD as well as experience what the machine can do. I'm hunting in Europe right now and for those who say that this machine is not good for European coins I say go back to the book and do some dry testing of the coins you want to find.
If you do you will quickly see that most European coins are low on the conductivity side unless they are big and made solely of conductive material.
This was my first mistake coming from the US. Second if you pay attention to the manual and CD you can even discriminate in the All Metal Mode with a little experience.
At first I thought the machine did not operate right and was frustrated. Why because I thought I was a seasoned hunter and didn't need to go step by step in learning how to operate it.
I was wrong and when I took the time to do what I was instructed, eureka! Coins started to fall into my lap.
I really like the Identification capabilities because the relics I'm finding generally have such and I can quickly weed out the nails and other junk iron most of the time.
Of course hunting in the All Metal Mode finds you all kinds of different objects but switching to the various useful discrimination modes is easy and faster than any other machine I have ever used.
It's also easy to change most all of the other settings within a few seconds once you get use to what is available for your use. I do recommend that you get the smaller coils and also wish it was had a TI capability.
I use the 9" most of the time but in trashy areas the 4" is a must. Even there you have the surface elimination function that will help get rid of those things you don't want to dig.
I've hit most coins here from 4 to 8 inches the smallest coin "Roman" is a mere 5 to 6 mm and sounds off just as well as the other's at the same depth.
The machine finds metal that's for sure,sometimes it finds to much and this characteristic needs a bit of experience to overcome.
If you hit a lot of targets you have to pay attention to the TI and Discrimination sounds and once you learn this you can even work in these areas with a high level of confidence that you know what's in the ground.
I like this machine and really happy with it now. But, like I said it does take a bit of work on your part to understand what it can do for you. That's why I rated it a 4. Otherwise it's a five in my book.
Nov 20, 2008
33 Yes
2 No
The best detector ever.
John Joyce in Dudley, England. -Hi, I had my garret 2500 three months now and I was a little upset with it at first, But after fully understanding the machine (With takes some time) It's the best, I know exactly what I'm digging.
Depth: This machine will go down to about 8 inches with Smaller than coin size, 16 Inches Coin size and 20 inches Plus for Large Metal objects. I dont like digging bigger holes than that as it takes all morning. (I did dig once down to 24 inches to find a Large aluminium bolt) I gave this hobby up as best finds are 2 - 10 Inches.
Imaging: The imaging is superb, But this takes some time to master, Basically upto 8 Inches spot on Deeper not so good, Will fluctuate when object not in centre of coil but once you have pinpointed the object it gives you a proper reading, Always a good idea to scan objects at 90 degress after found as can tell you wether its round or oblong like nails ect..
Coils: Superb range of coils, choosing the correct coil for the job is vital to what you want to find, Example Use Larger Imaging coil for deeper larger finds and smaller coils for shallower smaller finds, Use DD coils for Wet sand on beach and mineralised grounds, Use with the salt cancelation setting.
Discrimination: I always use all metal mode which is extremly sensitive when adjusted correctly in conjuction with Threshold, When target is found the discrimination indicators at the top of display will tell you the conductivity of the object also is more presice with coil centred on object, I also flick between custom discrimination and weed out unwanted objects on site.
Pinpointing: Excellent, but you need to start this slightly away from the object as will cancel signal if right above to start with.
Surface cancellation: Works great on trashy areas, Also advise smaller coils in these areas as multiple targets can make the display iratic.
Bad points (Not Many)
Weight, Not for the weeker person.
No backlight on buttons Needs abit of guess work in the dark. (Thankfully theres not many buttons)
Oct 20, 2008
28 Yes
4 No
Finds Coins in the Same Hole with Trash
TxCacheHunter in San Antonio, Texas -This is one great detector. I have been using it for about 6 weeks now and continue to learn more every day. The Imaging feature is great and can ID coins right in the same hole with trash. My last time out it detected a dime among several trash hits. I was able to zero in on the dime and dig it. In the same 3" hole I found a foil gum wrapper and a crushed bottle cap. All metal mode is very useful too in areas I can't swing the coil. I would definitely recommend this detector.
Oct 20, 2008
7 Yes
2 No
Garret 2500
George in Phoenix,AZ -
I purchased my Garret in May of this year and I can't understand why my old bounty hunter 505 will pickup smaller and deeper targets, for a $1000 this unit should have alot more detecting power, even with both units in all metal mode, the Garret has alot of nice features but what really counts is its ability to detect small and deep targets which it does not do, my next unit will be a minelab never another Garret Really old technology that does not perform!!
Oct 04, 2008
20 Yes
10 No
Garrett GTI 2500
sanakin in italy -I have gti 2500 supreme
I'm from Italy, I found gold spoon weight 15g gold 24k
11 coins metal rame medieval Roman coins 3 gold sesterzius weight 6g 24k
and total 340 euros on the beach 1€ 2e 20cent 50cent coins
found medieval arc axe
Sep 10, 2008
13 Yes
32 No
Second top of line garrrett.
Allan Brounstein in Regina,Saskatchewan,Canada -I had the older version of this forget the number..1000?? I wanted to get back into the hobby so went with the 2500.
I am in Canada and our coins are pretty close to junk so its discrimination is not as spot on as it would be with american coins.I dig some trash but better to dig some than to miss some good stuff.
I am getting more used to the detector. Found a buddy last week that had same one from another city staying at my lake and he really helped me out. We had a lot of fun finding things. Had a decent day .Each found a ring. My ring was not that great but day before found a nice gold ring. Didn't find really old coins but we weren't hunting really old areas.
The pinpointing works very well. The voice is great I really like it. The imaging is usually very accurate for depth and size of the object.
Detector is a bit heavy. Bought this accessory called swingy thing and going to try that out. Also think I put a gun or guitar strap on my old garrett detector. Could always do that. I am gettting used to the weight though and hunting for several hours is no big deal. Taking off the battery pack can help a bit. And you can play with what hole the rod is in as well.
I don't understand some of the really bad reviews. They must have had dud detectors. Mine is working great. My old one also had no problems with it. I had a minelab something or other think excalibur and that thing was super heavy. Not very easy to use either. Basically no discrimination from what I remember.
I may try the other non imaging coils out at some point. I don't understand why garrett can't make the sniper coil image.That would be great.
The only real improvement I can see over the 2500 would be if you could get actual xray type imaging of the object in the ground and that technology is likely a ways in the future.
I really don't see any cons for this thing.Its pricey but like the features. Voice to me is not a gimmick. It keeps me company! LOL
Just wish could change the voice like on my gps. And even sexier australian accent girl like on my garmin would be even better.
Aug 16, 2008
20 Yes
3 No
Finally got a good one
Richard in alltown America -After going through two of these and a bad 10x5 schorcher coil Garret finally sent me a good detector! How amazing, pretty good service from garret but I should not have had two bad detectors in the first place. Garret needs to look at there quality control more closely. But the service dept. replaced all of my bad equipment, now that I have one that is working properly I am fairly impressed with this green machine, it has really good depth better than my fisher coinstrike but they are both very good detectors. I think most all high end detectors work about the same it is just the features that are different, this green unit really discriminates out the trash very well, one thing about a more expensive unit is that they will pickup much smaller targets at greater depths, just the other day I found a piece of metal at over a foot with my five year old bounty hunter 505, but the green unit will pickup a lot more targets that the B H will miss if your unit is not doing better than your bounty hunter then send it in for a retune. I have read reviews about the green one not detecting very deep, mine does very well to my surprise, after all the initial problems I had with Garrets machines I am now very satisfied with there product.
Aug 11, 2008
10 Yes
2 No