i own 3 Garretts at the moment, the ACE 350 i wont ever sell was my first detector, AT Pro had for a while now almost a year and GTI 2500 i picked up for a good price 2 months ago and just started using past fortnight.
I now swinging the AT Pro and GTI each time i go out, trying like mad to figure out how to use the GTI in a lot of ways AT Pro wins hands down as a better detector but one thing i noticed past few weeks is the 9 inch coil on the GTI is going deep to around 12 inches which is comparable to the AT Pro and when in a trash area using the GTI imaging allows you to pick coins out with ease at some great depth while missing most of the trash, but GTI is a lot harder machine to master than AT Pro.
With AT Pro i like to use the 5x8dd coil on it in the high trash areas, this can pick a coin out from trash a lot better than the stock 11 inch dd coil with only the loss of 3 to 4 inches in depth.
So yes both machines are fantastic, the AT Pro is missing larger coils like a 14 inch DD which would make beach detecting a lot easier yet the GTI has those larger coils, the salt elimination on the GTI lets you detect a beach with ease but with AT Pro you got to remember to ground balance when you go from dry sand to wet sand and from wet sand to surf.
Other thing GTI has that AT Pro is missing is Backlight, also i have the older GTI so i still have treasure talk on it, which allows me to detect at night without backlight. I do love using treasure talk.
If you ever get the chance to pick up a older second hand GTI to add to your stable of Detectors then do so, i got mine for less than half of the cost of a new one or a little less than i paid for my AT Pro.
