Going To Add An AT Pro To My Line Up Of Machines For A Water Hunting Unit, & As A Land Backup. A Few (I Mean A Bunch :biggrin: ) Questions...

[Critterhunter]

I can wade a little over belly button deep with my primary land machine chest mounted when I want to go water hunting, but I need a machine for those water days I want to go a bit deeper say to shoulder deep. Also would be a perk for land use on days it's raining or I'm in the odd mood to swing faster. On those days it'll come out for land hunts as well when I'm not using my other machine.

Can't beat the great low price of the AT Pro in a light weight dual purpose water/land machine. Besides the outstanding price for a water unit, the full function LCD screen and light(er) weight makes it a great land machine too to add to my line up as well. I don't see how many people can pass up a dual purpose machine at such a great price for those reasons, so sooner or later here (when I dig (land) or scoop (water) enough scrap gold weight) I'll be adding one to my line up of machines.

Oh, and the other big perk is the waterproof connectors so it's easy to change coils or headphones. I feel that's a must on a water machine for ease in swapping coils/headphones.

I'm a big fan of the Pro Pointer and now from what I've been reading of the AT Price along with it's super low price. Just blows my mind that Garrett makes such a low cost water unit that feature wise (weight/full function LCD screen) also makes for a great land unit, and we all know Garrett's warranty/customer service is second to none.

I must admit though that I've primarily just been superficially reading about field reports with it and haven't dived much into the features and other hardware/performance questions yet, so go easy on me here with all these questions I've got...

So a few questions if I may...

1) How long is the warranty on the AT Pro? Some water detectors have shorter warranties than their company gives for land units.

2) Any issues with leaking or other hardware problems now? I know early on they had a few problems that Garrett quickly resolved I think?

3) For land hunting, what kind of depth you guys getting on a silver dime (and using what coil)?

4) What kind of sensitivity does it have to fine gold such as thin gold chains? My current primary land machine that I chest mount to water hunt with will bang hard at extreme depth on the thinnest of gold rings, but it has problems with fine gold chains and tiny gold earings and such. I pretty much prefer not good sensitivity on that kind of stuff when land hunting as I've owned machines that had that ability in the past but were noisy for my tastes and had me chasing good sounding hits that turned out to be small pieces of foil or something. I prefer tiny stuff like that to sound bad or be ignored when land hunting for a smoother ride, since I'm primarily after gold rings and as said even the thinnest of those will bang hard/deep for me. But, for water hunting, I don't mind the small target sensitivity and would prefer it for the potential of thin gold chains and other tiny gold stuff, so I'm hoping the AT Pro has decent sensitivity to that stuff for water hunting, or at least better than the machine I chest mount to wade with. It's not a big issue if the AT Pro doesn't have fine gold sensitivity, because way I look at it most gold that is lost is in the form of rings, so that's mainly what I'm after. It would just be nice to know I'll hear a fine gold chain should I come across one when water hunting, but not a necessity.

5) How many tones does the AT Pro have and how detailed are it's audio traits to judge targets?

6) What is the VDI scale on it number wise, where does foil start, and do various coins above a zinc have separate ID #s so you can ID them? Not important to me for old coin hunting, as I don't trust high resolution on coin types and only want to know it's a coin if it's deep or say shallow but mixed in trash. Dug many silvers that read like other coins on machines in the past due to being worn, in trash, in mineralized soil, on edge, etc. I only ask about the coin resolution for clad hunting being able to skip say dimes and copper pennies and dig only quarters when I'm in the mood to do that. The only coin I really care about IDing (which I can on my primary machine) is zincs when they are around by the billions. Just mainly asking for the clad hunting thing.

7) Is the resolution high enough that nickels have their own VDI while all tabs read somewhat higher? Never thought this was that important until I owned a machine that could consistently put me onto old nickels at pounded out sites while avoiding all tabs. That requires a high resolution mid conductivity range in VDI (which I have and really like it for that purpose). This, like the higher coin resolution question at #6, is not of majory concern to me. Just curious...

8 ) How fast can you swing with it for those days land hunting when I want to pull it out to use when I'm in the mood to "just move" and swing faster? How's it's recovery speed at a fast swing? Recovery speed IMO is a non-issue if you use a slow machine so long as you have a good sharp coil and swing slow like you should. I'm just curious how it will recover between targets if I do feel in the mood to swing faster with it than my other machine for the day's hunt?

9) Does it tell you on the screen how mineralized the soil is? I would like that feature to finally get a solid # on some of my higher mineral sites and such that I can put hard figures on for comparisons to my other sites just for the heck of it.

10) What other features does it have that you really like?

11) How's the weight and balance?

12) What coil comes stock (size wise, DD or concentric?) and what coils are available for it....And are those coils featuring waterproof connectors for water hunting? And, which coil do you think is deepest for coin/ring sized targets...And finally, which coil is the most popular choice for working heavy trash on land?

Sorry for all the questions. I have to admit I haven't read heavily into this machine feature/hardware wise. Just mainly have skimmed threads on how it's doing in the water and on land for people over the past year here and there and have been impressed at it's ability for such a low price. Unheard of in a water machine (price wise), not to mention in a water machine that has a full function LCD screen so it's just as useful on land.

I've just been handed a bunch of detecting magazines, several of which feature reviews of the AT Pro. Just haven't had the time yet to read up on it's features/coils/etc in depth yet in them or on the net, so excuse my questions which I'm sure have some very obvious answers to them. Like I said, I've been mainly reading on the fringes about it here and there without diving into the details real hard (yet).

Thanks again!

13) Oh, three more things...What other machines do you own that you feel your AT Pro compliments in terms of a second machine for water or land use?

14) What's a good price on a used one should I decide to go that route?

15) Happy with the stock headphones? And are they waterproof? Not a big issue if they aren't waterproof, as I don't plan on sticking my head under water.

 

[larry_nj]

well all i have to say is "thank you critter,again,for asking questions i have been asking myself lately", thinking of going to an at pro also, price is nice but all i have ever owned is minelab so i am wondering what i will be in for,learning curve ? larry

 

[John-Edmonton]

#1 - Warranty is 2 years on detector

#2 - The leaking issues which some machines had were resolved, and everyone was asked to send the older machines for an upgrade. There are very few leaking issues at the moment, probably way less then average compared to all makes and models, considering how many and how fast they are flying out the door.

#3 - Depth on a silver dime can't be established, as the many variables will effect the final reading. Having said that, if set up properly, using either the 8.5" x 11" or 5" x 8"......you will get average to above average depth. It will meet and beat some detectors costing much more when coil size and ground conditions are similar using the same type of coil.

#4 - Finding gold chains is difficult for most detectors. Although I have found many rings and some chains (not gold chain) this year, using the sniper coil and 5" x 8" coil should give you a response. Whether or not the user will check out the signal will answer your question

#5 - Three tones....low tone=iron. middle = gold, pulltabs and tinfoil, high - copper silver and large iron

#6 - IDing with any metal detector isn't 100%, so as a rule from experience....metal (iron) will read from about 0-high 30's. Tinfoil in the 40's, gold & pulltabs 50's, bottle caps 60's and silver/copper in the 70's-80's.

#7 - gold and nickels give a softer audio signal, pulltabs give a harsher sound. The user must learn these tones. I can guess a nickel vs. a pulltab with about an 80% accuracy. Gold, as you know can show up in many places. My 22K ring I dug had a VDI of about 46, my wedding band 10K at about 55.

#8 - The AT pro's have excellent target separation. You need to swing at a moderate speed to get the best reliability out of the machine.

#9 - When ground balancing (using auto) you "DO" get a numerical value as per soil conditions.

#10) - Iron audio really helps IDing bottle caps made out of iron and read as a high tone. You have notching abilites to get rid of junk and without losing depth.

#11) - Compared to the GTI 2500 and GTI 1500, the AT Series are lighter. Comments from Minelab users indicate the AT Series are lighter.

#12) - Coils" - comes with the 8.5" x 11" . Accessory search coils - http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby_at_pro_searchcoils.aspx

#13) - GTI 2500 Good machine, great imaging characteristics, but lacks the great audio features built into the AT Series. Used to own a Minelab Musketeer, however, it wouldn't read Canadian Coinage and had a monotone

#14 - Stock headphones are OK....keeps the audio intact and do a good job protecting the user from outside noise. They are not waterproof, but I have dunked mine, and they continued working. Some AT users had upgraded to their typical favorite headphones. Garrett sells the jack to allow the user to easily switch headsets for land hunting.

#15 - $360.00 was the cheapest I had ever seen a used one go for. It had all the upgrades too with lots of warranty left.

For more information...click http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby_at_pro_main.aspx

 

[Sailorman]

The waterproof headphones, like all of them, are piezo electric and have a sound of their own. The stock headphones are OK but I have high range hearing loss and prefer using the adapter and my Rattlers on land.

Get the 5x8 coil with it. It is a very good separator in the junk and easier to swing in the water. Chatters less in salt water on my beaches. Very good pinpointing even without using the pinpoint button and doing the DD wiggle.

There may only be three tones but in Pro Mode those the way those three tones sound, especially combined with the iron audio when checking a target, have a lot of info in them. Hard to describe but for someone who is used to hunting by tones they will pick it up pretty quick.

Been using mine for a year and it's been dunked many times and used in the rain, no leaks!

 

[markg]

For the price a very good choice.
Take your time.
Start in Standard mode then go to Pro Mode after getting a few hours hunt time.

 

[Forrest Mc]

#4 I picked up this very fine gold chain in a bark chipped tot lot. I was running in Pro Zero, 33 iron disc, and down 4 steps on sensitivity to get closer to poles with the 8.5x11 DD coil. It was running quiet in my estimation, but did hit on some foil.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i275/golfforedoe/IMG_1320.jpg

 

[Critterhunter]

Thanks to all for answering some questions for us potential newbies to the AT Pro, and glad at least Larry was also looking for some of the same answers to questions so it was useful to at least some to ask.

Wow, that's a thin chain. Don't care about fine gold chain sensitivity on land as I'm only after gold rings and my machine will hit the thinnest of those deep, but for water hunting I'd prefer the fine gold chain sensitivity so I can have the potential to scoop those, since using a long handled scoop is so easy to do anyway. Don't care if it's the best at fine gold chains, just that it will hear some where as my other water/land machine won't when water hunting.

Just checked the link posted about the Garrett coils. Thanks for that. Wow, Garrett sells their coils pretty cheap. Cheaper than aftermarket coils for other machines. Also glad to see that tiny 4.5" coil, because when I want a small heavy trash coil I want the smallest round coil for that. Sure, for a land coil I prefer a 12x10 because it's an attempt to increase separation while still increasing depth, but in a trash coil I prefer round myself for max separation. I know adding length helps to maintain some depth, but in my mind that's at trade off on separation in the very thing I'm trying to do by using a heavy trash coil. That's why I prefer a round/tiny coil for heavy trash myself, but I know there are some excellent odd shaped trashed coils out there too. Just MO...

I see they have a few concentrics...Anybody prefer those over the DDs? I used to be a big concentric fan over the years but these days I like a DD for both it's depth in bad ground, it's coverage, and also it's left/right separation from shallow near the coil to all the way deeper. Still wondering which coil people tend to think gives them max depth on a coin sized target? I know that's soil dependent somewhat (as a concentric in more neutral ground might do very well, but in higher minerals it can suffer).

Glad to see it gives a number for what the ground balance was set at. That should be useful to gauge how bad the ground is. Also glad to see it's got a manual ground balance too because I'm not a fan of conventional auto tracking as that can cost you depth IMO. I prefer to set it and lock it. The only "auto" ground balance I don't mind is what the FBS and BBS machines use, as that is using a very unique way to deal with the ground signal that won't track out deep targets.

Again, thanks for all the answers and any future opinions/info. I just started reading a review of the AT Pro in one of the magazines in a pile I was given, so I'm picking up on some of the features I never really looked hard into before. Primarily my exposure has just been skimming threads to see what kind of finds guys are making on land and in water. That's why all the questions. Thanks again...

 

[Critterhunter]

Oh, got another quick few coil questions...Are all of the Garrett coils featuring a waterproof connector? And are there any aftermarket coils being made for it...And do those also have a waterproof connector, or can you buy the connector from Garrett and are people splicing it to aftermarket coils for use in water?

So with the headphones you can buy a connector from Garrett, eh? Is that connector a waterproof one so you can splice it to whatever headphones you want? Many guys who water hunt don't even use waterproof headphones because their head is never under water, but just the same you'd want the connector to be waterproof as obviously that's going to be under water.

Still confused too about what headphones come with it? Are they waterproof, or is that an option to buy from Garrett? And if the stock ones aren't waterproof is the connector waterproof, or do you need to buy their waterproof ones to have a waterproof connector?

I've got no problem slicing and dicing connectors for coils or head phones because I have a background in electronics and solder stuff all the time. I'm just mainly curious what type of plugs come with what, and if there are aftermarket coils and if they feature the plug, or whether you can buy it?

 

[Sailorman]

All connectors are waterproof except the female end of the headphone extension which is a standard 14" jack.

No aftermarket coils.

Stock headphones not submersible.

No separate plugs available that I can find, yet.

 

[MikeLab]

Critter, not trying to put down other brands, but I was using a Sov before I got the AT Gold. Have not used it since. Been finding deep silver in the same places I hunted before several times. It is so much faster--maybe twenty times. Yes, I missed the variable tone at first, but not now. Especially the high tone it will pick out coins from junk so nice.

 

[Diggin-it]

You can buy Grey Ghost waterproof headphones with the proper AT-Pro waterproof connection...and not spliced. I have a pair and they sound great compared to the blue waterproof AT-Pro headphones!! They are more expensive but WELL worth the extra $$. As far as the stock headphones, I have taken many waves over the head, and accidentally dunked them twice...they are still working.

 

[tincanalley]

Critter... I'll add my two euros

I've had the AT Pro for about 5 or 6 months now but with the passing of my father about that time and taking care of a lot of things, I haven't been able to get out with it very much. I have hunted a good bit in my own yard and field beside my home with it and have found very little that my CZ3D didn't clean up. I have TONS of rusty nails in my property and I really got tired of listening to all of them with my CZ, so I tried the Pro. With it I can turn off the iron audio until I have a target that I thinks needs futher study. To be honest, you can do the same with the CZ3D, but it's tendency to false so much on iron still carries the falsing over when disc'ing out iron. Thus you hear a lot of falsing iron being carried over into the accepted target positions, and don't know if it's really a good high tone or a false high tone leaking thru the disc.

Something I like about the Pro is that you can hear iron and mid/high tones at the same time, kind of like hearing different tones togather on your Sovereign, but just not as many tones as the Minelab has. I don't know if it's working like the Sovereign and Excalibur in that their 17 different freq are giving them the ability to differentiate mixtures of metals, but I can say that with the Pro I like being able to tell if there's iron mixed in with a good target instead of just falsing. I've read Chives books on this and his teaching is that the Minelabs are able to tell you if a single target has multiple metals in it. ...at least that's how I read it. I think that's why you can pick up on bottle caps pretty quickly with the Pro as it will give you a mid or high tone (I forget which one) mixed in with an iron tone. I hear tell the Minelabs are supposed to do even better.

Another thing of interest I've noticed on the Pro is the quicker you swing over a target, the deeper it will detect it. Now I'm seeing this when air testing different targets, and am only going to assume that it's true also in the soil. Someone else may be able to add to this and correct me if I'm wrong. If I'm right, then you'll probably start seeing a lot of AT Pro users swinging the dickens out of their detectors

Small gold chains will air test on mine with the 6x8 or larger stock coil about the same, which is about 3 inches, and if I swing the chains past the coil fast, I can get up to another inch sometimes, so 4 inches on a gold chain is very fine for me as most detectors will ignore them completely. Again, this is air testing, but I will be giving my Pro a good workout at the beach, so I'll try to report back afterwards.

I do wish the Pro had more numerical IDing than it has as your discussion about the 180 Minelab meter. With mine, the square pull tabs come in around 53, and my gold rings are coming in from 50 to 55, so I can't disc out the square tabs without loosing the majority of rings. The Pro has 10 notch windows beginning with 40 on the scale (beginning after iron) and go up to 90, in increments of 5 points each. I would rather have the ability of having the 10 notch windows of 2 points each and go from about 40 to 60. I would rarely if ever notch out anything above 60 anyway, and Iron on (or is of off?) would take care of everything below 40. So I feel the notches cover too much real estate as it is. Don't know if there's a way to mod it or not to get smaller notch points per notch. Would probably require a bit of programing, I'm sure.

Other than the weight is very good for swinging, that's about all I the info I can help with right now. As I said, I'll try to remember to add some more info soon as to how well it does on the beach in dry, wet sand and in the salt water, and how well it does in trying to find some gold chains. If it does phenomenal, you'll never hear from me again

Au Revoir,
Tincan...

 

[Critterhunter]

Thanks again for all the responses. I did search and saw that there are no aftermarket coils such as the SEF coils. Sad at that, but then again the Garrett options look to fill my needs and as said it's primarily going to be a deeper water machine for me farther than I can wade with my chest mounted primary unit when land hunting. And to use on land on days I'm in the mood to swing faster while either working heavy trash, fastly clad hunting, or to scout the woods quickly looking for areas of activity I can always come back to later after I've worked it with the AT Pro when found.

I'm still confused about the stock headphones. I gather they are not waterproof, but the connector to the machine is, correct? If that's the case then I'm good to go, because I'll only be wading neck deep at the most with it and don't really need the headphones themselves to be water proof. Just want to make sure the plug connection under water is?

Far as the depth on land. I'm being honest here, but I've owned a ton of machines over the years and every single frequency machine I've owned that had a Khz of about over 8 did not get very good depth *in my soil*. My soil ranges from neutral, to mild, to higher mineralization. I do not need or expect this machine to match my primary machine in depth *in my soil*. Nor do I expect it to separate better, as I find a sharp coil like the 12x10 has done wonders beyond belief in left/right separation to unmask targets.

I'm simply, for land use, interested in it's ability to swing faster while still separating on those odd days I'm in the mood to "get up and go" and swing faster when working heavy trash. Don't expect to unmask stuff I can't right now, when sweeping slow and using the 12x10 or the Sun Ray 5.5" coil, I just want to be able to swing faster on those odd days on land when I've drank too much coffee and just want to run.

Also, as said, for land use when it's raining without the need to muck with plastic bags to protect my primary machine, and also to quickly scout large areas or for fast "dig and move quickly" fast clad hunting days. Those are my primary reasons. As said, for water, I can wade above my belly button by taking my primary machine off the shaft and chest mounting, but after I've grided that deep I'll break out the AT Pro to work the water deeper.

My main reason to buy one is to wade deeper when water hunting. The added land hunting abilities for various fast swinging situations (where I either want to swing fast that day in trash, or would like to swing faster to scout the woods or a large open field faster for faster location of areas of activity) are just icing on the cake for me. Those two things (land/water use), combined with the super low price, are my motivation for buying one. I don't look at it as a replacement for what I have now, but rather as added complimentary abilities in certain respects where it has strengths (speed/water proof) that my primary machine doesn't on certain days.

PS- Oh, and the more sensitivity to fine gold chains for water hunting is also a plus to me. The machine I use chest mounted to water hunt will bang even the thinnest of gold rings super deep, but it won't even see thinner gold chains due to the nature of their construction (not being a larger intact loop like a gold ring). That feature too, even if it's not the best of fine gold chain machines on the market, is still a bonus to me compared to the abilities I have now for thinner chains in the water. For land hunting I prefer a machine not to be so "sensitive" to finer gold, as I've owned those and they made for noisy hunts and me chasing small bits of foil that I want to sound sick and not solid, if not ignored completely. On land I'm primarily after gold rings, as IMO that's what is most lost in the form of gold. But for water, sure...Give me all your can hear so I can easily scoop and hope for a fine gold chain or tiny gold earing.

Thanks again for all your help. Soon as enough of my next pile of scrap gold or silver piles up I'll be using it to buy one, as I like what I see and hear so far!

 

[tincanalley]

Critter...

The headphones and the coil connection to the box both look identical to me IIRC. ...and they're both sealed with O rings, thus waterproof. They would have to be for the machine to be waterproof. But the regular headphones are not waterproof. You can buy waterproof headphones from Garrett for this machine, at least I am pretty sure I have saw them advertised.

I retested several bigger rings tonight and some have gone up to an ID of 65-67, with the lowest thin rings so far down about 43-45, so there's a pretty big window for rings to show up with the Pro. ...and I'm sure there are exceptions even to this. I tried listening very closely to pull tabs and gold rings. Once in a while a ring would move up to the high tone just for a bit. It might be the copper that's mixed with the gold that's causing it to want to give a high tone. It's not always like this, so it's not happening enough to rely on, but I never could get a pull tab to give a high tone peep.

I believe the AT Pro is a very good machine for the price, but it is not the cats meow of metal detectors. Owning one is like having a good adjustable wrench in your tool box. ...if I'm in a hurry or not sure what size a nut might be, I'll tell my pardner that it looks like an adjustable wrench size It might not be the best wrench for the task at hand, but it will certainly get the job done most of the time if you know what you're doing.

 

[matthias]

Hey Critter. I think you know I picked up a Garrett AT Pro earlier this summer. I love it. I feel it really compliments my GT and DFX. IMHO the AT Pro is really a hot detector. I have 3 coils for it and a Pro Pointer. Highly recommended detector. Good luck and HH. Matt