Good tips for ATX users !!!!!!

[Ron Lord]

I bought a Minelab Pro Swing 45 Harness works a lot better than Garrett's harness, and One good thing is when you get out of the water stick your coil up high into the air and drain all the water out of the shaft, this make your detector about 5 pounds liter.

 

[John-Edmonton]

Every time I flip the detector coil up to drain the excess water, people look at me like my metal detector is now broken because it got dunked in the water, and I am now going home in shame.

 

[Syd BC]

When leaving the water, I've now started to loosen the cams and collapse the shafts under water. Have not had any further problem with silt seizing the cams.

 

[Booty Hunter]

Make yourself a carbon fiber shaft. Here is my latest and easiest one. Minelab handle and cuff, modified, with a garrett end rod glassed on the bottom. Dont forget to clear the hole on the end so it drains with ease.

 

[stevewa]

Booty, how do you carry the control box?

 

[Booty Hunter]

Military suspenders, 1 inch strapping sewed around the unit, used the clips from my atx bag. Infinium DD coils.

 

[stevewa]

Thanks for the picture. Good looking setup.

 

[Slartibartfast]

wow! Great tip! I'm looking at my issue webbing right now in a new light...

 

[Dancer]

You got to wonder what they were thinking of. Coming out with the ATX technology, then mounting it on an armored tank. Booty you and a few others have done a great job of converting the Atx to recreational from. I'm no engineer, but something that performs that well, mounted that way, I just don't get it.
My above observations are only based on holding a Atx for 3 minutes, and comments that I have read. I own 5 machines, 4 of them Garrett's. And they have done me well.

 

[SoCalBeachScanner]

You got to wonder what they were thinking of. Coming out with the ATX technology, then mounting it on an armored tank. Booty you and a few others have done a great job of converting the Atx to recreational from. I'm no engineer, but something that performs that well, mounted that way, I just don't get it.
My above observations are only based on holding a Atx for 3 minutes, and comments that I have read. I own 5 machines, 4 of them Garrett's. And they have done me well.

I know exactly what Garrett was thinking with the ATX technology.

They had the tooling and molds from the Recon-Pro which greatly reduced the cost of producing a new product. The military didn't care about the weight of the machine and it was stored collapsed most of the time.

Garrett should have anticipated what real world users would think of the weight and other design issues with prolong use of the ATX, especially in a saltwater environment.

 

[Shayne]

Yeah - I agree....its a Recon-Pro.....and it was built to take the abuse of a military logistical system and hard field conditions. I am a retired Marine and have been responsible for damaging more than one piece of sensitive equipment throughout my career. Great machine, but over engineered from a commercial consumer perspective. I too modified my detector setup after seeing Booty Hunters rig. I presently own a CTX3030 and an XP Deus. A complete XP Deus shaft assembly is MUCH cheaper than anything you can get for a CTX, so I bought one and modified it to fit my ATX. Added a Caldwell bi-pod for stability when I set the detector down....not to mention that it serves to counter-balance the weight of the ATX coil. I sling the ATX control unit cross-body and off I go. The entire shaft and coil assembly weighs less than 3.5 pounds! Now, my legs get tired before my arm does! Note....I am still using the stock coil, just painted it for better viewing in shallow water.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

I like your set up, but do you have a coil cable extension ? How do you hook that short Garrett cable to the ATX box ?

 

[Shayne]

I would love to have a straight cable extension, but cant find one - 12" would be perfect - I am 6'-3" tall! Note that I have the cable stretched out and wrapped around the grip. That relaxed the spiral twist rather significantly. By slinging the control unit across my chest, the cable is just long enough to work, but make no mistake, it is NOT the best solution for someone my height. This setup would be perfect for a person in the 5'-8" range.