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Like to talk to Keith about the at pro and at gold
- Thread starter Virgina
- Start date
I'm not Keith but I have hunted in that Culpeper dirt several times over the years. The strength of the AT Gold is the all metal mode on it. The AT Pro doesn't have a true all metal mode....instead all you can do on it, is run it in discriminate mode at zero discrimination. It's not the same as a true threshold based all metal mode. You are going to struggle a bit with the AT Pro up in Culpeper red dirt...it does okay on shallow targets...say 3-4 inches or less but otherwise you're just not going to see any depth with it and everything will sound like iron.
The Gold is going to get you more depth because of the all metal mode....but you're going to be stuck digging everything that makes a sound because anything past that 4 inch mark is going to ID as iron, and your top end depth is still going to only be 8-10 inches at best. Here is a video of Culpeper dirt and showing what the dirt does to a few VLF machines. The AT Gold is the 2nd machine used in the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frxqDw4W2OM
It is very very tough to find a workable VLF unit up there. If I lived and hunted there all the time, I would have a pulse machine of some kind. It's the only thing I've found to consistently work extremely well in that red dirt. A Whites TDI would be the most cost effective one to get and with it you can expect bullets down to 12-13 inches with a trained ear and keep in mind that it likes buttons better than bullets, so 13-14 inch buttons are not out of the ordinary with it. The only catch is...it's hard to tell bullets from nails via the sound...but brass and such is easy. It simply gives a high tone for brass and low conductors and a low tone for high conductors. But the deepest and best one for being able to tell iron from non iron is the Minelab GPX. It doesn't have to be the high dollar GPX 5000 either...the 4000 and 4500 will work the same and for a lot cheaper. Digging bullets and buttons with the GPX will put you easily into the 15 inch range as a newbie with one...and after you learn what a deep one sounds like, you will be able to push 18 inches with it set up tame and rather mild. But you're talking the difference between a sub $1k unit and a $2k unit used if you can find one for that.
The Gold is going to get you more depth because of the all metal mode....but you're going to be stuck digging everything that makes a sound because anything past that 4 inch mark is going to ID as iron, and your top end depth is still going to only be 8-10 inches at best. Here is a video of Culpeper dirt and showing what the dirt does to a few VLF machines. The AT Gold is the 2nd machine used in the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frxqDw4W2OM
It is very very tough to find a workable VLF unit up there. If I lived and hunted there all the time, I would have a pulse machine of some kind. It's the only thing I've found to consistently work extremely well in that red dirt. A Whites TDI would be the most cost effective one to get and with it you can expect bullets down to 12-13 inches with a trained ear and keep in mind that it likes buttons better than bullets, so 13-14 inch buttons are not out of the ordinary with it. The only catch is...it's hard to tell bullets from nails via the sound...but brass and such is easy. It simply gives a high tone for brass and low conductors and a low tone for high conductors. But the deepest and best one for being able to tell iron from non iron is the Minelab GPX. It doesn't have to be the high dollar GPX 5000 either...the 4000 and 4500 will work the same and for a lot cheaper. Digging bullets and buttons with the GPX will put you easily into the 15 inch range as a newbie with one...and after you learn what a deep one sounds like, you will be able to push 18 inches with it set up tame and rather mild. But you're talking the difference between a sub $1k unit and a $2k unit used if you can find one for that.
Thanks for the info really helping out. I'm mainly going to b hunting orange and spotsylvania va how u think the pro will do there just going to b able to hunt culpeper a few times so want a detector I can least go there with and b able to dig iv looked and the fisher 1270 to whts your thoughts on that detector in culpeper. And do u think the at pro will do me ok in orange and spotsylvania
The people ill b hunting with hunts with a whites mxt pro, nautilus 2ba, fisher 1270 and fisher f75 will I b able to dig with them with garret at pro don't want to go hunt a site and not b able to hear things they can whats y'all's thought on this ? Like I said b4 this is my first ever detector so this is all new to me and don want to spend a lot of money getting into it till I know this is somthing I really want to get into serious.
All of Culpeper is not bad ground...it's just in spots. At some of the DIV hunts, you will run into dirt that bullets will register well like they would in normal soil. But most sites in fields will have that powdered iron soil that is so harsh. Your best bet is simply a machine with a motion all metal mode for the bad ground and the ability to ground balance fast and often. Since this is the Garrett forum, the AT Gold would be much better than a 1270 or Nautilus in that soil...and then it would be good for hunting in disc mode in some of the better ground you have in Orange and Fredericksburg/Chancellorsville area. Just remember that in the Culpeper dirt, to not be expecting relics to hit and ID like they do in good ground.
Other great detector candidates would be the Teknetics G2, Fisher F75, DeepTech Vista Smart. Just to name a few.
Other great detector candidates would be the Teknetics G2, Fisher F75, DeepTech Vista Smart. Just to name a few.
Well that's why and where it is your decision to make. But who would you think would be better to listen to...a salesman in Florida who has never seen the red dirt of Culpeper, VA, or those who have hunted in it with both machines? That's what you gotta look at and weigh out. There's a big difference in mineralization types. What you have in Virginia is akin to powdered iron...it's like throwing a coin under a piece of rusty tin, and trying to balance out the tin to be able to detect just the coin. It is very hard to accomplish...many machines will operate in the red dirt...but it's what they don't see in the ground, that will make or break one...and most machines will read bullets/buttons and even belt plates as iron in the ground...and you'll walk right over it and never know it's there OR think it's iron. If you watched the video I posted in the first response, you see the Minelab CTX...that's nearly a $3,000 detector and it is doing the same thing....reading that button as iron, just 6" under the red dirt. The only way to hit it is in all metal mode...and that's something the AT Pro does not have.
What I have saw time and time again in Virginia, is people that are new to hunting in that soil will come into it with their detector setup like they would back home. They know that a minie ball will normally read like a pulltab or zinc penny on their machines...so that's the signal they are listening for in the red dirt. They may walk around all day and never dig anything....and they get frustrated and say that the site is hunted out. I can't tell you how many people have approached me in the field and made that comment. Then they see somebody digging bullet after bullet...and try to horn in on their spot. So they inch closer...and still don't get those signals they are listening for. Finally out of desperation and frustration, they will ask "hey, if you don't mind, the next time you get a signal that you think is a bullet..will you call me over and let me listen to it?". And when you do...they come over and run their machine over it...and usually hear nothing or hear a broken iron signal. They say "that's iron..." and then you let them listen to it on the detector you're running...and dig it...and there's a bullet or button. It totally blows their mind. It's then that you can see them reliving each signal they passed up that sounded just like that one....and trying to figure out if what they just saw was a fluke. Then when you let them listen again...they begin tweaking. Some with all metal modes learn what they need to listen for...others simply throw their hands in the air and say they can't get it.
What I have saw time and time again in Virginia, is people that are new to hunting in that soil will come into it with their detector setup like they would back home. They know that a minie ball will normally read like a pulltab or zinc penny on their machines...so that's the signal they are listening for in the red dirt. They may walk around all day and never dig anything....and they get frustrated and say that the site is hunted out. I can't tell you how many people have approached me in the field and made that comment. Then they see somebody digging bullet after bullet...and try to horn in on their spot. So they inch closer...and still don't get those signals they are listening for. Finally out of desperation and frustration, they will ask "hey, if you don't mind, the next time you get a signal that you think is a bullet..will you call me over and let me listen to it?". And when you do...they come over and run their machine over it...and usually hear nothing or hear a broken iron signal. They say "that's iron..." and then you let them listen to it on the detector you're running...and dig it...and there's a bullet or button. It totally blows their mind. It's then that you can see them reliving each signal they passed up that sounded just like that one....and trying to figure out if what they just saw was a fluke. Then when you let them listen again...they begin tweaking. Some with all metal modes learn what they need to listen for...others simply throw their hands in the air and say they can't get it.
Ok I understand that well that's y I turned to this form so I could talk to someone who has hunted in this type ground and I thank u for all your info pretty sure U made my mind up on the at gold so hunt culpeper in all metal mode and when hunting orange and spotsy I can use the discriminate mode correct and still do well
Indeed, if you go with the AT Gold, you will have the leg up on the other guys in Culpeper dirt IF you run in all metal mode there. The trade off is going to be in the better dirt you have available...the guys you hunt with that have an MXT, and F75 will have a bit of a depth advantage on you. BUT, the Gold runs at a high single frequency and that equals extreme sensitivity to small brass and such. So you may wear those guys out with brass finds in the better dirt...and will certainly have a big advantage over them in thick iron. High freq machines can see through iron pretty well and pull out goodies in amoungst it.
With the advent of other companies producing coils for the AT Gold...the playing field may be leveled a bit in depth. I believe the NEL company is producing a large coil for the AT Pro and Gold and some folks are giving good reviews about them.
With the advent of other companies producing coils for the AT Gold...the playing field may be leveled a bit in depth. I believe the NEL company is producing a large coil for the AT Pro and Gold and some folks are giving good reviews about them.
88junior
Well-known member
I live in North Georgia lots of red clay around here that's very mineralized and I use my AT-Gold 99% of the time on CW relics and coins and it seems to perform better for me than all other detectors I've used including some of the ones you mentioned your buddy's will be using it will go deep on small targets and even deeper on targets such as belt plates I also have the AT-Pro but I use it as my backup or loan a friend detector. The AT-Gold handles bad ground minerals better than any machine I've used and it does it without a boat load of chatter and EMI interference. In iron infested sites I run iron audio on all the time and pick out buttons and bullets through the nails and iron. I grant you I won't ever get rid of my AT-Gold heck I may even be buried with it. The all metal mode goes very deep and it gets you added depth over the AT-Pro. I had the AT-Pro originally and later got the Gold and am glad I stepped up to it. If I had to pick one detector out of all the ones being made today it would be the AT-Gold hands down, it just works for me and makes me one happy detectorist in what it finds for me that I had missed with 1000-1500 dollar machines.