My early impression of the AT Pro after about 12 hours of hunting is that I'm pleased, and I'm finding it very intuitive to use.
A big thank you to forum sponsor Chuck Marcum at Indian Nations Detectors for taking care of me so well. He made me glad that the used unit I wanted to buy from him was already sold.
I know there have been some problems and defects with some of the ATs, I'm glad to say my AT Pro has functioned fine so far. I have one with the 511 serial number. A number of people have had problems with leakage when they put the AT underwater. I haven't submerged mine, nor do I plan to with my type of detecting. But the ability to use it in light rain, drizzle and snow without any type of environmental cover is a big plus to me so I'll be finding out down the road how well it does in that respect.
The way it unmasks non-ferrous among ferrous is THE strong point of this detector and in just a short period of time I can already tell that the AT unmasking ability is superior to any detector I've used so far. I've got an old site I've hunted with only moderate success that is a carpet of square nails. I'm looking forward to taking it there.
In addition to their own advancements, Garrett has appropriated from FT and other manufacturers a number of good features that Garrett never had before like modulated audio, 99 digital points of resolution, 40 of iron, large DD coil, etc. On a purely cosmetic note I'll add the color black as a good feature to my mind as well. I don't buy a detector based on looks but still I'm glad they didn't make it bright yellow...
Seems to have good depth although not as deep as the F75. I've found a good 10 coins at 6"+ so far with the deepest being a 1936 Buff at a measured 8".
But the F75's edge in raw depth is more than offset to me by the AT's ability to get good depth at slow, fast or anywhere in-between sweep speeds. With the AT you can swing at a faster speed when you want to cover ground or you can crawl over a target when you want to really investigate it.
I like the AT audio, but I wish it had that fourth tone that my Fishers have. I most often detect listening to everything under the coil, and to my ears the AT iron audio is not fatiguing to me on longer hunts like the F75 was.
I can say that I've gotten significantly less high tone iron falsing with the AT Pro than with either of my F series Fishers.
From my few hours of usage so far, the AT appears more stable and less EMI prone than my First Texas units.
Ergonomically, this unit is reasonably comfortable with a forearm cuff extension (like the Garrett Gizmo) attached. Without the extension, this detector is ergonomically lousy unless maybe you have the forearms of a midget.
My initial impression is that the ID on the high conductors is not as tight as with the F5 or F75. Depth reading is not as accurate as with my F5, a lot of that can probably be attributed to the fact that the AT gives depth in 2 inch increments instead of 1. My F75 TID always "lied" by an average of 2" deeper than actual depth on coins, but subtracting 2" it was reasonably accurate on depth.
As far as a low-high-low sound IDing bottle caps with the iron audio, I sure ain't seeing that. This detector seems to have the same trouble IDing caps that other detectors with DD coils do. I've hunted in a couple high bottle cap yards and it doesn't matter - shallow and new or inches deep and rusty - I'm not getting any low-high-low report. Not on bottle caps. Zinc pennies are another story, I get the low-high-low on most of the zincers I've found.
This is a small point, because there's nothing wrong with the AT's foam grip. But I wish Garrett would have given it the rubber grip that a lot of their older detectors have. I liked that grip when I had a GTP 1350.
A thing that really is a negative to me about the AT Pro is the "proprietary" headphone connection. There is no way to use your own non-Garrett headphones without an adapter which Garrett hasn't made available yet. And plugging and unplugging the headphones where you have to line up the pins and screw on the connector is more inconvenient and time-consuming than the usual plug-in, pull-out. Not to mention that the stock Garrett headphones are of mediocre quality and fit. As I write this, rumor has it that Garrett is going to finally start shipping adapters very soon so that should solve this issue.
I'm thinking that this detector is a keeper
and is definitely going to be my go to machine in the nail pits.
A big thank you to forum sponsor Chuck Marcum at Indian Nations Detectors for taking care of me so well. He made me glad that the used unit I wanted to buy from him was already sold.
I know there have been some problems and defects with some of the ATs, I'm glad to say my AT Pro has functioned fine so far. I have one with the 511 serial number. A number of people have had problems with leakage when they put the AT underwater. I haven't submerged mine, nor do I plan to with my type of detecting. But the ability to use it in light rain, drizzle and snow without any type of environmental cover is a big plus to me so I'll be finding out down the road how well it does in that respect.
The way it unmasks non-ferrous among ferrous is THE strong point of this detector and in just a short period of time I can already tell that the AT unmasking ability is superior to any detector I've used so far. I've got an old site I've hunted with only moderate success that is a carpet of square nails. I'm looking forward to taking it there.
In addition to their own advancements, Garrett has appropriated from FT and other manufacturers a number of good features that Garrett never had before like modulated audio, 99 digital points of resolution, 40 of iron, large DD coil, etc. On a purely cosmetic note I'll add the color black as a good feature to my mind as well. I don't buy a detector based on looks but still I'm glad they didn't make it bright yellow...
Seems to have good depth although not as deep as the F75. I've found a good 10 coins at 6"+ so far with the deepest being a 1936 Buff at a measured 8".
But the F75's edge in raw depth is more than offset to me by the AT's ability to get good depth at slow, fast or anywhere in-between sweep speeds. With the AT you can swing at a faster speed when you want to cover ground or you can crawl over a target when you want to really investigate it.
I like the AT audio, but I wish it had that fourth tone that my Fishers have. I most often detect listening to everything under the coil, and to my ears the AT iron audio is not fatiguing to me on longer hunts like the F75 was.
I can say that I've gotten significantly less high tone iron falsing with the AT Pro than with either of my F series Fishers.
From my few hours of usage so far, the AT appears more stable and less EMI prone than my First Texas units.
Ergonomically, this unit is reasonably comfortable with a forearm cuff extension (like the Garrett Gizmo) attached. Without the extension, this detector is ergonomically lousy unless maybe you have the forearms of a midget.
My initial impression is that the ID on the high conductors is not as tight as with the F5 or F75. Depth reading is not as accurate as with my F5, a lot of that can probably be attributed to the fact that the AT gives depth in 2 inch increments instead of 1. My F75 TID always "lied" by an average of 2" deeper than actual depth on coins, but subtracting 2" it was reasonably accurate on depth.
As far as a low-high-low sound IDing bottle caps with the iron audio, I sure ain't seeing that. This detector seems to have the same trouble IDing caps that other detectors with DD coils do. I've hunted in a couple high bottle cap yards and it doesn't matter - shallow and new or inches deep and rusty - I'm not getting any low-high-low report. Not on bottle caps. Zinc pennies are another story, I get the low-high-low on most of the zincers I've found.
This is a small point, because there's nothing wrong with the AT's foam grip. But I wish Garrett would have given it the rubber grip that a lot of their older detectors have. I liked that grip when I had a GTP 1350.
A thing that really is a negative to me about the AT Pro is the "proprietary" headphone connection. There is no way to use your own non-Garrett headphones without an adapter which Garrett hasn't made available yet. And plugging and unplugging the headphones where you have to line up the pins and screw on the connector is more inconvenient and time-consuming than the usual plug-in, pull-out. Not to mention that the stock Garrett headphones are of mediocre quality and fit. As I write this, rumor has it that Garrett is going to finally start shipping adapters very soon so that should solve this issue.
I'm thinking that this detector is a keeper
and is definitely going to be my go to machine in the nail pits.
