My etrac and at pro comparison, suprised coming from a minelab guy

[coast2coast]

I bought my wife the at pro by garrett and me being a minelab guy etrac all the way I have to say the at pro is a great machine, i know they are 2 different beasts but i wanted to get others opionions who are minelab guys who have or used the at pro, i was just shocked at how great the machine was and im in no way endorsing any of the 2 products this is my opinion from using the 2 machines, and i still love my etrac and wouldnt trade it for anything I give the etrac a 10 and the at pro a 9 in my book i guess im just in awe over it lol

 

[Go-rebels!]

Hi coast -

What specifically do you find so appealing on the AT pro? I'm on the fence with this unit myself.

 

[hershey1]

You have a really understanding wife. If I bought myself a Cadillac and my wife a scooter I would have problems. People should buy and use whatever they want to. Anyone that has been in this hobby for as long as I have has used Garrett detectors. The only problem I ever had with a Garrett was the depth. That plus I think I have gotten more used to the tones of my Minelabs. I am amazed how some people can use so many machines well with all the different tones I wish I could do that but more power to those that can. I have noticed about all machines out today want to do a comparison with the E-Trac. Maybe people should compare the user and their experience not so much machine against machine. HH

 

[Southwind]

I think the E-Trac and AT Pro compliment each other very well. The E-Trac cover my need for a super deep coin machine and the AT Pro hits the gold that the E-Trac just can't.

 

[Bill_S]

I have both and to me the AT Pro is not bad but it is no where near as good as the etrac. I have done side by side comparisons while hunting in the field and the etrac hits deeper and has a lot better TID and depth. For the money the AT Pro is a good deal but if your looking for deep coins the etrac is the way to go. I have used the AT Pro and found two civil war bullets in one spot and then went back over it with the etrac and found a third deeper one right by where I dug the other two that the AT Pro couldnt see.

I tried to compare signals that were not good on these two videos. Not the easy ones......;o)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn5i4KwAy78

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3cifkzmVgg

 

[Shayne]

I think the E-Trac and AT Pro compliment each other very well. The E-Trac cover my need for a super deep coin machine and the AT Pro hits the gold that the E-Trac just can't.

I agree completely with Southwind - I have both. I use the eTrac for the dirt and the AT Pro for the beach. The AT Pro is not only waterproof, but it also sees small gold rings and chains that the eTrac can't.

 

[grouser]

I think the E-Trac and AT Pro compliment each other very well. The E-Trac cover my need for a super deep coin machine and the AT Pro hits the gold that the E-Trac just can't.

I agree completely with Southwind - I have both. I use the eTrac for the dirt and the AT Pro for the beach. The AT Pro is not only waterproof, but it also sees small gold rings and chains that the eTrac can't.

how small a ring are we talking here? I can live without the small gold chains but do not want to be missing rings,,,

 

[Shayne]

I think the E-Trac and AT Pro compliment each other very well. The E-Trac cover my need for a super deep coin machine and the AT Pro hits the gold that the E-Trac just can't.

I agree completely with Southwind - I have both. I use the eTrac for the dirt and the AT Pro for the beach. The AT Pro is not only waterproof, but it also sees small gold rings and chains that the eTrac can't.

how small a ring are we talking here? I can live without the small gold chains but do not want to be missing rings,,,

Don't get me wrong, I have found plenty of gold rings with the eTrac, but most of them were mens wedding bands and rather shallow. In fact, I hunted a small beach exclusively with the eTrac until I got my AT Pro in December 2010. When I was finished, that beach was cleaaaan - not a target to be dug. After receiving my AT Pro, I found one 36 gram 18K gold necklace and two ladies rings - sizes 5-7 - thin bands. All three targets were 8+ inches. I have also found several gold ear rings with the AT Pro - one with a 1/4 carat diamond that I thought was fake until ARA called and made me an offer when I sent the gold in for melt down. My eTrac is still my favorite machine, but the AT Pro has paid for itself 4X over - not too hard to do when gold is over $1450 an ounce.

 

[D&P-OR]

I think the E-Trac and AT Pro compliment each other very well. The E-Trac cover my need for a super deep coin machine and the AT Pro hits the gold that the E-Trac just can't.

You want a "compliment"---match up a Tek G2 with an Etrac.-----Now THERE'S a couple of detectors that compliment each other!---------IMO

 

[Shayne]

I don't know how you guys use multiple detectors all of the time. I just have the eTrac and the AT Pro and I sometimes have a hard time remembering the separate VDI readings. I won't even begin to talk about the tonal differences.

 

[sandnsea49]

Yesterday I found a small gold wedding band 1.7 grams. I think that's small and it was about 5" down, so the Etrac did well for me on the small gold.

 

[NH Bob]

I found the AT Pro an easy and interesting machine to use. It's on the edge of being a top of the line machine. Quality and software only need a slight upgrade and whala.
It's plenty deep and very sensitive. A good buy for the money

 

[Southwind]

Rings have never been an issues. The shape makes them pretty easy targets for any detector, what isn't so easy is the odd shaped smaller gold like crosses, pendents and earrings. Grab yourself a smaller earring or cross and test for yourself. I think you'll be quite surprised. I know I was.

 

[vanner]

Well that was an interesting comparison between the two detectors. I hold the ETRAC to be one of the pinnacles of metal detecting, but I have run an AT PRO for a few months now in order to get to know it and I would have to say to say that watching your demonstration of it was just so frustrating. That one you have is either faulty or you need to adjust your settings because I have never seen mine run that bad (and I still have one of the original falsing models, waiting for winter to send it in) Im in Aus and the ground mineralization over here can be pretty bad so I would doubt if even your soil conditions could account for what was shown.There may be others out there that can shed some light on what the problem was

 

[Bill_S]

Vanner you should make us a video to show us what one that is operating properly sounds like and how it reads targets. And not just the easy shallow targets. Let's see some real deep targets in tough conditions. I really would like to see that. If you read the description it says iffy targets. Most metal detectors can hit the easy targets with a good signal and I am sure if I just filmed the clear signals it would be a different story but that is not real life. I just filmed it like it was. If it would have beat the E-Trac then thats what you would have seen.

What settings do you suggest I adjust? It was ground balanced and running one notch from max. There's not much else that can be adjusted. Both of the AT Pros I have had act the same way. This is the second one I have had and believe it or not this one may be a little better than the first one. I had to send them both back because of problems. I think that is as good as it gets with the AT Pro or I got two bad ones in a row even after being sent back to Garrett. The one in the video was just returned from Garrett and seems to be working about the same. The truth is its not a bad detector but its not that good either.

 

[Smooth23]

Bill, coming from Michigan where the soil is 1000 times better than here in the ozarks, I'd have to say the people who experience outstanding performance with the atpro are probably coming from somewhere with much better ground conditions. I hunted with the Omega in Michigan, then when I got down here I noticed a dramatic reduction in depth and accuracy using that machine. I imagine it could be the same on the AT Pro. I haven't been too big a fan of garret detectors, they seem to all be designed for beginners and people who can't swing something a tad heavier.

 

[stasys]

Bill on your first video etrac gived iffy signal because you use discrimination-allot discrimination-without it signal would be clean or cleaner.

 

[NH Bob]

I'm on my 3rd one and asked them to send me a field tested machine. Took them 3 weeks to do it but mine runs quiet and smooth.

 

[NH Bob]

Only on the targets that hit on the disc. line.

 

[Bill_S]

Bill on your first video etrac gived iffy signal because you use discrimination-allot discrimination-without it signal would be clean or cleaner.

Yes you are right. I used a lot of discrimination on the etrac and somewhat on the AT Pro. I set them up this way in order to eliminate a lot of the junk signals. I will try to find a cleaner area and try both detectors with a lot less discrimination. Maybe just iron discrimnated out and see how they compare then. I still believe the E-Trac will out perform the AT Pro but maybe the pro will do a little better with less discrimination on. Sometimes in real trashy parks you almost have to have some discrimination going or you will be bombarded with a ton of trash signals from pull tabs, aluminum foil, can slaw, etc.