To all you new to the AT series of detectors!!

[88junior]

Guys I know a lot of you folks have recently bought these detectors after watching the television show called Diggers. I had a AT -Pro before the show came out and am here to tell you that if you take the time to learn these detectors and their capabilities you won't regret it but if you plan on going out and finding items like they find on the show good luck with that. You have to realize they are hunting spots that us ordinary treasure hunters don't get to hunt even though they are saving historical artifacts they don't get to keep what they find. I had a AT-Pro shortly after they came out and didn't give it a chance and got rid of it. That was one big mistake I made! I later had the opportunity to try another and I did and now boy am I happy I did my good finds now out weigh my trash finds ten fold. The AT-Pro and AT-Gold are two very capable machines for any type of hunting you do. I own both and they are the two best detectors I have ever used in my 20 years of detecting, and I have used a boat load of different detectors. So this is the jest of this post if you get a AT-Pro or AT-Gold don't throw in the towel on it till you have at least 40-80 hours on it. Good Luck and Happy Hunting!!

 

[Indotguy]

I've never watched the TV show but I do own an ATP. I've had great fun with mine and recovered a decent haul of clad and some nice silver. There are other machines which go deeper, but the ATP can still find lots of good stuff if you swing the coil over it. The key to digging keepers is learning your machine and finding good sites.

 

[PKB]

Give it 6 months and there will be a slew of them used for sale from people giving up. LOL

 

[Stix]

Give it 6 months and there will be a slew of them used for sale from people giving up. LOL

All the better for the capable people here. We will snatch them up.

 

[jbr13]

I have to admit, if it wasn't for Diggers, I may not have gotten the AT Gold. I got a Tesoro Cibola a few years back, and have enjoyed it, but I was looking to upgrade. I was thinking about another Tesoro with a display and VID. I had already seen a few episodes of diggers, so I decided to check out what they use before buying the new Tesoro. I am glad I did, the ATG is more what I was looking for than the Tesoro!

I have had the machine now for almost 2 months, and probably have 50 plus hours on it. I am still learning the machine, but finds are better and I am loving the ATG!!!


Jason

 

[MIsilverseeker]

"Diggers" is the biggest detriment there is to this hobby. Have you ever noticed how fast the pin pointer starts chirping? I'll go so far as to suggest their targets are planted. I would like to believe these are two nice guys that are being paid to act like idiots. I will not watch that program ever again, and I didn't buy my AT Pro because of it.

 

[David-Edmonton]

One of the episodes showed them digging out this piece of jewelry which had several holes in it by design. It looked near brand new. Normally, those holes would have been caked with dirt/mud and would require cleaning to get it to look the way they showed it on the show. Here is an example of a broach that shows the holes in its design. Of course, it isn't the exact design of piece of jewelry that was on the show but just an example. I'd say that the show is fixed. It's all just entertainment. Once I saw them pull that jewelry out I knew there was no way it wasn't fixed. I believe this was from one of their first few episodes.

 

[88junior]

Give it 6 months and there will be a slew of them used for sale from people giving up. LOL

All the better for the capable people here. We will snatch them up.

You Got That Right Stix and PKB!! I wouldn't sell mine for what they go for new after the finds I've made with it. You know the goal to being a successful treasure hunter is to make in finds what you actually paid for your detector, I see me easily achieving this with my AT'S within a short amount of time!!

 

[anvilmanco]

One of the episodes showed them digging out this piece of jewelry which had several holes in it by design. It...............................................


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I just replaced the can of air freshener in the office bathroom with an air horn. And now we wait...

( This is what I wanted to respond to. For some reason this really cracked my funny-bone. I may have to do that, myself. That about made me fall off my chair, when I read it. Good one!)

 

[marcomo]

I don't think the finds are planted on Diggers, they don't have to be. The producers edit the filming they want to show. If they go to a site and nothing worthwhile is found, it won't show up on TV.

I've had my AT Pro for two years now and think it's an excellent detector. It's an easy and fun to use machine that does the job well and I have no plans to stop using it.

But I will admit I'm less enthusiastic about the detector and Garrett since they decided to pony up for product placement on that ridiculous TV show.

King Dufus and The Dorkmaster act like total fools, but that's not what really irks me.

Diggers gives non-detectorists the notion that there is a way higher percentage of really valuable stuff being found in the ground than reality, but that's not my issue either.

What really, REALLY bothers me on the few episodes I watched was that this stupid show couldn't be bothered to spend even a few seconds showing proper retrieval techniques.

I understand the show is for entertainment, and making it too educational/instructional would be a turn off to most viewers. But I don't think 20-30 seconds per episode dedicated to showing the right way to remove a find from the ground and proper detecting etiquette would hurt the ratings. That would still leave the rest of the show for jumping in trees, falling on the ground, having moronic competitions, etc.

No doubt Garrett is fattening their bottom line by selling quite a few future dust collectors to newbies who will expect treasure to jump out of the ground like it does on Diggers. I know I've had more strangers come up to me to discuss detecting in the last year than all my previous years combined.

But the long term ramifications are negative for all of us when a show irresponsibly promotes detecting without any mention of the right way to do it.

 

[bigboar]

I may be in the minority but I like the "diggers" . I find their antics funny and dont see them as being a negative to the hobby at all. They bring in archaeoligists when needed (hatfield & mccoy episode), they work with museums. Also, when I was deciding on getting an atgold I contacted them on facebook and asked them why they had started using the gold instead of the pro. I received a quick reply with their thoughts. In my book two super nice guys who act a little goofy so the show isnt boring and I would love to go on some hunts with them. Not trying to start an argument as everyone is entitled to their opinions and there is nothing worng with that.

 

[unluckylester]

I agree with bigboar. Also, if you don't like the show don't watch it. There's no reason to bash two guys that love metal detecting. It's obvious they really love metal detecting, and they get paid to do it. No different than the many people on youtube showing their hunts.(nuggetnoggin, and beau) just to name a few. They aren't professional actors or metal detectorists...Did you see The Ringmaster has his coil wire wrapped around his shaft the worng way? BIG DEAL! IT's FUN. Thanks bigboar for spelling "wrong" wrong That's awesome. Even better if you didn't try to, there's nothing worng with that.
Les

 

[David-Edmonton]

I'm not really diss'ing the show. At times, I do feel that some of the finds are staged. Some of the finds are just too clean. It is entertaining for what it is. I'd like it more though if they stop with that "juice" and "nectar" nearly ever 2-5 minutes throughout the show though. The show does have some interesting moments of history. That's why I liked it and continued to watch all the episodes of season 1.

 

[bigboar]

I agree with bigboar. Also, if you don't like the show don't watch it. There's no reason to bash two guys that love metal detecting. It's obvious they really love metal detecting, and they get paid to do it. No different than the many people on youtube showing their hunts.(nuggetnoggin, and beau) just to name a few. They aren't professional actors or metal detectorists...Did you see The Ringmaster has his coil wire wrapped around his shaft the worng way? BIG DEAL! IT's FUN. Thanks bigboar for spelling "wrong" wrong That's awesome. Even better if you didn't try to, there's nothing worng with that.
Les

lol, that was an accident. its pretty funny looking at it now though...

 

[Mudd Dawg]

I love my AT Pro! After researching detectors online, what sold me was that no other detector company had more info on their detectors than garrett did on their website. The instructional videos were key for me to make a decision to spend that much money on a machine that I had not actually test driven like a car. They are always online free to reference at anytime on their website. I also read this forum for some time before making my decision to buy one, and through other online research, came to the conclusion that a lot of the complaints from people sounded like they just didn't take the time to study their machine before they used it for the first time. If you take it out of the box without reading the manual or watching any videos first and go detecting....you will probably be frustrated and disappointed.

 

[88junior]

Mudd Dawg you absolutely hit the nail on the head on Garrett being very informative on their line of detectors on their website and they also have very informative videos!! Where in North Georgia you located? We might be able to get together and do some hunting I'm from the Dalton Ga. area.

 

[Mudd Dawg]

Calhoun GA here!

 

[ajaj]

Never saw the show...seriously...I 'd rather be outside than watching the stupid TV. Oh, and reading this forum before I go to sleep!

aj

 

[Mudd Dawg]

Maybe we could get together and talk about it some time....not sure how to private message on here, but I`m sure we could figure it out.

 

[unluckylester]

I do think their finds are real. They do dig a lot of junk and i think they hold that true to metal detecting. Even several times they showed them getting duped by all metal detectorist's nemesis, the pull tab. I do think they edit it afterwards to make the best show available. maybe clean it up a little before they show it. But i think all the finds are legit. They have terminology to make it more fun for them. I agree it is a little overbearing sometimes. But overall I like the show. I will never use the word JUICE or CIV while detecting. But i do like "nectar sector" and "roundness in the hole", lol. I think they put a lot of time in to get enough findings for one show. Also, let's be real...They are given the best sites ever to hunt at. Who wouldn't want to metal detect Tombstone and the OK coral?