Garrett AT Pro Gold

Anyone tried one of these shallow water machines?

Yes, what do you want to know?

Tom had tested one earlier this year and Keith Southern has one. Between the 2 of them a lot of info has been published.

Thanks I'll do a search

This was on the AT Pro... but not the AT Gold.

Try the AT Pro/Gold forum @ FMall. Thats where the most info on the AT Gold is currently.

A lot of the reviews on the other forums are by selected tester. Some forums only allow positive comments also. So take what you read with that in mind. Watch for a lot of positive feedback from one person. that should tell you something.


Tom in SC

Thanks for the advise.

TManly......you certainly described that forum to a 'T'..................so thats where TManly comes from?

The ATPro/Gold forum is more like a "show/tell" forum. Your really going have to dig to find any technical info there.

The only reason I'm asking is that in the past 2 years I've had a need for a water proof machine to hunt shallow water. I could go with a tesoro or some other brand but tones have become a very important feature to me. The all metal tone feature in my eyes could be a very good help.

If you have decided that one of the AT units is what you want, then the AT Pro would be my choice. It has a lot more options as far as the setup. It can be used on dry land with fairly good results. I have not seen those
really deep targets but the unit is fast and after they upgraded the seal, it seems to be a solid unit. I would suggest also getting the new 5x8 coil that comes with the At Gold. It is now available for the AT Pro.
It is great for trashy areas and also for working in tight areas in water such as around rocks and stuff. the unit is light and can be used for long periods of time. Go to Youtube and search for the unit, then send a PM to the users and ask what their thoughts are. The price is a lot better than some of the other high end water machines and is kinda user friendly. I have had both but now only have the AT Gold. I wanted the higher Frequency to
hit those smaller targets in small creeks and streams. I like the all metal and chatty resonse of the unit as I like to hear everytthing. I have never used a Tesoro so I can not compare it to them. Also go to Kellyco and select each unit then do a compare on the site. It will list the specs for each for you to see. Then just decide which options you like the best. Good Luck

Tom in SC

Yes I would love to try the new smaller blunt tipped DD coil for the AT-PRO....


I want to try out an AT-GOLD and hope I get to sometime in the near future......I have my reservations about it...High Freq machine's in my red clay suffer greatly in depth...

Watching a couple of online vid's if the unit makes me worry somewhat about the machine's ability to work iron......

One vid in particular shows a guy Prospecting for gold and every hit is high tone till he get's close to the target??????Not sure what mode he is in ...He might be in all metal iron disc on? not sure...but if it falses on iron that bad in disc mode it would be a nightmare in relic site's.....

I can recommend the AT-PRO to any one with severe ground minerals...If you are looking for a tone I.D. machine....I like the advantage of setting your tone break.!!! Big Plus for serious site analysis
I have gotten so used to the iron grunt's now that FT and Garrett offer that I wonder how I have ever gotten along with out it for so many year's....

I would personally think the PRO is going to be a better all around unit for coin's and relics' and even jewelry..The AT-Gold is in my way of thinking going to be alot like the Gold Bug hot on very small low conductor's and not so great on deeper high conductor's....

The AT-Pro for some reason seems to be hot on all items if the sizes are the same when comparing them....It will hear a wadded up piece of foil as deep as a say silver dollar...The depth is not in the stratosphere on item's but it is very usable stable depth.....It wont airtest like a F-75 LTD/S.E. what does? but once it hit's the mineral dirt they a very close....in good dirt I would opt for the F-75 all day....in bad dirt thing's become tricky if you are not inclined to use a Multi freq machine......

It's more like this if you want somewhat same performance people in good dirt see with the T-2 F-75 get a AT-Pro and it works as good as them in bad dirt and from my ongoing test maybe a little better....In good dirt get the depth demon F-75 Backmodel S.E.

Don't think the AT-Gold will be as deep as the AT-PRO it is a specialty machine geared for nugget's and occasional Coin seeker....the AT-PRO is geared right foe coins and relic's.....with great depth...

The AT-PRO offer's a whole lot of performance for the money....It has the right features to get the job done if you take the time to learn what it is telling you and hunt wisely with it.....Dont make it into something it aint....It just a solid design with first class audio that has potential to become a cult detector in the years to come...

I can see it now....People searching the internet trying to find the AT-PRO with the extended shaft cam lock version serial number Such and Such LOL!!!!

Just my take

Keith

I GUESS I'LL WAIT UNTIL TOM CAN DO HIS REVIEW.

Would love to see this review also. I have read many bad reviews about the waterproof AT Pro, problems with quality issues and coils.

Many of you know my experience with the AT Pro from the day I got it until now ......Garrett has taken many of the problems with the early machines , and corrected them in the current batch of machines that they have been producing ..... A lot has to do with where you are detecting .....As Keith mentioned his area with the Red Clay and the fact that high frequency machines do not do well there .......I think for shallow FRESH water the AT PRo or Gold would do just fine .......Stay away from SALT water .....Do they work in Salt ? ...Yes ....Do they work WELL in salt ? ....NO ....... They will give you a decent signal down to the 6-8 inch range ......Others mention 12 inches but the star's would all have to line up and you would have to be on the beach where there is not a lot of trash around , and stay away from the WET SALT Sand ...... Freshwater you're good to go .......especially with the newer AT Pro's and AT golds .......Even the old ones come with a new 2 yr warranty if you have them upgraded for a cheap price .....Jim

Mark i have used the AT Gold on four water hunts so far and will answer any question if i can and will tell it like it is. So far can not find nothing i do not like about it. This hunting freshwater. I had the AT Pro but sold it, like the ATGold better.

is the AT GOLD waterproof? What did you like better compared to the AT PRO?

I would love to see your comparison of the two.
Have you done any air test between the two.
How is your dirt?


Frank in NH Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mark i have used the AT Gold on four water hunts
> so far and will answer any question if i can and
> will tell it like it is. So far can not find
> nothing i do not like about it. This hunting
> freshwater. I had the AT Pro but sold it, like the
> ATGold better.

The AT Gold is waterproof to 10FT just like the AT Pro. Has a true all metal mode, seems to be more sensitive to smaller gold like the Gold Bug Pro and G2. It also hunts coins as well as gold, seems to do well on high conductors. Nothing wrong with the AT Pro but having the AT Gold doing the same i found i did not need both detectors. Trying to keep my detector count under ten.

"Trying to keep my detector count under ten"

I've done it , but it was a struggle !!!.....Jim

I also hunt the red clay and have other sites with just moderate mineralized soil. The AT Pro is a good all around machine. I like it better than some $1,000+ ID machines.

It works good in trash. The overall balance is something to be desired though...the stock coil makes it nose heavy and the machine itself ain't easy to swing in chest deep water. I could water hunt with the Excalibur II that I had, for 6-8 hours and never feel fatigue. But 2-3 hours with the AT Pro would get me every time. I was hunting freshwater lakes with imported sand on the dry areas, and clay/rock bottom where the water is. I had to back my sensitivity down quite a bit but some machines won't handle it at all when they lower the lake levels in winter.

Keith said something I have noticed too. Even though in Pro mode there is supposed to be modulation audio...I've not been able to discern this. Seems like to me that it either gives a signal on something or it doesn't...whereas modulated audio would get weaker as it is deeper and louder/stronger if its shallow. I've had two of them and both were the same way. A minie ball at 4" sounds like one at 8" and then beyond that, no signal at all. I never have dug anything deep with mine. In the red clay, bullets topped out depth wise about 8-10 inches in Pro Zero mode. If used iron disc above 20, you couldn't pick the deeper ones up because they were reading about 30 on the meter. Red dirt causes things to do that (read as iron). I personally would like to try the AT Gold just for the true all metal mode to see how it handles relics in the red stuff.

If I were you Id get a used one for around $325 and send it to Garrett for the upgrade and have a new machine with full 2 yr warranty and still have less than $400 in it. They are cool machines but could be made better for balance and such.