I hit a spot today with the At-PRO W/5x8 DD BT coil for about an hour

And I can honestly say that the unmasking ability of this set up is top tier.....

The place I was planning on hunting was too far of a walk today with the time I had so I ran by a spot for about an hour ...I had given up on it awhile back as the finds had dwindled to the last 2 times no non ferrous target's surfaced...Even with the top iron hunter's...

I wont state brands I see no need for that....

The settings were Iron disc 31,Sens wide open,Pro Mode,

I know some will say theres always more left in any spot and yes thats true...There always will be but you have to have the right tool after awhile.

Without entrenching a site sometime's they just become dead especially small areas...You start rememebring the rock's after awhile you have seen them so many time's going over the site's methodically...


Any how I spent an hour in here and nothing earth shattering was found but targets retrieved non the less in an iron blanket....Seriously there's no where to ground balance in here...it's a burnt down house site with carpet nails.

I ended up with 2 small cuff size flat button's, a pewter 4-holer button and the big surprise was the Cavalry Blanket roll buckle cover...you see the iron bar lying beside it,, it was in the hole with it...it was an iron grunt and high tone intermingled together in a very much conveying way...it was about 9 inches deep the iron was on top the buckle was under it about another 1inch or so....Again the tonal quality of this signal was beautiful...and had been swung many times over the year's...

I wont tell you what machine did not hear these small items and one severely masked item but I will tell you which one did dig it LOL!!!

thanks
Keith

Glad to see the success your having w the ATPro Keith, I was wondering if you even used one anymore as I haven't heard anything from you about it for a long time. I personally could never get the hang of the audio myself.

I've been enjoying the DEUS in the iron myself.

Yes Aaron the audio is the breaker for some..either you love it or hate it...

I was finding better machine for most sites till I got the small coil as an accessory...

I really like it ....Kudo's to Garrett for designing a small version of the stock coil.....Are you listening Fisher?

The AT-PRO come's into it's own with the small blunt tip DD 5x8...I wish they would get a small coil for the DEUS...I am afraid thats going to be the Achilles heel for us here in the States when working a more modern 200 year old iron scenario...We need the separation more than the depth..Europe can get the depth and required separation on the ancient roman site's...alot of their iron is decomposed..our iron is industrial age iron thats sometimes quite big and different than roman iron and we need smaller than stock coil's for our site's...

I like the XP's they are dynamic yet they are tuned in for 2,000 year old Roman type site's.....YES I AM JEALOUS.....only a fraction of the sites I hunt are mearly nails...But when they are just nails the XP's really shine...

I have found the AT-PRO to be a good detector in unlocking an industrial age iron site...Especially with the new coil installed...It is a go to machine for me as of late...

One thing I would also like to mention on the AT is the ability to have very accurate I.D. even in iron... Maybe the best I have seen to date personally..

I look for strong point's on machine's and accept the weak point's mostly because all machines have them...and the AT has a real strong point in unmasking in American iron...

I do still hope for a small coil for the DEUS!

Dont want it to sound like the AT is the end all machine ...it's far from it ..But when I see what I see it's hard not to pass along in field finding's...Its all in the audio and coil design on this one...

Thanks

Keith

And don't forget the price. The AT pro is a very good detector for a mid priced machine. Personally I loved the audio. If Keith keeps this AT Pro reporting up I might have to get one again. Some complain about the depth of the detector. But I think most just swing it too fast. I know I dug a Barber dime at a good 8 inches with the one I had. I said it before and I'll say it again. If Garrett would replace the 2500 with a multi frequency AT Pro they would have a true best seller on their hands. And I bet they could do it for less than half the price of the CTX. Maybe even throw in a wireless feature. Now wouldn't that be a detector?

I agree, the AT Pro with the 5x8 DD coil is necessary in heavy trash or iron infested sites. I have found many good targets in high trash areas and hope to hit these sites again in the near future. In fact, I look for those areas; all well knowing everyone else has ran away because of the high volume of trash or iron. You are right in saying, "you either love or hate the audio" of this machine. It takes a little effort to become one with this machine or start to hear what it is saying. The machine is definitely a performer in the field; the only thing I do not like is the way it feels in relation to weight and balance.

Gosh Keith.....You make my wonder exactly WHY I sold my AT Pro. I had the little DD coil as well. Sold it too. I wasn't even hurting for cash (that bad). If I buy another AT Pro, it will be my fourth, and I will be fully convinced that I need to make an appointment with a therapist....and keep it. (The appointment, and the AT Pro). Good job. Man, I'd almost buy one of those head cams and send to you to make videos of how you work those sites. Something tells me, you could go back over the sites that I have declared as "DEAD" and they would be like new again. I can almost feel my hind end pucker as I envision you pulling find after after find out of my 'dead' sites!!! LOL
(By the way, I just got word from a detecting friend who lives in Nashville that my Martingale {not mine any longer} made this copy of American Digger magazine.) Found out in a Facebook message this morning. I am going to have to start my day with these realizations.
But that does not take away from my CONGRATS!!! to you for some awesome finds from a well hunted site!!!!! Well done my friend!!!

Nice finds Keith !
THAT 5X8 COIL IS AN ABSOLUTE KILLER AND DESTINED FOR LEGENDARY STATUS.
It is just unreal how you can seperate out and accurately ID with it . . . with only minimal loss of depth.

goodmore - I was probably the worst complainer about the ATPro's depth and I wasn't wrong . . .
I had just the most uncanny and repeated string of unforeseen problems that lasted 10 months and
really didn't know it.

Garrett has now fixed me up (and then some) and I am now very happy with my ATPro.
SINCERELY: THANK YOU GARRETT FAMILY & STAFF.

In fact, believe me when I say . . . It is my best MD by far . . . I don't joke or hype about MD's . . . ever.

Not going to mention the name brand of my other 2 but they retail easily for double what the ATPro cost.
( See Tom - I learned !!! )

And so now it's their turn, I bought them used. They both hold the legendary promise of being great MD's
but they do not perform as such. At least I currently have one very good tool and hope to have a very good
#2 soon . . . I doubt if either will perform up to the same level of the ATPro but . . . we'll see.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2012 11:06PM by mcgov51.

Hey Kevin I have a head cam.. just need to use it more!

It is nice to get some of your finds in magazines.Hope you credit for it..

I know the publisher American Digger magazine... He lives here close by...Real nice guy!

I like to get some of my finds photographed and put in the mags,,, it gives the artifact provenance..Which is very important ...

Thanks for the reply on the find's...

Heres what needs to be observed in the finds...They are really nothing special but notice the 3 buttons are all about the same size and read about the same on the i.d. meter ..about 45.....they come out of a spot full of square nails..literally on top of each other...they did not come out on the surface they were intermingled at depth...

The larger brass buckle came out with a large piece of iron in the hole with it...

The buttons coud not come out of the hole with the large iron because the large iron will overpower it...So no smoke and mirrors jsut straight across the board unilateral unmasking target size for target size...

So what we see is unmasking at a slightly better edge....these target's seen here take a different approach to retrieving...small low conductors in nails are hard to get ..the buckle lying in nails would of been easy.. and would of been dug with older technolgy......but the buckle in with a piece or iron as large as the buckle speak's volumes on the ability of a modern machine with a tight DD footprint with unique audio...

The AT is fast but not super fast but the audio takes it down a different avenue of unmasking..it has a tonal blending quality.. and also it's able to report with just a minute movement of the coil.Couple that together and it's able to get co-located target's that few machines can get....

look closely not at the quality of the finds but what was found and they can paint a picture...those simple targets removed from this site can paint a picture of what the AT-PRO is able to achieve...

I like seeing these result's...

We are advancing ever so slowly..Might not seem like it at times but detector's made just a decade ago are starting to loose ground not in depth but in un-masking abilities..

Garrett is achieving thing's with their design that was not possible consistently on a day in and out basis just a few year's back...

Encouraging...

Keith

Keith
I am remembering back when we were discussing coil issues wtih the AT Pro way back when it first came out .....That time was the VERY BEGINNING of me posting on this forum .......I could not get any reply to getting on this forum at the time, but FINALLY got on ..... You and I were going back and forth tal\king about the col issue and I can still remember how much resistance there was in the Garrett camp ...... All water under the bridge now ...... I feel that the more we stuck to our guns , the more Garrett invested in this machine ... I think you and I have both known all along what potential this machine had ....... Frankly , I"m surprised that so many people wrote this machine off !!......Anyway, I would just like to say THANKS for sticking it out even with all the adversity that we endured ...... It was worth every arguement wtih the ney sayers ....I'm still really enjoying my ATPro !!!......Sometimes you fight the good fight and wiln !!!.......Jim

Yes jim if you know your right about something dont sway off course...

I think some wanted the Garrett issue to be dismissed ...

I think they(the loyal user's) wanted a high performance machine from Garrett so bad they were willing to accept it even if it was not 100%..

Silly I know but I bet the ones who were pleased with the intial run'sare alot more pleased now!

Yes I remeber it all TOO WELL Jim LOL!!!

Keith

Keith Southern Wrote:
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>
> Yes I remeber it all TOO WELL Jim LOL!!!
>
> Keith

I do as well. I pre-ordered mine as soon as they were offered for sale. As I remember, the negative comments started BEFORE they even started shipping the At Pro and it continued afterwards. Lots of nit picking going on so when an actual problem did show up, it was hard to separate it from the noise. Eventually mine did develop a shielding problem in the control box so I sent it in and they took care of it. Also did the upgrade that they offered.

Still have it and use it a lot. The At Pro rocks!

Jerry