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Thoughts on Garrett AT Pro

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woodcutter1979

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Mar 24, 2018
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I am considering buying a Garrett AT Pro. My searching areas would be South Dakota (limited mineralized ground, black dirt) and beaches in Florida. I guess my concerns and questions are is this a good machine for both areas? Thanks in advance. Happy Hunting.
 
I never used one but one of my friends did. We compared it to my machine which is an E-Trac. I will tell you positively the E-trac is deeper.

I also think you are going to have trouble on Florida beaches, all single frequency machines do in salt water. People are claiming the new Equinox is good in salt water and it should be because it is multiple frequency,

You might not be choosing the right machine for your needs.
 
As far as the AT Pro is concerned I think it's a great machine. I'm pretty new and picked up a used one that has been great so far. That being said, If you plan to detect around saltwater, listen to Scuba, he knows what he's talking about. Good Luck!
 
I've done well with my at pro but it's not a good saltwater detector. I can get it stable in the salt but it falses a lot.
 
ScubaDetector said:
I never used one but one of my friends did. We compared it to my machine which is an E-Trac. I will tell you positively the E-trac is deeper.

I also think you are going to have trouble on Florida beaches, all single frequency machines do in salt water. People are claiming the new Equinox is good in salt water and it should be because it is multiple frequency,

You might not be choosing the right machine for your needs.
Click to expand...

I like my ATPro for being solid in fresh water- it definitely has limits in salt water... but great in dry sand. It's my go-to if wanting to cover a lot of ground hunting clad coins (in school yards, for the most part) as this machine is quite a bit lighter than the Etrac and can be used with a faster swing speed. Also substantially cheaper than the Etrac. Lately i've been liking how it sniffs out nickels in places that have obviously been picked over for high tones.

The Etrac is deeper, identifies better at depth and shines the slower you swing the coil. I didn't expect the weight difference to be so significant... i put a small 4.5" x 7" Excellerator coil on it and when i have time to spend on small areas in older parts of town (old curb strips, for example) this is the detector of choice.

Like Scuba said, depends on your needs. I'm hours from the coast so salt water wasn't a big consideration.
 
It's a solid machine, was the first machine I bought (still have it)
I did a lot of research before I took the plunge and if a lot of the stuff I read was to be believed I wouldn't have touched it. Stuff like 'you have to have a hundred thousand hours on this machine to truly understand it' (not exactly but you get the drift 😀 )

The simple fact is that you can pretty much turn it on, ground balance and away you go...
Will you master it right away? No, but like learning any language you will start to pick it up in no time, the subtle nuances will come with time and patience.

As for the beach, dry sand is a go, in fact it's great on the dry stuff, wet and in the water, no, not really, too chatty and a lot of falsing. It can be done but it might drive you crazy :)
I'd avoid wet sand initially as you will get frustrated with it.

YouTube has a ton of AT Pro videos and you could do worse than watch a few.
 
I’d say get the at pro.Lots of videos of guys in the water at the beach.The at pro is just as good as anything out there,as far as water hunting goes.Honestly,I don’t know why I even try these other machines,the at pro does it all.Of course a fbs machine is better for deeper coins on land,but not waterproof.
 
woodbutcher said:
I’d say get the at pro.Lots of videos of guys in the water at the beach.The at pro is just as good as anything out there,as far as water hunting goes.Honestly,I don’t know why I even try these other machines,the at pro does it all.Of course a fbs machine is better for deeper coins on land,but not waterproof.
Click to expand...

I know a lot of folks at freshwater beaches use them and use them very well. Ice Sctatcher, Irons, Mud Puppy and others. When you have to turn your sensitivity way down to stop the chatter in salt water and with the deep sand on Florida beaches and in the water he will not be happy I am sure. Less sensitivity, less depth. He won't be able to get the deep desirable targets.

I think there are better options for land and water for him, however I have different machines for different situations so I can't recommend one.
 
Decisions, decisions. A lot of thinking and weighing the differences of the machines you are interested in. Scuba was dead on with his review of the ATP vs. E-Trac. I know as I have both units and the E-Trac is my main detector I use for hunting deeper coins. The ATP is awesome for fresh water hunting, and with the smaller coil it is very good in high trash areas. I know nothing about the Equinox, only what I have read on this forum and it sounds like a very capable and lightweight detector. Contact one or more of our sponsors here and have a conversation with them in regards to what you want and need in a new detector. It's their business to know what these units can, and cannot do.;)
 
I tested mine out on dry white sands in the gulf, wet sand and then salt water. It was chatty to say the least. I’d recommend something else if you plan on hunting mineralized areas often.
 
I would reccomend the AT Pro for anywhere except in salt water. I hunt with one on the beaches and find a lot of stuff in the dry sand and sometimes the wet sand but there are better machines for salt water. It works great in fresh water. Also Garrett's customer service is probably the best of any of the metal detector manufacturers.
 
I agree with Scuba and the others. I absolutely love my ATP. Very solid and capable machine. I hunt dirt 99% of the time and it does fantastic. I have dug small coin sized targets at 8+ inches or more. Dug a larger target at more than 12". It is my first and only machine and I would highly recommend it. Extremely user friendly, but you will have to spend the to learn what it's telling you. Garrett customer service is top notch. Some of the best I've ever seen.

I hunt on the beaches in South Carolina a couple of times a year and agree it's not the best for salty, wet sand or salt water. That being said, it will work just not as proficient as you will like. To get it to work, I manually ground balanced and played with the sensitivity until I got it quiet. The dry sound was not a problem. No issues whatsoever. Worked as if I was in my back yard.

Bottom line...Do tons of research and choose what will work best for your needs. If you spend a lot of time in FL, say 50-50 then I would look into something else. They say the new Nox 800 is a great machine, but I've never used or even seen one. Just going by what I've read and seen on here. If you're like me and hit the beach once or few times a year then the AT Pro is the way to go. Good luck on whatever you choose. You'll love the hobby/ addiction...:laughing:
 
Love my AT Pro

I bought this unit for my wife but I tend to use it now more than my Minelab excal, it's a great solid unit. I use it for everything from coin hunting, beach combing and just hunting older properties. Learn the device and keep practicing and it will not let you down.


Jimmy J.
 
If you were doing land and freshwater only then I would definitely recommend the at pro. Since you mentioned Florida beaches I would highly recommend getting a different machine. I owned an atpro for years and it is darn near worthless in saltwater and wet sand. You will be very disappointed trust me.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
I've used my equinox-800 on the Beaches in Jacksonville, FL and it does well with the salt water and is waterproof in case a wave catches you. The headphones aren't waterproof though, so you need to be careful with them.

Sent from the mobile client - Forum Talker
 
AT Pro is awesome, except for the situations you're looking to use it in. I would recommend expanding your research into other machines.

I've had the at pro on florida beaches twice and it was a disappointing experience both times.

as someone else mentioned the equinox (albeit a little higher price range) might be a good option.
 
The At Max might be a better choice for the salt water beaches. I followed three folks down a wet salt water beach digging coins that they had missed. They found most of the shallow stuff but anything with any depth was still thee for the taking. The Pro will work but not well on a wet salt water beach. Very good on land.
 
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