Garretts AT Pro surprising test results

spanishgold1 Topic starter

Copper Member

Join Date: Dec, 2010

Activity

Posts: 67
Referrals: 0

440.00 Gold
View Inventory

	Garretts AT Pro surprising test results « on: January 01, 2012, 08:26:21 pm »

I was quite surprised when I did some bench testing 3 of my detectors against the AT pro. What I do to bench test is take a card board box and mark 8-12 inches and cut a slit in the box so a coin or ring will fit in the slot. Go to the park and my coil can slide on top of the box so all things are equal. I have a fisher cz3d,(14 months old), ATPro (7months old) fisher cz-21 for beach hunting (12months old) and a whites duel field PI. I know with the two beach detectors I should test them in a beach setting but living in Utah, no beach to test.
I use a 1901 dime, 1898 quarter,1897 fifty cent, 1878 dollar and a women's and men's gold ring.

The fisher cz-3d, fisher cz-21 and whites dual field all detected the coins mentioned above deeper than the AT Pro buy one or two inches,but the real surprise was the AT Pro detected the rings deeper than all of the other detectors with the exception of the whited PI detector. For example the AT Pro detected the dime at 8", the quarter at 9"' the fifty cent at 10" and the one dollar at 10" which surprised me, thinking I would get more depth with the dollar. Surprising right? The women's ring I detected it at 11". This is a women's ring. My cz-3d detected it at 8" and at 9" the signal was so weak and inconsistent I put it in at a 8". That's almost 3 inches more dept using the ATPro verses the the cz-3d. The fisher cz-21 came in a solid 8"

Speaking of detection dept! For coins the fisher detectors were better, but for rings the AT Pro was better which surprised me. I did also notice that I had to swing the detector fast which my other Garrett that I don't use any more you had to crawl, and of course in the all metal mode with the cz-3d I had treshold changes at 12 -14 inches which I don't usual hunt in all metal, it's mental mind buster, like the whites dual pro is but the all metal dept is rock sold. Also as a side note I tried my larger cz coil which I think is a 10" where my standard could is a 8 inch and I did not get any more depth. In fact I thought it was worse, but the standard 10" coil on the cz-21 worked out great, so there must be some design difference so I prefer the 8" coil.

But even though the ATPro may be a inch or more less in depth, in trashy areas, if you listen to the consistent tone and look at your screen you will dig coins in trash areas that you can't with the cz-3d,, and of course for rings it's deeper up to three inches.

This really surprised me about the AT Pro. It's a great detector and if it could ectch out one or two more inches in silver it would be a killer, but like I said its hot on rings as far as depth. Choose your flavor... Deeper gold rings or deeper silver coins?

Hope this helps.

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,34711.msg210364.html#msg210364


	Logged

gambol1

Silver Member

At first we were all hunters
Join Date: Jan, 2010

Activity

Posts: 919
Referrals: 0

4800.00 Gold
View Inventory

Garrett 150, 250,Fisher F75S, Tesoro sand shark

	Re: Garretts AT Pro surprising test results « Reply #1 on: January 01, 2012, 09:38:59 pm »

Spanishgold1, Interesting test you did. I like your Idea of using a cardboard box to hold the target. I'll try that. This Friday I borrowed a friend's brand new AT pro and compared it to my F-75S. He came up on me in a field where I was detecting and showed me his new Christmas toy. I took the opportunity to borrow it and go over 3 places where I had been digging. The first was a place where my Fisher on Discrimination read Quarter or greater (84-99) I dug down about 6" and gave up because of roots. Having it jump between 84 and 99 is not a good sign for a quarter. The At Pro read it as a steady 88. no bouncing around. and it gave a clear and strong signal on each sweep. I'll dig that one next time I'm there with a root saw. The next place I tried the AT was a place where I had cleaned up a coin spill about 3 feet in diameter a month before. The first trip I found 8 or 9 clad coins, with the fisher, mostly pennies. The second 2 or 3 pennies at 6 inches. Then I felt I had got them all. The next week a friend checked it again and found nothing with his Minelab excaliber. On this day I checked the spot with the AT pro and found another penny. which was in a hole with 2 small pieces of iron. The third place was part of the field I had "cleaned up". That is dug and removed all the possible coin targets and coin-like trash. I do this when I've found something good (like a silver ring) and suspect there might be something hiding in the trash. The AT pro picked up several more coin-like targets that the fisher missed. I went back and checked with the Fisher and the Fisher found them but they were so weak I had passed over them. My feeling at this time, is that the AT Pro gives a solid steady indication drawing your attention to the target where my Fisher jumped around more and let me miss some targets and given up on another. I especially liked the 'Iron sound" button that lets you check a target for iron without resetting the discrimination level. After a year of detecting with an ACE 250 I finally figured out that I was wasting time looking for targets after they were out of the hole because some that read coin in the ground were actually iron and were discriminated out. I only had the machine in my hands for a few minutes but I like it except it is heavier than my Fisher but then it is water resistant. Doh! Grin

Just for reference, I garden tested the Fisher when it was new and found it recognized a penny or a dime at 6 inches, a quarter at 8 and a silver dollar at 9. It picked up a 1 oz gold philharmonic at 9" the same as the dollar but it gave a very rough indication. as a quarter.

I also compared a 5" coil with the 11 " eliptical Fisher coil and found the detection depth is not that much different. The 5 " coil was actually better than the 11" coil when the electrical interference is high. When there is too much electrical interference to run the sensitivity above 30 on the 11" coil I can run the sensitivity up to 60 on the 5 inch coil making the detection depth much greater. The air test of the two coils was about the same as I recall. A dime at 11 inches on discrimination. The whole thing about the fisher is electrical interference. I very rarely am able to run the sensitivity over 55% with the big coil. Once or twice the background noise was low and I ran it up to 85-90% before it started talking. At 85% its hot in damp sand though. Deepest coin I've dug with it was on one of those rare occasions, a quarter at 12".

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,34711.msg210375.html#msg210375


« Last Edit: January 01, 2012, 10:03:11 pm by gambol1, Reason: add response to his statements »	Logged

spanishgold1 Topic starter

Copper Member

Join Date: Dec, 2010

Activity

Posts: 67
Referrals: 0

440.00 Gold
View Inventory

	Re: Garretts AT Pro surprising test results « Reply #2 on: January 02, 2012, 01:28:57 am »

That was some good information you wrote as well. I was thinking of getting the F75s but choose to go with the AT Pro, which cost and the fact that it was water proof were very big factors. But I am very impressed with how it reacts to the ground with lots of iron, or nails. You really do have to listen very closely and pick out the tones of a silver coin among all the trash and look at the meter to see what it reads as well as it jumps around. The AT Pro is pretty darn accurate on the reading, but its strengths is listening in a trashy area because it will pick out the silver.

Like I wrote earlier the real surprise was the depth that it detected the mens and womens rings compared to my other detectors on my box test. Both Fisher and Garrett are great detectors, and now when I search an area I use both detectors. Its amazing how different areas one will pick out targets better then the other, so its really about learning everything about the detector you are using, and if its in the budget take two different detectors to take with you is the best. Its like I always joked with my wife. Honey,,, buying another metal detector is cheaper than a girl friend!! Trust me don't use that line on your wife!

Im going to do some more tests on different rings to see if it was just a fluke but really I was surprised that the ATPro detected a ring deeper than a coin on a air test using my box tester to accurately get the same comparison depth, and I was surprised it was deeper than the fisher detecting a ring.

When I was out in North Carolina visiting my daughter I took my AT Pro to the beach to see how it would do. I have to do some more testing because I had very little time to test, but on dry sand it worked great. In the surf it had a little chatter, but my Whites duel field pulse and the Fisher CZ-21 also chatters when the surf comes in so i was expecting it to have some chatter with the waves coming, plus it was so easy to ground balance, so i always reground balanced when I moved from wet sand to dry sand , plus the meter was always dead on to identify what it was, which is a strong attribute the AT Pro. Another nice feature is I didnt have to worry if it got wet.... trust me that is nice... But It does wear you out listening to to all the sounds in metal infested areas but it picks out good targets among all the iron,, but it nice to make a change to another detector at times, just to break the mental strain, and when I have an iffy target, its nice to run the other detector over it. Its amazing how sometimes both will give different indications to what it is. Hope this helps .

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,34711.msg210383.html#msg210383


	Logged

wb4rav

Bronze Member

Any day detecting is better than a day at work
Join Date: Jul, 2011

Activity

Posts: 427
Referrals: 0

1780.00 Gold
View Inventory

Bounty Hunter 1100, Cen-tech pinpointer, Bounty Hunter 2200 Bounty Hunter Time Ranger Bounty Hunter pinpointer

	Re: Garretts AT Pro surprising test results « Reply #3 on: January 02, 2012, 05:04:12 pm »

Thanks guys for the info. A friend was thinkg about the AT Pro. I'll send him a link to the site and let him see your reluts.

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,34711.msg210404.html#msg210404

WB4RAV


	Logged

Brenda

Copper Member

Join Date: Jul, 2011

Activity

Posts: 86
Referrals: 0

365.00 Gold
View Inventory

White's MXT

	Re: Garretts AT Pro surprising test results « Reply #4 on: January 08, 2012, 01:24:56 am »

Thanks guys for the info, as I just got my new AT Pro. Going to hit the beach tomorrow and play!

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,34711.msg210601.html#msg210601


	Logged

drpepper

Copper Member

Join Date: Mar, 2009

Activity

Posts: 43
Referrals: 0

215.00 Gold
View Inventory

garrett 550, atpro

	Re: Garretts AT Pro surprising test results « Reply #5 on: January 08, 2012, 12:50:35 pm »

I also have just gotten an atpro. have not had it out yet as I live in vermont but what surprized me was in an air test. I got a weak signal on about 10 flakes of gold I had in my snuffer bottle. that is not very much gold and it was in an air test one inch from the disc ,but it impressed me If the weather stays as warm sa it has been I may venture out

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,34711.msg210614.html#msg210614


	Logged

6666

Bronze Member

Join Date: Mar, 2010

Activity

Posts: 200
Referrals: 0

1060.00 Gold
View Inventory

DIY, Whites 6000d, whites 2000 PI

	Re: Garretts AT Pro surprising test results « Reply #6 on: January 08, 2012, 06:16:33 pm »

When in the wet sand, try a manual ground balance of 10 or less with the ATpro

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,34711.msg210628.html#msg210628


	Logged

Viracocha

Bronze Member

Join Date: Jun, 2011

Activity

Posts: 291
Referrals: 0

1790.00 Gold
View Inventory

Sea Hunter II , Makro JeoTech Led

	Re: Garretts AT Pro surprising test results « Reply #7 on: April 30, 2012, 12:29:24 am »

I was thinking of trading in my SeaHunter2 in for an AT pro

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,34711.msg221852.html#msg221852

Viracocha

View Viracocha's homepage!


	Logged

EarthKinEnergy.com :We bring green ideas to Light!"

Pages: 1 Go Up

← previous next →