I wonder why everyone is raving about the pro, but I hear total silence concerning the VX3.
RiverRat3 said:Came to this forum to get your opinion. I was looking at getting an AT Pro and was wondering if it would be worth while. I currently hunt with a minelab etrac but would pass out if I dropped it in the surf. I hunt around rivers and hit the beaches in the winter. Does the AT pro have good depth and discrimination. Also wanted a second detector to take my wife and friends. Also does it require constant ground balancing or is it automatic?
RiverRat3 said:Came to this forum to get your opinion. I was looking at getting an AT Pro and was wondering if it would be worth while. I currently hunt with a minelab etrac but would pass out if I dropped it in the surf. I hunt around rivers and hit the beaches in the winter. Does the AT pro have good depth and discrimination. Also wanted a second detector to take my wife and friends. Also does it require constant ground balancing or is it automatic?
My AT pro works well on the west coast beaches of Florida. I can run 5 of 8 bars of sens and it is stable in the wet sand, in the water, and in the wash where the water meets the beach. I have dug coins 8 inches deep in the wet sand. I know that's not deep to some people, but I think its pretty good. The manual says the AT pro is not designed specifically for saltwater use, so I was pretty sure it was going to be useless. I was very surprised.Smudge said:RiverRat3 said:Came to this forum to get your opinion. I was looking at getting an AT Pro and was wondering if it would be worth while. I currently hunt with a minelab etrac but would pass out if I dropped it in the surf. I hunt around rivers and hit the beaches in the winter. Does the AT pro have good depth and discrimination. Also wanted a second detector to take my wife and friends. Also does it require constant ground balancing or is it automatic?
I think the AT Pro would do great in fresh water, but I have yet to find a single frequency detector that does well in the wet sand/surf of a salt water beach.
lookindown said:My AT pro works well on the west coast beaches of Florida. I can run 5 of 8 bars of sens and it is stable in the wet sand, in the water, and in the wash where the water meets the beach. I have dug coins 8 inches deep in the wet sand. I know that's not deep to some people, but I think its pretty good. The manual says the AT pro is not designed specifically for saltwater use, so I was pretty sure it was going to be useless. I was very surprised.Smudge said:RiverRat3 said:Came to this forum to get your opinion. I was looking at getting an AT Pro and was wondering if it would be worth while. I currently hunt with a minelab etrac but would pass out if I dropped it in the surf. I hunt around rivers and hit the beaches in the winter. Does the AT pro have good depth and discrimination. Also wanted a second detector to take my wife and friends. Also does it require constant ground balancing or is it automatic?
I think the AT Pro would do great in fresh water, but I have yet to find a single frequency detector that does well in the wet sand/surf of a salt water beach.
Smudge said:lookindown said:My AT pro works well on the west coast beaches of Florida. I can run 5 of 8 bars of sens and it is stable in the wet sand, in the water, and in the wash where the water meets the beach. I have dug coins 8 inches deep in the wet sand. I know that's not deep to some people, but I think its pretty good. The manual says the AT pro is not designed specifically for saltwater use, so I was pretty sure it was going to be useless. I was very surprised.Smudge said:RiverRat3 said:Came to this forum to get your opinion. I was looking at getting an AT Pro and was wondering if it would be worth while. I currently hunt with a minelab etrac but would pass out if I dropped it in the surf. I hunt around rivers and hit the beaches in the winter. Does the AT pro have good depth and discrimination. Also wanted a second detector to take my wife and friends. Also does it require constant ground balancing or is it automatic?
I think the AT Pro would do great in fresh water, but I have yet to find a single frequency detector that does well in the wet sand/surf of a salt water beach.
Interesting. How often to you find yourself having to re-ground balance the machine?
It gb at 11 in the water, I do this one time and dont touch it again. Ive been to several beaches several times and it always balances at 11 or 12. I use auto gb.Smudge said:lookindown said:My AT pro works well on the west coast beaches of Florida. I can run 5 of 8 bars of sens and it is stable in the wet sand, in the water, and in the wash where the water meets the beach. I have dug coins 8 inches deep in the wet sand. I know that's not deep to some people, but I think its pretty good. The manual says the AT pro is not designed specifically for saltwater use, so I was pretty sure it was going to be useless. I was very surprised.Smudge said:RiverRat3 said:Came to this forum to get your opinion. I was looking at getting an AT Pro and was wondering if it would be worth while. I currently hunt with a minelab etrac but would pass out if I dropped it in the surf. I hunt around rivers and hit the beaches in the winter. Does the AT pro have good depth and discrimination. Also wanted a second detector to take my wife and friends. Also does it require constant ground balancing or is it automatic?
I think the AT Pro would do great in fresh water, but I have yet to find a single frequency detector that does well in the wet sand/surf of a salt water beach.
Interesting. How often to you find yourself having to re-ground balance the machine?
Dwight S said:RiverRat3 said:Came to this forum to get your opinion. I was looking at getting an AT Pro and was wondering if it would be worth while. I currently hunt with a minelab etrac but would pass out if I dropped it in the surf. I hunt around rivers and hit the beaches in the winter. Does the AT pro have good depth and discrimination. Also wanted a second detector to take my wife and friends. Also does it require constant ground balancing or is it automatic?
The AT-Pro isn't a Etrac, but it doesn't cost nearly as much to purchase and doesn't take as long to get serviced if the need arises. The AT-Pro has good depth. I get good solid hits at 10". Sometimes no VDI info, but if it's solid and repeatable, I tend to dig. You have 40 points of iron descrimination and Iron Audio that gives you even more info. 12 levels of notch descrimination above the iron. You also have Standard and Pro Modes with Custom (allows for custom settings that are saved), Coins and Zero descrimination levels built in. The standard mode is easy for people just starting out to understand. The ground balance is automatic by pressing the GB button and pumping the coil a few times and from there can be manually tweeked for even better response to certain metals. I bought mine to be a back-up to my White's XLT, and now the XLT is the back-up to the Garrett.
The XLT (& MXT too, I'm sure) has so many customizable settings that I tend to try to tweak it for better performance. I still only tend to get 8" to 10", sometimes 12" of depth from it. With the AT-Pro, you turn it on, set the descrimination setting to your preference, ground balance, adjust sensitivity and go hunt. If it rains, so what, you don't have to run for cover. If you drop it in the water, so what. Depth is similar. I still hunt with both, but lately I've been using the AT-Pro more.Old Stonewall said:Dwight S said:RiverRat3 said:Came to this forum to get your opinion. I was looking at getting an AT Pro and was wondering if it would be worth while. I currently hunt with a minelab etrac but would pass out if I dropped it in the surf. I hunt around rivers and hit the beaches in the winter. Does the AT pro have good depth and discrimination. Also wanted a second detector to take my wife and friends. Also does it require constant ground balancing or is it automatic?
The AT-Pro isn't a Etrac, but it doesn't cost nearly as much to purchase and doesn't take as long to get serviced if the need arises. The AT-Pro has good depth. I get good solid hits at 10". Sometimes no VDI info, but if it's solid and repeatable, I tend to dig. You have 40 points of iron descrimination and Iron Audio that gives you even more info. 12 levels of notch descrimination above the iron. You also have Standard and Pro Modes with Custom (allows for custom settings that are saved), Coins and Zero descrimination levels built in. The standard mode is easy for people just starting out to understand. The ground balance is automatic by pressing the GB button and pumping the coil a few times and from there can be manually tweeked for even better response to certain metals. I bought mine to be a back-up to my White's XLT, and now the XLT is the back-up to the Garrett.
My AT Pro just arrived today. I bought it as a back up for my White's MXT Pro, and because I wanted a good water detector. If everything I'm hearing is true, the MXT could soon be playing 2nd fiddle. What do you like better about the AT Pro vs. the XLT?