To At Pro or not.

[Hobojo]

Please help, my hunting partner aka Wife is wanting to dip her toes into the Visual and Tone id world. She has been using a Tesoro Cibloa for the past year and a half. The Tesoro is a fine machine and has served her well but, she would like to try something a little different.
So she's is looking at the At pro or Gold and needs some info. If you own or have owned one what do you LIKE about your AT Pro/Gold. Would you buy one again if you are a past owner. How's the weight would a women like swining it? Is it easy to program/use? Also an honest depth estimation would be great , she doesn't like digging too deep, yes I know!!! It will be used mostly in urban parks and schools( lots of RF and WiFi ). Do they have a fast recovery speed and can be swung fast? bad habits on her part. Are they sensitive to small objects? Which would be better in a park enviroment Pro/ Gold?
Any help is appreciated!
Thank you and HH.

 

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[bigfoot1]

the at pro with the 5x8 coil would be a fine choice.easy learning curve,fast,high freq coil(good on smalls)super light with said coil,and unlikely to outgrow it.a hard machine to not like in the situations you describe and the water abilities are icing on the cake

 

[ringking76]

I agree with bigfoot,I've owned my AT Pro for 4yrs now and love it.
Hold the GB button pump 4-5 times and go. Its easy to use and light weight,I've never had a problem with it and would definitely buy another one.
Depth is great,I found my 1st piece of script at 9inches with 2-3 nails in with it,good repeatable signal



VDI is accurate to about 6-8 inches depending on if iron/trash is in the same hole.
The 5x8 coil is good for trashy areas and you don't lose much death.
I hope this helps,good luck and keep us posted

 

[RJGMC]

Great question! I own both the Cibola and finally bought the AT Pro several months back. No regrets at all. The Pro is a little heavier, go with the 5 x 8 coil for your parks and trashy areas. It is easy to ground balance, I balance mine frequently while hunting. When you do get it ground balanced, pay attention to the number. If after hunting for a few weeks, you notice the numbers slightly going up as you ground balance, just go to factory reset and the numbers will come back down where they once started.

My opinion, not quite as deep as the Cibola cranked up, not quite as fast on the recovery. Batteries do last forever with a good set of alkaline like Duracell. It does pinpoint better with the 5 x 8 coil than the stock bigger coil. I still go to the Cibola for relic and ghost towns hunts for speed and depth because I dig almost anything anyway in ghost towns and farm fields. When I bought the Pro, my pull tab and garbage quantity dropped, but my nickel count went up. Still have not found gold, but I will. Highly recommend the Pro, but keep the Cibola. Very hard to beat for relics.

Good luck!
RJGMC
HI BOB!

 

[Hobojo]

Thank You for the feed back. Lots of good stuff.

 

[swagman]

I own a ATP and from a woman's perspective I would say it is a good choice, it is a good machine for the price and does most things well. As others has said, set ground balance and set it on Pro zero mode and you are ready to go, she will not have any problem with the weight with the 5x8 coil. The gold comes with the 5x8 as stock and picks up small objects well, depth averages 6 to 8 inches and is perfect for parks and schools with trashy area's.

Battery life is good (and I don't even use the high buck ones) it is water proof, has good target ID and easy to program. You can discriminate and eliminate on the fly and pin pointing with the 5x8 is a snap. Tone wise, anything high is usually good unless it is a bottle top or a big hunk of metal, mid and low tones will take some time to get use to.

To sum up you can not go wrong with the AT series for the price, is it a top end machine?.....no but it is not a cheap one either, I would buy again probably the Gold. She will love it and it will serve her well and she may even out hunt you lol.

 

[John-Edmonton]

Everyone forgot to mention......it's also a water hunting machine. That opens up a totally new niche for her,especially if she likes jewelery and she will probably kick butt over her husband. And, she won't have to worry about putting a baggie or water-proof hair net on her machine.

 

[Kodiak43351]

I have both and I prefer the AT Gold because of the all metal mode and threshold. It works great in trashy areas in disc 1 also with all the benefits of being waterproof. The pro is def easier to learn but the gold surprised me and I can't put it down.

 

[Hobojo]

Wow I'll say this much the Tnet community is one of the BEST!! And you Garrett folks have been a big help!! She is leaning toward the Gold but Im leaning toward the Pro for her , are they that different?
Thank you again.

 

[John-Edmonton]

Wow I'll say this much the Tnet community is one of the BEST!! And you Garrett folks have been a big help!! She is leaning toward the Gold but Im leaning toward the Pro for her , are they that different?
Thank you again.

Here's a comparison:

 

[Rustynailsandscrews]

I just started using the AT PRO, it has nice features and is easy for someone who has previous metal detecting experience to learn it rather quickly.
It's built solid and rather light weight.
Some people like the smaller coil for balance and weight issues but even with the larger coil I have no issues and I'm a small male but I'm also a coil scrubber and don't do the one inch over the ground game so I'm not holding any weight up. I paid for that extra inch and I'm going to get it !
I would reccomend that you get the coil cover as it's not included, but it's not needed if your the one inch over the ground type.
It's water proof including the box to a depth of 10 feet. So if you slip and fall in the water your detector is not toasted!!!
The only thing I don't like about it is the coil and head phone connections. They are kind of a pain in the @%$ to connect !
Other then that, the AT PRO has a lot of bang for the buck !
I spent 6 months researching different detectors in it's price range and sorting through apples and oranges and in my opinion the AT PRO was the best value in it's price range and you would be hard pressed to find something better.
Garrett also has excellent costumer service !
I'm very happy with my AT PRO, it is a very capable machine.
If your going to buy one you can get good deals from forum sponsers and purchase from them.
Hope that helps you out.

 

[Hobojo]

Good chart! Can she notch out "pulltabs" with the gold. I know what that means but, she may want the option to do so or is that only done on the Pro.

 

[John-Edmonton]

Good chart! Can she notch out "pulltabs" with the gold. I know what that means but, she may want the option to do so or is that only done on the Pro.

The AT Gold does not have notching ability, so she can't notch out pull tabs. Notching out pulltabs will also notch out a lot of gold rings. Pulltabs generally generally give a harsh "bark" sound type of audio due to their shape, creating more eddies to be picked up and into your headphones. Gold rings generally give a softer tone.

You can notch out any target you desire on the AT Pro. This feature is really an asset. For example, if someone lost an earring, you can run the coil over the existing earring, observe the number(s), then notch out everything except those numbers. Now, go search for that missing earring.

 

[Rustynailsandscrews]

That's a good question. I'm not certain that any detector can notch out pull tabs without notching some gold.
Gold can ring in from low 40's to high 60's on my AT PRO so you could notch out tabs but your also notching out some gold.
Hate to say it but your wife needs a gold only detector.
I don't think there is such a thing as a gold only detector and she will have to suffer the pain of digging tabs just like we all do.
If there is a gold only detector the world would be beating down the makers doors to get it.

 

[CaballoDeOro]

I made the same transition myself, and she needs to be prepared for a very different machine in the AT. She'll like it, but will have to push through the learning curve. I also agree with RJGMC above: Keep the Cibola - it's a very good machine that can be deeper and faster than the AT in some conditions.

 

[ringking76]

The gold is different not much though.if your in high iron infested areas i would go with the gold.It is easier to work in the iron

 

[Hobojo]

Ok I'll send along the info you kind folks have given and let her make the decision.
I'll keep you posted ,
And Thank You All.

 

[Liu21]

Quick question everyone, Im looking to buying a AT Pro off eBay. I read somewhere on amazon that the newer generation of AT pros are better than the first. Now is there a way to tell the new gen. from the older gens.? ie, packaging or contents included in the packaging.

 

[Kodiak43351]

Cam locks on shafts of newer models

 

[xr7ator]

Quick question everyone, Im looking to buying a AT Pro off eBay. I read somewhere on amazon that the newer generation of AT pros are better than the first. Now is there a way to tell the new gen. from the older gens.? ie, packaging or contents included in the packaging.

If you are buying a used machine, I understand. If you are looking at a brand new AT Pro, call Bart at big boy hobbies, or one of the other retailers that are on this site for the best deal.