I have the at pro looking for a md with better depth

dustytrails123

Bronze Member
Apr 14, 2012
1,012
412
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer Se Pro,Garrett At/Pro,Garrett Ace 350,Tesoro Cibola,Tesoro Outlaw,Bounty Hunter SharpShooter 2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I have the at pro but looking for something with more depth I'm stuck between the etrac and xp dues what machine do u guys think is the better MD
The machines you listed the xp deus and the minelab etrac although price ranged in the same area the machine are very different from each other the minelab is a slow swing heavy unit with a very slow recovery speed loved or hated its known to pull deep coins ...the xp deus i dont know as much about besides its ultra light easy to break down and has a very fast recovery speed...i dont like the batteries since its wireless the batteries took there place so theres what 3 sets to charge in there?...someone else can correct me if im wrong
 

atomicscott

Bronze Member
Aug 18, 2011
1,564
1,055
Riverside CA
Detector(s) used
Current: Nokta Makro Simplex+, Teknetics Patriot, Fisher Gold Bug (original), GP Pinpointer (Garrett Clone) Lesche. Owned: Omega 8000, Minelab X-Terra 505, Fisher F2, Tesoro Vaquero, & Compadre, Whit
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I have the at pro but looking for something with more depth I'm stuck between the etrac and xp dues what machine do u guys think is the better MD

Minelab X-Terra 505 or 705. Deep, many coils to choose from, frequency can be tailored to your hunting style. Choose from 1,2,3,4 or even 28 tones. If you want to hunt minne balls or gold, etc... throw on a 18.75 khz coil. If you want to hunt mainly silver, throw on a 3 khz coil. For all around coin/relic hunting I love the 10.5" 7.5 khz coil. Nice and deep and amazing iron separation in iron trash for a larger coil.
 

madforclad

Full Member
May 7, 2014
195
61
Hunting previously pounded sites
Detector(s) used
Minelab eTrac, Minelab X Terra 705, Garrett AT Pro with 5" x 8" coil, Fisher F2, Garrett Pro Pointer, RTG 710 Scoop.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I love my eTrac. Best machine in my arsenal. But that's just my opinion. It will pull deep silver for sure and very versatile in my hunting conditions. If you have the opportunity to try out each one that is the best way to find out which one YOU like, and not base your selection on what we feel is a better machine as you will get a multitude of different opinions.
 

gunsil

Silver Member
Dec 27, 2012
3,863
6,204
lower hudson valley, N.Y.
Detector(s) used
safari, ATPro, infinium, old Garrett BFO, Excal, Nox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Just slap a bigger coil on that bad boy and presto, more depth!! NEL makes a couple that will give you more depth and still be pretty stable. I believe they make a 13x14" and a 15". A whole lot cheaper than a new MD. By the way I hunt with ATP and Etrac users and neither of us out hunts the others at the same colonial sites. I use my Safari, we all do about the same in finds.
 

DiggerinVA

Bronze Member
Sep 16, 2013
1,669
1,661
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
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GPX5000, AT Gold, AT Pro, Whites TDI, Bandido 2 umax, Tejon, Vaquero, Deus 2, ORX and Legend
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I didnt think my pro was deep enough either....bought the F75ltd and it is DEEP....but only fouind a few things the pro had missed....if the atp isnt hitting it its probably not there....i have found bullets at 8 inches and a U.S. plate at 14 inches...the problem (most times) is not depth, but target masking. This is why the 5x8 stays on my pro all the time and the 5.75 stays on my fisher most of the time.
 

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jacobc

jacobc

Tenderfoot
Aug 9, 2014
7
3
Thanks everyone I have the stock coil on my at pro and one of my friends have exterra 705 and he hit a dime at 9" and my at pro wouldn't even hit
 

dirtscratcher

Bronze Member
Mar 18, 2009
1,877
1,350
Columbia falls Montana
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Minelab Sov GT Explorer XS Tesoro Vaq t2se x705
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The 705 with the 10.5 mid freq dd is a deep seeker for sure. Is that the coil your friend is using?
 

TNGUNS

Bronze Member
Jun 23, 2012
2,368
1,208
Evensville, Tennessee
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Whites 5900, Fisher 1266x, Tesoro Eldorado, Tesoro Silver Sabre, Whites Eagle Spectrum, Teknetics G2, Teknetics T2, Vibra-Probe 580
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Tesoro Tejon for a lot less money.

rainyday101, how is the ground balance for you. Seems like a really hot machine but hear so much about the ground balance issues I have kind of culled the idea of getting one. I have liked the Tesoros I have tried and owned but seems like really mixed bag of reviews on the Tejon. Not at all meaning to be critical, just wondering if you have found it hard to GB or keep it that way.
 

gunsil

Silver Member
Dec 27, 2012
3,863
6,204
lower hudson valley, N.Y.
Detector(s) used
safari, ATPro, infinium, old Garrett BFO, Excal, Nox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks everyone I have the stock coil on my at pro and one of my friends have exterra 705 and he hit a dime at 9" and my at pro wouldn't even hit

Were you in "Pro zero" or were you running standard mode with discrimination?? Gotta run pro zero for best depth. If you're running standard you gotta lose that habit and learn pro zero. Takes some time to really learn any machine and if your friend with the Minelab is very experienced with his machine and you aren't with yours he will out hunt you most of the time until you really learn your ATP. By the way, it's said that it takes about 100 hours of operation to learn the Etrac, you'll probably need at least half that in pro mode on your ATP to really start to get the hang of it.
 

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xr7ator

Gold Member
Sep 2, 2011
5,185
7,171
Denver, Colorado
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, AT Gold, ATX, MH7 (oldie!) Minelab Explorer SE Pro, EQ800
I've dug dimes that deep and deeper with my at pro and standard coil. Silver one not much deeper but a clad dime at about a foot deep.(halo effect gives you a bigger target, imo) Have you learned how to super tune it for deep coins? It has to do with ground balancing and running the machine hot.
 

tcornel

Sr. Member
Aug 11, 2011
454
643
NE Ohio
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
CTX 3030, 17" & 6" coils, Equinox 800, Propointer AT, Stealth 920i, Lesche Sampson and digger.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Just slap a bigger coil on that bad boy and presto, more depth!! NEL makes a couple that will give you more depth and still be pretty stable. I believe they make a 13x14" and a 15". A whole lot cheaper than a new MD. By the way I hunt with ATP and Etrac users and neither of us out hunts the others at the same colonial sites. I use my Safari, we all do about the same in finds.

I agree. The NEL Attack coil added 3 to 5 inches on depth. A lot cheaper than a new detector with a new learning curve. Added feature of covering more ground per swing.
 

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jacobc

jacobc

Tenderfoot
Aug 9, 2014
7
3
I been using it in the pro zero mode for about a year ,and the ground Is not bad here if found some nice silver with it but no deeper than about 6" and swing low and slow I'm going to look at the atack coil
 

supertraq

Sr. Member
May 8, 2014
402
152
Pcola fl
Detector(s) used
Fisher cz6a,,,Fisher cz-20,,,,Teknetics gamma 6000,,"Tek Eurotek pro ,,Fisher gold bug s.e 2.9er,,Tek T2 ltd se,,Tek T2+,,Minelab Vanquish 540 and 340 and a new Nokta Legend and Garret Infinium
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
real easy,there's a cz-5 on ebay and a cz-70 pro also..No nonsense depth that will work on the beach too and plenty of coils available..used there not expensive and deep and reliable.
 

rainyday101

Hero Member
Dec 1, 2012
779
346
Peshtigo, Wisconsin
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Tejon, Tesoro Silver uMax, Tesoro Tiger Shark
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
rainyday101, how is the ground balance for you. Seems like a really hot machine but hear so much about the ground balance issues I have kind of culled the idea of getting one. I have liked the Tesoros I have tried and owned but seems like really mixed bag of reviews on the Tejon. Not at all meaning to be critical, just wondering if you have found it hard to GB or keep it that way.

The ground balance is not too bad. It is definitely a little harder than my Tiger Shark, but not bad. The biggest problem is finding a clear area because it so deep and sensitive. One thing that helped me was to slow the up/down bob down a bit and focus on the audio change on the down stroke. I get it to no audio change on the down stroke and just go a tad negative. My ground is pretty mild so that might make it easier to ground balance, but I don't know for sure because I have only ground balanced it in my soil. I have had no chattiness or EMI issues and usually run the sensitivity into the red. Sometimes it is just too deep and I have had to abandon the dig because I was in a public park. I hit a dime at 9" that was loud and clear with no problem. Despite the higher freq, the Tejon is an awesome coin finder. Overall I love the Tejon and find the dual disc really useful.

I don't understand most of the bad reviews. The Tejon can be chatty, BUT that is what makes it such a hot detector. The thing is, you can turn the sensitivity down a bit to quiet it down and it is still deep. For artifact hunting with low sense or in all metal, I think the Tejon would be the ticket. Depth would not be a problem.

Having said all that, I am probably gonna sell the Tejon- and it breaks my heart to do it. I want to use the money to finish buying scuba equipment and pay for certification so I can focus my time on underwater hunting with the Tiger Shark. For me to do this yet this year I would probably have to sell the Tejon. If I wait until next year I won't have to sell the Tejon. Problem is I want to be in the water with tanks on back this year. If you want a hot Tejon send me a PM. I would probably let it go to buy scuba equipment, but I would have a tear in my eye when I shipped it.
 

LuckyLarry

Hero Member
Dec 16, 2005
750
390
Sweet Home, Oregon
Detector(s) used
I had to sideline for awhile, too much quarreling, brand defensiveness, and seeing certain people waging war on others. It got to be too silly for me after awhile..
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Other
It depends on your soil. Pass on the Deuce, inland buy a Minelab 705 or a Fisher cz3d for bad ground, and in the (light iron soil) run with an Omega 8000, or maybe a Whites MXT Pro, or for ease of use and slightly better depth a Vaquero or a Tejon. Personally, I have not yet seen any other detector that goes as deep as a Tejon in light iron soil. If you hunt on salt beaches, high iron or not, buy a cz or a Sovereign GT, they are the best two unless you want to dig tunnels and wells to find a penny. And if you do, decide between a Garrett ATX or a Minelab PI of almost any description. Personally, I prefer the ATX of the two. And remember to always try, before you buy.
 

masterjedi

Bronze Member
May 24, 2014
1,757
1,349
Oregon
Detector(s) used
Minelab's CTX 3030, E-Trac & EQ800, Fisher F75LTD SE & F44, Whites MXT All PRO, Whites TRX Pointer & Shovel, Predator Tools Raptor hand digger & Ranger shovel. Grey Ghost Ultimate headphones.
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I run a 15" NEL Attack coil and it is awesome on my AT Pro....
 

masterjedi

Bronze Member
May 24, 2014
1,757
1,349
Oregon
Detector(s) used
Minelab's CTX 3030, E-Trac & EQ800, Fisher F75LTD SE & F44, Whites MXT All PRO, Whites TRX Pointer & Shovel, Predator Tools Raptor hand digger & Ranger shovel. Grey Ghost Ultimate headphones.
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting

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