Garrett ATX opinions?

[Just_curious]

Hey everybody, I've been looking at the ATX and wondering if anyone has any opinions. I'm thinking about selling my Minelab GoldMonster 1000, 2 whites Spectrum XLTs, a Goldmaster 2, a Whites GMZ, and my pretty elaborate reloading set up to buy the ATX for gold, and another for coins/relics. Just wanted to get opinions first. Thanks in advance.

 

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[IMAUDIGGER]

Hey everybody, I've been looking at the ATX and wondering if anyone has any opinions. I'm thinking about selling my Minelab GoldMonster 1000, 2 whites Spectrum XLTs, a Goldmaster 2, a Whites GMZ, and my pretty elaborate reloading set up to buy the ATX for gold, and another for coins/relics. Just wanted to get opinions first. Thanks in advance.

I only got to use an ATX once, and I literally found a handful of gold with it!
Easy to use.

It was heavy and not balanced very well if I recall. Thought it might have benefited from a bungy cord.
Someone will chime in that has a lot of time on that detector.

I'm using the Makro Gold racer as a gold detector and relic/coin machine.
It probably isn't the greatest for coins, but I "paid it off" in relics very quickly, then nearly again with gold nuggets.

I would take a look at the Marko Racer 2. Supposed to get pretty good depth on coins and people are finding smaller nuggets with it too.

 

[emptyhole]

I have had an atx for about four years,and for me it is a good detector for the way and the places I detect.I usually detect in highly mineralized bedrock and also I generally detect in the water.So for what I do it is a great detector,it's handy to just set the detector down in the water next to your target and not have to go back and fourth to the shore line to keep a detector dry.Also you don't have to worry about falling in and dropping your detector in the water.The atx doe's have it's faults it is heavy and I hate the shaft, its fiberglass and about thirty years behind today's technology.I had one shaft split and another one would not keep the coil from flopping down when I was running it.Now for the good I love the electronics they run smooth and are easy to set up, also the power head is built very durable.Another plus the customer service at Garrett is outstanding,they replaced both coils with just a phone call and It didn't cost a penny not even for shipping.The atx also has interchangeable coils although they are expensive running about $500 apiece because you have to buy the shaft with the coils. If you shop around on the internet you can beat the list price on the atx by quit a bit and I even got some waterproof headphones thrown in.So like I said it's a good detector for me, now for you I don't know what conditions you'll be working under so I can't say.I hope this helps a little and good luck with what ever detector you decide on.Here's a couple of pics from my best day last year and as you can see this is the reason I like waterproof.

 

[Just_curious]

That's a great review, and good information. Now when you said that Garrett fix your coils I'm assuming that it was still under warranty? I found a Garrett ATX for $1,300 Buy It Now price, but it's used. I'm not sure the coil that comes with it quite yet. But I figured that that price is pretty good considering they're about $2,500 anywhere else

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Emptyhole is right on with the terrain making a difference. I was using it on a steep hillside. It did the trick finding float gold a foot down on bedrock, but my arms sure got tired quickly swinging it on the slope. I ended up finding much larger/deeper pieces of gold than I was with the Goldbug2.

If it were me....I'd spend more money on a really good coin/relic machine and buy a used PI detector.
Just remember you will probably more than likely be digging huge holes with bits of iron in the bottom, when you start using a PI

 

[emptyhole]

They didn't fix the coils they replaced them.The first coil was under warranty when the shaft split,the second time the coil worked but it wouldn't stay tight and kept flopping up and down.I'm not sure if it was still under warranty the second time they replaced it,but they just brought out the new closed coil so they may have had old inventory of the open coils, anyway they replaced it free with just a phone call. I prefer the open coil for water use anyway.As far as the $2,500 price, I beat that that by quite a bit with accessories thrown in by making several calls online.

 

[Just_curious]

So would you all agree that $1300 is a good price for a used package? And as far as digging up iron, that's why the ATX was appealing to me. It has that iron id button which i think is an amazing idea.

 

[emptyhole]

Just_curious I sent you pm with a little more information.