Garrett AT Pro - Not Impressed

[Matt1344]

[I know that this is generally considered the most beloved detector which is why I couldn’t wait to use it.]

So I’ve put about 10 hours on the AT Pro (I know that’s not a lot), but so far I’m not impressed with anything it does that the cheaper detectors don’t (if that makes sense).

Maybe I just need a little more time on it or need to adjust some of the settings.

The search coil being larger than the one on my White’s which I had previously used, makes digging a nightmare. Each object rings in, in an area that is about a square foot. The pin pointer (on the detector) is useless when there are multiple objects in one area. With the AT Pro I’m digging holes three times the size and spending 5 to 10 x more time searching for the object.

The thing is all over the place with the sensitivity set higher, but the sensitivity seems to directly affect the search depth. You can’t take advantage of the deeper search depth (over 6 inches) if you don’t have the sensitivity up, but if you keep it up there seems to be too many false positives. I get coin range signals that go away. I get coin range signals when the detector is sitting still. There seems to be so many random signals that go away with this thing as well.

Speaking of depth, I laid a quarter on the surface of the ground and took the detector directly over it. It rang in at 2 inches (which is what it should do)…but then at 4 and 6 inches with the exact same motion going over the same spot. So basically the depth indicator means nothing.

Now on to the numeric metal values. The same coin could ring in (and does) at 7 different values or more. So what’s the point? Is a specific number from 70-99 really going to keep you from digging? The numeric values seem useless when there is so much inconsistency and such a wide range of values the exact same coin can ring.

WIT reminded me below, I've also found more bottle caps than EVER! Which has translated to probably 5 x more trash digs.

To me, every bell and every whistle on this thing isn’t worth the hassle…at least so far.

What are your thoughts, feel free to put me in my place/tell me what I’m doing wrong. So far using it, for me, has been very frustrating.

 

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[coin hunter]

Love mine !! Just a thought when ground balancing make sure that ground is free of iron and or any other targets.Just dropping a quarter down on the ground without checking for other targets also will affect target reading. I run my wire from the head straight up the plastic shaft ,coil it 4 times around metal shaft and then straight up to the control box. Making it tight and taped. I do this with all my detectors. I never had any of the problems that were mentioned . Anything sounding under the coil is a target. Sometimes real deep targets can give an illusion that it is falsing ringing once. Any thing above a nickle I dig not much into iron artifacts. A old rusty nail can ring around a penny sometimes. Some areas are very trashy and can set the AT Pro off. That just tells me its working well and have picked out coins with persistence. Some people coming from other detectors don't realize or understand that the AT Pro is just picking up more targets. I guess there is always a possibility that there is something wrong with your unit . I did buy and use a pin pointer with the AT PRO . I found that targets sometimes were deeper than I thought and would would make the hole wider just find out I had to go a lot deeper. Its all a learning processes with a different make machine. Some machines just pick up obvious targets making one think all machines should work like that . When you upgrade more sound more choices that's the nature of the beast. I have found on occasion both a quarter and a nickle in the same hole making the AT Pro bounce from Quarter to nickle and in between. This is not problem but a learning process. Like I said dig and learn. Hope this Helps

 

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[coin hunter]

Just one more thought many detectorist make this same mistake.Your foot wear has to be free of all metal including the loops that hold the laces . A sensitive detector will pick up that metal on the back swing.

 

[s.c.shooter]

Yhe At pro is a quarter killer if nothing else. If it says about 87/89 it's almost always a quarter. I found one that was about 10" deep. Thought it must have been falsing but I kept digging and there it was.

 

[LuckyThirteen08]

I had an AT pro along side my omega 8000.The tk omega 8000 had ground balance issues on the screen but rang in consitantly,The AT pro was like poking a cat in a sack,It was all over the place no matter what i did,I could ignore the ground balance on the omega up 5 or down by ten,but the AT was exactly as he explained,Anyones guess on which signals to dig.........Best of luck to you no matter which direction you go from here,Im a firm believer that the Garrett AT pro made the garrett pinpointer famous,You need it in order to spend less than two hours recovering a bottle cap....But then again thats just one mans opinion.

 

[Rawhide]

would love the AT Pro and feel confident I could use it with lil or no problems. My F75 has a 11 inch coil and is super sensitive like the AT Pro. You are just going to get more targets. Pin Point takes practice. Since your problem isnt a ground balance, you have soil or emi issues. It is also easy to just null the detector out with a mixture of wrong settings. I have days my F75 just doesnt want to hunt, it happens. Last bad hunt it was a bottle cap magnet lol. But when I get it right, the hunts are fun. Cant tell you anything about the disc modes on a AT Pro, but go all metal and dont worry about numbers, pinpointing, or depth. I would lower you settings and get a smaller search coil in those areas you are digging a lot of trash. I know the VDI screen and discrimination is supposed to make your hunt easy. But the adjustment may be a fine line. I love detectors that are hot, sounds like you got one. Good Luck.

 

[Frankn]

Mat1344, Here's a little tip I discovered using a friends detector. A concentric coil like on my XLT pinpoints dead center of the coil. The DD coils don't. Here's how you pinpoint with a DD coil. Scan back and forth as usual. When you get a signal, stop off the signal and approach it with the left side of your coil. As soon as you get the signal, the target is just at the left side of your coil. Do this again 90 degrees off and you have an exact pinpoint of the target. Try it, you will like it. Frank

 

[toorude89]

Yhe At pro is a quarter killer if nothing else. If it says about 87/89 it's almost always a quarter. I found one that was about 10" deep. Thought it must have been falsing but I kept digging and there it was.

I also dug 2 quarters at least 10". Thought it was a false for sure. Deepest targets I've had.

 

[gleaner1]

[I know that this is generally considered the most beloved detector which is why I couldn’t wait to use it.]

So I’ve put about 10 hours on the AT Pro (I know that’s not a lot), but so far I’m not impressed with anything it does that the cheaper detectors don’t (if that makes sense).

Maybe I just need a little more time on it or need to adjust some of the settings.

The search coil being larger than the one on my White’s which I had previously used, makes digging a nightmare. Each object rings in, in an area that is about a square foot. The pin pointer (on the detector) is useless when there are multiple objects in one area. With the AT Pro I’m digging holes three times the size and spending 5 to 10 x more time searching for the object.

The thing is all over the place with the sensitivity set higher, but the sensitivity seems to directly affect the search depth. You can’t take advantage of the deeper search depth (over 6 inches) if you don’t have the sensitivity up, but if you keep it up there seems to be too many false positives. I get coin range signals that go away. I get coin range signals when the detector is sitting still. There seems to be so many random signals that go away with this thing as well.

Speaking of depth, I laid a quarter on the surface of the ground and took the detector directly over it. It rang in at 2 inches (which is what it should do)…but then at 4 and 6 inches with the exact same motion going over the same spot. So basically the depth indicator means nothing.

Now on to the numeric metal values. The same coin could ring in (and does) at 7 different values or more. So what’s the point? Is a specific number from 70-99 really going to keep you from digging? The numeric values seem useless when there is so much inconsistency and such a wide range of values the exact same coin can ring.

WIT reminded me below, I've also found more bottle caps than EVER! Which has translated to probably 5 x more trash digs.

To me, every bell and every whistle on this thing isn’t worth the hassle…at least so far.

What are your thoughts, feel free to put me in my place/tell me what I’m doing wrong. So far using it, for me, has been very frustrating.

Put the time in with atpro, its an impressive machine in the trash. And the relic site. What machine impresses you?

 

[gleaner1]

Mat1344, Here's a little tip I discovered using a friends detector. A concentric coil like on my XLT pinpoints dead center of the coil. The DD coils don't. Here's how you pinpoint with a DD coil. Scan back and forth as usual. When you get a signal, stop off the signal and approach it with the left side of your coil. As soon as you get the signal, the target is just at the left side of your coil. Do this again 90 degrees off and you have an exact pinpoint of the target. Try it, you will like it. Frank

View attachment 730443

Frankn the atpro with big dd pinpoints like magic, I rarely use the pp button anymore and the crap is spot on dead center every time by short waggles. But this only being said after two seasons and many thousands of targets.

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

I think I figured out the pinpoint on my detector. I thought in the video they said to hit the button. When the sound gets loud and the graph is at highest point. Move coil forward or back. When the signal drops off, it's right there.
Well after doing this many times and digging many holes (big holes) trying to find the target. I discovered that when you hit the target. Back off it and then pp it by then moving coil towards the target. As soon as you get the higher tone and graph. It's right on the front of the coil in the middle. You can do it to the side as well as the back.
I could have sworn that when you pp'd it, it was center if coil. Then I would pull back then dig. Man what a way to learn the pinpoint. I could've sworn when practicing pping the coil the target was right in the middle of grid on the coil.
Well like everybody says. Practice makes perfect. Now I know my holes won't have to get so big. Lol

 

[Normsel]

You won't feel comfy with it until you have at lest 100 hours, there are days you will want to throw it in the junk then the next day will go great. Like the one guy said check your coil connections and make sure they are tight. I had that problem at 1st. Then I noticed the connection wasn't all they wa tight. With the o-ring on the connection it makes it a lil harder to tighten but that's to keep it water proof. I gently finished tightening mine with a pliers. I just did it until I knew it was snug and quit turning.

I have about 400 hours using mine and it does what it says. Digging trash is down to about 10% if I am just out cherry picking. If I am out looking for old musket balls or something then of course my trash is 80% but one has to expect that.

You may try swinging a lil slower and even raise the iron discrimination to max to start. Turn off the iron audio unless your swinging over a questionable target because many tie with iron audo on it will scratch and beep like you have a good target but the iron audio scratchy sound lets you know it probably isn't a coin.

I am not sure but I think all detectors have their own personality the best advice I have gotten on here is practice, practice and more practice.The VDI is usually right on target for pennies, dimes and quarters. A steady 52 is usually a nickel. In my area the soil is heavily mineralized in most areas.

Most of the guys on here are tons of help on here and I have got great tips from beginners as well as seasoned dectectors. Keep asking no matter how trivial there is always someone on here to help.

 

[Gary Bonin]

I had the same thing happen to me but I went on line found some videos on The Garrett At Pro and it helped me find the targets better . But to make things easier I just got the Garrett Pro pin-Pointer I think it will help find the items faster with my AT Pro.

 

[gleaner1]

I had the same thing happen to me but I went on line found some videos on The Garrett At Pro and it helped me find the targets better . But to make things easier I just got the Garrett Pro pin-Pointer I think it will help find the items faster with my AT Pro.

Not true about hand held pp's, it's a fallacy. Never use a hand held pinpointer as a crutch because you refuse to learn how to pp a target with the actual detector, especially one like the atpro, which is outstanding at pp, even with the bid dd, which pp's like magic (nails are tricky though). I can pp and dig a couple hundred targets in a couple hours if I want, without a hand held pp. Force yourself to learn how to pp with the tecter. You will thank me for this. I promise.

 

[Vladio]

I'm about 3 months into the hobby. Started with a Ace 250 them moved to a 350 about a month later then the AT Pro a month ago. I never detected prior but have mastered it in this short time. I can say that it does have a learning curve but once mastered you'll love it. I just found my oldest coin this evening while camping with the fam. I was sweeping the campsite and found a 1926 wheaty. Nothing to brag about but a nice add. I've tried a few other manufacturers and still.prefer the Garrett.

 

[atomicscott]

So I’ve put about 10 hours on the AT Pro (I know that’s not a lot), but so far I’m not impressed with anything it does that the cheaper detectors don’t (if that makes sense).

Maybe I just need a little more time on it or need to adjust some of the settings.

The search coil being larger than the one on my White’s which I had previously used, makes digging a nightmare. Each object rings in, in an area that is about a square foot. The pin pointer (on the detector) is useless when there are multiple objects in one area. With the AT Pro I’m digging holes three times the size and spending 5 to 10 x more time searching for the object.

The thing is all over the place with the sensitivity set higher, but the sensitivity seems to directly affect the search depth. You can’t take advantage of the deeper search depth (over 6 inches) if you don’t have the sensitivity up, but if you keep it up there seems to be too many false positives. I get coin range signals that go away. I get coin range signals when the detector is sitting still. There seems to be so many random signals that go away with this thing as well.

Speaking of depth, I laid a quarter on the surface of the ground and took the detector directly over it. It rang in at 2 inches (which is what it should do)...but then at 4 and 6 inches with the exact same motion going over the same spot. So basically the depth indicator means nothing.

Now on to the numeric metal values. The same coin could ring in (and does) at 7 different values or more. So what’s the point? Is a specific number from 70-99 really going to keep you from digging? The numeric values seem useless when there is so much inconsistency and such a wide range of values the exact same coin can ring.

WIT reminded me below, I've also found more bottle caps than EVER! Which has translated to probably 5 x more trash digs.

To me, every bell and every whistle on this thing isn’t worth the hassle...at least so far.

What are your thoughts, feel free to put me in my place/tell me what I’m doing wrong. So far using it, for me, has been very frustrating.

Thats a bummer! As far as cranking the sensitivty, I experienced this with my Vaquero as well. On the sites I hunted at I couldnt get the sensitivity high enough to get the depth without the chatter limiting my settings.

 

[fella]

Well I won't say that I'm disappointed in the At Pro yet but I'm hardly impressed with it either.

Design & ergonomics of it are just plain bad. Not what I'd expect from a $600 machine. So far on the performance end of it, it has yet to target anything over 6".

I think most users that rave about it are coming off lower end or starter detectors. It's a definitely a step up from the joke Ace series or the equally worthless Coinmaster lineup (I'm sure the lower end FT machines aren't any better). But it hasn't been a match for the Tesoros in the $500 range or the E & V-series Whites that I've seen yet. I admit I'm a new ATP user and not familiar with all it's nuances yet. But it sure hasn't wowed me like my MXT Pro or my Vx3 did right off the start.

 

[Normsel]

The smaller coil on the ATP makes it much lighter and you dig much less trash. It also makes it easier to pin point with the 5x8.

I used it on a beach last week and dug very little trash in comparison to the last beach i detected on. My signals are more precise as well.

I love my ATP with the 5x8 coil

 

[cooper1841]

The smaller coil on the ATP makes it much lighter and you dig much less trash. It also makes it easier to pin point with the 5x8.

I used it on a beach last week and dug very little trash in comparison to the last beach i detected on. My signals are more precise as well.

I love my ATP with the 5x8 coil

Agree 100%, I liked it with the large stock coil, but this 5x8 is the cats pajamas. I do some beach, but mostly park, and home sites, have 3 coils, but I don't see the 5x8 coming off

 

[badpenny]

You definetly aren't pin pointing with the AT Pro correctly. I just answered the question on the Garrett Forum on how I do it with either coil and I am usually spot on. Get a little more time on the machine and you'll get the hang of it. My holes never exceed four inches across, if that. Now I am NOT saying this is the best machine on the planet, so don't flame me on that one but I will try to answer all your questions if I can, and I am no expert either. But you do want to turn that sensitivity down or it'll be beeping on everything. When mine tells me to dig I usually got what I think it will be. One site I am doing now is full of Coors wide mouth caps, and I know the sound and numbers and I only dug a few. Good luck!

 

[hunter_46356]

It's interesting to read all the complaints that some AT owners (and some non owners) have expressed here. I have been running an AT Pro for a few months now, having only used the BH 505 w a DD coil before it. I have experienced some of the so called issues some have mentioned here but have a quite different attitude about the Pro. My opinion is this machine it doing exactly what it was designed to do. Yeah sure there might be a few out there with some bugs but every manufacturer has them. If you read the instructions and view the many vid's out there and take the time to learn the machine, you shouldn't have any problem. Some complain that the Pro is noisy, well I would say every noise is a target all you need to do is figure out which is a good target. Why would other machines not be so noisy in the same ground,( maybe their not picking up the targets?) Greatest depth I've achieved is in Pro Mode full Sensitivity and zero Discrimination, with Iron Audio on and off depending on trash. Is it noisy? Sure it probably is by someone's standard but I have pulled merc dimes as deep as 12" under a running track around an abandoned football field. The original limestone track had been covered with a cushioned new tech track which was then removed when they stopped using the sports complex. I have dug two coins through the sod over the original track and down into the clay base. Pin pointing has never been a problem read the instructions 95% of my finds are dead center of the hole or plug. You getting jumpy signals, well in my experience JUMPY usually means JUNK. The more time you spend with the Pro the more you will figure out whether it's truly a jumpy signal or a coin next to junk. I dig way less junk and way more good targets since I started running the Pro. Blame it on the machine if you want but I think this machine is telling you a lot more about what's in the ground than those who bash it are mentally capable of figuring out. Next thing some will want is a walk behind, self swinging detector, that will choose which target to dig and dig it too. Hunter