Affordable P.I.?

[Rockhunter1620]

Wadaya all think?

Garrett ATX - YouTube

http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/pdfs/garrett_atx_introducing_lowres.pdf
Could prove to be a little competition for minelab finally?

 

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[DesertNuggets]

I want one. I hope the price drops a little. ($2500)

 

[Hard Prospector]

This could be the machine the salt water beach swingers have been waiting for. Not the best coil design for prospecting, it and the bushes are gonna fight for sure. Cool design and I like how it breaks down. Not ready to moth ball the TDI anytime soon but will be keeping a close eye on this one.

 

[63bkpkr]

My initial thoughts: It "looks like" a lot of molded plastic. IF all the plastic components are fiber reinforced then it could stand a chance of being dropped into the rocks and surviving. Not knowing squat about PI's, it sounds like they have included some interesting electronic abilities. It folds up to a somewhat small package.

I must go see this new marvel though I will be waiting for new users to give us the real evaluations on how well the electronics package works and what happens to the "Plastic" in rocks/falling on it/dropping it/soaking it or in other words, how it holds up to being used/abused "out there"!............................63bkpkr

 

[Goldwasher]

Waiting to hear from Steve H......and yea I don't know all that much but, don't see how to avoid needing/wanting other coils. And yes very plasitic...I betcha I could break it accidently with normal use. If it works well I could see it being an excellent surf and sand machine. An under water P.I. for some snipers little helper, would be sweet but, that coil would be in the way for what I would like to do.....Unit floating on tube, splash or dont' not a big deal.....un wind coil cable.......extend maybe.....water proof headphones snorkel..coil small enough to scan some bedrock cracks under water....fan when you need to.....find nuggets in shallow creek hmmmmm..might be a new tool for some picker hunting?

 

[Steve Herschbach]

Actually, this is not a totally new unit but a modification of a military spec unit made by Garrett, the Recon AML 1000. People that have owned them report military spec is not a joke - they are built like a tank, as the 5.5 pounds reflects.

$2495 does not rate as "affordable" in my book except as compared to a GPX 5000 at $5795. But in most people's books $2495 is a serious chunk of change for a metal detector so that will be a real obstacle for many. I wish they had gone $2350 so the standard 15% discount would bring it in at $1998. Instead, it will be about $2130.

But bottom line this design has seen field use for at least a couple years and so is more proven than most new units. I do not think worries about cheap plastic will prove to be justified. Football helmets are made of plastic.

Anyway, I hope to have one soon. If people are interested I will share my thoughts. Probably will anyway since I am a blabberhead!

 

[63bkpkr]

Thank you Steve! We will all be looking forward to your review of this new/old unit.

Plastic is as plastic is, it depends on the type of plastic. From a damage/breakage/cracking/chipping point of view the serviceability of the unit will depend on the grade of plastic and fiber reinforcement. "My feeling" is that for a prospector out anywhere the unit will see rough service and from time to time harsh treatment during packing in/packing out, dropping, falls including the prospector falling on the machine and the like as well as a boulder falling onto it. A plastic unit without fiber reinforcement might not have a very long life, the fiber filler makes a huge difference in the toughness of any plastic but there are certain plastics that are just easy to break. We will see if Garret has done their homework on this one as the machines go out into the field and return with inputs from the users, especially reviews from you!.........63bkpkr

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

Garrett’s new unit appears to have addressed the outstanding issues that were inherent to the Infinium. The wobbly stem has been eliminated, and the unit body is mounted further back on the stem beneath the armcuff such that balance should be improved. The reverse discrimination control is now at one’s fingertips on the display, eliminating the need to use two hands to operate this feature as per the Infinium… a big improvement… and a larger coil is now available that many Infinium users have wanted for many years. And they’ve added auto frequency scan… another substantive improvement, volume and sensitivity controls, plus an external speaker for those who would rather not use headphones. I would have preferred single tones as well, but nonetheless these are all solid improvements over the Infinium design. It is a shame that Garrett did not design a lighter weight unit similar to what White's achieved with the TDI SL.

The price has practically doubled… an increase that is not warranted by these upgrades alone. Similar money will buy a good used Minelab PI. It leads me to hope that Garrett has managed to produce a half-ways competitive PI unit with respect to depth generally… and specifically to small gold sensitivity.

Jim.

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

A further comment re: plastics... Herb I agree with you that plastics are a legitimate concern, although the ATX is constructed to military specifications and presumably that also applies to the coils.

The Garrett Infinium coils were … at least at the time I purchased it… constructed with a plastic that seemed unusually vulnerable to chipping when bumped against rocks. My F75 stock coil, for example, has been repeatedly smacked against rocks for several seasons… no issue… not one crack or chip has resulted. My Infinium’s 8” round mono coil was badly chipped and cracked after only a week of searching mine tailings… and there was no coil cover available from Garrett.

On a different note, hopefully Garrett will provide a 5”X 10” or smaller coil for the new ATX. Having just returned from a goldhunting trip to Quebec, the importance of keeping the coil as close as possible to the substrate to detect small gold in variably sized dredge cobbles was self-evident. One has got to be able to sweep the coil in and around tight places in such environs. Even the ATX’s small coil… an 8” round mono… is not the best shape for doing so. A second alternative for Garrett’s ATX is to provide a 5” round coil, similar to the effective Razorback 5” round mono produced for the White’s TDI series.

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Prior to heading north to silver country in a day or two Steve, here’s wishing you all the very best with your relocation to Reno. Pulling stakes and moving to an entirely different part of the continent is no trivial thing. I can only imagine you are delighted to be in a new country with a multitude of prospecting adventures in your immediate future. Good luck with everything this autumn… and so long for now.

Jim.

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[Steve Herschbach]

Best of luck to you also Jim. I am liking my new digs. Scored a very nice 0.80 ounce gold in quartz specimen just yesterday. I already seem to have more places to go than time. Life is good!