AT Gold???

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Just wondering if anyone is using the AT Gold for prospecting and if so could you let us know what you think of it, or is there a better detector out there for around the same price?
Would love to hear peoples opinion on this.
ZDD

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Hmmm........... I guess that there is a lack of use or interest in this detector by the members on this forum. I wonder if that is telling me something
Perhaps I will try posting on the Garrett forum.
Thanks anyway,
ZDD

 

[Oakview2]

Try posting your questions here and I am sure you will find somebody familar with its operation.



Metal Detecting For Gold

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

Zodiac. I'm new to this hobby. I've chosen to use the ATG as well. I'm using it to prospect some areas I've found gold in in the past. I've seen the AT Pro used here in a mining supply store and it was picking up pickers in about 12" of our mineralized soil. So I decided to use the ATG due to the higher MHz compared to the Pro.
If you're going to use it for diving in the salt water, I don't think I'd use it there. It's not suggested to use in surf. However, I've talked to others who have used it on the beaches and was able to adjust it so the false readings disappeared. I think if you've got questions on it. The Garrett homepage might be able to answer some questions.

 

[Sovereignelite]

The lower the better for find small gold, so I hear. I hunt mostly coins with a Minelab GT.

Zodiac. I'm new to this hobby. I've chosen to use the ATG as well. I'm using it to prospect some areas I've found gold in in the past. I've seen the AT Pro used here in a mining supply store and it was picking up pickers in about 12" of our mineralized soil. So I decided to use the ATG due to the higher MHz compared to the Pro.
If you're going to use it for diving in the salt water, I don't think I'd use it there. It's not suggested to use in surf. However, I've talked to others who have used it on the beaches and was able to adjust it so the false readings disappeared. I think if you've got questions on it. The Garrett homepage might be able to answer some questions.

 

[ezzz1]

The At gold is very god on small pickers..it pick it up where other detectors would not at 4 inches so its is good.....It can also be adjusted to high mineralized ground by + or - .. ive used it here in Ga. where the ground is terrible in some places.. with good results

 

[trinityau]

Hello all, technology has been and is changing. Some of these newer units do not have to have high fequencies to hear tiny sub-grain crumbs. I have never used the Garrett AT Gold, however, I have friends that tried it and it will not come close to a GB Pro or a GB II. With my GB Pro I hear crumbs at two to three inches in very hot ground. It normally takes about six or seven of these crumbs to make a grain. Not a gram, a grain. I also have a few friends that have had Tesoro Lobo's and the AT Gold would not come close to the Lobo's performance. Hope this helps, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[nuggetshooter323]

The utube video's that I've seen showed the users getting nuggets larger than gram size nuggets with the AT Gold. Most detectors, even coin and jewlery orinted detectors, will find bigger than gram sized nuggets. It all depends the size nuggets that you want to dig, some people don't want to mess with grain sized gold. Ray said that he finds crumbs that take six or so to make a grain. That's fricken' small!! 1 grain = 65 mg, 20 grains = 1.3 grams( by the way 20 grains is called a scruple, s av). There is much more gold this size than the bigger stuff. I'd rather go home with several grains, than wait for the gram+'s to come along. There's kind of an unoffical rule in nugget hunting that says that where you find one, there more close by. If your detector can't see these sub-gramers, then your going to miss these clusters of nuggets. If the AT Gold is your only nugget hunter, then you just have to make due. Turn your gain up as high as possible, use your smallest coil, and scrub the ground with your coil slooowww. Low and slooowww. You shoud be wearing out your coil cover every several years, that's what it's for. I'm not trying to disparage the AT Gold, but it just won't find the really small stuff. Nobody said you only can have one gold detector, they all have strengths. Most serious hunters have several gold detectors. Hope this helped.

 

[ezzz1]

Take a BB or a picker if you pefer if you want to compare the AT Gold to the lobo . The gold will pick it up at 4 plus inches the lobo only 3 inches....... ive already done the test.. The gold bug will also pick it up at about 4
How can you compare if you never had both together and check together instead of what someone else has said?

I use the At Gold mostly here in GA. in the streams. Then dredge the area i get signals in
I have the lobo, gold bug II, & At gold
But then again Who know area might make a difference. Ga. has a very high mineral in some areas

 

[trinityau]

ezzz1, I cannot rest easy with those comments about the Lobo, and Gold Bugs Pro or II. I have literally found pounds of pieces with the three mentioned named detectors along with the Eureka Gold. All of these detectors will pick up gold so small that it takes six or seven pieces to make a grain. Do you know how small a piece like that is? I have detected in North Georgia and North Carolina with all these units and the ground is no worse than the ground I have encountered anywhere in the West or Southwest. I dont know how long you have used any of these units but even if it was every day for six months that is just starting to get close to learning and realizing what they can do. I have been detecting for almost forty years and have used the above mentioned detectors thousands of hours each as they made their march into detecting history. If you cannot hear a bb with any of them at three or four inches, and you can hear them with the AT Gold, then you have no idea of how to use those other detectors. I had to go try out the AT Gold with a local Garrett dealer today and put it against my GB Pro and I have to say thet it did not come close. Even the dealer said No Contest. No cigar.... My take is it is good gold detector on something a half a gram or so but that is about it. I definitely would not use the AT Gold for bread and butter. Just my opinion, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[rjsupersonic]

Don't overlook the Minelab X Terra 705, it has a prospecting mode that I am really impressed with. cost is just a little more than the AT Gold.

 

[ezzz1]

I think i said the At gold and the goldbug had the same results.....the lobo didnt have the depth that they had.
opinion,/ try the facts. in which you could not have produced.....since i just posted this..... years in MD ok i admit i have over 40 yr, the first being from radio shack. i use all on a regular bases since in retired . i have also done some testing, for com.,. I dont thing you ever came in Ga. or you would know what a Ga hot rocks are here, in Whites county.their their are several detector that will not work because it would drive anybody nut of beep beep beep with the hot rocks in some areas The dealer you talked about needs to contact Brain at garrett about how to use the At gold... I dont recall mentioning the goldbug pro which is a good machine.. very popular in Austrailia..... most people on here cant imagine the size of a gram of gold..or just saying a picker . so its so much easier to use the size of a BB to compare to.for people can understand .... the godbug pro i guess might be a good boat anchor here in the US
.. why argue?

 

[trinityau]

ezee, A grain is quite a bit smaller than a gram. Note the pictures. I can probably show you lots of places in North Georgia. I retired out of the Army and spent many years prospecting there and in North Carolina. My wife is from Rutherfordton, NC. Talk to any of the current owners at Vein Mtn, LDMA camp, Thermal City or The Lucky Strike and you will find that I detected and dredged all those areas fifteen years before they even became pay to mine sites years ago. The same thing down in Dahlonega and the surrounding area. I dredged for years around that area and was one of the first with a dredge in many of those creeks. I also detected quite a bit in those areas. Yes, the ground is hot but nothing compared to what we have out West. If you know your unit you should not have a problem with hot rocks. There is quite a difference in the signal on most hot rocks over the size of bean than the signal of a piece of gold the same size. Smaller hot rocks are bit tougher thats why you need to have good hearing and know your signals. I like to work among hot rocks as that is where the gold shows up. It all comes with years of experience.

I would like to see you get on some detecting forums where many of the detectorists are professionals, Arizona Outback, Nuggethunting, Nuggetshooting. Show these guys what you posted about the Lobo, Gold Bugs, and what you call a picker, and give them your ideas on a grain verses a gram and being able to hear. Tell them that a Lobo cannot hear a bb at three inches. These are people that make a living or have made a living out of detecting gold and most of it was or is sub-grain and sub-gram gold. I have nothing against Garrett products, they just have not proved out for me and many others, not as fine gold sniffers. If you are happy with the performance that you are getting then by all means stay with it but note that many people will be passing you up as "Those other machines'' really do better than what your tests are showing. If they did not then they would not still be on the market. If you have done such exhaustive tests then maybe you should be advertising the product. I am not afraid to support my Gold Bugs, check any of the ads in all the major mining magazines and you will see me supporting the Fisher GB Pro. I use equipment that works and if it does not then I am looking for something that will. If someone comes out with a detector that will do better on fine gold than the GB Pro or GBII, a Lobo or a Eureka Gold then I will drop what I have and buy it. After trying the AT Gold against those others it just is not the one I would trade up for or be able to honestly tell people that they should get.

Actually the GB Pro is not that popular in Australia but it is starting to gain momentum amongst many. The GBII is still the top earner as far as a VLF machine. I have posted and shared many of my posts from AZO on a few Australian forums and people are starting to pick up on it. I have friends in Australia that are,were, die hard GBII users and have changed to the GB Pro. I have many others who have not. Many people choose to continue to use what they know if it is working for them. Again, these are just my opinions. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[signal_line]

The AT Gold is not a high frequency machine and comparing the gold size of different frequency machines is blatant deception. As I say, if your machine is so good you should be spending all your time talking about it and not trying to put others down.

The Garrett website has several videos showing all the new features of the ATG. With the 5 x 8 DD coil mine will hit a gold ring at 12 inches air test and I've found coins that deep. Surprisingly it does good on silver, too. Not as hot as on gold but better than other machines I've owned. I lost track but I've owned nine or ten different machines including a GMT.

 

[trinityau]

Signal Line, when did we start talking about coins? I have been talking about prospecting for gold. The individual who started this thread was talking about prospecting for gold. When prospecting for gold your bread and butter are the tiny pieces.This is a gold prospecting forum within the general gold prospecting forum of Treasure Net. Coinshooting is a whole different world than detecting for gold.

Signal Line, as mentioned before by several Tech's and myself new technology allows some of these newer units with lower frequencies to detect just as tiny a piece of gold as the higher frequencies do. Comparing gold of different sizes when talking about gold prospecting units, not coins, is not blatant at all. People should be aware of what one unit will do against another under similar conditions.

Signal Line, I have not put anyone down. I have merely stated my opinions on a few gold prospecting detectors. This is information people most people would like to know before making a purchase. No one has their hands tied so that they have to "Read and Believe" I think most of the forum members are big kids and can sit back and make their own decision.

I did look at that Garrett site, and video, and the AT Gold does appear to be OK for several applications. I still do not think I would want it for sub-grain gold myself.

By the way the GB Pro is a low frequency unit. The GBII is a high frequency unit. As I said the newer technology throws some of these things right out the window. Again, these are my opinions, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[midnightmoon]

I wish we could nominate posters for *Banner* for sharing their knowledge and experience.

Trinityau you tell it like it is. Awesome.

 

[ezzz1]

Trinityau. i think you on here just to argue,,,,when you have never had a AT gold in your hand but yet you were knocking it ....and to brag on your self.
I know very well what a a grain & gram and picker and nugget is............BUt i was using the size of a BB for the reason ..... for a newbie can understand a little bit on size ref.almost every body know how big or little a BB is but not everybody know how big a grain or gram in in gold.as you know size means everything.
I do agree very much what you said: ( As I said the newer technology throws some of these things right out the window. )
Also thats my point what signal_line said , yet you were knocking what he said he can relate to the size of a coin better that relating to the size of gold
which is great to get his point across.

 

[trinityau]

Trinityau. i think you on here just to argue,,,,when you have never had a AT gold in your hand but yet you were knocking it ....and to brag on your self.
Above post, please read. I had to go try out the AT Gold with a local Garrett dealer today and put it against my GB Pro and I have to say thet it did not come close. Even the dealer said No Contest. No cigar.... My take is it is good gold detector on something a half a gram or so but that is about it. I definitely would not use the AT Gold for bread and butter. Just my opinion, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

I know very well what a a grain & gram and picker and nugget is............BUt i was using the size of a BB for the reason ..... for a newbie can understand a little bit on size ref.almost every body know how big or little a BB is but not everybody know how big a grain or gram in in gold.as you know size means everything.
That is why I posted the pictures so people can see the difference.

I do agree very much what you said: ( As I said the newer technology throws some of these things right out the window. )
Also thats my point what signal_line said , yet you were knocking what he said he can relate to the size of a coin better that relating to the size of gold
which is great to get his point across.[/QUOTE]
My point exactly, If you are prospecting for gold you need to hear those tiny, subtle signals, not too worried about hearing a coin. I guess what I am trying to get across is that (those other units) will hear those subtle signals on tiny sub-grain targets along with a coin, however, the AT Gold did not show me the ability to hear the sub-grainers but it will hear a coin.

On a lighter note, I am not arguing at all. I make statements that I can back up and I pass on information that others can rely on and if I have go over that information until it is right then that is my process. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[signal_line]

Going to the dealer and trying it is not a real test and I think everyone knows this except you. I doubt you even know how to ground balance it accurately. The ATG does not use the high frequency for sub-grain. The high frequency machines don't go as deep and they don't like mineralization. So to compare the two is phony.

 

[ezzz1]

My only point is this is what you said.. your quote ( I dont know how long you have used any of these units but even if it was every day for six months that is just starting to get close to learning and realizing what they can do). So how can you comment on the the gold?your kicking AT gold and never had one in your hand
I just dont understand how anybody can post anything about another detector on here or Arizona Outback, or Nuggethunting,or Nuggetshooting you fogot & about GPAA when they dont know anything about it
I would almost better the Dealer you went to was the one who sold you what you have..

The At gold and goldbug are very good machine i think your just one sided because thats what you have and thats what the dealer sold you
I think a minelab is a very good machine to ..lots of my friends have them most like them , some dont but i not going to say that their not good just because some dont like them