Ah. Another "we hate the AT Pro" thread. Go figure.
I paid for over 1/2 of my AT Pro, with just the clad I have found in the last year... not counting all of the jewelry and silver coins. That was the first year I picked up a detector. On average, I find $30 in clad every month, searching maybe 3 times a week for an hour or two each time. I have been finding at that rate since the second month of ownership, indicating the short learning curve. I have had few hobbies that have paid back the majority of the equipment cost in the very first year. I don't dig bottle caps. I don't dig beaver tails. I can tell you, 10 times out of 10, when I hit a bottle cap or beaver tail. I have seen few (if any) using Whites or any of the other leading brands that do not dig their share of both. I have dug down past my elbow to recover the tiny back off of an earring post, and it registered nice and clear in the headset. I have found deep silver with the AT Pro. It is hard to beat on land, especially in trashy areas. Unfortunately, the beaches around my area suck. They are small and sparse in NoCal, and they do not have the mass of humanity to lose valuables, compared to beaches further south. I don't really know how well the Pro's work on sand... but I know from reading that many use them with great success.
Fishermen never tell others where their fishing hole is. Equally true, just as few of would give others directions to their high output hunting spots. An extension of this logic : few would also likely steer others towards gear that would help them be more productive. Increasing the productivity of others, as more and more pick up the hobby, can only have the effect of decreasing your own productivity ultimately. If AT Pros sucked, people would be telling others to go out and buy them immediately, instead of bashing them. When someone attacks a brand, it is because that brand threatens them in some manner. People with "no dogs in the hunt" don't generally waste the breath to criticize. I think that a good amount of the criticisms of the AT Pro relate to the fact the Pro allows novices to do what it took those bashing the it many years to learn. Perhaps those who criticize are upset by the amount they spent on their own gear, as they see novices spending 1/3 of what they spent finding as much if not more than their own finds.
The Pro worked so well, I purchased another for my girlfriend who now uses the Pro instead of her Whites Spectrum XLT, with better results. I just purchased a second detector for myself, a CTX-3030. Since I intend to stay in the hobby, I want the best tools available. I now have them and will use both equally, in different applications; the CTX will be used more at the coast. The right tool for the right job. If that tool happened to get produced by Whites, or some other company, I would use it. At this moment, Minelab and perhaps XP Deus have best capable machines in the high-end market, and Garrett has the mid-range market. This reality isn't because Garrett produces crap. This reality is because their product is priced well, it is selling well, and it performs well.
People usually look out for themselves before they will ever think about looking out for others. Don't trust opinions, including mine. Try the AT Pro. Have an experienced person give you a demo. Look at the competitor's models in the same price range. There are few that can compete with the AT Pro, once you know how to use the tones, the tone-roll audio, the fast recovery time, and iron audio features. It is very nice to be able to pass up the bottle caps and beaver tails. I don't miss digging them up.
