AT Pro for water hunting, to CZ21 experiences?

flgliderpilot · Oct 22, 2015

I have an AT Pro, and it's a fine detector. It's found me plenty of good stuff in salt water. However, it does chatter, and I know that small or deep targets are getting missed because I am ignoring the faint chatter. If I slow down I can find those targets in the chatter, but I am considering upgrading to a CZ-21 to help with these deeper or smaller targets.

I've done some wet sand depth comparisons with by buddy who has a CZ-21 and there was not much difference in depth, so that is not my motivating factor for the change. The boost mode sounds like something I would really use often.

I was hoping to try his CZ but lately we have been on different schedules.

Anyone out there who has upgraded from an AT pro to a CZ-21 give me their experiences?

I'm interested in things like weight difference with and without computer chest mounted, battery life/convenience comparisons, leaking issues, comfort, reliability, etc, comparisons.

Thanks

Captain Caveman · Oct 22, 2015

I cannot compare the AT Pro, but I do have a CZ-20. I have experienced no falsing with it and I love using it on beaches and in the ocean. That's my 2cents, hope it helps.

redcobra8u · Oct 22, 2015

Excal II with the hip mount. Doesn't get any lighter than that and goes deeper than you'll want to dig.

Soflhunter · Oct 22, 2015

Excal 2- made for the beach.

sandswimmer · Oct 22, 2015

Comparison is futile! You should know that by now.
ATP....Fresh water
CZ20/21,ExCal,3030,Whites PI,..........Saltwater

CaptainCoil · Oct 22, 2015

The CZ-21 and Excal II are saltwater masterpieces. Hip or chest mount the housing unit and you'll forget its even there! get a CZ-21 or Excal II, and won't ever think about using the AT pro for saltwater again.

RustyGold · Oct 22, 2015

I'm a big fan of the Excal II but if you are going to be hunting with your friend maybe you guys will want similar detectors and possibly have the chance to learn it faster as well as head to head challenges to see who does better.
If you have different detectors you'll always be wondering which brand is better. Not so, theoretically, with both of you using the same machine and all things being equal.
If you do not see doing too much hunting together then you may want to consider the Excal. You then can go head to head with the Excal users :laughing7:

Best of luck out there!

lookindown · Oct 23, 2015

I used my AT Pro for one whole summer hunting with two friends that used CZs...I found just as much as them and just as much gold...for mine to run stable I hunted in standard mode with about 5 bars sensitivity and got very few falses...testing against their CZs with those settings, they got about two inches more depth...those two inches are what made me buy a CZ 21...one day BigMike had a faint solid target and asked me to see if my AT could hear it...I couldn't hear it and when he dug it he came up with a big tungsten ring...two hours later he did the same thing with another deep tungsten I couldn't hear...I love my CZ and my AT Pro is my freshwater machine now...me and my CZ 21 have a relationship. :laughing7:

Fletch88 · Oct 23, 2015

Did you compare the ATP to the cz in Autotune? Because in that mode I can tell you from owning both that the cz is at least 60-80% deeper. In silent search mode it should be quite deeper also, but the preferred way for me anyway, is to hunt with a background threshold to hear deeper, fainter targets.

The weight and balance of a cz-21 is very bad out of the water (so is the Excal with stock shaft everyone keeps mentioning). I use an Anderson CF underarm shaft that helps balance somewhat over the stock shaft configuration. If I plan on hunting for a long time out of the water, I like to hipmount the control box. I also prefer the 8" coil because I wade and scuba with mine and it is much better than the 10.5 for that IMO.

CASPER-2 · Oct 23, 2015

DOWN IN FLA. - ID SAY GO WITH THE EXCAL
this is from someone that is not an Excal fan - so unbiased
Id say 90%+ of water hunters down there seem to use Excals
only prob is - you can not hunt next to your friend with the cz21 - youll drive his nuts
I use CZ21s - I hunt in all metal
guys down there seem to crank their discrim. and leave a lot of junk behind
which you will find with a CZ
they don't think they do - but they lose depth and lose gold when they crank the discrim..
so you can get what you can or try and get it all

Treasure_Hunter · Oct 23, 2015

CASPER-2 said:
DOWN IN FLA. - ID SAY GO WITH THE EXCAL
this is from someone that is not an Excal fan - so unbiased
Id say 90%+ of water hunters down there seem to use Excals
only prob is - you can not hunt next to your friend with the cz21 - youll drive his nuts
I use CZ21s - I hunt in all metal
guys down there seem to crank their discrim. and leave a lot of junk behind
which you will find with a CZ
they don't think they do - but they lose depth and lose gold when they crank the discrim..
so you can get what you can or try and get it all

If your discriminating at the beach your leaving gold behind...

flgliderpilot · Oct 23, 2015

great advice, thanks guys!

flgliderpilot · Oct 23, 2015

Treasure_Hunter said:
If your discriminating at the beach your leaving gold behind...

Our beaches are littered from little iron flakes from a sunken barge. It helps to be able to identity them and move on.

cdv1 · Oct 23, 2015

CASPER-2 said:
guys down there seem to crank their discrim. and leave a lot of junk behind
which you will find with a CZ
they don't think they do - but they lose depth and lose gold when they crank the discrim..
so you can get what you can or try and get it all

Interesting you should make mention of this.... I was testing my new at the time CTX on a small beach with buried gold rings and saw a person gridding with an Excal. I went over and talked to him to see if we could use his Excal to compare depths against the CTX.... He made mention of the 3 month slump he was on ....not getting any gold, so I said this should be a good test for you then. On the first gold ring at 8", his Excal didn't hear a thing in PP or Disc. I asked if I could see his settings and he as I expected had his disc turned way up. He hadn't changed his settings since his "friend" showed him what he used at the beach to find gold..... After changing the Disc setting, the Excal found the ring at 8" in both PP and Disc.

Cliff

Treasure_Hunter · Oct 23, 2015

I am constantly talking to people who say they have found no gold with their excal and when I ask what discrimination they are using they tell me settings anywhere between 5-17.. :dontknow:

Fletch88 · Oct 23, 2015

Pinpoint is all metal so not sure why he couldn't pick up any metal object in pp mode then it may have disappeared in disc mode depending on where gold was on conductivity scale. Something's amiss there?

flgliderpilot · Oct 23, 2015

lookindown said:
I used my AT Pro for one whole summer hunting with two friends that used CZs...I found just as much as them and just as much gold...for mine to run stable I hunted in standard mode with about 5 bars sensitivity and got very few falses...testing against their CZs with those settings, they got about two inches more depth...those two inches are what made me buy a CZ 21...one day BigMike had a faint solid target and asked me to see if my AT could hear it...I couldn't hear it and when he dug it he came up with a big tungsten ring...two hours later he did the same thing with another deep tungsten I couldn't hear...I love my CZ and my AT Pro is my freshwater machine now...me and my CZ 21 have a relationship.

Hey thanks for that info. How did you adapt to the CZ? Did you chest or hip mount the box? Are you using a 10" or 8" coil?

I'll kinda miss the DD coil...

Thanks

lookindown · Oct 23, 2015

flgliderpilot said:
Hey thanks for that info. How did you adapt to the CZ? Did you chest or hip mount the box? Are you using a 10" or 8" coil?

I'll kinda miss the DD coil...

Thanks

I have the 10" coil and I use it with the box on the shaft in stock configuration...I hunt in autotune and switch to disc to i.d. a target...I use pin point sometimes too...I regularly hunt 7 to 9 hours in the water.

lookindown · Oct 23, 2015

Fletch88 said:
Did you compare the ATP to the cz in Autotune? Because in that mode I can tell you from owning both that the cz is at least 60-80% deeper. In silent search mode it should be quite deeper also, but the preferred way for me anyway, is to hunt with a background threshold to hear deeper, fainter targets.

The weight and balance of a cz-21 is very bad out of the water (so is the Excal with stock shaft everyone keeps mentioning). I use an Anderson CF underarm shaft that helps balance somewhat over the stock shaft configuration. If I plan on hunting for a long time out of the water, I like to hipmount the control box. I also prefer the 8" coil because I wade and scuba with mine and it is much better than the 10.5 for that IMO.

Here in Florida the AT Pro performs much better than then the results you got...all beaches are different...that's why one person will say the AT Pro is no good in the salt and the next one will say it does quite well.