ATPro or ATGold as first machine

[Road Ranger]

Background information on me is that I’m a full time RVer that lives in central TX. half the year, and travel the other half, mostly to the two coasts. I really only have room for one detector but I want to do some prospecting while I’m traveling. I’ve researched the web for the last three weeks and I’d like to get something in my hands soon so I can find my first penny. I’m looking at either the ATPro or Gold because they are waterproof since I plan to use my kayak to access areas around lakes and streams. I’d love to buy one machine one time and not have to upgrade over and over. Have I bitten off more than I can chow? Any advice from any of you will be greatly appreciated. My only friend who is a metal detectorist has an MXT and says that that’s the way to go. But it’s not waterproof.

 

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[sonofadigger]

if thats the brand your wanting i would say either would would be fine i think the at pro is geared more to coin hunting than the gold but both are great machines

 

[Road Ranger]

Yes I'm leaning towards the pro because it has notch disc. and the gold does not. From what I've read it seems like they will both find nuggets equally as well.

 

[Sandman]

Yes I'm leaning towards the pro because it has notch disc. and the gold does not. From what I've read it seems like they will both find nuggets equally as well.

No they are not equal in finding small nuggets as the Gold has the necessary gain. All detectors can find the larger nuggets, but most are quite small. Your better off the the AT Gold and it can stil find coins and jewelry too.

 

[Road Ranger]

Thank you Sandman. Is that a good trade off for the notch disc.?

 

[signal_line]

I have an AT Gold and at first I thought I might miss the notch function, but I don't. The DISC 2 has some notches for foil and tabs but you can't change them. I don't use DISC 2 unless in extreme trash. The AT Gold has the All Metal mode which is a couple inches deeper and finds very small items but it is more demanding and probably more than you want for a first time user. But if you want something you can grow into, that will be the one. Lots of videos on the Garrett website.

 

[Road Ranger]

I’m glad you responded to my thread signal_line. Some of these features I see on the instructional videos look good but how many of them do you really need. Being a complete newbe I guess I won’t miss the features I don’t have. Have you used the AT Gold to try and find nuggets?

 

[ezzz1]

its a trade off...
If you are going to do mostly coin hunting then At pro...it will also pick up gold but size means everything.
but if your going to do mostly nugget shooting the gold will detect smaller pickers.. you can s
till use this coin hunting to. i have

 

[Road Ranger]

Even though I’m only going to be prospecting 1 or 2 mos. out of the year that is my main objective. Coins, treasure, relics will keep me in practice while I’m traveling from park to park. (It takes me about 2 mos. to get from TX to northern CA. Sounds like a covered wagon doesn’t it?)

 

[Treasure finder]

Road Ranger,
If you will ever do any beach hunting the At GOLD won't do well in the wet sand with salt water, but the AT PRO will do OK. You won't miss the
notch if you can read the meter.
So the AT Pro is better at the ocean beaches. Fresh water is no different.
The At Gold is much better for nuggets and a little deeper in All metal mode.
You won't miss the notch..
Rich

 

[Metal Detecting Stuff]

Treasure finder hit the nail on the head:

At Gold great for small gold, doesn't do well at a saltwater beach.
At Pro works fine on saltwater beach, will find nuggets but not small gold.

So if you are doing freshwater, than the At Gold is the machine for you.

Wayne

www.MetalDetectingStuff.com

 

[gleaner1]

ace250

 

[gleaner1]

I forgot the waterproof, you must have waterproof if you are kayaking with a metal detector. The added cost is worth the peace of mind. So, get the gold, it has true all metal mode. You cant beat that with a stick.

 

[ivanll]

Replaced an AT-Gold and AT-Pro International with a CSI-Pro.
It does all I need in a single unit.

ivanll

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

I went with AT Gold as a newbie. Not going in ocean. But it'll do the dry sand if I chose to. Plus the extra depth is nice so you could pick up what others possibly missed. But also the Pro doesn't do saltwater either. If you're not searching for the smaller nuggets then go Pro. I'm searching for nuggets as well as coins and relics. I figure if I'm going to be searching. I might as well find all I can. Just my two cents.

 

[JT1080]

I went with AT Gold as a newbie. Not going in ocean. But it'll do the dry sand if I chose to. Plus the extra depth is nice so you could pick up what others possibly missed. But also the Pro doesn't do saltwater either. If you're not searching for the smaller nuggets then go Pro. I'm searching for nuggets as well as coins and relics. I figure if I'm going to be searching. I might as well find all I can. Just my two cents.

I've used my AT Pro on saltwater beaches, in both wet and dry sand. After configuring it properly, it worked without any problems. I will admit the first time I took it, it was falsing all over the place. I followed the tips video for saltwater on the Garret page and haven't had any problems since. I haven't found any great finds there yet but, I have found lots of clad.

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

I'll check that out on Garrett's site. When I looked at the chart that shows what is recommended for surf. Both our AT and golds weren't recommended for in the surf. So I figured that it shouldn't be in the saltwater because of wire/circuit protection from the water. Plus heard about the false readings. However, if you're operating fine then great. That way when I go to Cali I'll give it a shot.
Have you had issues with the supplied headphones? After I hooked mine up. I seemed to get other noises and also seemed to have issues with the pin pointer function with the phones plugged in. I had to push dead center on the button to get it to work. If I pushed on the sides of the button. The signal either was sporadic or not at all. Compared to dead center of the button. Hopefully nothing major. Being new to this I'm still trying to learn as much as I can about the sounds and reactions. Lol