I want to buy the Garret AT Pro. I have the money to do so i just do not know if i should. I live in Western WA so not to much history with the exception of my 1 found '43S half. And as a 12yr. old $520 is a whole lot of money. So i was wondering if there is somewhere i could rent one for a couple of a days or should i just buy one?
-CRH
Do you have any other experience with any other detectors? Do you currently have one of a different make? If so, the try to join up with someone else in your state that has the machine your eyeing. Even if it means having to drive an hour or two. Go to an area prolific with easy targets (even if it just means clad), and flag signals to cross-compare between your two machines. THEN you can see the pro's and con's (comparative strengths of signals, TID accuracy, etc...) of each machine, versus what you are used to.
However, if you have no current machine, and no experience, then such a demonstration won't be too helpful. I mean, with no experience whatsoever, you'd have nothing to compare it to mentally. Same for simply borrowing one for a few days: you may hate it, and find nothing, make no sense of it, etc... But that could merely mean you weren't using it right, didn't learn the sounds to chase versus ignore, or were at lame places w/no goodies , etc....
So if you can hook up with someone proficient with that machine, in your area. Not just a "sandbox hunter", but someone who routinely comes in with the old coins. Not only see if you can borrow it (with a deposit $, etc...), but also that they can take you around, let you listen to signals (even if only clad at an easy place). So you can see how they're doing it. The reason for this is: printed instructions can NEVER do justice to metal detectors. Reason is: since detectors are very sound-related, there is simply no way to convey sounds and tones in printed text. It can't be done. It has to be heard, seen, etc....
Keep fishing on different forums while listing your county name in the title heading. And someone should see it, and chime in as to whether there's a user, dealer, etc... of that particular machine within driving distance of you. Good luck.
I say go for it and just get out and about. Not going to knock your 505 *much* but I found a lot of stuff shuffling around with a bounty hunter here till I upgraded to a Garret GTI 2000 *which I upgraded the guts to a 2500 just for the backlight* and when I hit the old spots again it was a new field all over again. Just gotta keep swinging and even where your at now there's likely to be a lot to be found with just that type of machine.
