First 'serious' detector......

Considering buying a Garrett AT Gold as first 'serious' detector after getting the bug along with my 9yo son....thanks to him. We live in the Talbot area and are amazed with the finds he has managed with his 'Toy' detector. Plan on taking him to a day coarse the next lot of school holidays as he has been harping me too for some time now, so we can get the most of what ever we do purchase, and happen to down the track. Just wondering if anyone has experience of this detector and if it would be suitable for novices such as ourselves? Any suggestions welcome

Thanks D

one day it will be a minelab........but where to start?

Hi, and welcome I,ve only been on this site a few months. I have an Xterra 70 which is about the same as what you are looking at but in the mineralized goldfields it realy struggles. My brother & I joined VMD&PA which is a Detecting club after a few trips in Maryborough & other places in Golden triange it became clear we needed a better detector but neither of us wanted to buy new. so we looked at secondhand on Ebay. We also got prices from Coiltek for secondhand machines. We found them very competitive on price but they also offer warranty & the security of knowing it's a real detector & not a copy. As a result we now have a SD 2100 & GP extreme. I would suggest you try them as they are close. Also even a minelab sd2100 will do much better on the goldfields than what you are looking at in my opinion. These machines can be brought for about $1100 to 1500. That is if you are wanting to seach for gold. Hope this helps.

Thank you for your reply. Will have to get into Coiltek next time I am in town and make some enquires.... and will definitely look further into a minelab.......will just have to wait longer

Have you looked at the detectors for sale listings here? I've got an SD2000 listed, and there are others in there too.

Yes have been looking in the classifieds . Saw yours too.....and interested if i only had a bit more cash to spare atm. Will see what i can come up with. Thanks

i, for my 1st detector purchased a 705 xterra gold pack.. great machine for finding anything except nuggetS(GOLD), in our highly mineralized ground.. the machine itself, i find, has no flaws for searching soft ground. my father-in-law got an at gold pro the same time i got mine.. it would be unfair to say i find more than him(i do), but i also go lower than he does, and dig more targets... if u really are after more than just coins and treasures , i truely believe that u need a machine that is designed to find its way through our tough clay grounds... u cannot go past beasts like the minelab series.. machines from the sd 2000/2100/2100sd seem to meet our had a////s/ ground wel.. and of course the detectors after that.. if i knew then what i know now, i wouldnt have got the 705 .. choose wisely,, if u want gold????????? G.G.