Garrett AT Gold

I have been thinking of giving an AT Gold a try out.
The manual sort of indicates that this tecta is not so flash over highly mineralised ground due to the high operating frequency 18khz. Maybe this is in ref to wet salt beach sand??
My GoldBug Pro runs at 19khz and is pretty good down to the water line on salt beaches.

Has anybody used one of these (AT Gold) anywhere at all for a good length of time and what do you think of this machine?

41 views so far and nobody has an opinion.

I don't want to hear that Minelabs are the best, we all know that, I just want to hear about the AT Gold an how it might compare to a Gold Bug Pro or Whites SST or maybe a GMT or MXT??
Come on you blokes somebody must have an opinion based on experience with these detectors??

Ive seen a lot of these for sale, so maybe not so good in the real world of metal detecting.
You are better off to go to a coin detector site.
The yanks love their coin detectors.

And I've seen a lot of Holdens for sale does that say they are no good. A lot won't speak up cause they might be told they have the wrong brand but hey there's a place for everything. Good on you Adrian for asking.
Regards big fella

big fella wrote:And I've seen a lot of Holdens for sale does that say they are no good. A lot won't speak up cause they might be told they have the wrong brand but hey there's a place for everything. Good on you Adrian for asking.
Regards big fella

Hey big fella.

Good on you for pointing that out.
I was only stating facts that I've seen.

And you speak for the " a lot won't speak up "?
Show me the facts here?
Otherwise,  don't be such a gluteus maximus!

Mods,  if you think this is inappropriate, then use your delete buttons.

Anyway I have just finished reading a stack of reviews re the AT Gold and it would seem that it is an ok WP detector that is good for gold and coins n stuff but won't work over wet salt beach sand but is fine over the dry sand. It is capable of pretty fair depth on coin size items and is comparable to the Gold Bug Pro and has a useful adjustable iron ID window and TID in the true All Metal mode.

Overall it sounds a bit ordinary and because I already have  a Gold Bug Pro, LST, SST and XLT I prob don't need the AT Gold.

UNCLE BOB wrote:Ive seen a lot of these for sale, so maybe not so good in the real world of metal detecting.
You are better off to go to a coin detector site.
The yanks love their coin detectors.

I did post in the Garrett metal detector section first but got no response.
The AT Gold is designed to be a gold detector first and coin and relic second. It is curious that most of the reviews that I have read re this machine have been submitted by coin, relic and jewellery hunters
It does have 2 Disc modes but one of those modes has pre set notch set up for USA coins and it cannot be altered for Aussie coin hunting. The Disc 1 mode is useful in quieting the machine over hot rocks. The tecta has a wide ground balance window that is supposed to help the tecta run smoother in rapidly changing iron mineralisation. From what I can figure, the machine is only marginally better than the Scorpion Gold Stinger in Australian high iron mineralisation.

At the beach in the dry sand I imagine that the 18 khz AT Gold will do well in finding small gold chains and earrings etc
The Gold Bug Pro on the other hand will ground balance from the gold fields to the wet salt-water beaches.

A good deal of Garrett's AT Gold are being used in WA, works better than PI's in old camp areas.

Looking in the Kalgoorlie papers where things like this is for sale the are many more Gold Monsters for sale than the AT Gold, even the AT Pro works over there.

AT Gold like Gold Monster is next to useless on a wet ocean beach, but an AT MAX will do both beach and goldfield so will a Kruzer and the MX Sport.  

Gold Bug Pro will as said GB on both wet beach and gold fields, while depth on wet beach is acceptable it's not spectacular, try a Kruzer in GEN (all metal prospecting mode) on a wet beach with Sens. at 95 and see the difference, more so feel the difference.  


ivanll

G/Day Ivanll.
Thanks for that reply. I was kind of hoping you would read this thread and input some of your experience gained info.
Interesting to hear that the AT G is successful in WA. I have a chance of grabbing one for a good price second hand.
I do like the GB pro at the beach and have had a fair return for money spent on it ; So much so that my Inf has been having a rest. The iron ID adjustable tone break has been of particular usefulness in the dry sand. I find the Disc mode to be not reliably useful over the wet sand.
You mentioned the Kruzer which I have also been looking at. You seem to be impressed with this machine for  beach work?

G'day Bob/Big fella.

Lets not get our nickers in a knot here. First & foremost the A/T Gold is a VLF, not a PI unit. It is specifically designed for gold detecting. It will struggle over moist or wet salt conditions, because it is not designed for handling salt ground conditions & like all VLFs, expect it to struggle over highly mineralized ground conditions. Not to say you can't quieten down a VLF to handle ground noise, but at what cost to depth?
The most likely reason behind buying one & then quickly getting rid of it or selling it, is not because they don't function well, but people buying them for all the wrong reasons & neglect the term "fitness for purpose".
Adrian not that I have owned or used one, but a reliable fellow prospecting mate of mine, who has used one on several of occasion, chasing coins over the dry sandy beaches of Victoria, say's the A/T Gold works a treat, with better discrimination over coins/jewellery than the A/T Pro.
Thank you for summing it up perfectly Ivan.

Cheers Kon.

Sometimes we get a few detectors together to test and compare for our own info and enjoyment.

I prefer a detector that can be used for prospecting, coin/relic hunting both on the gold fields and parks.

Having a waterproof detector make it even more versatile for beach hunting especially when they can GB on wet saltwater beaches and still have depth.




ivanll

Ivanll the coil on your Equinox is upside down!!

Jonathan Porter wrote:Ivanll the coil on your Equinox is upside down!!

Upside down is how the coil is used in the land down under, as is it's back to front and there is a reason for that.


ivanll

Anybody notice the image on page 27 of the manual, coil is upside down.

So ivanll which one would you recommend for an all-rounder.

Muzz wrote:So ivanll which one would you recommend for an all-rounder.

One that is easy to comprehend with features suitable for intended use.

AT Gold is very much at home in the tropics, would have liked if they had been available when I resided in the highlands of PNG.