Hi team, i would appreciate some feedback from the experienced users here. I’m upgrading before Christmas with a new detector about $1500. I currently have an F2, nice piece of kit to learn on but now will slide that over to my wife and want a little better for me. i like to hunt in parks, playgrounds and the normal opportunities and want to do more around the beaches. i like looking for jewelry, coins and other relics in that order. my opportunities to hunt tend to be in the rain. being that I’m looking for a waterproof beach suitable MD i was thinking the Garrett AT Pro may be a good upgrade? I’m unsure how good it is with small jewelry, depth etc so would appreciate advice on the Garret AT Pro or other options some of the gurus here may know of. cheers
The Garrett AT Pro is a good detector for jewellery and coin hunting for both sand and dirt, but, it is almost useless in the wet sand/water. I made some great scores with my AT Pro, including over one ounce in gold jewellery, before I upgraded to a ctx3030. The AT Pro is also a good option, as, you can pick a good one up, second hand for only $700-$800. As I stated earlier, a great detector which is very sensitive and can find the good stuff, as long as you keep it off the wet salt.
TD
The ATP is definitely usable on salty sand and in the shallows - just need to balance and tune accordingly. I use it all the time. Agree though that the ATP is a great machine as you get all the benefits of a decent land machine, without having to hide everytime it rains. I run mine with a small coil for trashy areas, or in the bush, standard coil for grass and beaches and also a NEL monster 15" coil for open areas. The standard coil will pull a penny from 40cm and the ATP loves silver.
For an extra $400 to your budget, you can pick up an Excalibur at DetectNZ but is very heavy for land use without the straight shaft mod - easy if you’re any sort of tinkerer.
@Old_Spice I was faced with the same difficult decision of what detector would suit my needs and budget before joining this very helpful site so I understand sorting through options and reviews can be a tough read. I have only 15 hours experience with my Garrett AT Gold so not in the running to make recommendations. However do check out the following site and look under the ground detector selection, AT Pro model and download the owners manual. There is a huge amount of information in the manual which is very helpful and watch the demonstration videos available online
Garrett Metal Detectors Products - Garrett New Zealand Hope this helps.
Sup Old Spice. Some awesome advice there and Garrett Detectors are the go. Go the Ace 350 for best all roundness. It now sells as the Euro Ace and are avaliable in NZ.
Choice thread - Garrett rules ok.
Shady
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Hey Team thanks for taking the time to pass on some gems. Although considering going down the lines of another Fisher I’m fairly certain a New Garrett At Pro will be the new purchase. Waterproof, mid price point, ok depth and ability to do some beach work and hit the targets i like the most it all stacks up. Fingers crossed Sat early am i will be out testing the new kit. Cheers Again.
Stay away from garrett, minelab much better… Had garrett ATX, flicked it 2 weeks later enough said…
[quote=“plumber_mick, post:7, topic:915”]
Had garrett ATX, flicked it 2 weeks later enough said…[/quote]
You said nothing really. 2 weeks is nowhere near long enough to learn to drive a PI… But entitled to your opinion.
I’ve driven Garretts since the first Seahunter came out in the 80’s (and only recently retired it) Would go places and had detection depths the VLFs only dream of.
i really appreciate the advice team, I brought a Garrett AT Pro yesterday, due to work and lots of family commitments its still in the box till Sunday.
There’s a reason a lot of seasoned hunters have an ATP as a second machine…
Any questions, feel free to ask.
First tip would be if you’re looking at a second coil, although the stock coil is hard to beat, go smaller rather than larger.
Far more flexibility with, say, the 5x8"
If you flick it in 2 weeks $500
Congrat on the ATP ( I really wanted one of those when I bought my first detector… But foolishly didn’t)
Happy hunting with it.
I have an AT Gold which I love, but when I go to the beach it is the Excaliber that comes for any wet sand hunting.
another good option for an after market search coil for the ATpro is the MarsMD coils…we,v been testing them out for a couple months now and they are really good! The discovery coils are larger than the standard Garrett coils but seperate a lot better and acheive great depth!
A great option is to get one of the Turkish units which perform brilliantly in coin/relic, prospecting & beach hunting hands down -
If you wanna play in the water grab yourself one of those Budget Ace350’s and throw it in a Amulet water-proof case -
Cough… splutter.
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Sorry mate - No I didnt mean that sorry …
I meant one of those other-ones I cant talk about -
I know how deep my Ace160 went so I know the 350 is a very capable detector
consider me served bro 
All good Scanz.
Had great success with the 350. We have pulled coins from the dry sand measuring half a meter deep on several occasions. Seeing was believing and they were small decimals too.
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I certainly believe it - I found a small rusty nut 15" down (measured) with my Ace150 with 8 x 12 concentric many years ago - I know they can surprise us at times - Just the bell-tones, I couldn’t handle & still cant - lol
Yes indeed. if they made a version of the Ace without them bell tones they would most certainly sell even more.
It seems to turn a lot of people off them.
Still - they are or were the worlds most popular selling detector.
HH
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