up grading from the AT Pro

[carl2112]

recently my AT Pro was damaged when my truck was hit.. so now im wanting to up grade.. Id like an All Terrian machine like the AT Pro is. i mostly prefer to beach\water hunt but i also do alot of school and park hunting too.. im just wondering whats out there and what other people are swinging..id love to hear the pros and cons of your machine im also considering buying a strickly water machine and getting my AT Pro fixed by garrett

[del]

Carl , if you want a machine that very capable on the wet salt water beaches as well as the regular turf then go with a multiple frequncy machine or just a water machine as you said then just keep the atpro for your land hunts.

Dan

[Digger_O'Dell]

Personally I would probably keep the AT pro for the beach and water hunts as it's waterproof. This of course would depend on your personal preferences and the results you were getting. If an upgrade is in order, definitely go with the multiple frequency machine if it's in the budget-but they can be expensive. And if you're looking for waterproof too, then likely double the price. For example, an E-trak goes for around $1100. But the waterproof all terrain Minelab CTX 3030 or Garrett ATX will set you back about $2500.
For dry land performance I'm partial to my Minelab X-Terra 705 which came with 2 coils. You can get the single coil unit for around $729. This is single frequency at a time, but can choose from 3 available frequencies by changing the coil, which there are several to choose from. No detector is ever going to be a "perfect" machine, but I've had really great performance from mine and have picked up targets over 2 feet down. So far my deepest quarter came from about 14 inches, and I often find tiny 1/8 inch diameter fishing sinkers at a foot down. The machine is extremely sensitive. Minelab also makes the X-terra 305 and 505 which of course are much lower cost (about $200 increments) with a few less bells and whistles but still very good machines.

Hope this helps!

[MangoAve]

....No detector is ever going to be a "perfect" machine....

Oh yeah do I agree with this. My machine is a bit older and is deep and works great, but it lacks things like a backlight and recovery time is slow. Each machine lacks one thing or another. Things like machine A comes with a CC coil, but it has a backlight. Machine B has a DD coil, but no backlight. Machine C has the backlight and has the ability to save the last custom search mode settings, but the coil is a teardrop.

I wonder if you had used the Roll-audio of the ATP. Since you are posting about the machine and someone I knew with the local detecting club was using his ATP at the beach but finding only bottle tops. I mentioned the roll-audio thing which I read in the manual which is supposed to help you determine when the target is actually a bottle cap. He wasn't aware of it. And it was mentioned because yesterday at a park both the Xtera 705 which my friend was using, and my TR I was using were both getting bottle caps reading like solid numbers for coins at the park we were at. He was getting disappointed as he wasn't even getting clad. I WAS the one who was getting the clad. And not 2 feet away from where I dug a quarter with a bottle top, he gets a thin silver ring. It is only a possibility I swung over the ring and missed it, or I might have moved forward and to the left and not swung over it at all.

[Bucknut]

I do not have an ATPro but I know that it is a solid machine AND if you already have some experience with it I would suggest getting it repaired. Sometimes learning a new machine can be difficult...particularly if it from another maker.

I have had an Etrac for 4 years now but this past winter I got an XP deus. I honestly have struggled with it in the parks and private yards that I normally detect. I think I simply need to spend a couple weeks/months solely using it to really get a better feel for how it works.

I hope what ever you decide will work for you.

[carl2112]

Getting the at pro fixed is definitely on the agenda... and ill still use it at parks and schools im think for a water machine either the garrett infinium ls or the landshark.. anyone swing either of these two machines? And id love some pros and cons for them if anyone has some