Metal detectors are electronic instruments that are used to detect the existence of metal or a metallic object that might be buried nearby. They can be used to look for metals that are concealed inside objects, or they are also more famously used to search for hidden metal objects.
Garrett AT Pro is a waterproof detector that comprises of all the professional features that one might need. It can be used in all sorts of landscapes with a high range and detection ability to discover objects going from platinum to gold chunks regardless of where they might be. The device is one of the best in the market when it comes to performance and durability.
One of the critical aspects of the AT Pro is that it can also be used underwater to detect metal, something that is not very commonly found in others.
Garrett AT Pro Tested
The Garrett AT Pro detector can be used on any surface; it is an all-terrain detector that can even be used underwater as far as an estimated depth of ten feet. It has all the professional features for someone who loves finding old artifacts that might need it. It can be used in both freshwater and saltwater with nothing to worry about.
It brings forward the innovative and elite Garrett technology. This technology makes the AT pro perfect for searching coins, remnants, secretes, jewelry, and even gold chunks.
You might find it tricky to use the detector at first; nevertheless, once you get familiar with its settings and operation, it becomes pretty easy to use.
- WATERPROOF TO 10 FEET OR 3 METERS Ideal for use in both fresh and saltwater AT Pro will ground balance to saltwater.
- Includes NEW Garrett MS-2 Headphones
- Includes Batteries Installed.
- As seen on the TV Show Diggers
- Includes Garrett 2 Year Warranty
Performance and Complexity
The stock coil of the Garrett AT Pro is pretty efficient; it can sense targets below to a full depth of ten inches as per the specifications; however, it can sometimes detect objects up to twelve inches.
The detector needs 4 AA batteries, which might not provide the most usage time to it is best to keep an extra set of them if you intend on using it for a long time. It is a jagged machine with a robust exterior. It means that whether you are using it on a beach or a mountain, it can deal with anything. The detector, moreover, needs simple maintenance.
The Garrett AT Pro emanates with an 8.5” x 11” DD PROformance coil. It offers suitable object split-up and profundity for a stock coil. It’s a durable choice for a versatile coil that is intended to work on any surface. You can also get another coil for it as Garrett purposes a wide variety of supplementary coils for the AT Pro metal detector; this includes a 9”x12” concentric coil and a sniper coil.
The machine at 3.03lbs is also pretty lightweight, so you won’t get tired when you use it for too long.
Key Features:
There are certain features that the Garrett AT Pro provides which are described down below:
Is It Waterproof?
The AT Pro is entirely submersible to an ideal depth of 10 feet; however, it can go a bit further than that as well. This feature makes it an excellent product for finding objects inside shallow water, such as seas, lakes, and rivers.
Though most of the detectors in the market have a waterproof coil, the AT Pro is fully submersible. It isn’t a standard feature unless the detector is specially designed for hunting underwater. It is among the most flexible detectors in this aspect.
However, you should note that the detector is not for diving and hunting in deep waters. For this purpose, you would need a detector with a much-advanced depth ranking if you intend on hunting wrecked ships or scuba diving.
The headphones that are included are not waterproof tho, so you will have to buy an additional pair of them if you intend on hunting in deep water.
Operational Frequency
The Garrett AT Pro Metal Detector can operate at 15 kHz frequency. It is pretty higher than most of the other products available in the market at this price range.
There are countless benefits of operating at a higher frequency. The main advantage of this is that AT Pro is excellent at spotting small objects and delivers exceptional object split-up. The AT pro can carry out this process with high accuracy, and most of the customers look forward to this.
The advanced frequency furthermore makes the detector a lot more fitting for discovering gold chunks compared to other VLF versions, specifically with the exceptional ground balance function.
AT Pro is a single frequency. There are individual options of making slight alterations to counter interference from power lines or some other metal detectors; nonetheless, it can’t detect multiple frequencies. It isn’t a downside to this as most of the VLF detectors are single frequency.
- WATERPROOF TO 10 FEET OR 3 METERS Ideal for use in both fresh and saltwater AT Pro will ground balance to saltwater.
- Includes NEW Garrett MS-2 Headphones
- Includes Batteries Installed.
- As seen on the TV Show Diggers
- Includes Garrett 2 Year Warranty
Audio Modes
There are two modes for audio in the metal detector; these are the Pro mode and the standard model. These modes can exercise with the three search modes that the detector provides; however, both of these offer a different experience.
The Standard mode is excellent for someone who has just started metal detecting. It operates by using three auditory tones; these tones depend upon the conductivity of the metal. The specific Garrett bell-tone plays when it senses a coin, although the audio tones do not offer much further knowledge about the object.
The pro mode is for more experienced people, and it is the mode that people look forward too. It delivers audio info regarding the object’s alignment and depth. You will have the same insight options. Nevertheless, the detector makes fainter tones when it detects deeper targets, and there may be added shattering dependent on the composition.
You can start with the standard model if you have never used a metal detector before and switch to the pro mode once you get the hang of it as the pro mode provides much better and satisfying results.
Digital ID Target
The AT Pro consists of a big numeric target ID that is placed in the middle of its screen. It consists of a scale with numeric values from 0-99, and it delivers more precise information regarding the composition of the object than the category information
Although numerical target ID is a typical characteristic of detectors with a mid-range, it’s beneficial for approximating the type of the target metal. Garrett has ensured the metal detector is quick at delivering a target ID, particularly when it comes to being appropriately ground balanced.
Iron Percipience
The detector contains up to forty segments for iron percipience. It is an adjustable setting and adjusts it according to your requirements. You can eliminate all ferrous targets or dial back percipience; this depends upon what you intend on finding.
Adjusting the iron percipience at a higher value is often an excellent way for overlooking nails and similar scrap for this purpose. The value should be set at approximately 30-35. However, if you’re searching for relics, you would have to set it at a lower amount to ensure that you don’t miss anything.
Notch Insight
The 40 iron percipience sections deliver reasonable control over the conductivity spectrum’s lower end. It is excellent for eliminating highly ferrous objects, but then again, it will not assist in ignoring pull tabs or foils that have a higher conductivity.
For this purpose, the detector also contains a notch insight feature. On conductivities that are beyond the iron region, you can either approve or disallow the twelve insight sections. Notching out a part is pretty simple, you just have to scroll to it and press the ‘’ELIM’’ button.
The Notch insight feature is used in Custom mode and not in Zero search mode since the Zero search mode is not entirely an all-metal mode, tho it carries out a similar task.
There is a Coin mode as well that is pre-set; this has iron, pull-tabs, and foils already jagged out, this is perfect for beginners who intend on using it for coin hunting.
One of the best parts of this is that you can get rid of any target that you are sure is trash from the insight pattern so the metal detector won’t detect it anymore. All you have to do is press the eliminate button, and it will no longer be identified.
Iron Auditory
When you operate the AT Pro in the custom mode with increased iron percipience, it won’t detect nails and similar trash items so you won’t hear any sound.
The Audio output changes when you turn on the Iron auditory mode. The unique iron items now activate an audio tone, which is excellent in assisting you in choosing if the object is worth digging.
A bottle cap might seem like a quarter when the iron percipience is set at 30-40. If you hear a supplementary mumbling tone along with the iron audio, you can deduce that it’s a useless object. However, a more precise tone, instead, suggests that the object is an actual target.
Iron Audio tones are generally lower in comparison to natural tones; therefore, they are easy to differentiate from real objects.
- WATERPROOF TO 10 FEET OR 3 METERS Ideal for use in both fresh and saltwater AT Pro will ground balance to saltwater.
- Includes NEW Garrett MS-2 Headphones
- Includes Batteries Installed.
- As seen on the TV Show Diggers
- Includes Garrett 2 Year Warranty
Ground Balance (Manual and Automatic)
The automatic and manual feature is one of the most significant characteristics of the Garrett AT Pro. This feature is the one that sets the AT Pro apart from many metal detectors in the market currently, and it is one of the most sought after feature as well.
This feature lets you ground balance contingent on the soil mineralization. Thus the metal detector is pretty efficient when it comes to searching in zones with higher mineralization or even saltwater. It furthermore improves deepness and gets rid of chatter that produces as a result of ground mineralization.
The automatic grand balancing is pretty easy and fast, all you have to do is simply hold the “GND BAL” key and the device mechanically standardizes according to the existing conditions of the ground.
The automatic ground balancing is an extremely reliable feature, and in most instances, it does an excellent job so you won’t have to jumble yourself into manually setting it. However, if you do want to change it according to your requirements, then that feature is also available to you.
Coin Distance Indicator
There is an expected distance indicator that is present on the right side of the main display. It varies from 2 up to 10 inches. It is a useful feature, especially for people who love digging for coins as it indicates how deep you would have to dig to get your coin.
Sensitivity Settings
The Garrett AT Pro has up to 8 sensitivity sections. You can adjust it according to your needs. Generally, if you place the metal detector at a higher sensitivity, the more profound it can search, nonetheless, if you hear too much prattle and flashing, then it is best to reduce the sensitivity.
Pinpointing function
The AT Pro has a pinpointing function mode that helps you locate the object with far more accuracy. It is one of the best features that the metal detector has to offer and one that can save you a lot of time and effort.
All of these features combined make the Garrett AT Metal detector one of the best in the market. In such a price range, a popular choice among the customer it delivers an excellent metal hunting experience, one that any person who likes searching for metal coins and other objects would love to have.
Pros and Cons of the Garrett AT Pro Metal Detector
Pros:-
The most significant and most prominent feature that the AT Pro offers is its waterproof and submersible characteristics. It can successfully hunt for metal objects underwater at a depth of 10 meters. It is not something that many metal detectors valuing at such a price range offer. However, you should get a metal detector that is especially for searching underwater if you intend on detecting metal in deeper water. This makes it an ideal water hunting piece of kit.
The manual and auto ground balance is another important feature. It gives the AT Pro an upper hand on many other metal detectors since it lets the detector to overlook signals from the surfaces like salt and iron. It makes it usable on many surfaces; this can include looking for objects on beaches, mountains, deserts, and shallow waters. This feature lets the metal detector ground balance depending on the soil mineralization.
The proportional audio mode, or more commonly referred to as pro mode, is a regular feature that can be activated or deactivated dependent on user liking, familiarity, and understanding of the metal detector. The Pro audio mode produces more than a sole tone when it is over an objective. You might hear numerous concurrent tones that signify the features of the object comprising of things like depth, conductivity, and shape.
The iron auditory feature is another useful thing and one of the best features when it comes to At Pro metal detector. This characteristic permits you to perceive discriminated iron in such a way that you can detect where the iron might be in the ground, the detector produces minimal, grunting sound that shows that the object has iron in it.
Cons:-
One of the things that countless people don’t like about the Garrett AT Pro metal detector is that the headphones that come with it are not waterproof. You will have to buy waterproof headphones separately if you intend to use the metal detector in shallow waters. Many customers believe that the detector should come with waterproof headphones; however, you should note that these headphones are quick expensive compared to the one that comes with it, so the choice of not putting one in the package is understandable.
The AT Pro operates at a 15 kHz frequency, which is excellent for finding objects of any size. However, it is only a single frequency machine. The unique frequency feature works fine when it comes to detecting on the ground and slid surfaces, but it is not very accurate when it comes to looking in saltwater. When it comes to identifying in water or wet sand, then you might hear a lot of chatter, which might prove problematic in locating the target and hence limiting your depth ability. It isn’t just the problem of AT Pro, but all the devices that use single frequency so it can be thought of as a common problem with them.
- WATERPROOF TO 10 FEET OR 3 METERS Ideal for use in both fresh and saltwater AT Pro will ground balance to saltwater.
- Includes NEW Garrett MS-2 Headphones
- Includes Batteries Installed.
- As seen on the TV Show Diggers
- Includes Garrett 2 Year Warranty
Choosing the Ideal Coil Size
People who love searching for metal know the importance of selecting the right coil size, and you will have to choose a different type of coil for specific tasks.
The following is a general guide on which coil size is suitable for a particular purpose:-
- You can use a 4 Inches DD Sniper coil when searching in tight areas; this can include places that are not very spacious. This coil is also handy when hunting in areas that a lot of trash.
- Use a 5 x 8 Inches DD coil for high trash zones. This type of coil is even more useful when it comes to target separation.
- 5 x 9 inches concentric coil is ideal for neutral ground in areas that have lower trash levels. So you might use it at comparatively more cleaner places
- 9 x 12 inches concentric coil is perfect for impartial ground in areas that are wide open. Therefore, you can cover more ground in less time.
It should be remembered here that all the coils are equal. It depends on the area that you intend to use it. So always make sure you know what you are going to avoid risking your money.
AT Pro metal detector comes with a stock of 8.5×11 inches DD search coil
- WATERPROOF TO 10 FEET OR 3 METERS Ideal for use in both fresh and saltwater AT Pro will ground balance to saltwater.
- Includes NEW Garrett MS-2 Headphones
- Includes Batteries Installed.
- As seen on the TV Show Diggers
- Includes Garrett 2 Year Warranty
FAQS
What are some of the accessories present with the metal detector?
There are a couple of accessories that you get with the purchase of the metal detector. It includes:-
A stock coil of 8.5×11 inches DD search coil. It comes with the metal detector; if you intend on using it at a specific area and the loop does not seem fit for the purpose; then you will have to purchase an additional one according to your requirements.
Headphones are also present in the package, but these are ordinary headphones and not waterproof ones. Hence, you will have to purchase them separately if you need them.
You also get an instructional DVD and a user manual.
It is just the ordinary or standard packing; certain other retailers might include more accessories such as bags etc.
The detector also comes with a two-year warranty.
What is the price?
The Garrett AT Pro has a current value of $600, and it is an ideal product for serious metal detectorists.
Can it Detect Gold or Gold chunks?
Yes, The AT Pro can detect gold and gold chunks. The real query is if the AT can control the higher ground mineralization level where we can discover gold fragments. Though the ground balance feature of the AT pro makes it proficient in searching on tropical grounds. It does not provide the sensitivity required for detecting small gold chips or chunks.
Instead, if you intend to use a metal detector for this purpose. Then you should opt-out for an option that is specially designed to carry this out.
