When The AT pro first came out, I remember how quickly it became such a popular metal detector. It seemed like wherever you turned it was being discussed and good finds were being shown using the AT pro. I had a demo AT pro that I only took out a few times before I sold it but there were a few things I noticed quickly that I liked about the machine.
The AT pro has nice separation of tones, it has impressive recovery time from one target to the next, simple turn on and go metal detector and waterproof. But like I said before I only used it a few times.
Most of what I can share with you about the AT pro is from hunting with other people who used it. My good friend Scott and I hunted together in Ohio and I got to see firsthand what the AT pro is capable of. When I met Scott he was new to metal detecting and hadn’t had his first machine, the AT pro long. One memorable moment was hunting a strip of grass between the curb and sidewalk of an early to mid-1800’s house. I walked right behind Scott to see if I could pick up anything he missed. Being new of course he missed a few.
The strip was full of iron, modern trash and enough to signals to drive a seasoned detectorist mad. I hadn’t followed behind him long with my Minelab CTX 3030 when I got a signal at about 8 inches deep with trash and iron all around it. I figured it was just beyond the limits of his AT pro but I called him back to the general area and had him swing his coil over it and he was able to easily pick it up. Once dug it was a nice local token.
I did this often when hunting with Scott and time after time the AT pro amazed me. Finding deep targets with iron or junk all around it. What was most surprising was me hunting with the CTX and often times those deep targets sounding better on the AT pro than my CTX! I’m not saying it never happened but I cannot recall a single time where I found an iffy signal that I thought might trip up the AT pro but didn’t. That’s impressive when you consider I was using a Minelab CTX!
The AT pro isn’t really about bells and whistles although it is waterproof. I look at the AT pro as a work horse that can get the job done, often times better than machines much more expensive. The AT stands for all terrain and it is a durable metal detector suited for just about any environment and all kinds of different metal detecting. I’ve seen it find deep silver coins with ease and handle the most iron infested relic sites like a champ.
I believe the AT pro has changed the hobby. Garrett built an inexpensive, waterproof machine that is easy to learn and can find targets at depths with a quick recovery time in the mid line price range but can get depth and target separation like those in the high end price range.
When people new to the hobby ask me what metal detector they should buy and if they want to do more than hunt for clad I always recommend the AT pro. It’s not a starter machine in that you will want to upgrade 6 months down the road but it is easy for even the beginner to quickly learn and you will still enjoy it years down the road.
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