AT Pro for Gold?

[Rebel1]

I just made a deal here for a Garrett AT Pro. I was hoping to get the AT Gold, as i want to use it for nugget hunting in the water, but the Pro was available for a price i could afford so i got it. Now i am wondering, how well it will do? Has anyone used the Pro for nugget hunting? People with experience with both of them, is the Gold a whole lot better on nuggets? Should i try to sell the Pro and get a Gold or will the Pro do ok. Any and all info, tips and tricks appreciated.

 

[SixBits]

I can't answer your question from experience since I have an AT PRO, but I have seen a few posts or blogs from people who say they found nuggets with the PRO, although the GOLD is generally acknowledged to be better suited for gold. One source said that the PRO is designed for small, shallow nuggets (I use the term "nugget" loosely since I am not sure how small a piece of gold can be and still be called a nugget) while the more expensive pulse induction machines are designed for larger, deeper nuggets. The best I can tell from reading about the PRO and the GOLD the main differences are (1) the GOLD has a higher operating frequency than the PRO and (2) the GOLD has a true all metal mode. The all metal mode eliminates the iron discrimination filters which attenuate the signal to a degree. The term "true" is used to distinguish a machine with a mode with no discrimination like the GOLD from one with discrimination that can be set to zero like the PRO. Both features permit the GOLD to register smaller and deeper targets than the PRO, which is the type of gold that most will encounter. What that says to me is that either machine will detect gold nuggets, but the GOLD will detect smaller and deeper ones.

Keep in mind I am fairly new to detecting, and the above is based on what I have read and not what I know for sure.

 

[Rebel1]

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Grilled Scallops]

The AT gold operates at a higher frequency, it is more suited to finding poor conductors such as small nuggets. The AT pro operates at a frequency lower than the gold but not so low that it performs poorly on small targets. When using discrimination the AT pro might have a slight advantage on good conductors like silver but a slight disadvantage on gold. The real reason people buy the AT gold and not the pro when nugget hunting is because of the AT gold's ground balance. The pro can ground balance on a beach, the gold can't. But the gold can handle the hot ground in the goldfields better than the pro. FYI, if you ever decide to get out of the water and stay dry, a fisher goldbug will smoke both of these detectors on small nuggets. But it is not waterproof and is not a good choice for say, coin hunting.

 

[Rebel1]

Thanks i already have a GB Pro for land use.

 

[Rob in (Ca)]

your Main hunting is going to be (Nugget hunting) then a dedicated Nugget machine, is what your going to want.

Good luck on your water nugget hunt.