Catch up time!!

[Ron Lord]

A year or so Garrett came out with the AT PRO ,now it look like Minslab is playing Catch up with a few more Bells.The AT PRO is a good detector for fresh water, but sucks in salt water and is very good on dry land ,now only time will tell .I may buy one or not. these are my thoughts on the matter.

 

[pistolpete]

Minelab never plays catch-up, it's the others that play catch-up!

 

[Heelgrasper]

Most amazing part of that scenario is that it would require Minelab to have the ability to time travel...

 

[Ron Lord]

n/t

 

[Heelgrasper]

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?86,1699201

 

[Ron Lord]

Armchair expert ,not . What I post was my Opinion nothing more, I under stand that it takes years to develop new technology,and it take only month for 10,000 user to brake that technology down.I have 35 years of learning technology with MD's Iseen them come and go , I have own minelabs ,Garrett's,tesoro 's Fisher's technatic and White's. I hunt beyween 30 to 40 hours a week and run a scrap metal Company.I do work for The local PD,SO and Fire dept. in my area. Yea I'm an armchair expert. And I am also a DAV Vet nam 1969.

 

[Ray-Mo.]

Had to send both of my AT Pro's in to be repaired for excessive falsing and to be retrofitted with adult size arm pieces and cam locks to keep the lower rods from rattling around .

 

[Critterhunter]

But Garrett luckily has very good customer service so recalls are pretty much easy as butter. This new machine is not designed to compete with the AT Pro. Two very different places on the price spectrum, as the At Pro is very reasonably priced to be in the range of most people. I'm not the biggest Garrett fan but love the ProPointer and must admit that the At Pro looks like a real winner in terms of a water machine that with it's light weight and full function LCD screen is just as much at home on land as in the water. Sure, not exactly Minelab depth unless in some rather good soil, and suffers in the salt water where an Xcal swims happily with no issues, but it still has many perks to make it attractive to water/land hunters, or even just land hunters because it is a fast machine and from I've read rather deadly in iron. Still, recovery speed is over rated IMHO. All that means is you can swing faster and still see fairly well between targets. So long as you swing slow a Minelab does just as well at unmasking if not better, but there are days I miss being able to swing fast as I'm just in the mood for it.

 

[Neil]

But Garrett luckily has very good customer service so recalls are pretty much easy as butter. This new machine is not designed to compete with the AT Pro. Two very different places on the price spectrum, as the At Pro is very reasonably priced to be in the range of most people. I'm not the biggest Garrett fan but love the ProPointer and must admit that the At Pro looks like a real winner in terms of a water machine that with it's light weight and full function LCD screen is just as much at home on land as in the water. Sure, not exactly Minelab depth unless in some rather good soil, and suffers in the salt water where an Xcal swims happily with no issues, but it still has many perks to make it attractive to water/land hunters, or even just land hunters because it is a fast machine and from I've read rather deadly in iron. Still, recovery speed is over rated IMHO. All that means is you can swing faster and still see fairly well between targets. So long as you swing slow a Minelab does just as well at unmasking if not better, but there are days I miss being able to swing fast as I'm just in the mood for it.

How do you know the AT pro suffers in the salt water? where have you used it and what results did you see from you using it?

 

[Ken in Georgia]

Just when you think that people get it, then it comes out.... The AT pro is not and never will be in the same class as the etrac or any other model of a Minelab. It has a different price point and a different base line. Why compare these Apples and Pears ??? The A T pro is a great detector and should make, as well as, has made some great finds. The CTX should be a good detector, we will find out, so far so good on the information and on the 28th we will know..... until then let keep on point and not compare what we do not know to be fact yet....

 

[Critterhunter]

But Garrett luckily has very good customer service so recalls are pretty much easy as butter. This new machine is not designed to compete with the AT Pro. Two very different places on the price spectrum, as the At Pro is very reasonably priced to be in the range of most people. I'm not the biggest Garrett fan but love the ProPointer and must admit that the At Pro looks like a real winner in terms of a water machine that with it's light weight and full function LCD screen is just as much at home on land as in the water. Sure, not exactly Minelab depth unless in some rather good soil, and suffers in the salt water where an Xcal swims happily with no issues, but it still has many perks to make it attractive to water/land hunters, or even just land hunters because it is a fast machine and from I've read rather deadly in iron. Still, recovery speed is over rated IMHO. All that means is you can swing faster and still see fairly well between targets. So long as you swing slow a Minelab does just as well at unmasking if not better, but there are days I miss being able to swing fast as I'm just in the mood for it.

How do you know the AT pro suffers in the salt water? where have you used it and what results did you see from you using it?

I've read that numerous times, Neil...And that it doesn't handle salt water nearly as well as an Xcal. It's a single frequency machine and it's common knowledge that in general single frequency machines don't handle salt water environments as well as BBS or FBS units. Not only based on that, but in the way Minelabs ignore the ground minerals compared to conventional detectors. Is it useless in salt water? No, not saying that. Many people do in fact use it and do well in salt water. Just that it suffers in those environments more than an Xcal does from everything I've read from those who have used both. Not knocking the At Pro. One day I may own one as my water machine since I only hunt fresh water, and also use it as a backup on land or for those days when I'm in the mood to swing faster.

 

[Neil]

well it actually does pretty good in salt water with little to no falsing, at least from my experience here. Ive read that single freq stuff for quite awhile now, no matter how many times Ive read it I still scratch my head as people happily pass it along not knowing themselves. Its one of the main reasons Im critical of such posts, they are harmful since they are not based on fact, they are just words passed along. Im glad you cleared up you dont know from experience, that explains a little better why you would say that.
whether I like it or not, I always applaud honesty.

 

[Critterhunter]

Well, having owned many single frequency machines and hunted fresh water (but mineralized) beaches with them, I can at least say that none have done as well as my BBS unit in terms of handling those sand minerals. And having owned a Tesoro Tiger Shark VLF water machine, I can also say that it's single frequency doesn't do as well as my BBS machine in the water having used both in water environments. I would assume these issues concerning signle frequency machines would apply to the AT Pro as well, and would not become better in salt water, but in fact get even more pronounced.

There is a very conversation going on in the beach forum (I think) right now on the AT Pro's less ability to handle salt water compared to multifrequency units. If you search that forum you'll also find numerous other threads remarking on it's abilities in salt water environments compared to multifrequency machines such as the Xcal or Sov. I'm not saying it's not useable in salt water, but I am saying that the general consensus on the forums is that it doesn't do as well in those environments as multifrequency machines, nor in some mineralized fresh water enviroments.

Of course I admit to not having used one (yet). I don't live near salt water anyway, so it's a mute point for me...But I understand that even in certain mineralized fresh water beaches it does not do as well as the multifrequency units based on what I've read. I know that the single frequency machines I've used on my fresh water beaches got rather bad depth and experienced a lot of falsing. That's been true for just about any other single frequency detector I've read of or compared to multifrequency units such as the Xcal or Sov as well.

As said, no...I haven't used one myself...But on the other hand that's the very thing these forums are about. People read numerous comparisons of various machines and then can start to draw some conclusions as to just what the real truth of the matter probably is. I know I wouldn't buy a machine without some extensive reading in these forums to get a feel for what others think about it's various performance factors. After reading enough about the At Pro I feel it should make a fine addition to my lineup in terms of what I plan to use it for, even if it doesn't handle my beaches as well as my BBS machine does. There are just days that I want to wade deeper than I can with my control box chest mounted, and that's what I intend to use the AT Pro for, besides land hunting on days when I'm in the mood to swing faster.