looking for a AT Gold review

Hi Guys and girls,

Still doing some research at this point and am looking to hear some opinions/facts on the AT gold.
Has anyone used one? did they like it? did it turn a result? Is the machine rubbish or does 'AT' really mean All Terrain?

I have my doubts being one of the lower priced units but it looks fairly simple in design and layout which is exactly what I'm after, simple often being a little more durable.

love to hear from you.

I just got one last week and so far i am very impressed, i am yet to hit the gold fields with it but i pulled an old ring pull outta the ground well over 17 inches below the surface and found a .22 bullet today as well as a shell about 50 yards away (maybe the same bullet who knows :lol: ) as for durability, my daughter got hold of it whilst i was digging a target and dropped it down a granite embankment into a metre deep puddle, and i was able to fish it out and keep going. I highly recommend the detector for anyone starting out.

Ha, I too have children... hence the durability question. Thanks for your feedback.

Hey CapnWheato,

I own and use an AT Gold and consider it to be a very capable machine. I wont dive too much into the features as they can be found on the Garrett website, but here's a quick review on some of the more important aspects of this machine.

Sensitivity
I find the AT Gold to be very sensitive to small targets, and at reasonable depths too. I once found the back of an earring on the beach at a depth of around 20-25cms, this thing was tiny and took me 15 minutes to locate in the sand. One thing you'll also notice is just how responsive it is.

Depth
For a sub $1000 detector the depth penetration of this machine is fantastic, of course there's varying factors to consider such as ground conditions, coil type, size etc, but overall I'm impressed by it's depth performance.

Check out my post about Garrett AT-GOLD Depth and Target IDs https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1119#p1119, just keep in mind that the bench testing was carried out in DISC 1 while using the standard 5x8" DD Coil. From my testing, the All Metal Mode penetrates at least another 10cms deeper and by using a larger coil it can go even deeper than that.

Durability
In terms of durability I can't really fault it, the shaft is sturdy, the enclosure is tough and well sealed. Overall it feels like your holding a quality piece of equipment.

Battery Performance
I use rechargeable batteries and get between 30 - 40 hours use out of each charge. As indicated in the manual, the performance of the detector isn't hindered as the batteries drain out, so you can run batteries until flat without any performance side effects.

Gold Detecting
I've taken the detector to Nundle a couple of times but haven't been lucky enough to wave the coil over some yellow, but all and all it handled the ground conditions out that way quite well. By reading through some of the posts on the forum it's quite clear that this machine is more than capable of finding small gold, which is always good to know

.41 gram https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1143
.2 gram https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=945

Coin & Relic
The nearest gold field is about 3 hours drive so I tend do a lot of coin and relic hunting, the AT Gold performs extremely well at this and some of my finds can be seen floating around the forum.

Conclusion
I can go on all day how much I love the AT Gold as could I about how I really want to own a CTX3030 and GPX5000, so it's important to understand that the AT Gold is a top machine within it's price range. It's not going to compete with a $2-3000+ detector nor was it designed to.

So with that in mind, if you're looking for a feature packed, high quality detector for under $1000, I'd say give the AT Gold some serious consideration.

Cheers,
Nugget

P.S. I don't work for or have any affiliation with Garrett, I'm just a happy consumer

I hope the above post helps you out, it's quite general so please let me know if would like me to be more specific on anything.

Thanks Nugget,
you would be familiar with the saying "you get what you pay for".
I just wanted to make sure that when paying for a basic model it was at the 'value' end of the spectrum.
So far nobody has had any better recommendations for this price bracket, that's a good sign.

No problem, but I think you are somewhat mistaken. The AT Gold is not a basic model, in fact far from it. I was reading something recently that pinned the AT Gold as Garrett's latest flagship offering with worldwide sales exceeding that of any previous "gold marketed" model. True or not I don't know.

But purely based on the slather of features and overall performance, I'd say the AT Gold sits in the market as an Intermediate / Advanced VLF detector (within it's price range, of course ). And I do believe it to be marketed as such.

To reiterate nuggets point, i had a "basic" model before getting the at gold, and the two detectors aren't even in the same ball park

I'm thinking of getting one too. Sounds like good tool for the price

Hi guys
I too am new to this hobby and am looking at the AT, my ? is, I can pay around $1100 at a local dealer or just over $700 from a US dealer via ebay

Is there any reason why I shouldn't go the cheaper option.

Thanks for any advise.

Hi Nugget ,
Have you tried your AT Gold in the water ?

Got my new AT gold on Saturday, im off to Muzzle Flash creek to try her out in the water see if she pick up some dem pickers
So far im very happy with it and all tests in the hot/rich nth QLD dirt have been very good, all items recovered!

Ill pop up info on how I get on later!

Brother.

bsa1929 said:

Hi Nugget ,
Have you tried your AT Gold in the water ?

Click to expand...

I have but only only up to the control box, I haven't had any real need to go deeper. I've also used it out in the poring rain a few times and sometimes wash it off under the hose after detecting on the beach, no problems so far.

Brother said:

Got my new AT gold on Saturday, im off to Muzzle Flash creek to try her out in the water see if she pick up some dem pickers
So far im very happy with it and all tests in the hot/rich nth QLD dirt have been very good, all items recovered!

Ill pop up info on how I get on later!

Brother.

Click to expand...

Good luck with it mate, I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on.

Don't forget to ground balance often and use the ground balance window if it starts getting a little chirpy from the varying ground mineralisation.

Ok what a day! No gold sorry, well not from the AT Gold anyway.
Only walked about 100m up stream, depth between 1-3ft, Area has very little trash ( :8 )

Had 2 nice targets, but a bit hard to manage under water let me tell you! After much digging, I found some of my own trash! hahaha



And a nice bit of crystal popped up too, well it works!


Ran a good pan just to make sure its still there! It is but its just too small, so ill not quit yet!!

Staple is from my backpack lost 2 weeks ago when doggy strap broke! lmao

I still; hoping that a picker or 10 will be picked up

Like the Vid said, its going to take a few hours to get the hang of it! Im very happy with this machine, and the way it worked in and around the water.

Ill find the bigger stuff yet!

It might take a few outings to really get the hang of the machine, but as long as you had fun it's all worth the effort.

I bet your glad to have found that staple again lol

Nugget said:

It might take a few outings to really get the hang of the machine, but as long as you had fun it's all worth the effort.

I bet your glad to have found that staple again lol

Click to expand...

Was only out for a hour, so a bit more time out there is needed, I like that's its easy to use, I just started easy and said, ill dig em all, and after 2 bits it was time to sit and have a pan. lol
Ill keep yas posted.

Yea, best staple ever!! The creeks a bit cleaner now

Sorry no big one to show yet, SOON

Hi I use a AT gold found nugget s with my AT gold exllent machine very happy with it

Has anyone upgraded the coil? I'm interested in a bigger coil like the Garrett AT 8.5"x11" Proformance DD Searchcoil, but not sure if it's worth the swap for now? Anyone had any experience with this?