Garrett ATX vs Minelab GPX5000

[kleinman98]

Thanks Loamer. I agree with you that it is all about horses for courses and rings of a similar debate going on between apple Macs and Microsoft based products. Do you want a machine without complications that just works within its boundaries or would you like a machine that you can play with, adjust or tinker with to cure your obsession. I for one went for Microsoft because I like to tinker and now, well, its the Ipad for me (bows head in disgrace) so similarities can be drawn here.

Water resistant to 3 mtrs and not water proof. But I still think Minelab should do something about it. It is an OUTDOOR electronic device afterall.

 

[Guest]

Great test vs DD coils unfortunately I know a mono on the 5000 would wipe the smile off your face but all the same I betta add the ATX to the Xmas list!

 

[WalnLiz]

Not going to comment on this vid till we do our own "Unbiased " Tests. I know for a fact he is being sponsored by Garrett for these tests, as we've shared comments on his other vids. To say that Minelab can't pick up fine gold is a foolish statement. The smallest piece of gold i picked up recently in WA weighed .05 grams. (which is 1/2 the size of his smallest shown).

The other thing that worries me is there was no indication of threshold sound on the 5000, or a visual on all the settings. Show us the gain and stabilizer settings, and was it in Audio boost etc. There's many settings for the 5000 to have it run at optimum in different conditions, especially in the fine gold timings. To just say it's set in normal and fine gold doesn't say much for me.

Having a simple range of settings on the ATX is a great step forward in their technology, and this is a great selling feature. But is this at the expense of fine tuning to heavily mineralized ground conditions in Australia..??? I'm hoping not, but I'm certainly keen to find out soon. One thing is for certain....The ATX is going to command a lot of respect as a mid range player either way.

I'm hoping the ATX is as good as they say as i feel Minelab needs some serious competition...especially in the price department.

A "Fair" comparison will be just around the corner when mono to mono coils can be arranged. We will also run the DD to DD comparisons showing the exact settings on all machines. (not unsubstantiated verbal commentary) Neither company will be influencing these tests.

May the best detector come out in front.

Cheers Wal.

 

[kleinman98]

Aussie Detecting & Prospecting
14 minutes ago
This is what I call an independent review. Bob is a very experienced GPX 5000 user & is also a Minelab dealer.

Garrett Australia
2 hours ago
ATX Review by Bob Buss of Goanna Gold Detectors www.goannagolddetectors.com.au

The Garrett ATX Pulse Induction Metal Detector [All Terrain Xtreme] Report

The new Garrett ATX hit Australias shores this week & by next week the first customers will have their brand new machines. We, however have been very lucky to have access to a lender machine to reveal & demonstrate at our recent Goanna End of Season Muster held at Hill End NSW on the 2nd & 3rd November 2013. About 40 people gathered to be the first to see the new Garrett ATX. We had spent 2 days before the Muster testing the ATX in our test patch with buried targets at known depths. We test all our detectors in this patch so we know very well the depth capabilities, signal response & target location abilities of many different models. We approached the test without bias. We had already been privy to detailed explanation of the science & had heard verbal evidence of gold field tests conducted. We had also seen some air tests [which hold little practical use but can be useful in brand comparisons for testing individual aspects like response by same sized coils]. That is about as useful as these test are but buried target testing is different. Targets that have been buried for long periods, like ours are very good at assessing metal detectors because it is the closest thing to actual field conditions but still controllable. The bench mark Pulse Induction machine is the Minelab GPX 5000 so ultimately the testing had to be a comparison to see where the ATX lay compared to the GPX. As we only had access to the 11"DD [standard] coil for the ATX we were limited in our test parameters so we acknowledge that our testing is incomplete in regards to larger & smaller coils & we have not compared DD to DD or mono to mono coils either as we did not have access to them. We also note that the GPX 5000 is compatible with a vast range of after-market coils to enhance its performance whist the Garrett ATX only has 3 coils available & at this stage there is no after-market coil maker producing coils to increase the choice. However, the results we obtained from our test patch test were very surprising as the ATX passed every test we put to it. We even went as far as setting the GPX 5000 with an 8"x6" Nugget Finder mono into the GPXs Fine Gold setting to locate an extremely small 0.2gm nugget at 8". As expected the GPX located the target. Now, the surprise is that the ATX with its standard 11" coil also located the target.....that should raise an eyebrow....not bad for a standard coil.

 

[Diggerdude]

Aussie Detecting & Prospecting
14 minutes ago
This is what I call an independent review. Bob is a very experienced GPX 5000 user & is also a Minelab dealer.

Garrett Australia
2 hours ago
ATX Review by Bob Buss of Goanna Gold Detectors www.goannagolddetectors.com.au

The Garrett ATX Pulse Induction Metal Detector [All Terrain Xtreme] Report

The new Garrett ATX hit Australias shores this week & by next week the first customers will have their brand new machines. We, however have been very lucky to have access to a lender machine to reveal & demonstrate at our recent Goanna End of Season Muster held at Hill End NSW on the 2nd & 3rd November 2013. About 40 people gathered to be the first to see the new Garrett ATX. We had spent 2 days before the Muster testing the ATX in our test patch with buried targets at known depths. We test all our detectors in this patch so we know very well the depth capabilities, signal response & target location abilities of many different models. We approached the test without bias. We had already been privy to detailed explanation of the science & had heard verbal evidence of gold field tests conducted. We had also seen some air tests [which hold little practical use but can be useful in brand comparisons for testing individual aspects like response by same sized coils]. That is about as useful as these test are but buried target testing is different. Targets that have been buried for long periods, like ours are very good at assessing metal detectors because it is the closest thing to actual field conditions but still controllable. The bench mark Pulse Induction machine is the Minelab GPX 5000 so ultimately the testing had to be a comparison to see where the ATX lay compared to the GPX. As we only had access to the 11"DD [standard] coil for the ATX we were limited in our test parameters so we acknowledge that our testing is incomplete in regards to larger & smaller coils & we have not compared DD to DD or mono to mono coils either as we did not have access to them. We also note that the GPX 5000 is compatible with a vast range of after-market coils to enhance its performance whist the Garrett ATX only has 3 coils available & at this stage there is no after-market coil maker producing coils to increase the choice. However, the results we obtained from our test patch test were very surprising as the ATX passed every test we put to it. We even went as far as setting the GPX 5000 with an 8"x6" Nugget Finder mono into the GPXs Fine Gold setting to locate an extremely small 0.2gm nugget at 8". As expected the GPX located the target. Now, the surprise is that the ATX with its standard 11" coil also located the target.....that should raise an eyebrow....not bad for a standard coil.

Lolol :lol: , independent review from a dealer. I prefer to call independent someone who doesn't sell them.
Interesting review though.

 

[thesmithy]

Hey Diggerdude,
I agree with you in regards to dealers etc.
Bob Buss is a dinky die prospector who deals and sells all brands of detectors to his clients..... followers.
I hear that Bob is a diehard minelab 5000 guy.

so it is pleasing to see a non bias approach to both machines.
he also left it open ended as well.
cheers
TheSmithy.

 

[Diggerdude]

Yeh mate I know Bob, wasn't disputing his detecting experience. Just pointing out he's not exactly independent.

DD

 

[rigger572]

Good review from Gonna Gold ,no matter what the results are they will be discredited by the minelab diehards as ive already seen on other forums the bashing of the ATX, since the initial specs come out i got my wife to order me one as im overseas.

Being an owner of one im reading everything i can find on it and those who have put up their
money and bought one im grateful to read any testing results i dont care if it can or cannot beat a gpx if it can in some areas ive spent wisely and im sure it can

I see excellent performance for a pi that is a turn on and go machine negative posts by those who havent had hands on one are only unproductive and degrading to those who give them a go

 

[WalnLiz]

The machine will serve you extremely well rigger, when you're looking at the top 2 detectors in the world today, and one of these is a third of the price, your value for the dollar becomes extremely high. You will be able to go out there with confidence that the machine will harvest you Nuggets.

Cheers Wal.

 

[Guest]

Well said Wal'. ill be looking at an ATX next year iv been lucky enough to have,borrow,buy most of the top line detectors in the last few years just sold the 3000 to go towards the ATX and iv got two more I'd like to sell that the ATX won't have a problem replacing.
I can't afford a 5000 but lucky enough to have a close mate that has one and iv got all the coils we need.

 

[rigger572]

Thanx Wal
I purchased it with the hope that it was going to perform somewhere between a 3000 and 5000 but with the bonus of being water proof and compact it can go in my pack when i go on exercises we got some nice looking training grounds we use it will be a versatile bit of kit. im only a hobby detector operator and dont need to fiddle with settings and coils this machine is perfect !!!

 

[kleinman98]

Yet another video.
http://youtu.be/v0nALoYUf24

 

[Redfin]

Looking good so far .
Can't wait till someone tries it out in the triangle.
How is yours going John?

 

[kleinman98]

No problems with mine at the moment. I went to Culburra beach today and only found a rusty nail at about 500mm.
There is just nothing there at that beach. Might go north to Seven mile beach on sunday and hope somebody has lost something.

 

[MarcusBerlin]

Good day,
now it is 2 month ago that something happend on the topic, that makes me crazy .
I waiting so hard for a ATX owners comment from the forum about the detector.
You hear a lot about the ATX, find videos, but I prefare a trustfull comment from a Forum member.
Would be glad if one of the (hopefully) lucky owners of an ATX takes the time for a usefull reply.
greetings from germany

 

[WalnLiz]

G'day Marcus,

If it is of any help, we are doing tests on the machine in a few locations and are still waiting for coil covers for the deep seeker mono coil..(well over 2 months now and no coil covers). Not at all a good look.

We will not be showing our vid till we are completely happy with all the testing, as we don't want to re-shoot it because of personal opinions from others. What you see is what you'll get and we won't be going into any debates.

I am not an ATX owner, and have no loyalties to any brand....but do however use the GPX5000 as my preferred detector.

I was initially thinking of an ATX as a spare detector for Liz, who runs a Whites PI TDI pro ozz series at the moment. After comparing the 2 machines i soon gave the idea of the ATX a miss as results confirmed i would not be upgrading by purchasing the ATX.

My personal advice would be to hire yourself an ATX and try it for a day. If you want it as a coin/treasure machine it would be right up there with the best. As a dedicated gold machine in highly mineralized soils....in my opinion there are far better choices for your hard earned dollars. I think it may be quite some time before many ATX owners will post "Regular" pics of nuggets.

Cheers Wal.

 

[loamer]

From what I am hearing, the Garrett is lacking in sensitivity on depth on the mineralised Victorian fields. But like everyone else, I am waiting to see a fair dinkum test of the two under the same conditions on a test pit site.

 

[Zakman]

Thks Guys.
No I've moved away from the ATX yes its an OK product but still can't bet the performance of the GPX 5000 Ive got friends in Dunolly who test the ATX directly against the GPX and for some reason the ATX was more sensitive on some target but not other. As I've learnt over the last year it has a great deal to do with your knowledge of your detector setting swing speed plus a good coil.

If your budget can go for the GPX 5000 do that, if you want to save few dollars well the ATX is pretty good. But of course we have the new Minelab to compare and its about the same price as the ATX.

I've finally settled on the GPX 5000 and the CTX 3030 I also use the GMT and the Tectonic T2 these are soooo easy to setup and use.

In field practice and really knowing your detector will show merits as long as you have the location locked down. hahah

Safe and profitable hunting guys.

The Zakman

 

[HeadsUp]

Thks Guys.

I've finally settled on the GPX 5000 and the CTX 3030 I also use the GMT and the Tectonic T2 these are soooo easy to setup and use.

The Zakman

thanks for sharing . what do you think of the Teknetics T2 compared to ATX and GMT ?

I understand there will be more dealers carrying the teknetics machines in Australia from this year so curious how they rate on the scale

 

[Zakman]

Hi Headsup

Well the ATX is one level up on the GMT and the Teknetics T2 but I have to say the GMT is a great Gold detector and the Teknetics is a real all rounder.

The GMT looks more professional than the Teknetics. The Teknetics is a very good detector so easy to setup good discrimination with Large ID s numbers but a little unstable therefore I mainly use tone ID for discrimination depth is surprisingly good and its very light with a waterproof coil. My 86 yrs old da love this one.
Its good for the beach and Gold. Plus its cheaper than all the other mentioned.

A good review is http://www.garysdetecting.co.uk/teknetics_t2.htm

But for Gold I would go GMT its very good on fine gold and nicely balanced.
Detection is just on sound and discrimination is very simple iron yes no. DIP.

If I was going to rate them.
GPX5000
CTX 3030 for relics and coins is just amazing.
I think the SDC 2300 is actually the way to go.
Then the ATX
GMT for Gold.
Teknetics if you want a more all rounder beach relics coins and GOLD.
This is just my opinion.

Safe and profitable hunting.

I will email Headsup with some other stuff.

The ZAKMAN