Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
I thought I'd give my impressions of the Garrett ATX with 10x12 DD coil after using it for quite a few hours. A lot of metal detector reviews are done after a few hours of experience with the metal detector. You can't tell anything from that. And I've explained the many problems with air tests, test gardens and other attempts to quickly assess and summarize metal detectors.
It took me a long time to learn to use the ATX well. Like with any metal detector, it is not difficult to turn it on and go, but that doesn't guarantee that you are getting anything close to best performance. Ignorance can be bliss. You can use a metal detector for a long time and feel that it is doing well without really testing things out and making sure you are getting the best performance out of the detector.
How well a metal detector performs depends a lot upon the person using it. I think that is especially true with the ATX.
I can't tell you exactly why it seemed to take me so long with the ATX. I guess in some important ways it is just different from some of the detectors I've used in the past, but it did take me longer to become confident that I was using it well and getting great performance out of it.
One of the first things you will notice about the ATX is how heavy it is. It is heavy. It swings lighter than it is, yet it is still heavy and I can't think of a heavier metal detector that I have used.
The first thing you might notice performance wise, is its sensitivity to iron. It is easy to end up digging very deep holes for iron targets and tons of holes for very small pieces of iron. Again, operator skill comes into play.
There is an iron check function, but it doesn't identify iron in a lot of cases.
If you want a detector that gives a lot of discrimination or target ID, this is not the detector for you. This is what I call a power detector. It detects. It detects deep targets and small targets. There is a lot of digging with this detector. If you are a skilled operator, and I do mean skilled, you can cut down on the digging, but it does require a skilled operator.
The ATX can pick up a lot of electrical interference around power lines, cables etc., but the frequency scanner does a good job of selecting a frequency to adjust noisy environments.
It is a deep seeking detector and responds very well to small gold and silver targets. It is better than most detectors if you use it well, can handle a heavy detector and are not afraid of detecting some junk targets.
I'm not going to give you air test results or anything like that. I've talked about the problems with such tests in the past. I will say, it will detect small and deep targets very well if you use it well.
It is difficult to explain why it took me so long to feel like I mastered the ATX, but I would not describe it is a turn-on and go detector. Part of it was the fact that I really explored and tested the various operating modes and settings.
With the coil and configuration I use, pinpointing is not quick and easy. With most detectors, I can pinpoint fairly well without taking the time to stop and switch to pinpoint mode. The ATX seems to give such a big broad signal to anything but the smallest targets, that pinpointing seems to take longer. I really have never used a detector before that I had to take so much time pinpointing. The ATX pinpoint mode is good, it is just that in the past I seldom had to slow down and use pinpoint mode so much.
With the ATX I like to manually ground balance, especially in wet sand. I pay more attention to ground balancing and spend more time ground balancing with the ATX than I have ever done with any other detector.
Non-motion mode will give you some added depth, but it takes a fairly skilled operator to use the non-motion mode in wet sand or shallow water. The ATX will give you excellent depth on deep and small targets.
There are a variety of reasons it took me so long to feel that I mastered the ATX. Part of it is because of the detector itself. It was partly because it is significantly different than a lot of the detectors I've used extensively in the past. And part of it is that I just wanted to make sure that I explored everything and was getting the best out of the detector and its various modes and settings.
To summarize, the ATX will detect deep targets and small targets as well or better than any detector I have used, however it is not the easiest detector to learn and it is not the easiest detector to use. It is definitely not a good detector for a beginner, and it is definitely not for everybody or every situation. If I primarily wanted to make sure I was not missing deep or small targets, it would be my choice. If I was hunting the average dry beach, I would probably not select the ATX. There are other detectors that would do a good job and make the task easier.
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A couple of days ago I showed the following picture and asked what kind of fossil bone you thought it was.
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| Fossil Bone Find. |
Below is a larger but similar bone. It is a sloth toe bone. From what I've seen, it could be a sloth toe bone, but that is just my wild guess.
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| Source: internet photo. |
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Just a 2 - 4 foot surf on the Treasure Coast right now. That might increase a little in a few days.
I had to take a family member to the hospital this weekend, but all seems back to normal now.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
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