Home > Reviews > Gold Prospecting > Garrett

Garrett AT Gold

Price: $800

Avg. Score: 4 stars

4.37
Based on 19 reviews

Avg. Durability: 4 stars

4.06
Avg. Ease of use: 4 stars

4.24

AT-Gold

February 13, 2021

I never had a detector before. I love this machine. Took it out in back yard and found 7 coins in less than 30 min. dating from 1887 to 1983, never used one before. This is a great machine, but everything garrett makes, I hear is great.
Durability I gave a 5, but only used it for 30 min. but seems very study. Easy to use straight out of the box and I'm stupid. Study your manual and view all the videos, if you have questions ask, I did.

Well pleased with customer service. I will be buying another, soon as I get the money saved. I think the sea hunter mark 2.
These are professional machines, at beginners prices. I researched for months before I bought. I'm really happy. but, remember each machine has a special niche. Each has different purpose versatility. Some are great on the beach, some on dry land, some underwater, study and pay as much as you can afford.
May have to save for a year are so, but well worth the best. I will never buy any unit except garrett. They have really been good to me. Again study, buy the best you can afford. have fun.

Max Depth: 12 inches on US quarter

Overall Rating 5 stars!
Durability
Ease of Use 4 stars
Would you recommend this to a new user? Yes, absolutely!
RICHARD POWELL from TEXAS

10

Great detector

November 22, 2019

Great detector, first find on the first trip was a ring on very trashy river bank so great discrimination. Then the same day I found small 0.6gram gold nugget. Friend of mine tried the same signal with his top notch Nokta and his detector did not even register it. Realy happy with the machine. Only small problem is the very thin aluminium tubing used for the midle section. I have snaped it when I fell but it vas easy to fix.

Overall Rating 5 stars!
Durability 3 stars
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user? Yes, absolutely!
Peca from Scotland

01

At gold

November 07, 2016

I'm fairly new at this detecting I bought my AT gold 6 months ago had a used bounty hunter cheeppy but it found me 8 thousand dollars worth of coins so you can find good stuff with a fifty dollar machine but I had to dig everything so I watch a video on the AT gold I liked what I saw so I bought one at first I was disappointed but the more I used it and learned the tones the better I got.

I've come to love my at gold in the last six months, I've found 4,356 coins some old wheat pennies old dimes quarters half dollars. Dollars tokens gold rings silver rings necklaces knives toy cars tons of stuff a lot of foreign coins I'v tried other detectors and none of them come close to the Garrett I'm a beginner and I learned it so its not that complicated you just have to spend time with it.

I can pick coins out of the steel play ground polls you just have to practice id recommend this machine to any one thinking of getting one the reason I cant give it a high durability rating is it died today and I've only had it six months not good but even the best machines can have a problem.

Max Depth: 8 inches on US quarter

Overall Rating 4 stars
Durability 2 stars
Ease of Use 5 stars!
Would you recommend this to a new user? I have no clue...
Perry Hanson from Casper Wyoming

214

Reply to: 'not impressed'

October 24, 2016

Respectfully friend you need to learn how to use the At Gold before posting a review: the At Gold is stablized very well in the worst iron and Highly mineralized areas - take the time to watch the At Gold Videos by Garrett - you will see one in which the soil [ from Australia with so much iron the pebbles literally stick to the magnet on the retrieval pick ] is laid out with a nugget about 4 inches down below this excessive iron mineralized soil and after knowledgeable adjustments the At Gold is superb in a quiet smooth operation - I have used the At Gold in situations that you describe and experienced the same erratic behavior until I made the adjustments necessary...

Max Depth: 9 inches on US quarter

Overall Rating 5 stars!
Durability
Ease of Use 3 stars
Would you recommend this to a new user? Yes, absolutely!
Jesse colvin from Vancouver Canada

84

Garrett at gold.

August 24, 2016

I have a Garrett AT Pro and an AT Gold I love them both they are dependable and go deep!! Awesome battery life, I like the threshold on the at Gold and run it on the minus side most of the time and achieve more depth that way. I have a buddy I hunt with and he uses the AT Pro and does real well with it.

I haven't gotten to hunt salt water beaches with it yet but when I do I'll use the AT Pro for the salt water. I have no complaints with either of the Garrett's their great machines and not hard to understand learning them. I gave them 5 stars because those machines and me have been to hell and back more than one or two times. No problems and are always ready for the task at hand!!! Garrett really outdid their selves with the two machines!!

Max Depth: 10 inches on US quarter

Overall Rating 5 stars!
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user? Yes, absolutely!
Rick Spurlock from Ozark mo.

95

Garrett at gold for everyone?

May 13, 2016

Just wanted to put my two cents worth in here. First, let me be perfectly clear, I am a huge fan of this detector! But, this will not be a cheerleader review. Second, I am not a "professional" metal detectorist. I have experience with 3 other detectors. A cheap detector from the 80's, a Whites Coin Master and a $200 Radioshack detector.

I got interested in prospecting and ended up buying the AT Gold. The AT Gold is a completely different animal. I just want to make sure you buy this detector for the right reasons. I don't know if this is the greatest detector, I just know it does a heck of a good job. BUT, it does have its drawbacks. What I am listing as drawbacks would not be considered so by an experienced detector user.
Also, if you are the geek type willing to live and learn the capabilities of this detector, these will not be drawbacks.

I very much enjoyed using the Whites and Radio Shack detectors. They seemed sophisticated enough for the type of detecting I was doing which was relic and coin related. They seemed to discriminate the junk quite well and I found a lot of coins and other stuff. It was usually very enjoyable to dig what ever was detected. I still found my share of bottle tops and tinfoil but overall I became pretty sure of what my target was before digging.

Then I started using the AT Gold. WOW! This thing is capable of detecting everything. And I mean EVERYTHING! That is the major "drawback". It is only a drawback if you don't take the time and effort to learn and trust this machine. I read someplace it takes at least 100 hours of operation to master it. I've been using it for 3 years now and still haven't mastered the use of all its controls. I have to re-acquaint myself with it every season.
I actually enjoy the challenge of mastering the detector almost as much as the detecting itself. I'm also sure this would not be the same for everyone.

I can't really recommend this detector to a beginner as it would become very tiring to dig every beep. I think it would be discouraging to many. It takes a long time to trust both the machine and your own abilities to discriminate and setup the controls. With that said, I would put this detector up against any other detector in this price range. I've been detecting with others running comparable Whites and Fischer's. Like I said before, I don't know if this detector is better but I do know I am not sorry I bought it and have no plans of trading it in anytime soon.

I do have one pet-peave about it though. And it is one that many detectors have. I wish it had a volume control! I do not like using the earphones that came with it. Just personal preference. But there are times I wish I could turn the volume down so as not to disturb others around me. I'm willing to sacrifice the ability to hear every faint beep just to be a little more socially acceptable! This thing is loud which is great when detecting near running water or a busy street but not so great near the picnic area!

Max Depth: 9 inches on US quarter

Overall Rating 4 stars
Durability 5 stars!
Ease of Use 3 stars
Would you recommend this to a new user? No, it's too complic
Todd C from Montana

57

Love this machine

April 17, 2016

I have had mine for 1 month now. I bought it to use in bad weather and try my hand at nugget hunting but haven't got the chance to yet. So far have used it at parks and local schools. Don't be afraid to buy this for coin hunting it finds coins very well and deep. Its easy to set up and take off. The vdi numbers are very good and trustworthy.

Before this detector I used a whites mxt which I still own and love and will never sell. It's a coin killer as well. Switching to garrett was a breeze. Where I bought my at gold the owner told me he would buy the at pro for my use which is mostly coin shooting. I ignored his recommendation and don't regret it one bit. Once you get the numbers down you don't need it to tell you it a dime or quarter.

Max Depth: 11 inches on US quarter

Overall Rating 5 stars!
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user? Yes, absolutely!
Ed from California

85

Amazing

September 07, 2015

I have been using the AT gold for about 6 months, and the stock coil is a little annoying, but the depth of it is unbelievable. I have dug quarters and dimes at 14+ inches, and the iron resolution is as good if not better than the XP Deus.
For prospecting, it works great as long as you manually ground balance as much as possible. It works very well, but the only thing I would want to improve on it is a ground balance able to cope with wet sand. But other than that, the ground balance window is a lifesaver.

Max Depth: 15 inches on US quarter

Overall Rating 5 stars!
Durability 4 stars
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user? I have no clue...
Rexy from Dana Point Ca

1618

Simple but what a machine!

May 30, 2015

I've been using the AT-Gold for two years. I've been a detectorist for over 20 years. In those 20 years I've used a ton of different detectors and so far the AT-Gold trumps them all.
It's a simple machine to operate and it picks through the iron and trash and finds the goods. I use to trade or sale machines on a regular basis looking for the right one for me and I finally found it in the AT-Gold. I've never kept a detector this long and I've yet to see a new machine on the market that I'd give up my AT-Gold for.

I've found more silver with this machine than any other machine I've ever used. This machine was designed for gold but it will find high conductive coins like silver and copper quite well.

Don't believe the negative things you hear about this machine it's a keeper! I don't understand why someone would bash this do it all machine other than they don't know the proper setup and operation of it. I always run it coin hunting in disc1 iron disc set at 28 sensitivity one bar from max.
Civil War Relic hunting I run it in all metal using the 8.5x11" coil and I've dug bullets 10-11" deep.

Max Depth: 10 inches on US quarter

Overall Rating 5 stars!
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user? Yes, absolutely!
88junior from Crandall,GA.

326

Not bad..

May 16, 2015

This is a OK beginners detector. I bought mine new with the intention of using it in river prospecting but quickly became hooked to everything metal detecting related.
The good points
1 weight, its nice and lite
2 ferrous audio, its nice to know if the target is ferrous by sound.
3 WATER PROOF!, all detectors should be!.

Bad points,
1 shallow only 8 inches Max on a quarter
2 can't handle salt or heavy mineralization without falsing like mad.
3 it is lacking full notch capabilities.
4 Price! Way too expensive for what you get!