By: Alan Mash

The long awaited new gold prospecting metal detector from Garrett is here! The AT Gold!

I have been waiting for Garrett to update its Scorpion Gold Stinger for awhile now and they have done it with a bang. The is in the new family of detectors, the AT detectors. (All Terrain).

This machine is in compliment to the new AT Pro that Garrett released last year.

Here are the specifications of this new Gold Prospector:

1. •Target ID Cursor Segments - 20
   

2. •Iron Discrimination Segments - 40
   

3. •Search Modes - 3
   

4. •Sensitivity/Depth Adjustments - 8
   

5. •Electronic Pinpointing - Yes
   

6. •Frequency - 18 kHz
   

7. •Audio Tone ID Levels - 3
   

8. •Standard Searchcoil - 5" x 8" ( 14x20cm) DD PROformance
   

9. •Length (Adjustable) - 42" to 51" (1.06m - 1.29m)
   

10. •Total Weight - 3.03 lbs. (1.4 kgs.)
    

11. •Batteries - 4 AA (included)
    

12. •Warranty - 2 Year, Limited Parts/Labor
    

The AT Gold operates at 18 khz for high sensitivity to very small gold nuggets. One of the new exclusive features Garrett has built into the machine is the Ground Balance Window. If a detector ground balances at a certain number such as 65, the AT Gold balances in a broad window. Example is when the AT Gold ground balances at 65, it actually ground balances at a minus 2 AND a positive 2. So the entire ground balance window will be from 63-67 at the same time. This results in less ground balancing and less noise from iron pockets that were outside the normal 65 balancing.

Another key feature for electronic prospectors is the high resolution iron audio which is the same as the AT Pro with its 40 segments of discrimination, but an added feature is the low tone iron grunt while operating in the threshold based deep seeking all metal mode.

While hunting and you come across an iron nail it will alert you with an iron grunt audio as well as a target ID number, so you can move on to the next target. The more ground you cover the more likely you will find a gold nugget.

One of the best features of the AT line of metal detectors is its water proof to 10 feet depth. This will open up an entire new area for prospectors looking for some of those out of reach gold nuggets that only could have been reached in the past by the Infinium LS for gold prospecting machines.

Other beach or water machines could give it a try but the AT Gold’s high sensitivity will beat these other water proof machines to the small gold as well as the Infinium’s sensitivity compared to regular beach/water detectors. Quite a combo punch on gold nuggets with those two detectors for finding gold. A water proof Pulse Induction detector and a 18 khz water proof VLF...that’s what I’ll be using in the gold fields!

I will have my hands on an AT Gold very soon and I will give it a work-over in the goldfields and release a review for the AT Gold, hopefully with some new gold nuggets in my poke. Stay tuned folks, It appears Garret has put out a winner here...time to show the gold!

UPDATE Dec 2011: I now have my hands on the new Garrett AT Gold and so far I am very impressed with it. I’ll just say this, it is VERY sensitive to small gold nuggets! How small? I can pick up some of my .05 gram gold nuggets with it at about 2+ inches with the nuggets sitting on top of hot mineralized soil...stay tuned; I’ll have full reviews up soon with video after I take it out in the field!

Tags: Review Garrett AT Gold for prospecting nugget hunting for gold nuggets