Garrett AT Gold Review

by Chad Eicher

garrett at gold review

This is the ultimate Garrett AT Gold review.

The AT Gold is an advanced device designed for gold prospecting, relic hunting, and coin shooting in diverse terrains and conditions.

Boasting one of the most recognizable names when it comes to metal and gold prospecting, Garrett has delivered the goods once again with this product.

The Garrett AT Gold metal detector is an amazing waterproof gold surveying detector that has been developed to deliver all your gold hunting metal needs. It is suitable for land and water purposes.

The Best Metal Detector?

We’re on a mission to review all the best metal detectors.

Garrett AT Gold is one of the best detectors we’ve reviewed to date…

🏆 Best Metal Detectors 🏆

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It is fully metallic, with a well-coated body, 42″ to 51″ in length, with about 1.4kg in weight and a frequency of 18kHz. It has a 5″ x 8″ DD search coil, with functional headphones, a Garrett ProPointer AT Pinpointer, and 4 AA batteries.

It is adjustable to about 8 various sensitivities and depths and comes with a 2-year warranty.

The AT Gold metal detector was expertly designed to perform at maximum depth to find gold even in the most demanding and nasty environment, using a combination of a sensitive body with high frequency, coupled with the consistent audio response, technology, and a digital detecting system to deliver excellent performance.

Garrett AT Gold

Garrett AT Gold Features and Benefits

The Garrett At Gold metal detector possesses various features that make it a perfect fit for your exploration needs:

1. True all-metal mode

It has an all-metal mode that gives it the ability to find deep metals, as it is highly sensitive enough to detect the smallest metals possible. It enables you to detect all metal types, including highly conductive ones, such as silver and copper, and ferrous ones, such as iron and steel.

2. Operating frequency 18 kHz

It has a high frequency of 18 kHz. This operating frequency enables it to find targets with low to medium conductivity, like small gold nuggets in a highly mineralized area.

3. 5 x 8″ DD coil

The size and design of the search coil also significantly affect the metal detector’s sensitivity, coverage area, and maneuverability.

It strikes a good balance between sensitivity to small targets, like gold nuggets and coverage of large areas, making it ideal for gold prospecting, relic hunting, and other treasure hunting activities.

The DD (Double-D) coil on the detector has two loops that overlap. These loops create a special magnetic field that helps to improve target separation in high trash areas and depth detection.

4. Battery life indicator

You can always know the battery life level due to the presence of the indicator that stays on continuously. The battery life can last up to 25 hours on 4 AA batteries,

5. Controllable background sound

The metal detector allows you to adjust the background sound while exploring, to optimize hearing your target, to decipher its shape and size.

6. Weather flexibility

It is built to resist extremely dusty or wet surroundings, as the control box and search coil can be immersed to a depth of 10 feet (3m), thereby guaranteeing effectiveness. That makes it suitable for beach and river detecting, and rainy, humid, or harsh weather conditions in general.

7. Visual analysis for target

It shows a target’s conductivity and also how the detector differentiates between all targets, using a Graphic Target Analyzer.

8. Full-metal iron audio

It enables users to discern the sound of iron objects due to the presence of its 44 volume of high-resolution iron discrimination and is viewed as a digital number for its capacity to distinguish a good target from the opposite.

With the Iron Audio function, you can hear discriminated iron targets and make tone adjustments, reducing the likelihood of missing valuable targets.

9. Electronic spotting

The Garrett AT Gold metal detector identifies the exact spot a target is, thereby guaranteeing ease and efficiency.

10. Digital Target ID

You can easily know the value of a target, as it shows their metal conductivity value, from a ranking of 0-99. This enables you to find buried targets with efficiency and speed. Targets that are near the level of 1 are the most ferrous. As you ascend the scale, the most conductive items come close to 99.

11. Ground balance

It enables you to manually change the metal detector’s ground balance to forestall the disadvantages of ground mineralization. It features both automatic and manual, with a Ground Balance Window that lets you optimize the performance in changing ground conditions.

12. Proportional audio mode

It has a pro audio mode that gives additional information, like the prospective targets’ size and conductivity. However, it cannot be turned off, as it is standard.


Garrett AT Gold Design and Appearance


The AT Gold metal detector is black and is shaped like an ‘s.’ It has a padded handgrip with an alterable strap for the arm. The stem can easily be adjusted to suit your height.

It has a control panel with the top and bottom stem, the search coil, 5 x 8″, and the wing nut. It has 4 AA batteries, and they are placed in a container in the control panel.

There is a built-in speaker, with headphones too. It has a functional LED.

It is designed to be waterproof to a maximum depth of 10 feet (3 meters) for exploration in freshwater streams. Its utility is not limited to water alone, as it can function on land also. It has a wide range of uses, as it can find relics, artifacts, and hidden treasures, in addition to gold.

It weighs 1.4kg, with an adjustable length of 42″ – 51″. It works with a frequency of 18kHz, which is suitable for freshwater operations, which gives off 3 different audio tone ID levels.

It is straightforward to use, as it was designed to be controlled with one hand alone. Modern audio features were adopted to enable you to adjust the sonics to your taste. A 5″ x 8″ DD search coil is present to search for metal in highly mineralized environments.


Garrett AT Gold Performance

The AT Gold metal detector is an amazing land and water performing metal detector. It has characteristics that can function favorably in those two different locations without a dip in performance.

With an all-metal body, it is optimized for maximum depth and sensitivity. It is also versatile when it comes to weather, in that it can work in dry or moist conditions.

For land, it has superb ground balance. It can be manipulated by your hand in the direction you want it to go.

Garrett AT Gold waterproof

It operates on a frequency of 18kHz, and it can detect the smallest scrap of gold. The detector also works with good recovery speed, which enables it to differentiate the target item from other waste quickly.

In water, the detector is also optimized to function effectively. It has full-metal iron audio. This enables it to detect iron and corresponding metals easily. You can also adjust the background sound to focus on the target.

It comes with a Graphic Target Analyzer (GTA) that focuses on the target’s conductivity. It has a continuous audio detector that enables you to hear the faintest sounds that emanate from distant targets effectively.

It has a depth indicator that shows the depth level of small metals. The detector has a digital target ID. This scale ranges from 0-99, and it provides you the chance to differentiate between each target’s conductivity.

Overall, this Garrett metal detector can effectively function on the land and in the sea whilst guaranteeing efficiency.

It has 8 buttons, which are:

  • Mode & Power button: If you hold it down for one second, the detector powers-up. Hold it down for another second to power down. If you hold it down for 5 seconds afterward, it resets the detector to factory settings. If you press the buttons while the machine is on, you’ll be able to pick any search mode of your choice.
  • Iron disc: Switches the levels of iron discrimination.
  • Sensitivity: Alters the level of sensitivity of the detector.
  • Iron audio: This is used to listen to the discrepancy in targets during iron discrimination.
  • PinPoint: This is for getting the exact location of the target.
  • Threshold: Alters the sound of background noise, thereby allowing you to focus on the target.
  • Frequency: Alternates through the various levels of frequency.

The Garrett AT Gold detector has 3 main search modes: All metal, Disc 1, and Disc 2. The All metal mode is widely regarded as the recommended choice by many for gold prospecting. It gives off continuous audio, allowing you to still hear the low sounds emanating from other targets. Although when the AT Gold is set to All metal, it will answer other magnetic properties that come its way.

It creates an electromagnetic field that leads to the presence of a continuous sinusoidal wave. It can decipher targets on different depths, as its sensitivity and ground balance are increased for finding prospective gold deposits.

Being waterproof to a depth of 10 feet helps the AT Gold detector get to uncharted territories. Also, having the 18kHz frequency enables it to find the smaller items. The identification numbers come in handy, as it saves time by optimizing your search for a target value, with 1 being the value of the most ferrous metals. As you proceed, the most conductive targets show numbers close to 99.

The Iron audio works well in very littered areas, as you get to hear signals of prospective iron and that of other targets. This allows you to alter the other tones so that you can hear more targets. The target ID toils with depth, and the reading you derive might fluctuate as you get closer to the target.


Garrett AT Gold Pros and Cons

Like any metal detector, the Garrett AT Gold has its strengths and weaknesses, depending on your preferences and goals.

Pros
  • Durable and reliable
  • Waterproof up to 10ft
  • Versatile and customizable
  • Lightweight and ergonomic
  • Superb electronic targeting
  • Excellent sensitivity and depth
  • Accurate discrimination and target identification
Cons
  • No coil cover
  • Relatively expensive
  • Steep learning curve if completely new to metal detecting
  • Too large control box for small handed individuals
  • The sounds from the promotional mode may be too annoying

Garrett AT Gold FAQs

1. Is the Garrett AT Gold waterproof?

Yes, it is fully waterproof. It can be fully submerged to a depth of 10 feet. This makes the AT Gold detector perfect for freshwater bodies, like rivers and lakes, etc.

2. Is the Garrett AT Gold good for saltwater?

No, it is not the best choice. You could use it, but I wouldn’t really recommend it.

3. Can the Garrett AT Gold detector detect gold?

Yes, it can. It has many features suitable for detecting gold, like the all-metal mode with high sensitivity and depth, the small 5×8″ DD coil, which can detect small gold nuggets, and amazing electronic targeting.

4. How deep can the Garrett AT Gold detect?

It can detect at a maximum depth of 10 feet (3m).


Conclusion

The Garrett AT Gold detector is effective at gold prospecting. It can work on land and in water, as it has features that are suitable for both. However, it is specifically designed for highly-mineralized soil where gold usually resides.

Garrett AT Gold with gold nuggets

It has an all-metal mode that gives it the highest detection depth of 10 feet, enabling it to get to uncharted territories. Also, having the 18kHz frequency helps it to find the smaller items.

Secondly, it boasts a fast-track ground balance window that enables you to work with a series of ground balance values to ascertain the area of the highest soil mineralization.

Ultimately, the AT Gold detector is the best metal detector for gold prospecting. Its features are perfectly tailored to do the job, as it was custom-made for it.

If you are looking at exploring for gold on the land or water, the Garrett AT Gold metal detector might be the right place to start.

That is all for the Garrett AT Gold review. You can check the price and verified customer reviews of the Garrett AT Gold below.

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are ‘affiliate links.’ This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, metalpursuits.com might receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you

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Article by

Chad Eicher

Detectorist Chad is passionate about metal detecting since he got his first metal detector as a gift when he was 12 years old. He created Metal Pursuits to share his knowledge and create the ultimate metal detecting resource on the web.

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