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Garrett ATX 11x13 DD Or 11x13 Mono Or 10x12 DD


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Going to pick up a garrett atx for nugget detecting which of the packages would you recommend?  Have VLF gold detectors but want to venture into pulse now and seems to be the ATX would be a great start.

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The garrett ATX is pretty close to the weight of the Z , what's it like in swinging for say 6 hours in comparison to the Z . My interest is detecting in likely gold ground not mined by the old timers looking for a patch . Is the ATX suitable for this , walking at  a reasonable pace to cover extra ground .

Cheers

gold rat

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I guess the main question is - do you need the extra weight required of a waterproof detector? The ATX is slightly lighter at 6.9 lbs versus 7.3 lbs but for all practical purposes about the same weight as a GPZ. Swings about the same if you add padding to the hard hand grip. For long hours you will want bungee support. Back when Minelab's were twice the price the ATX was a no brainer in my book but now you can get a GPX 4500 for near the same price as an ATX.

For me personally I actually did want waterproof and so I sold my GPX 5000 and kept the ATX. But that is because I use the ATX for all sorts of stuff more than just prospecting, like in water detecting. Much as I bitch about the weight of the ATX it has been one of my favorite PI detectors due to its versatility.

steve-herschbach-garrett-atx-year-one-2014.jpg

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16 minutes ago, Jalance said:

I was kind of leaning that way.  Was unsure of the DD vs mono.  I lime the enclosed coil a lot and center mount on the coil.

For prospecting the enclosed center mount coil swings better and is less prone to hanging up on sticks and rocks, and has improved knock resistance. I choose DD because in my opinion the ATX was designed for and is optimized for use with DD coils. You will get better ground canceling performance with the DD that basically negates the theoretical advantages of the mono coil on all but the largest targets. Plus better small gold sensitivity and the ability to use the ferrous discrimination if desired. The iron discrimination will not work with a mono coil.

I do like how the ATX folds up!

garrett-atx-with-11-13-mono-folded-up.jpg

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True, I haven't been nugget detecting since 1993 and am going down to Arizona in the fall to meet up with some friends for a week of nugget detecting.  Was looking at the 4500 also but wondering just how often I would get a chance to use it.  Thought maybe ar least with the atx I could use it at the beach but have a CTX for that also so no big deal I guess.lol. I am also waiting on the elliptical coil for the Deus also.  The 4500 have a lot better performance?

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The main thing a GPX offers is a wealth of coil options. When you multiply the performance edge by using the appropriate coils for the task at hand the advantages become compelling. For just a week however I really can't make the case for that all mattering much. Beach and water detecting is actually my favorite use of the ATX and if a beach is where you are more likely to be most of the time that sure weighs heavily in the favor of the ATX. For in water use though you really have to go epoxy filled 10" x 12" DD - those enclosed coils probably float like a cork!

See what your friends think.

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  • 1 month later...
On 5/4/2017 at 2:04 AM, Steve Herschbach said:

For prospecting the enclosed center mount coil swings better and is less prone to hanging up on sticks and rocks, and has improved knock resistance. I choose DD because in my opinion the ATX was designed for and is optimized for use with DD coils. You will get better ground canceling performance with the DD that basically negates the theoretical advantages of the mono coil on all but the largest targets. Plus better small gold sensitivity and the ability to use the ferrous discrimination if desired. The iron discrimination will not work with a mono coil.

I do like how the ATX folds up!

garrett-atx-with-11-13-mono-folded-up.jpg

Woooow Steve do dd coils get smaller nuggets than mono coils???? Same size coils?

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On 6/17/2017 at 10:37 PM, Moses said:

Woooow Steve do dd coils get smaller nuggets than mono coils???? Same size coils?

That would depend on the specific detector and coil involved plus the ground mineralization. In general mono coils do well but the Garrett DD design is unique. The overlap in the middle opens up to create a small 5" inner coil area that is very hot on small gold. I cover this in some detail in my first report on finding gold with the Garrett ATX. This special design makes the Garrett DD coil hotter on small gold than one might expect from a normal DD coil.

IMG_0445.JPG

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