The Garrett ATX was introduced by Garrett Electronics in 2013 and is still in production. This page lists options and accessories for the detector and supplements the main Garrett ATX Information Page. The ATX comes standard with the items shown below - detector, instruction manual, soft carry bag, dry land headphones (waterproof headphones optional), support sling, 8 each AA batteries in two holders (in detector in photo), 8 each NiMH batteries in two holders, and smart charger with 110V and 12V adapters.
The Garrett ATX normally comes standard with a 12" x 10" DD search coil. Other package options include the Deepseeker Package, which includes the 15" x 20" mono coil and a large hard case. Optional 8" round and 20" x 15" mono coils with integrated lower rods are available. Garrett also introduced two more new 11" x 13" enclosed coil designs in 2016, in both DD and mono configurations. New packages that include these new coils as the stock coil are now available.
Garrett ATX Search Coil Options
How To Disassemble and Clean the ATX Coil Shaft & Camlocks
I have issues with the weight of the ATX and the stock coil for certain nugget hunting tasks, like gully hunting as in my Gold Nugget Detecting with the Garrett ATX story. I had visions of hip mounting the ATX with a smaller DD coil. If you look at the third photo in my Infinium beach hunting story you will see where I got the idea. An inquiry with Garrett about the possibility of running Garrett Infinium coils on the ATX received this answer:
"The ATX can be operated with Infinium DD coils. Performance with Infinium DD coils should be normal but is not guaranteed. The ATX cannot be operated with Infinium mono coils or any other Garrett coil other than ATX coils and Infinium DD coils. Recon Pro coils will not work on the ATX. The Recon Pro is not the same machine electronically, even though it looks similar. Use of any coil other than ATX coils and Infinium DD coils, including the use of 3rd party coils, will void the warranty."
Well ok then! I purchased two Infinium DD accessory coils, the 3" x 7" DD, part number 2216600 and 5" x 10" DD, part number 2216700. The DD coils work fine. I suspect the ATX has been optimized to run with DD coils and that the mono coils therefore had to be tweaked to work with it. The Infinium mono coils therefore will not work. The Infinium DD coils however are good to go but as the note above say there are no promises about how they will perform. Mine was stable with good sensitivity to small gold nuggets.
The ATX with lower rod and coil assembly plus arm cup removed only weighs 3 lbs 5 oz, basically half the weight of the entire detector. I envisioned slinging it either under my arm or on my back, with only the coil and rod assembly on my arm. An Infinium rod assembly could be purchased as separate part numbers, but I already had a couple White's Space Saver Rod Kits for use with other detectors. These can be ordered as one part number, P/N 802-5236 and are only $39.95, far cheaper than other rod assemblies I have priced out. The White's bolt fit the Infinium coils but was a tad short, and I had to add an extra rubber washer to snug up the narrow White's rod end, but it actually works just fine.
Steve's Garrett ATX Hip Mount Kit
The 5" x 10" DD coil bench tests great. It is hot down the middle like one expects of a DD coil, and slightly more sensitive than the inner coil ring area of the stock DD coil. The advantage is it elongates the hot small gold area to nearly the full 10" length of the coil and eliminates the extraneous less sensitive outer coil area of the stock coil. This is the coil for hunting in tight locations like in bedrock pockets and crevices and in brush. There are no gaps to get caught and hang up, and the coil appears impervious to false signals when knocked about. Home run!
The 3" x 7" coil is no more sensitive to small gold than the 5" x 10" and gives up some depth, so the only reason to use it is for extremely tight areas. Pulse induction detectors do not get more sensitive to small gold past a certain point, unlike VLF detectors, so ultra small coils like the 3" x 7" get no extra boost in sensitivity. But for extreme crevice work or even for use as a pinpointer the little coil has my interest.
The Infinium mono coils should be avoided. I am not sure what might happen but you do not want to void your warranty!
Anyway, here is a picture to give you the idea. I started an official question and answer thread on this experiment on the Garrett Forum here. Check it out for some more great ATX modifications.
Garrett ATX Makeshift Rod Kit in Progress
I have experimented with a backpack design for this setup at at Garrett ATX Backpack Modification. Chest or hip mount options are also possible.
The Garrett ATX does have a built in waterproof speaker and so does not require headphones. It does come with dry land headphones that use a waterproof connector Garrett uses on the Infinium and AT Pro/AT Gold models. The same waterproof headphones available for those models work on the ATX and are required if it is desired to put the headphones underwater. The included headphones have a waterproof cable that can be submerged but the headphones themselves must be kept dry. A short adapter dongle is also available to convert the ATX waterproof headphone connector to the standard 1/4" female receptacle so standard metal detector headphones may be used.
Garrett ATX Optional Underwater Headphones and Headphone Adapter Dongle
Garrett ATX Optional Submersible Headphones PN: 2202100. This is the same set used on the Garrett Infinium, Sea Hunter, AT Pro, and AT Gold models.
1/4" Headphone Adapter PN: 1626000. Allows land-use headphones with a 1/4” male jack to be used with the Garrett ATX, AT Gold, AT Pro, Infinium and Sea Hunter models. (Not intended for submerged use.) OPERATION NOTES: Inserting the headphone plug into the connector will provide sound from the headphones only and will automatically disable the detector's speaker. This automatic speaker-disable feature requires the input impedance of the headphones to be 10,000 ohms or less. Note that some non-Garrett headphones may not meet this requirement and will require the addition of a 10,000 ohm termination resistor inside the connector to disable the speaker.
Another headphone option is available from DetectorPro - the DetectorPro Gray Ghost Amphibian headphone.
DetectorPro Gray Ghost Amphibian Headphone
The nice thing about the Amphibian headphone is like the name implies, it can be used both above and below water. It is unique in underwater headphones in having a volume control making it easy to increase volume when entering the water and decrease volume when leaving the water. This also eliminates having to switch out headphone sets. The fewer times the o-ring connection has to be broken and reset, the better. The DetectorPro Gray Ghost Amphibian headphones can stay permanently attached to the ATX both above and below water. These work on the ATX, Infinium, AT Pro, AT Gold and Sea Hunter detectors. Check them out at the DetectorPro website.
Finally, the ATX runs off eight standard AA batteries, eliminating any shipping or airline issues that can be a problem with some PI detectors. The detector comes complete with both alkaline and NiMH rechargeable batteries plus a 110V and 12V smart charger system. The detector runs approximately 10-12 hours on a charge when using headphones, less if running off the speaker. The best method is to use the rechargeable batteries and carry the alkaline set as backup.
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