Greenhorns abound! Hi Joshua, we just got an AT Gold also but have not used it yet. We will let you know how it works. Good Luck!

Thank you I appreciate it!

Joshua,
Would you define what you mean by fine material? If you are asking if the AT gold (ATG) will find fine gold, the answer is for the most part no. Detectors are designed to to basically charge a target with energy and then when the target releases the energy to be received by the coil. The challenge here is mass. Fines do not have enough mass to really absorb and than release enough energy to create a true signal. I remind folks that detectors are nugget finders not fines finders. :-)

That said, there is a way to use your ATG to find areas where fines may be hiding in the iron soils surrounding the gold and a process I have used for years with almost every detector I have had in my hands.

First you will need to learn to use the Ground Balance Window (GBW) on your ATG and a place to practice where you know there is a lot of black sand. Outside of the black sand deposit, set the detector up as normal with sensitivity set to the ground, stable threshold and ground balanced using auto or manual (up to you on what you prefer) with the GBW up and running and begin detecting the area outside of the black sand deposits. The detector should be very stable, now move towards the the black sands you will almost immediately hear and see that the detector is becoming more and more unstable. DO NOT re-balance. The GBW is now averaging more of the ground, telling you "Hey Rebalance" and you are going to use the instability to trace a line around the outside edge of the black sands. Using the GBW allows you to not have to crank the sensitivity to get the detector wonky and is a great tool for this type of detecting.

Takes a few times to get used to it but you will and it will become second nature. Now to save yourself some time, when you hit into theses pockets, stop and test. As the Buzzard always said, "Wherever there is gold there is black sand, but not everywhere there is black sand there is gold."
Here is a link to an episode of Gold Trails where I put this into action to get on the gold with some GPAA Chapter Members. https://www.goldprospectors.org/Learn/Video/VideoId/282/UseHtml5/True


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Posted By <a href='https://www.goldprospectors.org/AccountPreferences/userid/2959204' class='af-profile-link'>Joshua Lynch</a> on 26 Mar 2021 07:59 AM
I just got a garret AT gold waterproof metal detector does anyone have any experience with these and how well does it perform with fine material? Thank you for any feedback.
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Thank you I really appreciate it!

I love our little Garrett AT Gold that the wife added to our burgeoning inventory several years ago, but don’t make the mistake I did by not using headphones 🎧, which I now consider a necessary discomfort...I always felt nervous wearing them out of fear of rattlesnakes, bear, or mountain lions 😐. I realized a couple of years ago that I was missing a lot of targets without them. After ground balancing, I swung over bedrock (without headphones) that I had ‘thoroughly’ worked. No audible sounds, but erratic targets on the display. So I dug out the headphones...Wow!...I was amazed at how much the detector was alerting to high pitched faint signals, like Morse Code, over what I thought was clean bedrock. Turns out, the detector was picking up a BUNCH of pockets of thin flake and flour gold that I was about to leave behind in tiny cracks and crevices. In fact, I was never able to recover all of what was, and still is, there. To my pleasure, the crevices were loaded, and I would not have discovered it without the headphones! Good luck.

Thank you all I appreciate the feedback!

Thank you Kevin Hoagland and Brian Williams. This is why the wife and I are here and it is working for us. We have not been out yet but with the guidance of the forums, and your You tube videos, we feel much more comfortable, thank you.

Brian,
Absolutely! In every seminar I talk about the importance in wearing headphone. One of the largest nuggets I ever found that was really really deep was nothing more than a whisper in the Threshold. When I pulled the plug on the headphones and asked some of my prospecting partners that day if they could hear the target, all but one could not not with the just slight wind blowing and the coil just dragging over the ground.
I ruffle some feathers when I say this, but if you are not detecting with headphone, go ahead and put that coil under your arm pit and swing the arm cuff across the ground. Might as well know that your missing targets. :-)


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Posted By <a href='https://www.goldprospectors.org/AccountPreferences/userid/2903585' class='af-profile-link'>BRIAN WILLIAMS</a> on 27 Mar 2021 04:43 PM
I love our little Garrett AT Gold that the wife added to our burgeoning inventory several years ago, but don’t make the mistake I did by not using headphones 🎧, which I now consider a necessary discomfort...I always felt nervous wearing them out of fear of rattlesnakes, bear, or mountain lions 😐. I realized a couple of years ago that I was missing a lot of targets without them. After ground balancing, I swung over bedrock (without headphones) that I had ‘thoroughly’ worked. No audible sounds, but erratic targets on the display. So I dug out the headphones...Wow!...I was amazed at how much the detector was alerting to high pitched faint signals, like Morse Code, over what I thought was clean bedrock. Turns out, the detector was picking up a BUNCH of pockets of thin flake and flour gold that I was about to leave behind in tiny cracks and crevices. In fact, I was never able to recover all of what was, and still is, there. To my pleasure, the crevices were loaded, and I would not have discovered it without the headphones! Good luck.
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Thanks Kevin 🤝! It’s pleasure hearing from you Sir. FYI, we are grateful for your knowledge and leadership! The GPAA is truly blessed with some incredible and gifted talent. I appreciate the online information, claims guide, newsletter, and Gold Prospectors magazine. I have watched membership steadily grow under Brandon’s and all of your leadership. Take a bow! Paul Louly is a gentleman, and I was honored to have had my little story, “Beware of the Spoil”, published earlier this year. May the good Lord guide, bless, and protect you all.