Pro-Stock Metal Detectors

04/07/2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/267632312432

2020 KEENE HYDRO-AIR. For over a year the Keene Production was sold out! The Keene Hydro Air is the highest quality system! of an early dive platform. WITH THE BASIC SAFETY CONCERNS WITH DIVING. Each Dive Vest Includes its own Dive Knife.

02/28/2026

https://ebay.us/m/i0uzuZ

I took this detector in trade from the heir of the original. I have serious doubts if anyone ever used this detector! I inspected this detector, in every way possible, and it not. sounding like a tiny whisper!

01/16/2026

When I consider each of my beloved siblings, I can't help but wonder if I am adopted?

12/07/2025

Here is a question I received from an E-Bay listing, along with my answer. I am hoping it will help some folks with questions about multi-frequency.

QUESTION : Hi there I’m very interested in a deus detector. I believe in the description it says multi frequency detector which I thought was only available in the deus 2. Is this deus one a multi-frequency machine?

ANSWER : Sorry, I am slow in responding we have been busy with Sunday commitments. Minelab was the company that has hung their hat on Multi frequency. Whites and Fisher had been using the technology for a long time but they failed to value the technology enough to secure patents for it. So in the mid-90's Minelab secured patents on multi-frequency everywhere they could . . . including the U.S.A. Back in the 80's Fisher had a single frequency detector called the 1260-X it was 4kHz and in low to moderate mineralized soil it was DEEP! My wife is from Iron County in Michigan's U.P. where the dirt can be picked up with a magnet! That 4-kHz detector was so radical that it over powered the soil. It was like driving in a thick fog with your high beams on! It was so bad you could not detect a coin you could see laying on top. I took a 15 kHz detector (Tesoro) and it went through bad ground with no trouble and deep. Soon I am thinking "A guy needs about 6 different detectors!" Minelab had some early 17 frequency (Excalibur) and 28 frequency (E-Trac) that not only had all those frequencies but they claimed they all worked at once but that was an exaggeration. The simultaneous multi frequency work like an old fashion Bear Cat Police Scanner. They had little red led lights that scrolled as the scanner scrolled though the chosen frequency. It really didn't work out so well on battery powered devices like metal detectors. The detectors were a little overwhelming to thew early processors so they were slow. The shutdown phase over rejected targets and the following recovery was SLOW!!! That is why the Deus II is called FMF (Fast Multi Frequency) The Deus I have listed here, I feel is better than the Deus II because you let your detector tell you how "Reflective" the ground is and select the best frequency. On the Multi Frequency of the II, well, it is a real thing, but an expert would run the Deus II the same way you run this one, read the reflective rate on the meter.

The simple answer is, the Deus II FMF will send all frequencies out together, but still, only the best frequency for that soil will matter. So it is sort of a gimmick You have something you can use, but the more you know . . . . you most likely won't. Minelab is defending this mountain but they are slick merchandisers.

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11/24/2025

PART 4

How on earth did Whites Electronics get a pre-introduction peek at their biggest competitor’s product?

I became a Garrett dealer when I was 17 years old, and I was still in High School in 1968. That makes Pro Stock Metal Detectors, ‘in the person of Al Holden,’ one of Garrett’s oldest dealers.

I learned of this new product from Whites? How can that be?
Easy, there are spies in the industry and I have played that roll myself!

The Johnny Rivers song goes; “There is a man who lives a life of danger, and to everyone he meets he stays a stranger! And with every move he makes another chance he takes!”

OK I am not agent 007. I was actually born on July 7th and weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces and I have 7 siblings . . . where I was the first! LOL!

There were a few times when I have played a double agent. For example, Whites had questions regarding a Garrett product and they wanted to study one. My White’s distributor told them; Hey, one of my dealers carries Garrett . . . I’ll get you one.”

So he called me! Hey, they paid me for it!

I got bombarded from all sides when Kellyco in Florida introduced ads for the Newest Sensation, “Hot Head Coils.” The ads stated a promise of a ridiculous depth increase, over stock search coils. I can’t remember the number but it was like 30% to 50% more depth!

This has always been a highly competitive industry, so these manufactures are asking themselves “What did we miss?”

I remember reading somewhere, the statement saying, “A search coil is not an antenna.”

Well it is indeed an antenna. The closest cousin to a metal detector is a CB Radio! The major difference is the CB radio is pushing a radio signal through the atmosphere with very little resistance. The metal detector is pushing a radio signal through a very challenging, ever changing composition, mineralized soil!

I was a CB radio dealer for years in the 70's and most users knew that each radio antenna had to be fine tuned to match the radio, in order to get top performance and to prevent damage. Search coils are the same way, they MUST be right for the detector that they are to be used on. The wrong coil, or a damaged coil, can burn up the final transmitter, on the output side of the PC board.

At the time, I had a distributor with a source for these aftermarket coils, and I provided Garrett and Fisher with Hot Head Coils. In about 3 weeks dealers everywhere received letters from each company, all except Tesoro, stating, “If your customer uses the Hot Head coil on our detector’s their warranty is void!”
These coils we such a poor frequency match (From poor build quality) they damaged detectors!
In simple terms they were a scam!

See how I can chase rabbits? Sorry!
So, where was I? White’s knew all about Garrett’s AT Pro several weeks before the public announcement. Whites didn’t give me any details about the AT Pro, other than say the experimental detector I was using couldn’t compete with it.

Actually, what Garrett built, was what I had been asking Whites for all along! The AT Pro was more like a waterproof Whites MXT as anything could be!

In secret, Whites moved forward on a product to compete with the AT Pro, but the progress was so slow! In fact 10 years passed before we saw a response.

In that time, we saw the Garrett AT Pro dominate in many fields of metal detecting! The coin hunters were killing it, the relic hunters were taking the competition by storm! But the water hunters, especially the fresh water hunters, were finding gold in form of jewelry in abundance like never before.

I remember several of my customers were in heated competition to enter the “Century Club” topping a 100 gold rings per year! I had advanced hunters who were returning to their most productive sites, places they had little desire to return to, because they had judged them clean . . . and in some cases with the AT Pro finding much more! I still boast in my e-Bay ads for used AT Pro’s “With the right technique it will find a gold ring in a box of nails!” It’s true!

Even Charles Garrett himself, was impressed by this amazing detector! Charles greatest love for this hobby was that side involving prospecting for gold. Many of the Garrett products were made for the amateur prospector. They offered Gold Panning Kits, Classifiers, Crevice Tools, Rock Tools, and even a respected Gold Nugget detector, called the “Scorpion Gold Stinger.”

When Charles Garrett realized the AT Pro was a stronger nugget detector than the Scorpion, and waterproof to boot, a decision was made for a new product . . the AT Gold.

The AT Gold was an easy transition, by simply using the AT Pro as a foundation, and eliminating any programing the prospector doesn’t much need.

Also, they tweaked it to have a slight phase shift, which would make the detector less affected by iron minerals (Black Sand normally trapped in the same pocket with gold), to enhance the ability to detect tiny gold “Pickers.”

By doing so they also enhanced the detector’s ability to detect salt, so the AT Gold wasn’t much good in salt water. I always like to test a gold nugget hunter by seeing if it will detect my bare hand! It is actually picking up the salt minerals in my flesh!
Also, the AT Gold coil size is reduced to make a more concentrated radio field.

A smaller market was expected, so with less sales volume, the retail price was raised by $100.00. With the name “Gold” in the name, and a higher price, many buyers decided to spring for what they mistakenly believed was the better product which for some was a mistake. It even took me a while to figure that out. I had customers calling me from Florida saying their detector was broke, and would not work in the ocean.

Stay tuned more to come in Part 5.

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11/08/2025

PART 3

After stressing out over Whites Electronics, seemingly ignoring my suggestion to build the best shallow water detector on the planet, and basically without retooling . . using existing parts, I finally decided to build my own.

I shared my struggles with my Whites distributor, and he could sense my frustration. I shared how they didn’t even respond to me, one-way-or-another, they just didn’t seem willing to listen to those in the field . . . out there using their products!
Mike remarked, “Oh they listen if your name is Dick Stout or Jimmy Sierra,” they will listen, but only to the wrong people.”

One day I received a phone call from my Whites Distributor, Mike Brighty, at Whites of the Great Lakes. Mike had just received a truck load shipment from the Whites factory. In with that load, was a package intended for Pro Stock Metal Detectors. Mike called and told me about it, a plain brown box. He told me to expect it and he wondered if I wanted anything else with the shipment?

Low-and-behold it was the very detector I had been asking for!
It was clearly a one-off experimental unit . . . a rough-draft so to speak. The actual Beach Hunter ID housing was made to be pole mounted, or hip mounted, so the originals were equipped with a long coil cord. This unit had a short coil cord. They could have produced it that way, I wouldn’t care! I have discouraged hip mount usage because it shortens the life of the coil cord. On these units the coil cords were hard wired and not a quick fix.

Another unexpected item, one that I had not planned on, this was built with the V3-I, 10 inch DD coil.
And, the circuit board was a slightly modified MXT board. This same board, in this experimental machine, would go on to become the M6 down the road. The MXT did not have the 3 tone audio ID, the M6, and this one, did.
And those two k***s and one switch? They were all marked with crude over-the-counter label maker. But gosh, am I pumped!

The only thing Whites wanted from me was to give it a good test, write a report, one that could, if need be published. I had just the test place in mind!

My dear wife was raised in Iron County, in Michigan’s western U.P. The little village she grew up in is named Amasa, located in Hematite Township. The town was originally named Hemlock and was an Iron Mining community. The name was changed to Amasa in the 1890's. It was named for one of the largest mine's owner, Amasa Stone.

Iron County Michigan, is a challenging place to test any detector. I had been having modest success at a little lake near Amasa, but most detectors like my old Fisher 1280-X, were simply too low frequency, and they over powered the ground.
Having VLF below 8 kHz was similar to driving at night with your high beams on. If the night is clear you can see a long way. But in medium or dense fog you can see better with the low beams. If the fog is heavy, or you are driving into blinding snow, those real low beam fog lights will help you see even further!

Bad ground with reflective (conductive minerals) which can be, iron minerals, or wet salt minerals, are to a metal detector like dense fog!

This new detector I was running was the 15 kHz, the MXT circuit, and it had no problem going deep!

My first find in this heavily hunted area, was within my first swing! That was just as soon as I stepped into the water!

Back then my buddy was building the best stainless scoops anywhere, and I sold them worldwide. It was a big stainless steel bucket with a big, deep bite! At well over 10 to 12 inches I pulled up a tiny Josten girl’s class ring from the class of 1953. It would only fit over the tip of my little finger! Amasa is such a tiny community my mother-in-law knew who lost it! And she was still a local friend! Was she ever surprised to get it back!

It is hard to appreciate this if you don't understand this soil. Within a mile in any direction you could find an abandoned iron mine. A good magnet will pick up this soil!

I used that detector in several lakes in Lower Michigan, and it would find some gold everywhere I went.
I got permission to share my report through a newsletter and the phone started ringing! At the peak I had 30 people signed up from 5 states and 2 countries who wanted one, and nobody knew what they would cost!
As time passed, a long winter came and went and the natives were growing restless!
How much longer? What have you heard? People wanted answers and so did I. I called Mike and asked him to give me some update to share.
Mike said, “Al, I am going to Sweet Home, OR this next weekend for a meeting, and I will pin them down for a date. I’ll call you as soon as I get back.”

Well, Mike called and the news wasn’t good. “Al, sorry to say, they decided not to build it.”
Of course I said “WHAT!!!”
Mike explained they managed to somehow see a competitors product, one soon to be released, and they didn’t feel they could compete with it.
Well, you know. . . . they were right. That new product was the Garrett AT Pro. What a legendary detector! That detector has shaped the direction of the industry and still is.
More to come . . . .

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11/01/2025

Part 2

With my business, located in the heart of the Great Lakes States, and on the western side of a Michigan county that boasts 300 named lakes, I cater to lots of successful water hunters.

Back in the 70's one of my customers, Wally Chandler, was spending hours on end in my shop testing every detector model in stock! He tested with tiny gold jewelry samples, and whatever couple of detectors, having the best test results, he would convert them over for water hunting. In those days not one single company was doing that.

For the most part, what Wally did was convert the detector to a hip-mount system with a longer coil cord. With the coil being waterproof, and the control box in a floating basket, he was good to go!

Wally was a very interesting sort of fella. He worked as an engineer with the Oldsmobile Division of GM and lived in Lansing. When he came into my shop to test detectors, his notes were more like the images found on a hospital monitor!
Wally wasn’t rude, but he wasn’t someone out to find new friends. Frankly I think he was too smart to be “Normal” but he sure could find gold rings!
Rarely did his number count for gold rings fall below 200 per summer.

When Fisher Labs, first offered the 1280-X Aquanaut in 1985, Wally was all over it! He wrote a popular water hunting book called Advanced Shallow Water Hunting With the Fisher 1280 Aquanaut Metal Detector. That was when he stopped getting them from me, Fisher furnished them for free. (This was the original Fisher Labs in Los Banos CA.)

So we were very interested in water hunting and always looking for that perfect detector. The 1280 Fisher was a great detector and its extremely low frequency of 2.4 kHz proved to be super deep in many locations, users came to trust it everywhere.

But that trust could be easily betrayed in areas with high mineral conditions. 2.4 kHz is actually below V.L.F. (Very Low Frequency,) it is actually V.F. Voice Frequency. Using a super low frequency detector is like running down the road with your high beams on all the time. If the ground isn’t rich in iron minerals or conductive salt, you can reach down deep!
But, those minerals are like a heavy fog to a metal detector, and high beams do more harm than good!

In areas like where I often hunt in Michigan’s UP, a higher frequency around 10 kHz to 18 kHz will get the job done much deeper. Do you see the advantage to having multifrequency?

So, back to that amazing ‘one' frequency’ MXT operating at 15 kHz. Why was that detector going so crazy deep? It was the first metal detector made with a more efficient digital processor! The first that was actually made for a detector! All the companies were adapting processors from Motorola for their detectors. These were processors designed for other uses. They were weak, slow and inefficient.

The earlier, older, processor’s shortfall was, if the target was not too deep, the target signal could be read (Heard) and processed into a translation the operator could understand . . . but only if it wasn’t too deep.
The deeper targets could be heard, but because they were too weak to translate, the ID screen, or analog meter, would remained blank. If they were not being identified they were dismissed as trash. (often they were shallow trash . . . or a deep coin)
Another target that could be heard, but not seen, was iron in the form of poorly discriminated rusty garbage.

On this new detector, the MXT, if the detector could see it, the processor could ID it. The detector wasn’t really going any deeper the operator was just now digging the stuff he should have been!

But, the MXT was not a water machine! I had considered doing a Wally Chandler conversion . . . but wait! Whites was already producing a water machine detector, the dual frequency “Beach Hunter ID.” The only place where this detector stood out was in salt water. In fresh water it didn’t stand tall in performance. . . not too impressive.
The novel thing that set it apart was that it had tone ID, and a three colored light ID. At the time nobody was making waterproof “ID” detectors. The lights were a Red for Iron, a Yellow for Gold and a Blue/Green for copper silver coins. But, the depth wasn’t its claim to fame.

One day, I had a Whites Beach Hunter ID open to replace a headset (they were hardwired) when a brilliant idea popped into my empty skull!
The Whites MXT circuit could be easily mounted in the Beach Hunter case! And, with no retooling and it used the same coil! It was a no brain-er! I shared my idea with Whites several times over a 2 year period all by e-mail, sadly with not one single response . . . nothing!
It really ticked me off because I was excited about this idea! I could not think of any other detector on the market that would even touch it for water hunting! Finally, I decided the next MXT that I took in trade it was going to be converted! As luck would have it one of my lumber buyers had a tree fall on one and the board was not hurt!

Now I just need a donor Beach Hunter!
To be continued Part 3 soon

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10/27/2025

Part 1 of 2 (or more)

I thought I would relate to you a true story about the first time I heard, from one manufacture, all about another's product.

Some background:
At that time, Whites and Minelab were really duking it out!
Both White's and Fisher had been building metal detector's designed for them by free-lance engineer, Dave Johnson, they were actually multifrequency. The Fisher CZ Quicksilver, and the White's DFX, both were advertised as dual frequency, but in reality they transmitted in many more frequencies. However the receiver's signal processor was focused on sampling the strongest of the best-two harmonic signals. Whites DFX referred to this as "Best Data."

Many of us were thinking, at that time, multi frequency detectors were the wave of the future, and the days of single frequency were soon to be over.
Minelab, a fairly new start-up in Australia, was interested in the Aussie Gold Rush of the late 80's. Their research told them multifrequency was the answer for their harsh soil minerals. Also, they felt the DD type coil winding was best, a coil design America had harshly rejected years earlier when Garrett introduced it.

But their greatest discovery was, when applying for multifrequency patent protection . . . it was a wide open market! They snatched up the patent even in the U.S. !!! So now Whites, had to humble themselves, and on-hands-and-knees ask for license to build what they had already been building!
I remember when an engineer from Whites told us dealers at a seminar, "It was like we both owned property on the same island, and even though we showed up way before they did, they purchased the only bridge.

Then, with our minds set on 'multifrequency cannot be beat,' and without any e-mail teasers or advertising fan-fair, I call in an order to my Whites Distributor, and at the end of our conversation he askes in passing: "Al, I know how you like to try any new product, we have a new model would you like me to send you one?"

Well! Holy Smokes! We tested this detector beside the 18 frequency Minelab Sovereign in a highly reflective black sand test spot, which renders many detectors lame at best, and it stood toe-to-toe with the multi frequency! And even better yet, on a wire size 14K gold ladies ring! It would detect it when the Minelab couldn't see it on the surface!

This new Whites detector, which I believe was also a Dave Johnson design, was the legendary Whites MXT!
It featured the first target signal interpreter! Many targets have identical signatures, but they can be ordered according to location and probable user's choice. For example a coin hunter will see the signature of a nickel, and for another hunter in the area of troop movement, that signature is the same as a button. A dime could be a bullet, a quarter a small buckle, and a half dollar a belt buckle.
Stay tuned more to come.

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10/21/2025

Here is more banter generated by a good question from a friend this morning,

Al, How does the ATMAX stack up to the vortex and triple score? Any real advantage to going with the vortex or triple score? Thanks for the info, you gave me something to think about.
​
​Well Chet, You know the AT Pro proceeded the AT Max by a couple years.
Charles Garrett was still active with the company in 2010, when the AT Pro was introduced. Charles primary love for the treasure hunting hobby was prospecting, and he had a detector that was designed for prospecting called "The Scorpion Gold Stinger." It was not bad for that day, but it wasn't setting the world on fire.

It turned out the waterproof AT Pro was able to detect tiny 3 grain nuggets with the 8.5 X 11 DD coil! So, they decided to replace the Scorpion with a new detector based on the AT Pro. That new detector was a stripped down AT Pro, without the programing options, and with a internal modification to shift the phase away from the iron, making it sensitive to highly conductive salt (Rendering it useless at the ocean)
Expecting much lower sales volume they adjusted the price up by $100.00 to retain profit. The average buyer thought the name "GOLD" and the $100.00 higher cost meant a premium product, so thousands purchased the wrong detector!
So, White's, still in business, and Garrett was always their adversary. (In my opinion the detector that killed Whites, Tesoro and hurt Fisher was the Garrett AT Pro). So, by the time White's had figured that out, they set out to design the Whites MX-SPORT. Garrett can't see into the future, they just know Whites has a new detector out which was all that the AT Pro, and the AT GOLD is . . . plus more!
So Garrett designed a detector that would compete. They built the AT MAX which is two detectors in one. It is fully an AT Pro and a AT-Gold
They added a back light, a volume control, a threshold and Z-Lynk wireless headphones. Also, at that time Garrett recognized another more sinister adversary (Those Internet test sites) so they powered up the max where it would be impressive in controlled tests.
With this, they created a problem, most people run the MAX too hot a HUGE mistake!
The Whites MX Sport has a couple of external structure weak points, but it was surer footed and more stable than the max. In my opinion and for my purpose (water hunting) between the AT PRO and the AT MAX and even the MX SPORT the AT Pro is the best. Because of stability. It is that stable detector that finds deep coins, especially silver. The Vortex will add the ability to get better depth regardless of soil type because of multi frequency.
As for the Triple Score, I don't feel that one fits these comparisons well at all, the Legend would be more in class.
Frankly with these Tariffs, stuff coming out of the middle east is sketchy at best. Also, MAKRO NOKTA pumps out new models as fast as they drop support for last month's unit. I had a customer bring in a detector I never heard of wanting it fixed. I think it was called "The Wasp" I could see the problem, it was a touch pad, and I didn't have any idea where to get one. I gave him a token amount trade and sold him a good detector. Several months passed before I decided to track down parts for that detector, and I even spoke to someone who struggled to speak English.
After explaining what I needed he responded, "Why Sir, we haven't made that model in over two years! Why would we have a part for that?" Unlike the days of my youth, these companies are not interested in you finding treasure, they are only interested in you buying stuff they make often.

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10/20/2025

I have a friend who has found a good location to hunt, but it seems like the ground is too challenging for his two high-end single frequency detectors, so, he is looking at moving into a multi-frequency detector hoping to solve the problem.
The detectors he asked me about are the Minelab X-Terra Elite, the Nokta Score Series or the Garrett Vortex.

So, I am learning more and more each day and here are the things That I feel are worth considering.

The new detectors coming from Europe (Nokta and Minelab) could give you years and years of dependable service. But, if they have the smallest problem beyond the end of the warranty period, they are disposable.
In the race to make dependable waterproof detectors, the circuit boards are incapsulated and thermal welded. That doesn't simply mean that 'I can't fix them' . . . nobody can!

I had a Equinox 800 that was only days outside of warranty. My customer wanted to trade up to a new Manticore. I couldn't believe the condition of the Equinox he wanted to trade it was showroom perfect! So, I allowed him a premium amount.

Two weeks later, I went to get it ready for an e-Bay listing. In the process of taking a good camera shot of the screen, I went to turn on the back-light, and it wouldn't turn on. I kept fiddling with it and I found that if I held the back-light switch down hard with my thumb nail hard, just-right on one side, "Sometimes" it would work. Of course that will not work for e-Bay sales!

So, I called my friend at Minelab service and told him I need that switch. He said "we consider that a repair part which we do not sell to anyone."
I said, "Noland, this is an out of warranty machine, it belongs to me, and you know I do service."
He asked me, "How would you fix it?"
I said, "I have never opened an Equinox before, but I will figure it out."
He said "they cannot be opened! if you want it fixed you would have to send it to us."

"OK" I said, "how much would it cost me, beyond shipping costs, to have you replace this eighteen cent switch?"
He replied $400.00!!! That is what the dealer cost is on a new control module. The company does not repair them they are throw away!

So, the real problem becomes; once a detector like this is out of warranty, (the trade in value drops too next to nothing!)

So, for me the GARRETT VORTEX V9, would be my choice! It will still be serviceable for years! I just hope our American manufactures don't pick up the overseas bad habits (Which they like to do)
I am not familiar of the sale value on your T2 without seeing it. With all these new low price multi-frequency
detectors for under $500, detectors that are fully submersible they have hurt the value of machines like the T2.
The AT Max would depend on condition and age. If I knew the serial numbers of both machines it would tell me the age.

You might be diagnosing the problem wrong. I have never seen areas even in the U.P. where those detectors wouldn't work. Maybe you have found one that bad? But, I bet it may be an interference problem caused be RF or EF. If that is the case multi frequency may be worse.

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07/22/2025

Here is a question I get often.

Why is the ATMAX so expensive. Over 700 bucks?

Answer:
The AT Max is two detectors in one, it is an AT-Pro and an AT-Gold. When Garrett came out with the AT Pro it was entirely better detector than the Garrett Scorpion Gold Stinger. Charles Garrett was still in charge, and his passion in the industry was gold prospecting. The AT Pro was not only a better nugget hunter, it was also waterproof, where the Scorpion was not. So they built a nugget detector from the AT Pro platform.
Some changes were made to the software to make the AT Gold better for detecting fine gold, and being a detector that was more focused on one task. A lot of unnecessary baggage was removed. The AT Gold was the name given to the new detector.
A ton of mail order buyers saw the name AT Gold and noticed it was $100.00 more money and they equated the name GOLD and the higher cost as meaning a "Better" product so they purchased the wrong product.

That was a mistake! The Gold's software shifted the phase window away from black sand, a ferrous element, moving it closer to a alkaline soil which is the other extreme making the Gold useless in wet salt conditions. Not to mention the Gold has no user programming options.

At the same time, Whites, moving at a snail's pace, after ten years of watching the AT Pro eat away at their sales, finally comes out with their offering in the MX Sport. The MX Sport offered the qualities of an AT Pro and a AT Gold all rolled into one detector. Plus it had a meter backlight, a volume control, auto ground tracking, and a relic mode with relic ID. (and more)

So, Garrett has no idea that Whites has been weakened by their slow response and nobody knew that the Covid scare would end Whites for good, so they set about to compete with the MX Sport by building the AT Max.

Never in the history of metal detectors did I ever see one detector that would be good at coin and relics, and, at the same time be any good at nugget hunting.
Most generally any detector like that will be weak all around. I can't explain it, but that is how it works.
So, Garrett understands this all too well, and to make a better machine all around, the AT Max is two separate detectors. The problem is most AT Max owners don't know how to work them and they literally run them wrong. For my use the AT Pro fills the bill.

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