I love my AT Pro except...

I have an AT Max and an Equinox 600. Both have small coils on them.
My experience of comparing the 2 machines as far as weight and length of hunting, the Nox wins hands down.
I can, and do go 6+ hours at a time hunting with the Equinox. After 3 or 4 hours on the Garrett, I start to get some fatigue in my wrist.

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I have one of these when I'm having arm/wrist pain. Works great!

Well V, unfortunately, the AT pro and equinox are nearly identical in weight. If weight is an issue, im not sure you can go any lighter than a deus light setup. Yes it is far from a begginers machine, but a detector that is considered to be one of the top dogs in its class. Especially in polluted sites. A deus light setup can probably be had for around the same price as an equinox. Also of note, you have to think how much accessories will cost. Nox and deus have very expensive accessories, Garrett has very resonable prices on there accessories. Lots of different scenarios here, do you have the 5x8 coil for the AT pro? That coil is light as a feather, and is VERY deep for its size. You may want to consider that route too. Good luck in 2019! HH!

cellrdwellr said:

Well V, unfortunately, the AT pro and equinox are nearly identical in weight. If weight is an issue, im not sure you can go any lighter than a deus light setup. Yes it is far from a begginers machine, but a detector that is considered to be one of the top dogs in its class. Especially in polluted sites. A deus light setup can probably be had for around the same price as an equinox. Also of note, you have to think how much accessories will cost. Nox and deus have very expensive accessories, Garrett has very resonable prices on there accessories. Lots of different scenarios here, do you have the 5x8 coil for the AT pro? That coil is light as a feather, and is VERY deep for its size. You may want to consider that route too. Good luck in 2019! HH!

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Yes, their weights are actually close on a scale. Maybe its more balance and type of rod than it is actual weight.
Going to a smaller coil than the stock coil on the AT makes a big difference.

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A harness when set up properly, you will be gliding detector (more pendulum like) with lot les weight bearing on your wrist. Got get it set up right for coil height above ground.

Will definitley extend your hunt time before you feel equal pain/ tiredness of actual shorter hunt without using harness.

A smaller coil will help too.

Other detectors- Deus lite setup with 9” LF coil nice lite more balanced setup. But being able to be wireless headphone wise and monitor meter a problem though.

Equinox with stock coil Will give you problems I think- too nose heavy for you likely.
Equinox with 6” coil you could handle I think.
But have to buy detector w/ stock coil and add 6”coil as accessory , so some additional costs incurred, unless you can find a used one for sale with only 6” coil.

Harness is the cheaper route.

Have you tried switching arms. I have found if i switch to left handed about every half hour, before it starts to hurt, for about 10 minutes I can go a lot longer

Do you have the small coil, it makes a big difference. But if you need to have superlight detector I recommend Teknetiks patriot, or maybe a one tone Tesoro?
I don't like heavy detectors. I also don't think an Equinox would be great for small hands but you never know unless you try.
Happy hunting.

and use the arm cuff.

Scooterjim said:

and use the arm cuff.

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And the 5x8 coil should help you

Call Me V said:

..........After about two hours of MD'ing I'm done. My wrists hurts too much from holding it and swinging it back and forth. ..........I'm just kind of content hitting coins and rings on the surface or down to 6".

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Sounds like you should get the 5x8 coil. It's lighter, you won't miss the depth, and that route would be much cheaper than an entirely new rig.

You might also experiment with length. The coil is going to feel lighter if you shorten the shaft, but obviously at the expense of reach/width of arc.

Put a 5x8 coil on that Pro and you will never take it off.

I use a sling on my heavy weight machine. It takes a lot of the weight off your arm and allows you to detect longer without wearing out.

Call Me V said:

Are other machines in a similar price range easier on the wrists? Is it weight, balance, or something else?
".

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Sent you a PM

get a detector pro harness

I got the detector pro harness and when using the stock coil on my Nox 800 it extends my hunt time. I have carpal tunnel problems due to lots of keyboard activity and swinging the Nox 800 with my right arm/wrist.

with the harness it does two things allows me to hunt longer times free of pain and keeps the detector mostly in place when digging.

HH

Hi Call Me V,

For me, the Equinox 800 and 600 are awesome detectors in every way except one: they (a lot like the AT series) were made for toughness and waterproofing and that does not make them the most comfortable to swing. I have medium sized hands and I get quite a bit of wrist fatigue from the poorly balanced weight but even more from the large size of the hand grip itself of the Equinox. That can't be changed unfortunately since the rechargeable batteries are inside the hand grip. A harness or bungee would definitely help the weight but not that hand grip. My 25 year old daughter 5'9" 135ibs, used my 600 two weeks ago on a two hour hunt and she never did get comfortable and was sore the next day. So........try one out if you get the chance.

If you have access to a dealer or a Cabelas you might try out the ergonomics of some of the Fisher/Teknetics detectors that are similar in capabilities to your AT Pro. The F70/Tek Patriot weigh about the same as the ATPro but some of the weight is under your elbow (the batteries) and the hand grip is much more user friendly. Some very experienced detectorists say that the F7O/Patriot have the best swing balance of any detector they have used. The F70/Tek Patriot also is the closest in features to your ATPro since they transmit at a similar frequency. They can be a bit noisy however and hard to tame sometimes but they are very powerful detectors.

Another possibility are three of Fisher/Teknetics 7.8 kHz detectors which are full featured like the F44, Teknetics Liberator, and my favorite the Teknetics Omega. All three weigh around 2.5 lbs, half a pound lighter than yours and they are excellent detectors with plenty of power.

Another detector (which my daughter likes a lot) is the Whites TreasurePro. It has most of the features of your ATPro. You can get any of these Fisher-Teknetics-Whites detectors for around $400 or less. They would have no problem detecting down to 8" if your soil is not too highly mineralized.

Like some have also said, the XP Deus is as light as it gets for a full featured detector. I thought mine was technically pretty overwhelming when I got it but I have gradually come to be comfortable with enough of its many layers of features to be able to detect effectively. I have never experienced any physical fatigue swinging the Deus. You could get a used one with everything you need for about $850. You could also buy a new Deus Lite (without the larger handheld control box that also attaches to the shaft) for about the same amount. It would come with one of the new X35 coils, the hockey puck shaped controller and two pair of headphones, one wired and one wireless that the controller attaches to along with all of the cables for charging the battery systems.

good luck
Jeff

For the AT PRO I would look for a Garrett Gizmo to extend the arm cuff further back. What size coil are you using know? If it is the coil that came with it I would look a smaller coil. Also how do you hunt meaning by tone or by using ID numbers? For a lite detector Tesoro has the outlaw, but that is tone only no ID. A sling would also work good. Once I even seen a guy with a handle that was anchored to the side and came back so he would swing the detector with both hands.

Hi,
I sold my AT Pro recently but if you put a 5" X 8" coil on the machine it should help a good bit. Can't say about a harness as I have never used one. The smaller coil also should give better target results. GL & HH.

My wife is tiny and can swing the Nox with regular 11 inch for hours! Hands down it will be faster, lighter, deeper and better ergos to help you enjoy your hunts!!


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I run the Fisher F5 and absolutely love it, I can swing all day. My buddy swings a Pro and I must say, it's a good deal heavier, not just a little bit. I'm competitive with it, as well. In fact, I still hold the record for best find between us, and it was with my Fisher F2!

I'd contact Big Boy Hobbies here on the board and ask which Fisher is right for you—they are unreal light and very good detectors.