Garrett AT PRO Metal Detector - All-Terrain Waterproof

The Garrett AT Pro is the all-terrain VLF that finally lets us walk from a dry park lawn into a creek bed without swapping machines. Running 15 kHz with proportional Pro Audio and a fully waterproof control housing rated to 10 feet, it gives us the depth, target separation, and submersible build that single-frequency land machines simply cannot match. It remains one of the most respected upgrade detectors in the Garrett lineup, and our team still recommends it to detectorists who want a do-everything VLF without stepping into multi-frequency pricing.

What You Gain Coming from a Land-Only VLF

• Submersible to 10 feet means we can wade into surf, hunt fresh-water creeks, and chase signals into the wash without babying the control box. A standard waterproof-coil-only detector cannot do this.
• Proportional Pro Audio reads target depth and edges through tone strength, so faint and deep targets stop sounding identical to shallow ones. We hear the difference between a deep silver coin and a shallow nail without digging both.
• 40-level Iron Discrimination gives us fine resolution to keep iffy signals while still rejecting bottle caps and rusted bottle tops at iron-heavy sites.
• Fast recovery and tight target separation with the 8.5" x 11" DD coil pull good targets out of trash that an entry-level concentric coil walks past.
• Manual or automatic ground balance stabilizes the AT Pro in the mineralized red dirt and wet salt sand that make beginner machines chatter and false.

If we are weighing the AT Pro against the next step up, our Garrett AT Max collection covers what changes when wireless audio, Z-Lynk, and a deeper-running platform enter the picture.

What's in the Box

• Garrett AT Pro control housing with S-shaped stem
• 8.5" x 11" PROformance DD submersible search coil
• Garrett MS-2 land headphones with two-pin AT connector
• 4 AA batteries
• Owner's manual and warranty card

The MS-2 headphones are not waterproof. For submerged hunts we add a set of Garrett's submersible headphones to the cart so the audio stays sealed when the control housing goes under.

Field-Use: Where the AT Pro Earns Its Keep

Old Homesites and Iron-Infested Relic Sites

Cellar holes, foundations, and old farms are buried in iron, and the trick is keeping the good non-ferrous targets without drowning in nails. The AT Pro's 40-level Iron Discrimination plus proportional Pro Audio lets us hear the size and depth of a target through tone, so we can ignore short, stuttering iron grunts and dig the clean, repeating mid-tones.

• Mode: PRO
• Discrimination pattern: Custom
• Iron Discrimination: 25 to 35 (raise only when nails dominate)
• Sensitivity: 6 to 7
• Ground Balance: Manual, balance to the dirt before each hunt

Saltwater Beaches and Surf

Wet salt sand chatters most single-frequency machines into uselessness. The AT Pro is not a multi-frequency saltwater specialist, but with a careful manual ground balance and a slight sensitivity reduction, it runs stably enough to grid the tide line and wade chest deep into the wash for ring drops.

• Mode: STD (Standard)
• Discrimination pattern: Zero (All Metal)
• Iron Discrimination: 25
• Sensitivity: 4 to 6 (raise only if the machine remains stable)
• Ground Balance: Manual, re-balanced as the surf line moves

Park and Schoolyard Coin Shooting

Modern parks are full of pull tabs, foil, and bottle caps sitting between us and the silver. The PRO mode plus the Coins discrimination pattern reads conductivity tightly enough to cherry-pick the coin signals while letting tabs and caps return as muted, broken tones.

• Mode: PRO
• Discrimination pattern: Coins
• Iron Discrimination: 35
• Sensitivity: 7 to 8
• Ground Balance: Auto

Creeks, Rivers, and Shallow Submerged Hunts

The fully waterproof control housing rated to 10 feet is what separates the AT Pro from any land-only VLF in the same price bracket. We can wade into a creek bend, chase signals across river bottoms, and submerge the housing without sealing tape or aftermarket covers.

• Mode: PRO
• Discrimination pattern: Zero (All Metal)
• Iron Discrimination: 20 to 25
• Sensitivity: 6 to 7
• Ground Balance: Auto in fresh water; Manual at the salt line

The Technology Behind the AT Pro

The AT Pro runs a single 15 kHz operating frequency, a sweet spot for coin, relic, and small gold jewelry sensitivity without sacrificing depth on silver. It pairs that frequency with two audio personalities. STD mode delivers full-strength binary tones for new detectorists who want a clean, consistent signal. PRO mode opens proportional audio and tone roll, giving us subtle target nuances such as edges, depth, and shape we can read by ear before we ever swing a digger.

High-Res Iron Discrimination across 40 levels is the feature that keeps the AT Pro relevant at iron-heavy sites where coarser machines force a dig-it-all decision. Combined with the digital 0 to 99 Target ID scale and a printed legend above the LCD, target conductivity reads cleanly across both audio modes. Automatic and manual Ground Balance handles mineralized soil and wet salt sand without the drift that plagues entry-level VLFs.

Build, Display, and Audio

The AT Pro weighs 3.03 lbs and adjusts from 42 to 51 inches on a three-piece S-shaped stem with cam-lock fasteners that hold position once we set them. Controls sit on a flat-faced housing with discrete buttons for Power, Mode, Sensitivity, Ground Balance, Iron Discrimination, Pinpoint, and Notch. The LCD shows a 0 to 99 Target ID, a printed coin/target legend above the scale, mode and sensitivity bars, and battery state, all readable in direct sun.

Audio runs through the included Garrett MS-2 wired headphones for land use, or through the AT Pro's built-in speaker for shallow swings. The two-pin AT connector is the same plug used by Garrett's submersible headphones, so adding a waterproof pair for creek and surf work is a cable swap, not a rewire. Pairing the AT Pro with the Garrett Pro-Pointer AT tightens recovery time on every dig and keeps both tools rated to the same submersion depth.

Coil Options

The AT Pro ships with the 8.5" x 11" PROformance DD submersible search coil, a strong all-rounder for coins, relics, and small gold jewelry. Its DD geometry rejects ground mineralization better than concentric coils and runs steadier on saltwater beaches.

For tight, trashy sites where target separation matters more than coverage, Garrett's 5" x 8" DD PROformance coil narrows the footprint and helps unmask coins lying next to nails. For open ground where we want depth and ground coverage, the 9" x 12" PROformance DD coil pushes the AT Pro deeper at the cost of a heavier swing. We reach for the smaller coil at colonial sites and the larger coil on tilled fields.

Garrett AT Pro Specifications

• Operating Frequency: 15 kHz
• Search Modes: 6 total, with 3 Standard (Zero, Coins, Custom) and 3 Pro (Zero, Coins, Custom)
• Target ID Scale: 0 to 99 numeric, with printed legend
• Iron Discrimination: 40 levels (High-Res Iron Discrimination)
• Audio: Standard (binary) and Pro (proportional with tone roll)
• Ground Balance: Automatic and Manual
• Search Coil: 8.5" x 11" PROformance DD submersible
• Length: 42" to 51" (1.06 m to 1.29 m), adjustable
• Weight: 3.03 lbs (1.4 kg)
• Battery: 4 AA (included), 15 to 20 hours alkaline runtime
• Waterproof Rating: 10 feet (3 meters), control housing fully submersible
• Headphones: Garrett MS-2 land headphones, two-pin AT connector
• Warranty: 2-year limited parts and labor (Garrett Sport metal detector standard; verify on registration card)

Why Buy Your Garrett AT Pro from Serious Detecting

We are an authorized Garrett dealer, so every AT Pro ships with the full Garrett manufacturer warranty, registered in the buyer's name, not a gray-market parallel import. Our team detects with these machines, so when a question comes in about wet-sand settings or coil choice, the answer comes from someone who has run the AT Pro in the field. Free U.S. shipping, a 30-day return window, and our price-match guarantee round out the package, and our AT Pro vs. AT Max comparison is here when we want to confirm the AT Pro is the right pick before checkout.