Minelab X-terra Pro vs Garrett AT Pro: Detector Mashup

Alright guys, so I finally got my hands on one of those Minelab Xterra Pros everyone’s been talking about and did some side-by-side testing with my trusty Garrett AT Pro. Figured I’d share what I found since there’s been a lot of chatter about these on the forums.

First off, let me say I’ve had my AT Pro for a long time now and that thing has been a workhorse. Hunted salt water, fresh water, all over the place. Really was kind of a revolutionary machine when it came out – affordable but you could hunt just about anything. Maybe wasn’t optimized for beach hunting but did alright everywhere I took it.

So anyway, got the Xterra Pro in and right away you notice the design differences. The AT Pro has that traditional bent aluminum stem with the cam locks – you know, the setup we’re all used to. The Xterra Pro has these quick adjust things where you can actually adjust the length from your elbow pretty easily. The housing is way smaller too compared to the AT Pro’s bigger one.

Features – Holy Cow

This is where it gets crazy. I mean, I’m used to the AT Pro and its features have served me well. You’ve got your Pro mode that gives you a different sound profile, Custom mode, Coins, Zero for no discrimination, and Standard with that classic Garrett bell tone. I usually ran Pro Custom and messed with the iron discrimination a bit – kept it around 30 trying to get good target separation. The iron disc goes up to 40 but I found 30 worked best in my areas.

Love the target ID symbols on the AT Pro too – shows you where pull tabs, 5 cents, 1 cent, 10 cents typically fall. Really helps beginners figure out what they’re looking at. Got that ground balance where you pump the coil, notch discrimination, that eliminate button where you can just knock out a pull tab immediately. Iron audio is pretty cool too, kind of like the horseshoe feature. Oh and you can do frequency adjust by holding pinpoint and hitting sensitivity, though honestly I rarely needed to use that much.

But man, the Xterra Pro… where do I even start? It’s got Park 1, Park 2, Field 1, Field 2, Beach 1, Beach 2 for search programs. Multi-frequency with 5kHz and 15kHz – that’s huge. Noise cancel that picks your channel automatically. Ground balance of course. But here’s what blew me away – it has actual volume control! The AT Pro you gotta adjust volume on the headphones.

Got a threshold feature for that background hum if you want it. Multiple tone options too – All tones, Deep, 5, 2, 1. I usually run 5 tones when I’m using it. Accept/reject discrimination like the AT Pro. But get this – adjustable recovery speed from 1 to 3! The AT Pro recovery speed is just set. I never really had problems with the AT Pro’s speed, thought it was pretty quick, but I like having the option.

And the modern stuff is just nuts. Vibration in the handle! Backlighting on the display! Built-in flashlight! Wireless headphone capability! Waterproof to 16 feet versus the AT Pro’s 10 feet. At this price point the features are pretty mind-blowing.

Feature	Garrett AT Pro	Minelab Xterra Pro
Search Modes	Standard, Custom, Coins, Zero, Pro Mode	Park 1, Park 2, Field 1, Field 2, Beach 1, Beach 2
Frequency	Single Frequency (with frequency adjust)	Multi-Frequency (5kHz, 15kHz)
Waterproof Depth	Up to 10 feet	Up to 16 feet
Audio Options	Pro Mode audio, Standard bell tone, Iron Audio	5 Tone Options (All, Deep, 5, 2, 1)
Volume Control	Requires headphone adjustment	Built-in volume control
Recovery Speed	Fixed	Adjustable (1 to 3)
Ground Balance	Manual (pump coil)	Manual
Display	Target ID symbols (pull tabs, cents, etc.)	Digital Target ID
Backlight	No	Yes
Wireless Audio	No	Yes (built-in capability)
Additional Features	Notch Discrimination, Eliminate Button	Vibrating Handle, Built-in Flashlight, Threshold
Physical Design	Traditional bent aluminum stem with cam locks	Quick-adjust stem, smaller housing
Included Accessories	Wired Headphones	None (base machine)
Price Point	Around $600 (with headphones)	Under $300 (machine only)

Real World Testing

Ok so here’s the good stuff. I set up some targets in my yard – penny, nickel, dime, quarter, small 18K gold ring (fits on my pinky, it’s thin and small), and a larger 14K ring. Both machines nailed these easy. Target separation was excellent on both, really smooth transitioning from one target to the next.

The small gold ring read 55 on the AT Pro, the big ring was pretty close. Makes sense with the different gold content I guess.

My yard is rough – lots of iron, very mineralized ground, everything makes noise and you get false signals. It’s typical though, probably like a lot of places you guys hunt.

The 9 inch silver dime

– this is always my tough test. Both machines had to run stable sensitivity or you get chatter. The AT Pro was getting a little something on it. The Xterra Pro gave me a little bit better of a hit. Not huge but noticeable.

6 inch stuff

– quarter, penny, dime in that trashy ground. Both did really good, no problems.

12 inch quarter

– this is the real challenge in that rocky clay ground. AT Pro wasn’t hearing anything at first. I did a ground balance and got a little ID that time with slower sweeps. The Xterra Pro was trying to get it, gave me a faint signal. I was running Park 1 at 22 sensitivity, tried bumping it to 25 but got chirping. Tried different modes – Park 2 was at 15, Field 1 was 10, Field 2 was 25. Think Park 1 hit it the best.

But here’s where it got interesting – the small gold test. Buried that little 18K ring about 6+ inches in some fresh dirt. Both machines got it easy, but when I switched the Xterra Pro to 15kHz… man, it was killing it! Like way better signal on that small gold. The 5kHz would be great for silver coins and bigger stuff, but that 15kHz really shined on the small gold.

Garrett AT Pro VS Minelab XTerra Pro Price

So here’s the deal. AT Pro is still right around $600 but you get those headphones. They’re good ones too – I even took them in the water doing river detecting long as you don’t get the headphones themselves wet. Nice seal on them.

Xterra Pro is under $300 on Amazon but that’s just the machine. Throw in some M-Lab wireless headphones for like $100 and you’re still saving a couple hundred bucks. Plus you get more waterproofness, wireless capability, all those extra features.

My Honest Opinion

Look, I gotta say this upfront – I’ve got nothing in this, not sponsored or getting anything from anybody. This is just my comparison.

The AT Pro is still a great machine. If I had an AT Pro I wouldn’t really be worried about running out and getting something else cause performance-wise it’s still a great machine. I mean, I’ve been using mine for years and it’s found me tons of good stuff.

But I also think this Xterra Pro for the money and the features is amazing. Multiple frequencies, backlight, LED flashlight, vibrating handle, a whole lot you can mess with for half the price of an AT Pro.

The recovery speed adjustment is nice even though I never had issues with the AT Pro’s fixed speed. In super trashy areas maybe you could bump it up, sparse areas maybe go down. The multi-frequency thing really showed its worth on that small gold.

I mean, things have changed a lot since the AT Pro came out. The AT Pro was revolutionary for its time – truly was. But technology moves on.

Bottom Line

Both will find you treasure, no doubt. Performance differences in most situations are gonna be pretty small. AT Pro still has that Garrett reputation, those included headphones, target ID symbols that are helpful for newbies. If you’ve got one and it’s working good, get out there and use it instead of worrying about the next new thing.

But if you’re buying new or looking to upgrade from something older, that Xterra Pro gives you a lot of bang for your buck. Just my two cents from actually putting them head to head in my backyard.