A "good" and "bad" experience at the beach

[Digger22]

I went over the weekend to a campground with a freshwater beach and had these experiences.

First the bad: I hunted for about an hour in the water about waist deep, up and down with my AT Pro. I didn't find anything, not a single hit, ziltch. I figured there was just nothing there. and got out of the water and started hunting on dry land. then the good started.

The good: A fellow pulled up where I was hunting on land and came over and talked to me. To make a rant a short one, I ended up looking in the back of his pickup truck where he had a few Tesoro water detectors. I told him I had been in the water and didn't find anything. He invited me along, so I took advantage of it.

I walked along side of him and when he got a hit, I passed my AT over it, but it remained silent, except for a grunt or two. This went on for a good while then he handed me his Tesoro, and yep, I started realizing finds.
He was using an old Stingray II, and man that thing did a job,especially in his hands. He picked up several rings and lots of clad,and, while I was skunked, however, I did learn a lot about freshwater hunting from this seasoned "Pro".

I came home and put my AT Pro aside and I will have to make a few phone calls in the morning.

I may have been doing something wrong with my detector, but I doubt it. It may just need a tune up for the water or whatever, but it sure works great on land.
I was using the 5x8 coil, in Pro zero mode with Iron disc set to 0, as I always hit an area "new" to me with Iron disc 0 until I know what to expect.
Roy

 

[Diggin-it]

Something is not right or set up right with your ATP. Unless all the targets that Tesoro was hitting were over 10" deep. Under 10" and in freshwater....it is either a setting...say Ground Balance, or there may be a genuine problem with your ATP. I would start with a fresh set of batteries, do a Factory Reset (Press and Hold the "Power" button until the unit Beeps twice)... and do a Ground Balance in a clean area of where you are going to hunt. The ATP with a 5X8 coil in a freshwater lake is a killer machine...it will pick out good targets in the most trashiest of areas. If you do all of the above and still no luck...call Garrett.

Good Luck

 

[Digger22]

Thanks for the reply, the targets he was finding was shallow, we even threw a nickel out in the water, my machine would not find it. I have watched several videos of folks using the AT in freshwater, and I was suprised the way mine acted.
I'll give Garrett a call this morning.

Roy

 

[BigCatDaddy]

Something's not right, that's for sure. You should have hit everything the "T" word rig hit and then some. Here's one thing that happened to me when I first used my ATP in the water. Whenever the headphone connector went underwater, my phones would quit. I found if I unscrewed it just a little while holing it underwater, the sound returned. I doubt that's your problem, but ya never know. I hope you get it working right soon, cuz there's treasure a-plenty in those lakes!!

 

[BootyHunter]

You definetly have a problem either with user error or a malfunction of your detector. I own a top of the line water machine in the Minelab Excalibur 2 and I also own the ATP. I have used both at Fresh water sites over the past 2 years and I have set the Excalibur aside for saltwater use only as their is no noticeable difference in the results between the 2 in fresh water.
I still love the Excalibur don't get me wrong, but it is overkill for a freshwater swim hole. Also all these people claiming the ATP is not a "deep machine" don't know what they are talking about. I have dug deep targets with my pro many times and witnessed and assisted my hunting buddy recover a small cowboy themed kids ring from the 1940's at a measured 10" and the signals on both his and my ATP were solid. He had dug and dug and was about ready to give up on the target thinking it was a false signal as the hole grew deeper and deeper but with it clear and solid vid and repeatable on both machines we continued digging and recovered it.
If the ATP is set up and used correctly it is very compatible to most high end machines. Good luck and Garrett is a good company and will resolve your issue if its a detector problem.

 

[Digger22]

Thanks for the replies folks!
I gave Garrett a call, and they said they have never heard of that problem before. The issue resolved back to me taking my machine back to that beach, with different coils, a factory preset and then hit the water and drop some targets. Sounds like a good plan. I am thinking of a back-up water detector.
Any suggestions? I would like something with multiple tones, vid is nice, but not necessary.

Roy

 

[John-Edmonton]

Switch coils and see if there is a difference in it's operation as far as target ID, ground balance, tones etc. I am just trying to establish whether it is the coil.

 

[Digger22]

I'll be driving back to that beach one day this week. I'll bring all 3 coils and some targets, this should determine whether the problem is with a coil, the machine, (which I doubt) or possibly something intermittent within the electronic circuitry.

The machine at times does not do a factory reset (yes I am holding the button down until I hear two beeps). It makes the two tones but does not return to standard coins with iron disc at 35, which makes a possible (not probable) internal electronic component intermittent (faulty solder etc).

I'll have more info when I get back from the beach.

Roy

 

[ajaj]

Let us know the results. It sounds like your machine/coil and not the AT Pro in general. In wet or dry, or sandy beach or black soil, the Pro goes very deep for me. Also, never wait for the perfect sound.

aj

 

[Darkflight]

I have an new AT Pro coil combo pack due to arrive later today!

But frankly it was a tough choice for me-I have a dedicated hunting style & a few areas that defy every detector I've ever used.

I am a Tesoro user & the beep/dig method has served me very well. I live in the Portland Oregon area & we have a lot of rivers to hunt. And we also have a lot of volcanic rock being on the Cascadia belt that formed the terrain here over the eons.

I'm not sure what minerals the rocks contain-but most of the shoreline is composed of them & the sandy areas are pulverized versions of them.

I discovered this when I found a small 10k ring while digging up a pulltab in a deep sand section. I took a snack break just after finding it & threw it on the top of the sand to check the VDI with my new machine. Zilch nada...

I had my trusty Silver U-max(as pictured) in my van so I tried again. It failed to get it even at the lowest disc setting. Only in all metal did I get a solid hit on the small ring.

---------------

So...Tried a BBS machine-older sovereign. Better but very hard to keep stable & if you turn it down its not a match for the Old Silver U-max...I've tried many units with similar results. With all the trash & the rocks that vary wildly in mineralization-True all metal is far too busy to keep up with for any length of time.

With all the reports on fresh water happiness-and its already waterproof for deep wading I decided to give it a try. But I already know I'll probably have to run Zero in pro mode to get any low conductors & dig repeatable targets regardless of ID. Like I said rheostat type all metal is almost impossible to use on these beaches. And bottle caps everywhere which frankly the Tesoro is a champ with. So I chose the standard AT Vs. the Pro...Big Boy hobbies had the coil combo and for rainy days digging it beats my in a box method.

And then you come across some REALLY hot rocks...

I dug it from the river yesterday. Even my pro-pointer goes nuts on it .The rock rang as a deep coin but it wasn't . I'm used to solid red rocks doing that-but this one was "special". So I decided to use it for some testing.The one in the picture hides any coin smaller than a silver dollar in any mode-all metal whatever-

Anyhow-I did my best with the old Silver. I'll do that again with the new AT Pro tomorrow-and hopefully its got some newfangled magic.

 

[Digger22]

Very interesting post, good luck with the new AT Pro!

Roy