AT Pro for salt water beaches?

[MassSaltH2O]

Greetings all. I'm just about to pull the trigger on a new AT Pro.
I live on the sea shore here in Mass U.S. So, natch I detect at the local beaches.
I have been using a Fisher Labs Gold Bug on the beaches with TERRIBLE results.
I only find a penny (make that one penny) every time I go out.
So I pretty much quit metal detecting.
Then I had a bright idea. Maybe my poor performance is not my fault. Maybe the Goldbug is very poor for salt water beaches.
I mean, Fisher Labs says that it it is OK for beach hunting.
So I did a little research. I decided that the Goldbug runs too hot for beach hunting. I would have better results with a machine that does not run on such a high freq.
Like the Garrett AT Pro. Garrett also says that this machine is OK for salt water beaches. I guess they all say that.
I'm not interested in a PI machine. And I dont need tons of depth seeking. Actually, at my age, less depth is better (to a point).
I dont know how many one and a half ft holes I have dug in vain, but it gets old pretty quick.
So, I'd like to hear from anyone who uses or has used the AT Pro on salt water beaches.
Had much luck? Is there another machine for around the same price that I should be aware of?
I would be looking for coins and jewelry on the beach. I usually detect on dry sand but sometimes on wet sand. I never go into the surf. Thanks a million. Kev

 

[John-Edmonton]

You are going to here many different comments on the AT Pro. Here is a video which shows you how to run the AT Pro in salt water.

http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby_at_pro_saltwater_video_en.aspx

 

[MassSaltH2O]

Thanks John. I decided to go with a Minelab X-Terra 705 instead. With Kellyco's military vet discount, it costs a lot less than the Garrett AT Pro. Imagine that! A Minelab going for a lot less than a Garrett!
Happy hunting...Kev

 

[Power Guy]

I have used my AT Pro for the last 5 years at the beach and in the water.

 

[John-Edmonton]

Good luck with your machine. Hope it performs well for you.

 

[Booty Hunter]

I just took a road trip and took my new AT pro instead of my ATX. I have to say I was real disappointed. My ATX is bulky with my chest mount harness and one piece shaft, so along went the pro. I hit the water and did an auto ground balance. It was falsing real bad. Lots of hits in the 53 range. I know I wasn't walking over a bunch of gold rings. I wasn't sure how to do the manual ground balance but do now after checking out the above video. Thanks for that. The one solid hit I got was a hot rock. Someone must have cleaned this place out but being early morning at a resort I should have come across something in 2.5 hrs. I did hit the dry sand at a different local and found a dollar in clad in the volleyball court, so was working fine there. I will try again sometime but I learned my lesson about using the pro vs my ATX in the salt. Just no comparison. My Atx will false but I know it like the back of my hand. And good targets bang hard. I bought my pro for dirt digging so I hope it can come through for that. I do go to places that require long hikes and have packed the heavy atx along with water, clothes etc., so the pro would be nice, but I'm afraid I'd be missing targets. Not worth taking the chance.

 

[lasergod]

So. First, after a few years I never found anything worth keeping with a 53 . I quit digging them. I have not done well in the wet with the pro. Others have done well just not me.
They dry sand is a different story. With the sensitivity down. I have found many targets.

 

[tarajudy]

My AT PRO is a killer on salt water beaches as long as I stay in the dry sand and down to high tide. just ground balance. I will out hunt most people most of the time in dry sand.
I will use my Garrett PI in the salt water only picks up too much trash in the dry sand. AT PRO IS A KILLER IN FRESH WATER AND BELOW THE WATER

 

[MAKRO RACER POWER]

Dears ... think of that .. change the stock 8.5×11 search coil and try to put NEL SNAKE COIL it's amazing search coil inside salt water with good and clean and clear signal sound than stock coil and it can separate b the targets and trash ... only you have to do that ... Regards

 

[RichW]

I've never heard this before. Has anyone else tried the NEL snake coil on the pro in salt water? How would you rate the performance?

 

[Booty Hunter]

In the open ocean, trying to cover ground, the last thing you want is a tiny coil, unless there is tons of trash. I'm sure the nel snake works great, but I'd bet you'd miss a lot of targets just because your coil is so small.

 

[CTDIGGER01]

I have an AT Pro also and find when I am on salt water beaches I run 40 for iron, Pro Standard, sensitivity at half scale.

 

[zachbl92]

I've just used my at pro for the 2nd time at the beach.
The first time, was a nightmare! And it can be a nightmare if you don't know what settings and sens and GB to be on.
The 2nd time around was a lot more successful.
I was in wet and dry sand and manually ground balanced.
Usually 2-4 below max to eliminate chatter and pro mode zero with disc 0.
But what I also did realize...all beaches are different. My first beach had tons of black sand which also gave me constant falsing until I lowered the sens to 3 bars...
So just get out there and give it a try and mess around with the settings.
Gl and hh

 

[Booty Hunter]

I just tried my pro again in the salt water. Again confirmed that I am better off taking the ATX for the saltwater hunts. I was in some tide pools at medium-low tide. Some sand was damp from the rain and receding tide, the rest still under shallow water.

Over the dryer stuff, my ground balance was around 69. pro zero mode, 40 iron disc. Some falsing, but not too bad. Had to drop sensitivity down a bar or 2 from full.

Then got into 2-6 inches of water, gb around 49, had to drop sens down more. Falsing real bad, in fact, would false until down to 1 bar on sensitivity, but I won't run it that low, so back to mid range somewhere. I was able to pick up some clad, but I had to pick out the good signals out of tons of falsing. It was driving me crazy.

Then into 1-3 feet deep, gb around 19. Same thing, could find the targets out of lots of noise, but wouldn't want to do that for long. I also manually gb up and down a few notches after doing the automatic gb first. No real decrease in falsing.

I didn't buy the pro for saltwater, but wanted to give it a shot because Garrett advertises that it will work. It will work, but you'd have to sort through way too much chatter to make it worth your time. I was very surprised at the different gb setting at different depths of water. I had no idea it would change so much. When I run my ATX, I often don't re-gb unless I start getting lots of falsing. Usually I can run from wet sand to 5' deep on the same gb setting.

I still need to put in some time in the dirt with the pro, but it is hard to find the time because I like to mine the gold out of the ocean when I can. Maybe when some foul weather keeps people out of the parks and it is high tide I will see what I can do. I still have a hard time visualizing pulling rings out of the dirt. Suppose I'm semi-spoiled being a water hunter, but I would like to pay off the AT Pro with some good finds. There is one beach here with lots of iron in it. I did want to try it there, but if its going to false so much, I'd be better off taking the pi and digging it all up.

Hope this review helps some out. Also, maybe I'm missing something. If anyone has ideas on how to get the pro working in the salt, please let me know. Thanks

 

[tarajudy]

For wet salt sand and water YOU NEED A PI DETECTOR. No getting away from it. Dry sand AT PRO is a killer. Here's the trick to using the at pro at or below high tide line (salt water) as tide go's out let sand dry out first and NEVER NEVER USE COIL COVER ON YOUR COIL SALT GETS TRAPED IN IT and it will go crazy

 

[Pittsburgh pilot]

I just used my ATP on Siesta beach in Sarasota Florida. As expected it worked very well in the water and dry sand. The dry sand ground balanced in the 60's but in the water it ground balanced consistently at 12 in three foot of water. It ran very stable with out any chatter until I bumped into the sand. I found enough clad for a beer or two in a couple of hours plus a fair share of bottle caps. What surprised me was how the ground balance changed from shaded spots around the picnic areas to the sunny beach, typically a 30 point decrease in the shade.

 

[kingingkunsan]

For wet salt sand and water YOU NEED A PI DETECTOR. No getting away from it. Dry sand AT PRO is a killer. Here's the trick to using the at pro at or below high tide line (salt water) as tide go's out let sand dry out first and NEVER NEVER USE COIL COVER ON YOUR COIL SALT GETS TRAPED IN IT and it will go crazy

Some what true. Multi frequency VLF machines perform quite well in and on the salt water beaches. Minelab Explorer, E-trac and others come to mind. I have taken my Explorer II and have had no issues. You may argue you get more depth with a PI but a VLF can discriminate better. If I wanted to detect everything and dig it with a VLF I could get more depth at the beach too by opening up my discrimination. But I would prefer to leave the deep bobby pins and other undesirables for the PI machines.

 

[sundragon]

I live on the beach here in SE Mass, I own an AT Pro, Ace 400 and the pulse induction based SeaHunter II.

Working in the wet stuff, if there are any rocks (which most of the better spots do have) the Pro is a no go, period. The rocks are so hot there is no way to work the area. I have spent a lot of time working the beach and have had some luck with it staying out of the rocky areas.
The good stuff tends to settle onto the hard gravel and rock layer under the sand here.
I rely on the Sea Hunter for the wet stuff. PI is one option but as you said you don't wanna go deep, I always joke about finding a sneaker eyelet at two feet deep, but I will tell you that ain't to far off, it will lead you to dig some very very deep holes for incredibly small targets.

If you plan on working in the water or wet sand I would plan on getting another technology. You will just end up frustrated.

I wish you all the best on your quest for a new machine.