Location: Outer Banks, NC vacation
Detector: AT Pro
Conditions: on and off drizzle, damp and wet sand, waves
I used my ETrac on the beach yesterday and due the the off and on showers all day, took the AT Pro out today on the beach. I have the stock headphones, so I new I was OK with getting the detector under water but keepign the headphones out of the surf. I never detected on the beach until this vacation and heard about the ETrac's stability, depth, etc on the beach, which did hold true yesterday. BUT... I tell you what.... the AT Pro was VERY impressive on the east coast beach! Here's a few things that I noticed and were very surprising and different from detecting inland:
Ground balancing?: I used the auto ground balancing function and after pumping the coil up and down a few times it set at 15! HUGE difference from my normal 70's and 80's!
Chatter?: The AT Pro ran as good on the beach as it did inland. smooth and quiet. A few times, I actually brought the detector to my aluminum scoop a few times to make sure it was on and working. I was very surprised, especially hearing about how tough the beach is. The only chatter I got was detecting along the waterline and when the detector gets washed over by waves. it gets chatty and I am guessing from all the sand and salt water being washed over it.
Sensitivity?: believe it or not, I ran it 1 bar down from the max and for a while had it on full bars in the damp/dry sand.
Depth?: I dug some coins out along the waterline at about 8 inches or so. I actually had to time the waves out so my holes were not getting filled by the next wave, before I could scoop deeper.
Standard-Pro Mode?: I ran it with 0 discrim. I started out in Standard Mode but then switched to Pro Mode. I noticed that in Pro Mode, the deep buried coins near junk sounded off really nicely, and much better to pinpoint, which is tougher in sand than in land.
AT Pro in the waves?: yesterday, I heard from a local who uses a Sand Shark and another with a White's PI water detector that 'the best place is just in the water where the waves break near the shore'. No way to risk the ETrac taking a wave over the control box, BUT, after checking all the O-rings on the coil, headphones, and battery compartment, I set out prepared to have the AT Pro take a dunk! I have the stock headphones, so I knew not to get too crazy or risk falling and getting the headphones submerged, but had quite a few big waves wash over the AT Pro and it performed flawless. It was kinda wierd hearing tones with the entire detector under water...lol
Issues/Problems?: The only thing that was a problem was when I first got on the beach, even after auto ground balancing, I had to switch channels. No idea why, but the channel I had always run it on was chatty. The other 3 were quiet as a church mouse. It actually happened yesterday when I was using the ETrac and my girlfriend had the AT Pro. After I switched channels she was good to go.
So, that is my evaluation of the AT Pro on the beach, which was a first for me. if anyone from Garrett reads this(?), you get the thumbs up for an amazing detector at the price you sell it at. It's kinda like the Jeep of metal detectors. It is truely ALL TERRAIN.
Viddy
Detector: AT Pro
Conditions: on and off drizzle, damp and wet sand, waves
I used my ETrac on the beach yesterday and due the the off and on showers all day, took the AT Pro out today on the beach. I have the stock headphones, so I new I was OK with getting the detector under water but keepign the headphones out of the surf. I never detected on the beach until this vacation and heard about the ETrac's stability, depth, etc on the beach, which did hold true yesterday. BUT... I tell you what.... the AT Pro was VERY impressive on the east coast beach! Here's a few things that I noticed and were very surprising and different from detecting inland:
Ground balancing?: I used the auto ground balancing function and after pumping the coil up and down a few times it set at 15! HUGE difference from my normal 70's and 80's!
Chatter?: The AT Pro ran as good on the beach as it did inland. smooth and quiet. A few times, I actually brought the detector to my aluminum scoop a few times to make sure it was on and working. I was very surprised, especially hearing about how tough the beach is. The only chatter I got was detecting along the waterline and when the detector gets washed over by waves. it gets chatty and I am guessing from all the sand and salt water being washed over it.
Sensitivity?: believe it or not, I ran it 1 bar down from the max and for a while had it on full bars in the damp/dry sand.
Depth?: I dug some coins out along the waterline at about 8 inches or so. I actually had to time the waves out so my holes were not getting filled by the next wave, before I could scoop deeper.
Standard-Pro Mode?: I ran it with 0 discrim. I started out in Standard Mode but then switched to Pro Mode. I noticed that in Pro Mode, the deep buried coins near junk sounded off really nicely, and much better to pinpoint, which is tougher in sand than in land.
AT Pro in the waves?: yesterday, I heard from a local who uses a Sand Shark and another with a White's PI water detector that 'the best place is just in the water where the waves break near the shore'. No way to risk the ETrac taking a wave over the control box, BUT, after checking all the O-rings on the coil, headphones, and battery compartment, I set out prepared to have the AT Pro take a dunk! I have the stock headphones, so I knew not to get too crazy or risk falling and getting the headphones submerged, but had quite a few big waves wash over the AT Pro and it performed flawless. It was kinda wierd hearing tones with the entire detector under water...lol
Issues/Problems?: The only thing that was a problem was when I first got on the beach, even after auto ground balancing, I had to switch channels. No idea why, but the channel I had always run it on was chatty. The other 3 were quiet as a church mouse. It actually happened yesterday when I was using the ETrac and my girlfriend had the AT Pro. After I switched channels she was good to go.
So, that is my evaluation of the AT Pro on the beach, which was a first for me. if anyone from Garrett reads this(?), you get the thumbs up for an amazing detector at the price you sell it at. It's kinda like the Jeep of metal detectors. It is truely ALL TERRAIN.
Viddy