For those of you who are worried the Pro may not perform great in saltwater you have forgotten one important aspect..

[Uncle Willy]

The PRO is equipped with Garrett's new DD coil and DD coils were specifically designed to cut through and overcome heavy mineralization and salt - which is a mineral. Plus it has Manual GB and is listed for prospecting. If you can hunt nuggets with it salt should not be a problem as nuggets are often found in some of the nastiest ground there is.

Bill

 

[draaiorgel]

Thanks Bill,
for confirming what I knew all along.

I'm also a firm Garrett believer, I see it as a big step up from the 250 Ace which will become my backup machine.

 

[synthnut]

Those of us who have already have machines with DD coils already know that while they will help in minteralized soil , they will not transform a regular detector into a GOOD Saltwater or wet salty sand detector .... Many companies out there have already run DD coils. and make DD coils for their products .....They STILL do not work well in Salt or wet salt sand ......
If you think that the DD coil will magically transform your detector into a deep saltwater machine, you're in for a surprise ..... Beleive what you will ..... Since the majority of the people that are buying these detectors are not near Saltwater , and would hunt dry land or Freshwater, I guess it's not much of an issue to a lot of people .... It's still nice that this machine can go underwater to begin with ......For that I applaud Garrett .........I'm sure that someone out there must have some good video of this detector in action finding good targets and dropping down in a couple of feet of water ...You know, real world detecting ...I'm looking forward to seeing the AT Pro in action !!.......Thanks, Jim

 

[draaiorgel]

I didn't say anything about a deep salt water machine.
You obviously didn't read my post properly,
if ya had you'd have noticed my previous machine was a Garrett 250 Ace.

So what I'm looking for is an improvement on my previous machine.
Always remembering that it's 90% operator and 10% machine.

Now, have I made that simple enough?

 

[Dertnc]

Dude , I think you may have misunderstood what he was trying to say .

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah I'm still waiting for my test unit so I can find out what it really does. So far all I know is what I've seen, heard, and been told by those that have used it or seen it in operation at the demonstration at the factory. The folks I have talked to are not prone to excited exaggeration so I take them at their word. But only when I field test one will I know for sure what is and what isn't. I hope it's everything they say it is as we are way overdue for such a machine and if anyone is capable of designing one it would be Garrett. So time will tell the true story.

Bill.

 

[gmanlight]

Little did i know until recently salt it a conductor and that's were the problem starts.
Some detectors have to raise the disc setting so high to cancel out the salt thy
loose a lot of depth . But it can be done , my single Freq detector does nice in the salt.

 

[EZrider]

I bet with the high freq it will false and sound like R2D2 on crack. Ive used many single freq machines on the salt beach. On the dry they are all great. Went salt sand and they stumble. It's going totake more than ground balancing and a DD coil to handle the salt. all the top water machines are duel-multi freq. The water proofing on the AT is more for wading than the heavy surf. In freash i bet it would be killer!

 

[gmanlight]

EZ thats what i thought but my single Freq 19khz unit runs very quiet with little disc and tested againt a
multi freq machine it did well .
On a deep nickle around 10 inches the multi edged it out but it was close.
On a small low conductive target the single freq machine took it.

Now at 19khz it hits harder on gold than silver but thats OK with me.

 

[Ken in NC]

I live 15 minutes from the beach, and have tested many single frequency machines in the damp salt sands

The Tesoro Lobo, and the Tesoro Lobo ST, are both higher frequency (17.5 khz) prospecting machines with DD coils. With practice and patience, you can make them run acceptable on the wet salt sands, but they are far from perfect in that location. They are certainly not my choice for that location. Falsing is the problem

I further do not think the AT Pro will be the best nugget hunting machine, simply because it lacks ground tracking and ground tracking speed adjustments. I imagine it will be very frustrating to operate with the changing ground conditions found when nugget hunting. I am sure you can make do with it, with patience and practice, but it will not be the machine for a serious nugget hunter

 

[synthnut]

draaiorgel,
I can see that I have to be more specific with you ..... I forget that sometimes I'm speaking with people who do not expect much from detectors that they buy , since minimul depth is what they are use to .... I guess you're pretty easy to please since you're only asking for a detector that will better your Ace 250 in the salt ..... BTW , just so we are on the same page, I do NOT consider going down 6 inches in wet salty sand DEEP ...... I figured that I would clarify that to you in case DEEP meant something different to you .... I hope that I made this simple enough for you to follow .... .....Jim

 

[Pyledriver]

Let's not forget the fact that the AT is not meant to specialize in the salt, only to WORK in it (per website). I'm saving to get another Infinium so I have more 'tools' at my disposal. I certainly hope the AT Pro will have some technological breakthrough that will allow great performance for both salt and goldfields, but I really won't be disappointed if it turns out to have 'acceptable' performance in those areas. The Infinium will catch the rest! What may be more accurate is to say that SO FAR, single freq machines have struggled at the beach. Hopefully we'll all be dancing jigs and using the 'r' and 'b' words- Revolutionary and Breakthrough while hovering over scoop swallowing holes at the beach and teeny nuggets in the mountains! We'll see...

I had a really great 'all terrain' machine from another manufacturer. I was pretty happy with it aside from nightmares of dunking it while wading. If the AT will just MATCH the performance of that machine, I'll be happy. I'm ready to get out there with the AT and put it through it's paces! It may be wishful thinking, but I'm going by what Garrett says and don't want to be in the camp of 'just because it didn't work before, it won't this time either'. Then again, I work in the world of technology where I see 'miracles' happen fairly frequently!

 

[synthnut]

My detector is not specifically meant to work in salt either , but it works great ..... Every detector has it's strong suits , and its weaknesses .....I have no problem giving kudos where kudo's are due ..... I would like to see this machine in action and not in the air .....There has been PLENTY of time to document footage of this machine to show what it can do in the field...I posted another thread asking to see this machine on dirt , in sand, and in the water ....I have gotten NO RESPONSE from any of the testers out there ..... I dont know about you, but if I built an AT Pro , and everyone that tested it said it was the most AWESOME DETECTOR BUILT as Uncle Willy quoted , I would surely be pasting it all over the internet .... We can all agree to disagree if we run into situations ..... I like the fact that the AT PRO can I.D. underwater even if it is freshwater .....That's a big step right there .... With the extended iron discrimination, it will also prove to be a wonderful relic machine .... I don't like the fact that a company takes the time to make not one, but TWO videos showing what the AT PRO can do in the air , and they don't show ONE video of what it can do in the field ..... I guess they realize that it doesn't matter to a lot of folks right now what it will do in the field ....They have probably sold more machines than they can build based on air tests and hype !!.... Gotta hand it to them ...They know how to market a detector , and they surely have the clientel ....I'm hoping that this machine blows the doors off of every other machine out there ....I'm hoping it makes my detectors look like toys !!!.... Any company that comes out with new innovations in the detecting field I"m all for !!...... So far it's the most AWESOME DETECTOR that I've never seen !!......Jim

 

[vlad]

It runs at 2.4 VF neutralizes salt, and still hits low conductors [it has an internal ground trimmer you just have to know which pot it is.]
My GTi has no problem at the beach and its a single frequency detector. Many years ago there was a design called a Phase Readout Gradiometer {PRG} that was just a TR-IB with no ground balance, that was built for target i.d. at non black sand wet salt beaches by some NASA engineers at a time when the market was just learning ferrous/non ferrous. It did not operate as a VLF, the motion circuit had not been designed, it and would hit a quarter at about 12 inches. If someone would modernize this design who knows where we would be today? [It was built by Technos Inc. of Florida, and the loop must have been 7" from top to bottom.]
The quality of the ground filters is probably the most important thing in handling minerals and EMI. The thing that's different about wet salt is that a detector can see it as metal. Adding some discrimination on a detector helps along with knowing where to set the ground balance point if you can adjust it. But having a DD loop is no guarantee against mineral or salt if the loop is badly designed, as is the case on a recent top end model of a particular maker.
Read George Payne on ground minerals, DD loops and the problems in designing them, and over-driving the front end in bad mineral.

 

[vlad]

n/t

 

[vlad]

If your detector won't reach the targets, can't separate those it can see because of masking or slow recovery speed, and cannot
be adjusted for changing ground minerals, operator expertise does not mean much. Its like entering a VW Beetle in a NASCAR Race.......

 

[khouse]

http://www.youtube.com/user/relichunter1964#p/u

 

[draaiorgel]

If you think minimal depth is what an Ace 250 gets.
You obviously don't know anything about The Garrett Ace 250 and I suggest you stay on the $1500 forum.
Garrett users don't need someone like you being abusive to them.

That is my last word on this matter. GOODBYE.