Salt Water Surf Hunting and the AT PRO

[Tony in FL]

As has previously been stated this thread was meant to discuss salt water surf hunting and the AT PRO. Much of the infomration put out thus far boasts of the AT PRO being usable in the water without specifically mentioning salt water. I believe this lead to confusion, speculation, and assumptions with respect to salt water capability. To that end I believe this thread has important information so that such customers can make an informed decision whether or not to be first in line to buy this detector if their primary focus is salt water hunting. There is no hair splitting concerning Garrett's published view that the AT is simply not recommended this purpose when one looks in the right place i.e. their on-line catalog that shows recommended and highly recommended uses for each detector in their lineup.

 

[Twinkies]

I hope this isnt out of line with this thread but when I called Garrett the other day to ask them questions on what I could hopefully expect depth wise before I placed a preorder this is what the guy had told me.

I specifically told him living in Southern Indiana I really only hunted fresh water beaches with the occasional trip to Florida and his exact words were "In our in house tests we have seen that a mans 14k gold wedding band could be reliably found at 14inches in fresh water beaches"

When I asked about the salt beaches in Florida he replied "The depth will be considerably less" and when I asked what he considered considerably less he replied "We dont really have those numbers yet."

First if 14" in fresh water is correct wow cant wait for it. Second I find it very hard to believe they dont have those numbers, sounded more to me like he just didnt want to give me a number but I could be wrong.

 

[jbow]

Good answer. The AT-PRO is obviously marketed to the relic hunter... that is what all the testing videos i've seen show... people digging minnieballs and roundballs and demonstrating the audio on a crowncap.

The AT-PRO is marketed as a machine that will handle mineralized ground, has good TID capability, is light, and minimally waterproof for wading. It might find a nugget but it isn't a "gold machine", you can get it wet, even hold it underwater, but it isn't an "underwater" detector, you can find coins with it but it isn't a " coin machine"... it is a relic machine that will handle bad ground that can be used for other things.. it is quite impressive but I expect that it will still be a midrange machine... but a good midrange machine. I don't expect that it will have the unmasking ability of the E-TRAC but neither does it carry the pricetag.

I think as long as people have reasonable expectations we will all be happy.

If you want a gold machine buy a gold machine, if you want a saltwater machine buy a saltwater machine. If you want a relic machine that will find some gold, wont die if you get it wet, and will find coins too... the AT-PRO may be just the ticket.

J

 

[Steve(MS)]

They would be smart not to throw out numbers as mineral content can cause depth to be
more or less.
Even 14" may not be repeatable except under ideal circumstances.
I could care less about whether it works good on salt beaches or not,
there are plenty of us who are interested in the relic and coin aspect of it.
I think it is fair to say most detectorists are looking forward to the release of the
Garrett AT Pro.

 

[Twinkies]

I didnt mean to soumd like I was putting down the Pro in terms of its salt water performance I was mearly relaying what as I was told.

Being from IN I am looking for a better machine for the fresh water beaches then my current pair of machines though I will hold off on my preorder until some real world tests start rolling in.