Well there's what works in salt and there's what's SPECIALIZED for salt. I know that a TigerShark will work at the beaches nearest me, so the AT should be fine. But more to the point-all these people want to pick one thing to say that the AT Pro just COULDN'T be the best at..they miss the point!! Look at it this way, Minelab has an Xterra series with the top of that line being the 705. It's an all purpose machine but it's not as deep as some machines, certainly not waterproof, but otherwise a nice machine. There are other machines out there that fill that same role from other manufacturers, which are also quite nice, and also have some drawbacks. However, the AT Pro is meant to fill the same niche PLUS being waterproof. That one thing makes it unlike other machines. It also has some discrimination features that are downright amazing! Will it be foolproof? Nope. Will I never dig iron again..yeah right. Will the AT do what I've been wanting out of ONE machine for years now? YES.
If all these folks want to complain or nitpick that it probably won't work as good as a specialized machine in a certain environment, WHO CARES, MOVE ON. If salt is your specialty then shut the h3ll up and go buy a multi-freq or a PI and get swingin'! If you're a real prospector you probably already have a badarse gold machine! If you're dedicated to any certain aspect of the hobby you probably have the 'top of the line' machine for that pursuit. Why complain about something that is still mostly UNKOWN, and doesn't matter anyway if you're such experts!! I didn't see anything in the literature that said it would be the best at any one thing, just that it has some features that no other machine does. Whether it does or not is established and beyond debate!
I remember when I tried to drag race a hotrod Camaro when I was in my lifted 4x4. Dang that truck would FLY through the mud at warp speed! Against that Camaro..well, at least WE get the point. I hope there aren't any deer hunters out there waiting to see if the AT will bag 'em a big buck!
Let the naysayers complain and nitpick while we're out doing what we like, with the machine that we're certain to like.