AT Pro in the Ocean

[tomnkari]

Hi all. I'm rather new to metal detecting; I bought my Garrett AT Pro about this time last year. I really enjoy detecting in the water at the all the fresh water lakes in Michigan. However, I'm planning a trip to FL this summer and I'm curious whether the AT Pro is suitable for salt water. I've read that the PI detectors are best for this. Does anyone have experience using an AT Pro in the ocean?

 

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[penzfan]

Welcome Tom. The AT Pro can be a bit noisy in the salt depending on the particular beach and your sensitivity settings. My PI is made for the salt and does very well. My Sovereign GT is a multi frequency machine that also does great in the salt. You may get some falsing or none at all. Just give it a shot and turn up the Sens if it chatters. HH and GL

Hi all. I'm rather new to metal detecting; I bought my Garrett AT Pro about this time last year. I really enjoy detecting in the water at the all the fresh water lakes in Michigan. However, I'm planning a trip to FL this summer and I'm curious whether the AT Pro is suitable for salt water. I've read that the PI detectors are best for this. Does anyone have experience using an AT Pro in the ocean?

 

[Sandman]

I think Penzfan meant to turn down the Sens if it chatters. Some guys claim it doesn't false in saltwater, but what ya gotta remember is not all locations are the same as for salt concentrations and black sand. It'll work fine in dry sand and in some locals in salt, but not everywhere. If you bought the ATP for hunting wet saltwater sand you wasted your money. Much better to have a mulity frequency detector like the Excal, CZ-21, Sov GT or a PI which won't really disc

 

[tomnkari]

I purchased the AT Pro to use in 'all-terrains' but mostly in MI waters. It has 4 frequencies but not sure if that matters in salt water not being a PI type detector.

 

[lookindown]

It will work good on all Florida beaches...wet salt sand and in the saltwater....I know from experience. I think its the best freshwater detector you can buy.

 

[signal]

My experience with Florida and AT Pro is it works great on the dry sand, and "ok" in the wet and water. But you definitely need to turn down the sens and of course ground balance it. I hunt mostly east coast beaches. Its still a bit noisy compared to a Excal or dedicated water machine, but works, you just have to get used to what to listen for.

 

[WaterWalker]

As the ATPro is your only detector and you will not be in FL but for a vacation...go for it. I have used my ATPro in the salt water off of the New England coast with success. It is NOT my first choice, but I had to try it and it will find gold, silver and coins in the salt water. As said previously you will need to ground balance it at the water's edge and lower the sensitivity to lower the chatter. If you do not have the blue waterproof headphones, be careful not to get the land headphones wet. Waist and chest deep detecting can be done, but watch out for the rouge waves. Pull the shaft apart and rinse with fresh water after hunting in the salt water. Best of luck and enjoy your trip.

 

[Sandman]

I purchased the AT Pro to use in 'all-terrains' but mostly in MI waters. It has 4 frequencies but not sure if that matters in salt water not being a PI type detector.

Those four frequencies don't mean squat if they are not transmit frequencies. Oh those four help if other detectors near by are cross talking but don't help in wet saltwater sand at most locations. As was said you only bought it for All terrain, so go for it.

 

[DnD]

I'll be watching this thread to see how his experience turns out. Keep in mind, according to the US Geological Survey, the NE Florida coast has the highest mineral concentrations in the whole state. During WWI and WWII they mined the area for the war effort(s), so hunting those beaches with an ATP is like peeing into the wind. Using both the ATP and the ATGold (same thing IMO), neither would work in the wet sand. Heck, some places made it a challenge to use my multifrequency and PI machines.

 

[penzfan]

I've seen ATP's go haywire on South Florida beaches as well. Should be interesting.

 

[Doug H]

I'm no pro and I wish I had one of these AT Pro wizards to show me some things on the beach but my experience with it at the beach is that it is great in the dry sand but once you get to the wet sand and in the water its useless. I have tried all kinds of settings trying to make it work but once you ground balance it to where its usable, you have no depth. If I don't ground balance, its so chatty that I can't hear a good target from the chattiness. When its ground balanced for the salt water I noticed that it doesn't even see my RTG scoop until its right up on it so I know I'm not getting any depth. In fresh water it works wonderful...so I know there's not a problem with my machine. I just got back from the outer banks using it and this once again was my experience. I'm going to Virginia beach tomorrow and try it again but don't see anything changing.

 

[DnD]

Doug, thank you for an honest response and your description of the ATP's performance was spot - on, identical to mine... Only I was able to try it with two machines and in multiple locations from Daytona to Jacksonville. We even contacted Garrett...but still no practical success. I suppose when the coil is a 1/4" away from a giant SS sand scoop and the detector shows a target that means it is working but its far from functional for finding treasure.

 

[Doug H]

Yeah DnD...I have just been thinking that maybe different ATP's work differently and I just happen to get one that doesn't like the salt water but I just don't know how to make it work in the salt.

 

[BVI Hunter]

I'm no pro and I wish I had one of these AT Pro wizards to show me some things on the beach but my experience with it at the beach is that it is great in the dry sand but once you get to the wet sand and in the water its useless. I have tried all kinds of settings trying to make it work but once you ground balance it to where its usable, you have no depth. If I don't ground balance, its so chatty that I can't hear a good target from the chattiness. When its ground balanced for the salt water I noticed that it doesn't even see my RTG scoop until its right up on it so I know I'm not getting any depth. In fresh water it works wonderful...so I know there's not a problem with my machine. I just got back from the outer banks using it and this once again was my experience. I'm going to Virginia beach tomorrow and try it again but don't see anything changing.

Thats exactly why I bought my PI SH 2 and my AT Pro stays in the closet

 

[Doug H]

Thats exactly why I bought my PI SH 2 and my AT Pro stays in the closet

Hey, I don't want to be the one to turn this into an AT Pro bashing because I really like my AT Pro for what it seems to do well. And it seems to do well for me for in the ground hunting and fresh water hunting. But the OP wanted people's experience with it in the ocean and what I posted has been my experience. I really wanted a detector that would hunt as close to everywhere as possible...including the beach. When I researched I saw the video's by Garrett saying that ground balancing in the salt gives good results. Well, that just hasn't been my experience and I hate the thought of buying a machine that's just a dedicated beach machine but maybe that's what people do.

 

[Fletch88]

I'll be watching this thread to see how his experience turns out. Keep in mind, according to the US Geological Survey, the NE Florida coast has the highest mineral concentrations in the whole state. During WWI and WWII they mined the area for the war effort(s), so hunting those beaches with an ATP is like peeing into the wind. Using both the ATP and the ATGold (same thing IMO), neither would work in the wet sand. Heck, some places made it a challenge to use my multifrequency and PI machines.

DnD, that's interesting about mineral concentration. What were they mining during the war, phosphate? I know they mine that all over central Florida.

 

[bigscoop]

I'll be watching this thread to see how his experience turns out. Keep in mind, according to the US Geological Survey, the NE Florida coast has the highest mineral concentrations in the whole state. During WWI and WWII they mined the area for the war effort(s), so hunting those beaches with an ATP is like peeing into the wind. Using both the ATP and the ATGold (same thing IMO), neither would work in the wet sand. Heck, some places made it a challenge to use my multifrequency and PI machines.

When I have the sensitivity cranked up I hit a lot of mineral lines, or concentrations, especially when hunting the wet sand. These usually respond like very faint repeatable targets but disappear once you break them up with the scoop.

 

[ohiojackpot]

I live in key largo and want to put something on my boat and be able to jump in water with it . Any ideas

Got mothership and a few little subs

Looking for magnetometers

 

[Boatlode]

I purchased the AT Pro to use in 'all-terrains' but mostly in MI waters. It has 4 frequencies but not sure if that matters in salt water not being a PI type detector.

I see them being used at the beach on the dry sand. Like anything else, its a tool designed for a purpose. It might not be the best tool for the job at hand, but its the only tool you have. We all have used screwdrivers as pry bars at one time or another. Go for it, you're on vacation and you won't have the opportunity to beach hunt very often.

 

[lookindown]

I don't run the settings that everyone says to use in salt environment with my AT pro. Its not stable with those settings. Florida has some mild beaches. Ive used mine from Cocoa down to Melbourne on the East coast and from Siesta to Clearwater on the West coast. It runs stable and is only two inches shallower than my CZ21. In some states Im sure it wont work as well. A friend I hunt with who has used a CZ for many years, had to use my AT for a whole day in the saltwater when his CZ broke. He out hunted me and my CZ21 that day and said he didn't understand why people say the AT is useless in saltwater.