Garrets AT4 Beach Hunter

[kaellman]

Does anyone have any experience with this machine? How well does it do in salt/fresh water? Anything is apriciated.

 

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[Mitch1FL]

That is an older Garrett unit. It is Single frequency. Based on the Coin Commander series of detectors but the coil is weighted for water usage. Not to good for use in the saltwater but great for freshwater lakes and rivers. One great feature is the pinpoint button. An option seldom seen on water detectors. The unit was prone to water leakage when the o-ring seal was not cleaned and maintained properly. The was also an AT3.

Here is a link to the maunal at Garretts webpage...

http://www.garrett.com/manuals/AT3-AT4-Beach-Hunter.pdf

Good Luck

 

[dahut]

Sorry no experience, but I knew poeple who had them way back when, and there are bound to be some still floating around. Single frequency means VLF; in todays parlance that is a no-no in salt water, unless you do alot electronically to overcome the salt effects - Garrett didn't back then.

As for performance, the AT4 was a good detector from what I heard, back in the day. As I recall the coil was smallish, 7" I believe and every old issue of W&ET had someone with one "cleaning up the beach". Depth is probably so-so by todays standards.

According to the manual, it had dual range DISC control which is cool, along with the p/b pinpoint feature - also cool. It would give a tone for accepted objects below coin and the famous Garrett 'Belltone' for coin range targets. The AT4 was also ahead of the Minelabs in that it used rechargeable batteries.

The o-ring seal is always the most important part of any wet detector. You dont know how the previous owner(s) took care of that, or if they messed it up somehow. The AT4 was not waterproof, by the way. Instead, it was "splash and dunk" proof. Mr. Garrett mentions it in his books that way. It is now long out of date, so there may be little in the way of service from Garrett on this oldie, should it be needed. Check with the factory on that.

Unless you can get a working model at garage sale prices, or already have one lurking around somehwere, you may want to err on the side of caution on this one.

 

[Sandman]

Sorry no experience, but I knew poeple who had them way back when

Thanks, I had one! It was fine for dry sand till I got a better machine that I could take in the water. I remember that mine would find nickels easy, but that's all I remember about it.

There are better detectors on the market now and unless you get the AT4 very cheap, you can let your brother in law us it when he uses his gas to drive you to the beach.....

 

[dahut]

...unless you get the AT4 very cheap, you can let your brother in law use it when he uses his gas to drive you to the beach.....

Snort!! - you made beer shoot out of my nose, Sandman.

 

[Willee]

I have one of each ... AT3 and AT4.
Actually for fresh water and dry sand they are a decent detector.
A lot better than some land detectors that sell for more.
For the price ... usually less than $300 you can pay for it in a just a few trips to the beach.

They are rated waterproof to 6 foot which means wading not diving.
You must clean and silicone grease the seal ring every time you replace the batteries.

True ... they are old but they still work as well as they ever did.
A properly tuned AT3 or AT4 should do as well as a Tiger Shark (if it had a 7" coil).

Yes ... I have them mainly for family and friends who visit and want to go to the beach.

Willee