Just confirming some AT Pro settings

[FL Treasure Hunter]

I have been doing a lot of reading on using the AT Pro at beaches such as the ones around me here in Florida, the most common setup I have read of people using is pro zero with sensitivity -2 for dry sand with the ground balance between 10-20 and the dec to 35; and Gb 13-15 sens -3 for wet sand. I am wondering if this is a good starting point to try for the beach, last year I tried to do some detecting at the beach last year with manual GB pro zero, 35 dsc and sensitivity -1 and got a lot of targets in dry sand that I could not find (it seemed I dug and they disappeared) and got a bit frustrating (Maybe I should have manually GB it but not sure which part of the 10-20 range is best to run in). I am pretty new at this but decided to get a pin-pointer and sand scoop to make things easier and so I can give it another shot and get my settings right since I have some free time and it definitely is a hobby I want to pursue. Any input is appreciated.

 

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[Auriemma]

When I had my ATP, this is how I set it up for Salt Beach:

- PRO Mode or not, your choice
- GB... should be 50-70 in the complete dry down to 8-12 in the wet sand or submerged (keep the coil underwater, no lapping waves).
--->Manually re-GB about every 10-15 ft closer to the water.
- SENS... as much as she will take without chatter
- DISC... wide open (use your ears and eyes to discrim. You know what a bottle cap sounds like, right? If not, learn. Then don't dig them)

Good luck.

 

[xr7ator]

I'm landlocked so take this with a grain of salty sand......you need a machine that excels in salt water conditions and the AT Pro ain't it.

 

[FL Treasure Hunter]

When I had my ATP, this is how I set it up for Salt Beach:

- PRO Mode or not, your choice
- GB... should be 50-70 in the complete dry down to 8-12 in the wet sand or submerged (keep the coil underwater, no lapping waves).
--->Manually re-GB about every 10-15 ft closer to the water.
- SENS... as much as she will take without chatter
- DISC... wide open (use your ears and eyes to discrim. You know what a bottle cap sounds like, right? If not, learn. Then don't dig them)

Good luck.

Thank you for the reply, I will try these setting. I will let the machine auto GB its self and if it seems to low in the dry I may bring it up some and see what it does. Did you ever have any falsing with it? I can't tell if mine did when the target could not be found or if I just need more time learning and digging (I am sure the pin-pointer will help). I know I definitely need some more time on the machine to learn.

 

[FL Treasure Hunter]

I'm with Auriemma on the dry sand stuff... I did wet sand with no problem, too, by simply ground balancing in it then reducing the sensitivity so it didn't chatter. I had a hard time in the salt water making it work... wave action constantly kicking up sand where I was, and it would get the detector chattering like crazy. no help for it, so I went back to wet and dry.

Dry sand is just like land, though. Just ground balance, set max sensitivity without chatter, and go... Best to run parallel to the water, though, as going toward/away it, causes re-balancing issues constantly, unless you're away from where it gets wet underneath. If it's pure dry, then grid however you'd like.

When I had my ATP, this is how I set it up for Salt Beach:

- PRO Mode or not, your choice
- GB... should be 50-70 in the complete dry down to 8-12 in the wet sand or submerged (keep the coil underwater, no lapping waves).
--->Manually re-GB about every 10-15 ft closer to the water.
- SENS... as much as she will take without chatter
- DISC... wide open (use your ears and eyes to discrim. You know what a bottle cap sounds like, right? If not, learn. Then don't dig them)

Good luck.

No problems falsing, but there were occasions when I'd hit metal that had deteriorated in the sand (iron), but those were identifiable as red patches in the sand. once disturbed, they'll disappear. But if you're having what you think is "falsing" but it's a repeatable signal, it's not a false... you've got an object you can't find.

Also note that in wet sand, if you even lightly "touch" the sand with the coil, it'll beep.

Cheers,

Skippy

Awesome I am glad to hear stuff confirming what I thought. My pin-pointer and scoop come tomorrow so I am hoping to get out Friday morning and do some hunting on the beach and see what these settings and pin-pointer can do. I greatly appreciate all of your help.

 

[Auriemma]

Like others have said, if you plan on primarily hunting the beach, the ATP is not the best tool for the job. I'm not saying it won't work, it will. It just has difficulties in the salty wet sand and salt water. Land and fresh water beaches are where it shines.

It's why I switched to the Sovereign series. They do salt beaches very well, but the control box cannot be dunked. If you want to submerge the whole unit, you need at least an Excalibur (basically a waterproof Sov) for that.

Lastly, a Pin Pointer is almost overkill at the beach. It only use will be to find really small targets that fall through the scoop holes.
FYI... if you hunt the beach and are on your knees... you're doing it wrong. Unless looking for that tiny target.

Happy hunting.

 

[Sandman]

Garrett lied when they said the ATP was All Terrain. Beaches are all different, some have more salt than others. To be able to hunt them well you need more than one frequency, something like a Beach Hunter id, CZ-20/21, Excal, Sov GT. In my opinion the ATP is almost a POS for the beach. why waste your time. read my signature below.

 

[FL Treasure Hunter]

Like others have said, if you plan on primarily hunting the beach, the ATP is not the best tool for the job. I'm not saying it won't work, it will. It just has difficulties in the salty wet sand and salt water. Land and fresh water beaches are where it shines.

It's why I switched to the Sovereign series. They do salt beaches very well, but the control box cannot be dunked. If you want to submerge the whole unit, you need at least an Excalibur (basically a waterproof Sov) for that.

Lastly, a Pin Pointer is almost overkill at the beach. It only use will be to find really small targets that fall through the scoop holes.
FYI... if you hunt the beach and are on your knees... you're doing it wrong. Unless looking for that tiny target.

Happy hunting.

Garrett lied when they said the ATP was All Terrain. Beaches are all different, some have more salt than others. To be able to hunt them well you need more than one frequency, something like a Beach Hunter id, CZ-20/21, Excal, Sov GT. In my opinion the ATP is almost a POS for the beach. why waste your time. read my signature below.

Thanks for the reply guys, I have heard a lot from different places that the AT pro is not the best for the beach. I am hoping to make due for a while until the excal is in my budget, I have had my eye on them for quite some time now. Also in reply to Auriemma I had a small scoop at one point which was a cheap Ebay one (learned my lesson on cheap tools now) and it bent and broke so I had nothing but a shovel for a while but the new scoop which is due to be here today is the RTG Royal scoop so hopefully that will make it easier out there at least until I can get the excal one day to help more.

 

[FL Treasure Hunter]

I was surprised at how often I used my pinpointer, even with a nice sand scoop. Especially in low light conditions. It just made things easier. I'd
dig the sand
check the hole
dump the sand
spread the sand with my foot
search the sand
scan the sand
Spread with foot some more
Repeat until target visualized.

For some reason, some targets would were just TOUGH to see... I tried the scoop and shake on the last bit, but I found the pinpointer was faster on final recovery. No knees on sand, just bend over touch and go.

To each their own, but I cannot conclude there is a "right way" and a "wrong way" to do this, IF the recovery speed is up to snuff.

That being said, I saw a guy at the beach using a Garrett Carrot, and he was using it to move sand away and basically swirl a hole. It took him about 4 minutes per target. He never ONCE even used his foot to sweep a hole (like in a bark lot). It was just WEIRD... I couldn't help but think "this guy needs a lesson or two in speed recovery." But he wasn't going to get one from me. I was busy.

Nah... There's just better equipment.

The Garrett is not the "Best" for beaches, that's for sure... but it can be done, and it can be submerged, used on the sand, etc...

For the casual person, like me, who doesn't live near a beach, but will get to detect one, once or twice a year on a business trip, the Garrett AT Pro works just fine. I just stick to the Dry and wet... Submerging would work, if water conditions were PERFECT... but calling it a POS for the beach?

No. In fact, my last beach run, on a business trip, netted me $500. Lucky? Sure. But if I'd been in the water the whole time, I'd have not found what I did... So, it's hard to say if it was better or worse than an Excal II.

Metal detecting is a hobby... and most hobbiests are there for the fun, and try to maximize the experience with the equipment we have. You can BET I'd have an Excal II if I lived near the beach... but since I don't, All Terrain, it is.

Cheers!

Skippy

That is good to hear, I know a pin-pointer should help me some especially since I am pretty new to this and still learning how to recover things quickly, I hop I can get the AT Pro to do good for me tomorrow I bought it new about a year ago since I do land and quite a bit of beach. I always liked the excal, just not the price. If i can have as good of luck as you at the beach the AT pro may pay for its self and the excal besides I do not do to much actual water detecting with it, especially considering the time of year it is I usually stick to the dry sand and maybe some wet sand near the water.

 

[cudamark]

Taking it out of Pro mode and reducing the sensitivity is a must in our area if you want to hunt the wet. You might want to try it.

 

[FL Treasure Hunter]

Taking it out of Pro mode and reducing the sensitivity is a must in our area if you want to hunt the wet. You might want to try it.

That could help, what mode to you run in on standard? I see a lot of people use coin but I think that would miss some very good potential targets; I was thinking maybe standard zero would be good?

 

[cudamark]

All metal and just ignore the iron targets.

 

[FL Treasure Hunter]

I tried many of these setting and tips today today and it helped and did somewhat better then before, I think I have my settings figured out a little better only issue I have is if I put the disc down below 39 it chatters like crazy and bounces from 00-39 on the display but once turned up to 39 it quiets down I only pay attention to the clear targets I hear not the faint jumpy sounds. Is there any harm in this in the line of missing targets? Considering it was 48 degrees on the beach this morning I only stayed about 2 hours and pulled 2 pieces of junk metal, 2 pennies, 2 dimes and a quarter. Was hoping for jewelry but some coins are just fine with me; just not many targets at all, only one disappeared on me this time so I think I am learning. I think an excal would be wonderful but I cannot justify it this soon after buying the AT Pro so recently.

 

[cudamark]

Just barely disc out iron, nothing else. Adjust sensitivity to get it stable. You'll lose depth, but not good targets.

 

[FL Treasure Hunter]

Just barely disc out iron, nothing else. Adjust sensitivity to get it stable. You'll lose depth, but not good targets.

That's what I was wondering, I was running about -2 on the sens and had 18 on the GB and it did okay but I was just concerned about running the disc wide open at 40. What would be considered a good number to be to keep just the iron out? Sorry I am a bit new at all this, I think a 3rd pass through the instruction manual is in order

 

[FL Treasure Hunter]

Hey guys, I just came across something and I am not sure if it would have an effect on the detector. I went to wash it after the beach today and just found that the threaded connection where the coil goes into the into was completely loose and basically not doing anything. Could this by any chance cause some of the issues I have been having, no clue how long it has been like this, just thankful I have not had it completely under water.

 

[lookindown]

That's what I was wondering, I was running about -2 on the sens and had 18 on the GB and it did okay but I was just concerned about running the disc wide open at 40. What would be considered a good number to be to keep just the iron out? Sorry I am a bit new at all this, I think a 3rd pass through the instruction manual is in order

Run it with no disc...wide open...you will hear the iron but you don't have to dig it...all beaches are different...mine works well on the west coast beaches in Florida...I ran mine in STANDARD mode...Zero...auto ground balance, then drop it manually 2 or 3 numbers lower...sensitivity 5 or 6 bars...ran as high as I could without falsing...worked the same in waist deep water as it did in the wet sand...will hit targets deeper than you think...of course CZs and Excals are better but the AT pro will work...17 pieces of gold my first summer with the AT PRO including 11 gold rings.

 

[FL Treasure Hunter]

Run it with no disc...wide open...you will hear the iron but you don't have to dig it...all beaches are different...mine works well on the west coast beaches in Florida...I ran mine in STANDARD mode...Zero...auto ground balance, then drop it manually 2 or 3 numbers lower...sensitivity 5 or 6 bars...ran as high as I could without falsing...worked the same in waist deep water as it did in the wet sand...will hit targets deeper than you think...of course CZs and Excals are better but the AT pro will work...17 pieces of gold my first summer with the AT PRO including 11 gold rings.

Wow! That is awesome, it definitely gives me some hope for the AT especially considering I have some non-beach hunts that I may do soon that look promising, I think it may be a matter of learning the machine since today had went better then the previous trips with it but man those excal's are nice but the price... not so much

 

[lookindown]

I used mine on sports fields and old home sites before I took it to the beach...much easier to use in the salt environment if you are already familiar with the machine.

 

[Geochem]

I'm a newbie to surf MD, and appreciate you sharing your valuable expertise and guidance!