Beaches and the AT-Pro?

[apush]

I have been reading the posts concerning the AT-Pro and I am still knocking around if I should bite the bullet and purchase one. My issue(s) are two-fold: 1) This machine is within my budget; 2) how to determine if the soil content in the area is so whacky that I will hear pings on about everything the coil passes over.

I have had an ACE 250 for a few years. Found loads of coins and junk. Did manage one 14-k ring--but all at local parks. Only hit the beaches (Galveston) twice a year so. Beach and shallow water (very shallow--knee deep). The 250 did very well on coins, but once I get near the water, I heard more pings than slots in Vegas.

Thanks for any pearls of wisdom,
apush

 

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[Sandman]

How about two pearls of wisdom. 1. If you were a Charter Member you could do a search and learn all the posts about the AT Pro at the beaches, or any topic for that matter.
2. Any single frequency detector will report on the salt and black sand content in the water and wet salt sand. Those aren't coins or rings it is reporting but minerals which it can't ignore. AT Pro is OK for dry sand or land and fresh water, but not near salt water. I have one and think it sucks for saltwater.

 

[mpro1]

How about two pearls of wisdom. 1. If you were a Charter Member you could do a search and learn all the posts about the AT Pro at the beaches, or any topic for that matter.
2. Any single frequency detector will report on the salt and black sand content in the water and wet salt sand. Those aren't coins or rings it is reporting but minerals which it can't ignore. AT Pro is OK for dry sand or land and fresh water, but not near salt water. I have one and think it sucks for saltwater.

I second that it is good on land, and sucks near saltwater/wet sand. I thought that there was something wrong with mine (because of all the falsing near the salt etc.) swapped out a new coil same thing.... Someone lent me a PI HeadHunter Diver that I will try on the salt beaches instead......

 

[apush]

Guess my membership ran out. I wonder why I was not notified? Oh, well, I will register once again.

Thank you for the advice,

apush

 

[GibH]

I don't know about Galveston, but I was able to use the AT-Pro here on my part of the gulf.

 

[lookindown]

AT pro works good in wet sand and in the water on West coast Florida beaches...dont know about anywhere else.

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

It depends on how much black sand you have. The whiter sand you have the better it will preform.

 

[extractor]

I have one and IMO it sucks for saltwater.

 

[Chips]

Yes I found my At Pro gets a bit jittery on our Iron loaded beaches here in NZ. I heard some guys notch out to 35, shorten the stem to keep the coil a good inch above the surface and pull back on sensitivity a notch. I tried that and you get less noise and solid object do ring out well, but it does sound off a fair bit. For me in this location, to solve the chatter I use a Tesoro Sand Shark. Got it for a third the cost of a new Sand shark, on ebay. Not the top of the line P.I. detector, and still falses a bit but not as much as my favorite At Pro.
But if you are using a 250 on sand and its ok in your location, then the At Pro may well serve you well.

 

[mpro1]

It depends on how much black sand you have. The whiter sand you have the better it will preform.

Here on L.I. N.Y. the South Shore (Atlantic Ocean) beaches have the deep fine (lighter) sand, and the AT Pro does very well in the dry likes the GB set manually (76) & great depth too. However on the rocky/clay beaches of the North Shore (L.I. Sound) N.Y. the At Pro is terrible no matter what the ground balance settings only the very shallow targets ring out strong, and the falsing is unbearable. It is too bad because around here the rocky/clay areas seem to hold a lot of old goodies! The At Pro does great on land here (L.I. N.Y.) quite smooth operation and good depth. HH

 

[Sandman]

You have to remember that just because the area you want to search is a "beach," it can vary in the amount of black sand and salt concentrations. Not all beaches are alike and behave differently. So because your AT Pro works some at your beach doesn't mean it will work anywhere else and you shouldn't say it does.

 

[Metal Detecting Stuff]

I've used the At Pro in the water at Galveston, and the Ace250 in the sand with no problem. I did turn the sensitivity down when I got chatter.

 

[NJLargeCent]

I have an AT Pro, which I love for land and dry sand hunting, but here on NJ beaches it is not great in the wetter sand and esp. light surf--too much falsing no matter the ground balancing manipulation nor turning the sens. down. At the high tide line where the sand isn't too saturated, it still works with proper GB, but it's definitely not ideal for detecting in the wet stuff. I'm saving for a PI machine for wet sand and I'll happily keep my AT Pro for the dry stuff.

 

[Chips]

Good luck with saving for your PI. I found with my Sand Shark, that the discrimination between metals was not as good as that of the At Pro (when the Pro is used on dry land that is !! )
I like the Sand Shark even though its not as expensive as, the premium PI models, it still performs well on the beach with just a bit of falseing in some bad areas of our local beaches.
Oh and compared to the At Pro it does go through the batteries!!!.

 

[Captain Loosechange]

You have to remember that just because the area you want to search is a "beach," it can vary in the amount of black sand and salt concentrations. Not all beaches are alike and behave differently. So because your AT Pro works some at your beach doesn't mean it will work anywhere else and you shouldn't say it does.

To Sandman: Well by that same token, just because it didn't perform to your liking at the salt water beach you were at,you shouldn't say that it "sucks". I have used my AT Pro at the Outerbanks of North Carolina and if you Ground Balance correctly it works just fine there. It was very stable and performed great, there. To the OP: Not all Salt Water beaches are the same so if you could borrow one or if you know someone who might be in the area that you are wanting to use it maybe you could get a report from them. I have and prefer my Excal at the beach but the AT Pro is a usable option at alot of salt water beaches so I wouldn't rule it out just yet unless you get specific reports from the beach you are planning to hunt that it will not work well there.

 

[Sandman]

To Sandman: Well by that same token, just because it didn't perform to your liking at the salt water beach you were at,you shouldn't say that it "sucks". I have used my AT Pro at the Outerbanks of North Carolina and if you Ground Balance correctly it works just fine there. It was very stable and performed great, there. To the OP: Not all Salt Water beaches are the same so if you could borrow one or if you know someone who might be in the area that you are wanting to use it maybe you could get a report from them. I have and prefer my Excal at the beach but the AT Pro is a usable option at alot of salt water beaches so I wouldn't rule it out just yet unless you get specific reports from the beach you are planning to hunt that it will not work well there.

I am sorry if I get carried away and say the AT Pro sucks......I have used it in many places and find it works best in plain freshwater. Some hot rocks give it trouble just as they do most MD's, but we can't have everything easy. I mainly don't care for the way the AT PRO has ID numbers bouncing around and not locking on. I can't seem to train myself to not look at the screen as my other water detectors don't have screens. Maybe duct tape over the screen would make me like it better. Sorry if I offended.