Garrett AT Pro first dectector advice.

[Ace350]

Ah alright. Would you guys recommend this for shoreline and little bit in the water at the beach?

I would recommend it for the shoreline and a little bit in the water at the beach. It works fairly well for me on the beach and in the surf here on the coast. While it is certainly not the best for this type of hunting, it is the most diversified and can hunt almost anywhere. Like anything else, the more diversified you make something the more you have to make it a happy medium between the least and most extreme ends of the spectrum so you will lose some precision. But let me tell you, for the money it is going to hunt well in all types of environments. Before you take it out hunting make sure you read the manual fully and watch the instructional videos on it on the Garrett site. Then practice in your back yard a few times to get the hang of it.
When you get in the wet sand in the ocean you will have to ground balance it often and probably cut the sensitivity down a few notches. My AT-Pro usually ground balances between 10-20 in the wet sand.
If you wanted an above average beach hunting machine then you would need something like a $1,500 Minelab Excalibur.

 

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[Metal Detecting Stuff]

It will work fine where you plan to use it. Saltwater sand on the AT Pro should ground balance between 0-20, depending on the mineralization. Some bottle caps give a low/ high tone or broken tone, and others have an iron grunt and high tone on Pro mode. Bent ones fool a lot of detectors. Here are some air test VDI #s, yours may vary a little bit in the ground:

99 -- Ike Silver Dollar, Morgan Silver Dollar
98 -- Ike Silver Dollar
97 -- Ike Silver Dollar
96 -- Morgan Silver Dollar, Walking Liberty Silver Half Dollar, Franklin Silver Half Dollar, Large Silver Ring
95 -- 4 Quarters in a stack!
94 --
93 -- Kennedy 40% Silver Half Dollar
92 -- Clad Dollar, Kennedy 40% Silver Half Dollar, Clad Half Dollar, Aluminum Token, Large Silver Ring
91 -- Barber Half Dollar
90 -- Presidential Dollar, Clad Half Dollar, Clad Quarter, Large US 1 Cent, Silver British Half Crown
89 -- Washington Silver Quarter, Clad Quarter
88 -- Standing Liberty Silver Quarter, Washington Silver Quarter, Clad Quarter, Medium Silver Ring
87 -- SBA Dollar
86 -- Spanish 2-Reale
85 -- Barber Quarter, Clad Quarter, Seated Dime, Matron Head Large Cent
84 -- Seated Dime, Matron Head Large Cent, Small Silver Ring
83 -- Mercury Silver Dime, Roosevelt Silver Dime, Clad Dime
82 -- Clad Dime, Small Silver Charm, 1 Yen Coin (JPN), Large 9K Gold Ring
81 -- Seated Dime, 10 Yen Coin (JPN), 1 Yen Coin (JPN)
80 -- Seated Dime, Copper Lincoln 1 Cent, King George Half Penny, 10 Yen Coin (JPN), 1000 Peso Coin (Mexico, 1988), 5 Gram Gold Bar, Large Plated Ring, Small Silver Ring
79 -- Seated Dime, Heavy Woman's Bracelet Watch
78 -- King George Penny, Chuck-E-Cheese Token
77 -- 1 Euro Coin (Ireland), New Zealand $2.00, Australian $1.00
76 -- Seated Liberty Half Dime, Indian Head 1 Cent, Australian $2.00, New Zealand $1.00, King George Half Penny, 5 Yen Coin (JPN), Medium Plated Ring
75 -- Bottle Cap, Spanish 1-Reale, Zinc Lincoln 1 Cent, 5 Yen Coin (JPN)
74 -- Bottle Cap, Rev War British Musket Ball, Copper Lincoln 1 Cent
73 -- Bottle Cap, Small Silver Ring
72 -- Bottle Cap
71 -- Bottle Cap, Large Tungsten Ring
70 -- Bottle Cap, Civil War Mini-Ball, Medium Charm
69 -- Civil War Mini-Ball
68 -- 22K Gold Sovereign, Civil War Mini-Ball
67 --
66 -- Pop Top, Small Charm, sterling bracelet
65 -- Large 18K Gold & Platinum Ring, 1 Gram Gold Bar
64 --
63 -- Small Silver Earring
62 --
61 -- Indian Head 1 Cent
60 -- Medium 9K Gold Ring
59 --
58 --
57 -- Large 14K Gold Ring
56 --
55 -- Mens Titanium Ring
54 -- Small 14K Gold Ring
53 -- Pull Tab, Buffalo Nickel, V Nickel, War Nickel, New Nickel, Small Charm, Large 14K White Gold Ring, Medium 14K Gold Ring
52 -- Pull Tab, Buffalo Nickel, V Nickel, War Nickel, New Nickel, Small Charm
51 -- 100 Yen Coin (JPN)
50 -- 3 Cent Piece, 14K Gold Chain, 100 Yen Coin (JPN), 50 Yen Coin (JPN), 2 Peso Gold Coin, Small 10K Gold Ring, Small 9K Gold Ring
49 -- 3 Cent Piece, 14K Gold Chain, 50 Yen Coin (JPN)
48 -- $1 Gold Coin (13mm), 14K Gold Chain, 14K Yellow & White Gold Ring
47 -- Large Junk Earring, small 10K gold ring
46 --
45 -- Foil, Small 14K Gold Ring
44 -- Foil, Small Platinum Engagement Ring
43 -- Foil, Small 10K Gold Ring, 14K bracelet
42 -- Foil, Small 10K Gold Ring
41 -- Foil
40 -- Foil,14K Hollow Earring (1.3g)
39 -- Foil
38 -- Foil
37 -- Foil
36 -- Foil
35 -- Foil, Nail
34 --
33 --
32 --
31 --
30 --
29 --
28 --
27 --
26 --
25 --
24 --
23 --
22 --
21 --
20 --
19 --
18 --
17 --
16 --
15 -- Washer
14 --
13 --
12 --
11 --
10 --
9 --
8 --
7 --
6 --
5 --
4 --
3 --
2 --
1 --

Wayne

 

[gleaner1]

I hunt at night and I don't use hand held pps, no need for 'em. After twenty years I finally made up my mind that I dont want one. My advice to you is not to include a $130 pinpointer as part of a metal detector budget. Put all the money into the machine, and dont bundle a pile of crap. Go to lowes and buy a fiskars and a nail apron and you are good to go for now. And please learn to pinpoint with the actual metal detector, so you don't gash your targets with the trowel or knife. You can buy a pinpointer some other day. Atrpo is designed to handle iron and rusty crown caps so you wont dig them if you dont want to.

 

[AC500]

Thanks for all the great advice, and TYVM to MDS for that awesome breakdown.

gleaner1, I bought the AT Pro from MillerMDZ he has a a couple packages to choose from at no extra cost, the only thing I added was the Garret PinPointer, they're out of stock so he's going to substitute it with the Minelab. Im just excited to see how things go, maybe if this is something my daughter and I both enjoy together I'll go for higher end MD next time. Thanks.

 

[gleaner1]

Thanks for all the great advice, and TYVM to MDS for that awesome breakdown.

gleaner1, I bought the AT Pro from MillerMDZ he has a a couple packages to choose from at no extra cost, the only thing I added was the Garret PinPointer, they're out of stock so he's going to substitute it with the Minelab. Im just excited to see how things go, maybe if this is something my daughter and I both enjoy together I'll go for higher end MD next time. Thanks.

Awesome dealer and awesome deal. You will like the atpro and a minelab handheld is icing on the cake. Best of luck AC500.

 

[DaveG]

I have had an AT Pro for 1 year. I think it is a decent machine. It seems that the VDI numbers are consistent. I spent much time digging targets that sound of in the VDI range of 44 to 75, and it was always some kind of trash; 40's to 70's for Aluminum, 40's for foil, 60's and 70's for bottle caps, high 70's to mid 80's for cents and dimes. I reached a point of being, maybe 90% correct in guessing what my target was. After awhile you will have a good idea of the target by the VDI. The pro modes are more work because they can be quite chatty. There are lots of bios and chirps due to trash. When you do get a good coin hit, the sound will be hard to mistake (for the most part). I agree with badpenny about the bottle caps. They can sound like a coin, but if the iron audio is on, you will get the low tone that says, "Time to move on." In full disclosure, I am a new owner of an E-Trac. I plan to compare its performance to the AT. I am keeping the AT. It is waterproof to 10'. I don't know of any other metal detector in that price range that can match that, along with the other features it has.
Anyway, get it, learn it and enjoy it. I don't remember the person's name, but you can find his video of the cache of old silver coins he recovered from the river bottom using the AT. I believe he found around 6.5 pounds of old silver coins! I don't think the E-Trac could have done that - unless the river dried up!

 

[DaveG]

Cool list. I think this is the first one I have seen for the AT. They jive with my experience, except you have found better coins than me.

 

[AC500]

thanks again for all the advice, looking forward to getting her out n getting her wet spoke with Tom Miller today via text and was informed my new AT Pro should arrive by Friday, going to be a tough weekend to get out with a Father/Daughter Saturday and Mom's day on Sunday, going to try and get out out early Sat.

 

[Bearkat]

Enjoy your AT Pro...I do mine. I found this blog post about an AT Pro user after using his since it came out. (2+ years).