Garrett AT PRO in SaltWater

Fortune Finder 73 · Sep 15, 2011

I have noticed some people starting to have some pretty good finds on the dry sand and wet sand of saltwater beaches with the Garrett AT Pro and there is even some youtube videos of some guys out in the ocean about 4 or 5 feet deep having some luck with it. Have any of you beach and saltwater hunters tried it out? or had any success in those areas with it?

lookindown · Jun 2, 2013

Ive had mine submerged for hours in saltwater with no problems...I used it two Summers ago in saltwater on 15 to 20 hunts, all 6 to 9 hours.

GatorBoy · Jun 2, 2013

Man.. you hunt like me.
Pack-a-lunch

lookindown · Jun 2, 2013

GatorBoy said:
Man.. you hunt like me.
Pack-a-lunch

Yeah, its about 90 miles to the water from where I live and when we go we get our moneys worth.

NJnuggetpirate · Jun 19, 2013

Can Slaw said:
I don't think a corroded fitting will stop the AT Pro from working in saltwater That looks more like owner error to me. Looks like the detector was put away saltwater wet more than a few times.

My pro shaft is all scratched up but that's ok right

GatorBoy · Jun 19, 2013

Yeah.. mine is too.. it happens.
Try to make sure you rinse it real well before retracting the shaft..little bits of sand can get in and act like sandpaper.

NJnuggetpirate · Jun 20, 2013

GatorBoy said:
Yeah.. mine is too.. it happens.
Try to make sure you rinse it real well before retracting the shaft..little bits of sand can get in and act like sandpaper.

Okay I will going out again today

MBbeachrat · Jun 20, 2013

The AT PRO is the true dream machine. Gets great depth even on small jewelry without any false signals. Picks up gold chains. Quiet operation even in black sand. A dream in the salty surf, it is so stable. The guys that use them where I hunt always kill it. That will be my next machine for sure!

NJnuggetpirate · Jun 20, 2013

MBbeachrat said:
The AT PRO is the true dream machine. Gets great depth even on small jewelry without any false signals. Picks up gold chains. Quit operation even in black sand. A dream in the salty surf, it is so stable. The guys that use them where I hunt always kill it. That will be my next machine for sure!

Love mine still haven't found gold yet though

GatorBoy · Jun 20, 2013

One of those pull tabs wont be a pull tab one of these days.. 8-)

Jay In NewKen · Jun 20, 2013

Mine falsed some at Myrtle (wet sand and and surf) but can't wait to give it another go next month in Jersey. Now that i got a decent scoop, I'm curious how it will perform there. Def prefer the stock coil over the 5x8 at the beach.

NJnuggetpirate · Jun 20, 2013

Jay In NewKen said:
Mine falsed some at Myrtle (wet sand and and surf) but can't wait to give it another go next month in Jersey. Now that i got a decent scoop, I'm curious how it will perform there. Def prefer the stock coil over the 5x8 at the beach.

Good luck what beach are you hitting

Jay In NewKen · Jun 20, 2013

NJnuggetpirate said:
Good luck what beach are you hitting

Its a family vacation and we're about a block from the beach in Sea Isle City. Taking the lil'250 for family members to hit the dry sand with. I welcome the company.

NJcigarman · Jun 20, 2013

In Jersey my AT works great in the dry and wet sand. However it will false in Ventnor and AC. Clean quiet in Ocean City, Avalon, and Stone Harbor. All depends on the black sand so more time than not I use the PI. However I am getting too old for all the digging. But that machine talks to me after 15 years.

dham · Mar 27, 2015

NJcigarman said:
In Jersey my AT works great in the dry and wet sand. However it will false in Ventnor and AC. Clean quiet in Ocean City, Avalon, and Stone Harbor. All depends on the black sand so more time than not I use the PI. However I am getting too old for all the digging. But that machine talks to me after 15 years.

Hi NJcigarman, I am contemplating an AT Pro purchase. I plan to use it mainly in the AC/Ventnor areas. Do you think there is some sort of EMI happening at those beaches? Is the falseing to the point that it is unusable or merely annoying?

treasure diver ct · Apr 10, 2015

It falses abit in saltwater, you have to run it low ..... But once you get the hang of it you could find something like this

ImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1428664687.733297.webp

Found last year using a garrett at pro

GatorBoy · Apr 10, 2015

The title of this thread should be AT Pro in highly mineralized environments.. It's not the salt water that creates any issues

rickivens · Aug 19, 2015

Well I am going to find out. I just ordered one from Kellyco and will be hunting nearly exclusively in the salt waters of the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. I thought long and hard about other units but read enough positive about salt surf hunting with the AT Pro to take the plunge. I had a long talk with Rusty from Garret, a very nice guy. He gave me some pointers on salt water use. We both have some hearing loss and he has trouble hearing some of the subtle high frequency changes of tone that may be necessary to mentally discriminate targets and likes a visual alert as well, I think I may have the same problem.
If I like the concept but want a better unit I will move to what I really wanted to begin with the Minelab CTX 3030 but that is an expense toy.

MrMikeJackie · Aug 19, 2015

GatorBoy said:
The title of this thread should be AT Pro in highly mineralized environments.. It's not the salt water that creates any issues

Ummm, and what is salt water again?

Sir Gala Clad · Aug 19, 2015

Where I hunt a difference of two inches in depth usually determines if I find something of value or get skunked when detecting in the water or on wet sand (salt water beaches).

lookindown said:
On the Florida West coast beaches my AT PRO does good and is only 2 inches shallower than my CZ21, in the water and wet sand...In some other states it may not work so well. I have to run in standard mode or it falses, but there is nothing wrong with running in standard mode. People that have trouble using the AT on Florida beaches just havent figured out how to set it up. Its not the best saltwater detector but it does quite well in the Florida surf.

Sir Gala Clad · Aug 19, 2015

rickivens said:
Well I am going to find out. I just ordered one from Kellyco and will be hunting nearly exclusively in the salt waters of the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. I thought long and hard about other units but read enough positive about salt surf hunting with the AT Pro to take the plunge. I had a long talk with Rusty from Garret, a very nice guy. He gave me some pointers on salt water use. We both have some hearing loss and he has trouble hearing some of the subtle high frequency changes of tone that may be necessary to mentally discriminate targets and likes a visual alert as well, I think I may have the same problem.
If I like the concept but want a better unit I will move to what I really wanted to begin with the Minelab CTX 3030 but that is an expense toy.

It's not a toy!