Steve Herschbach
Hero Member
I guess I am a bit surprised a new waterproof ground balancing pulse induction metal detector optimized for gold and salt water operation is almost on dealer shelves and next to no discussion here. Is nobody as interested in water hunting with the new Garrett ATX as I am? It appears to offer something no PI detector has offered before - the ability to use the ground balance circuit to mitigate the effects of salt water as opposed to increasing the pulse delay.
From the ATX owners manual:
Saltwater Operation
When mixed with water, salt and other electrolytes become conductive and may therefore cause any detector to respond as if the saltwater were a metal target. In fact, to a detector, saltwater has an electrical conductivity very similar to foil, fine gold and other poor conductors.
Traditionally with pulse detectors, to address the saltwater response the Delay/Discrimination setting was increased until the saltwater response was sufficiently eliminated.This method, although effective, can significantly reduce the detection of fine gold, jewelry, and other poor conductors due to the increased Discrimination setting.
Therefore, to help reduce this undesirable loss of detection, the ATX has an alternative method to address saltwater. Specifically, the ATX can automatically ground balance out the saltwater response without the need to increase Discrimination; thereby maintaining a better response to fine gold, jewelry, and other poor conductors.
The two methods to address saltwater are:
1) Ground Balance Method: Leave Discrimination set to minimum and Ground Balance to the saltwater as would be done for any other ground. This method will provide the best detection of fine gold, etc. but will produce a low-tone response for all targets. It is important to Ground Balance the detector when it moves to a new region of the beach (i.e. from wet sand to dry sand at the water's edge).
2) Traditional Discrimination Method: Incrementally increase the Discrimination setting until the saltwater response is sufficiently eliminated, typically around 37. Ground Balance is not required with this method. This method will maintain normal high and low tone responses, but will have reduced detection of fine gold, etc. Reduce the Discrimination setting toward zero when moving from wet sand to dry.
For either method, the following basic techniques will help to achieve the best performance.
1. Swing the searchcoil flat and at a constant height. Do not bounce the coil or lift the coil at the end of swings.
2. Hunt the three different regions of the beach (dry sand, wet sand, submerged) one at a time rather than going back and forth between regions. This will allow the detector to be set optimally for each region.
3. Swing the searchcoil parallel to the water's edge to minimize changes in moisture levels within a given swing.
The detector may become less stable in shallow, breaking surf where the searchcoil is in and out of the saltwater. In this area the detector is encountering a constantly changing environment produced by the surf, making it more difficult for the detector to stabilize. Experiment with the two methods above to determine which you prefer, and if necessary, reduce Sensitivity to obtain stable operation.
The ATX is waterproof to ten feet, has a built in waterproof external speaker, optional underwater headphones (check out the new DetectorPro units!) and three coil options. The ATX collapses to extremely short diving lengths or extends to very long wading lengths. The unit has proven capability of hitting gold items weighing less than 1/10th gram. The 15" x 20" mono coil should be a beach sweepers dream. Finally, there is a halfway decent iron check for shallow ferrous trash.
Honestly, this should be a killer beach detector.
From the ATX owners manual:
Saltwater Operation
When mixed with water, salt and other electrolytes become conductive and may therefore cause any detector to respond as if the saltwater were a metal target. In fact, to a detector, saltwater has an electrical conductivity very similar to foil, fine gold and other poor conductors.
Traditionally with pulse detectors, to address the saltwater response the Delay/Discrimination setting was increased until the saltwater response was sufficiently eliminated.This method, although effective, can significantly reduce the detection of fine gold, jewelry, and other poor conductors due to the increased Discrimination setting.
Therefore, to help reduce this undesirable loss of detection, the ATX has an alternative method to address saltwater. Specifically, the ATX can automatically ground balance out the saltwater response without the need to increase Discrimination; thereby maintaining a better response to fine gold, jewelry, and other poor conductors.
The two methods to address saltwater are:
1) Ground Balance Method: Leave Discrimination set to minimum and Ground Balance to the saltwater as would be done for any other ground. This method will provide the best detection of fine gold, etc. but will produce a low-tone response for all targets. It is important to Ground Balance the detector when it moves to a new region of the beach (i.e. from wet sand to dry sand at the water's edge).
2) Traditional Discrimination Method: Incrementally increase the Discrimination setting until the saltwater response is sufficiently eliminated, typically around 37. Ground Balance is not required with this method. This method will maintain normal high and low tone responses, but will have reduced detection of fine gold, etc. Reduce the Discrimination setting toward zero when moving from wet sand to dry.
For either method, the following basic techniques will help to achieve the best performance.
1. Swing the searchcoil flat and at a constant height. Do not bounce the coil or lift the coil at the end of swings.
2. Hunt the three different regions of the beach (dry sand, wet sand, submerged) one at a time rather than going back and forth between regions. This will allow the detector to be set optimally for each region.
3. Swing the searchcoil parallel to the water's edge to minimize changes in moisture levels within a given swing.
The detector may become less stable in shallow, breaking surf where the searchcoil is in and out of the saltwater. In this area the detector is encountering a constantly changing environment produced by the surf, making it more difficult for the detector to stabilize. Experiment with the two methods above to determine which you prefer, and if necessary, reduce Sensitivity to obtain stable operation.
The ATX is waterproof to ten feet, has a built in waterproof external speaker, optional underwater headphones (check out the new DetectorPro units!) and three coil options. The ATX collapses to extremely short diving lengths or extends to very long wading lengths. The unit has proven capability of hitting gold items weighing less than 1/10th gram. The 15" x 20" mono coil should be a beach sweepers dream. Finally, there is a halfway decent iron check for shallow ferrous trash.
Honestly, this should be a killer beach detector.
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