Looking for an honest answer.

[Anonymous]

Sold all my detectors and thinking of doing some fresh water beach detecting.
Thought I would not go in the water but advice says if you drop it on a wet beach and it is not water proof then it's gone.
I have read so many reviews that I am going crazy. I have read the AT have no depth and then I read other wise.
First question-How good is it as a fresh water beach detector.
2nd question Has anyone used the sniper 4" coil.
This AT pro gold-Is that two coils both for gold I see so many of them for sale that I was just wondering.
I keep going back and forth from the At to the Etrac to the SE pro
I know it will not beat the Etrac but I just want a good machine for the beach.
Thanks for any advice at all and wish all a lucky day.
David

 

[MikeLab]

Just some thoughts here. An expensive detector is going to work better if you can learn to use it to it's fullest. I don't know any figures but I suspect most people do not get this far. Even the medium priced detectors like the AT Pro I doubt most people master it. It takes more time than most are willing to spend. A more complicated detector takes even longer if ever. Lots of trash talk by a few people about the AT Pro. Do you think they learned it? No chance.

A small coil works better in the high trash areas where others refuse to search. But this still is tedious work and that size doesn't cover as much area. The 5 x 8 double-d is probably going to be more useful except in the high trash areas, but one good find with the small coil... .

I have an AT Gold. Compared to the AT Pro the ground balance on the Gold is a more narrow range and more suited for mineralized ground whereas the Pro will tune to the more conductive soils. The AT Gold has some nice features like a threshold adjustment that can go into the negative numbers when working areas with a lot of ground noise. And I also like the ground balance window when working on sand which is usually an uneven surface. It can also be used to tune down some hot rocks.

I like the depth on the AT Gold. All Metal mode I listen for the short, deep ones. Also read some of Clive Clynick's books on using All Metal mode.

 

[John-Edmonton]

I have used the sniper coil. I's strength lies in getting close to metal in playgrounds, chain link fences and rebar in the concrete sidewalks. The 5 x 8 coil is probably the better choice for beach hunting, as it gets better separation and the DD will get you greater depth (but not too much)

 

[jim tn]

David, never fear about the depth of the A T Pro on fresh water beaches. It is hard to get a true, accurate dug depth in sand, but I know I have dug sinkers, nickels and quarters and shotgun brass a foot deep with the stock 11" coil. I run mine in pro zero, no disc., max sen. and get a good ground balance. It is a simple detector to set up and settings are saved from one hunt to the next. Save for the g b. I've had more expensive detectors, but none that hunted any better for me. HH jim tn

 

[mudpuppy]

Wellity wellity, wellity!... What a great topic for a Sat afternoon! We were all in your shoes when these rigs first came out in the Fall of what was it? 2011? a lot of us, myself included, lurked this forum and read the posts as the product was used afield ...Then, that danged Aquachigger found 7lbs of big old silver coins ..Out came the CC, and I bought mine in July of 2012...! Theres a lot of users that just couldnt ignore it any longer...

Honest answer for fresh water beach hunting/wading? Get the AtPro with the blue headphones and the stock coil.(from a Forum dealer) ....thats all you need besides a good scoop, waders, wetsuit....that is if you want to blow through a place, trashy or not and pull good targets. A few things to mention, especially if you go back and read some of the posts, some of the 'top shelf' long time rig swingers are impressed with the Pro's ability to hit gold, especially chains, that other rigs cant see..(It WILL beat the Etrac on gold chains)...not just me saying that, long time E users will verify...

I ONLY use my Pro for fresh water beach/wading, for a little over 2 yrs now, nearly year round, even stomping through the ice..Its found me massive stinky piles of gold and silver, platinum and clad!...I treat it like its a survival tool, meaning pretty rough...it lives out in my vehicle all year ..I feed it with Elcheapo batteries...I took off the camlocks and threw them away, I run the lower rod out to full length and hammer some BIG freshwater up here...ZERO learning curve, just power it up in Pro zero, set your sens, disc, iron audio...you dont even need to use the PP button, not beach/water hunting...It will NOT miss a ring, or even a chain, small or large...(smallest .4gr 14k, largest to date, 12.3gr 18K) (yep, thats POINT 4!)

Some of us have learned to make due without a smaller coil by using only the center of the big 11"dd sort of as a sniper...easy peasy, just drop sens a bit to tighten up the target signature, sort of hover it and wiggle.. picks good stuff right out of the middle of a scrapyard!

The depth on the fresh is impressive to the point you will not want to post any pictures for the fear of being called a liar...Its also got a modulated audio, so deeper targets sound a bit softer than surface ones..a guy dont even need to look at the screen, except when learning it...dead on TID...you can hunt in the dark with no flashlight or backlight and mop up if you want...so thats it...If you want to find gold/silver on fresh water beaches/wading without a lot of fooling around...just get the stock Pro with the blue headphones..I am sure some more members here will be along shortly to chime in with their advice and experiences...but for me, up here hunting Lake Michigan and inland fresh water, this Pro has been one hell of a gold/silver/plat finding rig!
Mud.

 

[Anonymous]

Mudpuppy
you convinced me
I saw a dealer that had a lightly used one maybe I will give him a call.


thanks
I have to do something-reading and looking just make you change your mind more and you know as well as me.If it does not work for me then the answer is sell it and start reading again.
I will get the at PRO thanks
for some reason you made it clear to me.

david f ---- aka harwood73

 

[ajaj]

Not sure why people sometimes state that the AT series doesn't have great depth; both the AT Pro and Gold are killer machines with killer depth. If I was offered a free Etrac or had to buy another AT Pro (and I'm not allowed to sell the Etrac!), I would buy the AT Pro...seriously! Get the 5x8 coil also.

aj

 

[tarajudy]

I use my AT PRO fresh water lakes only. My settings are as follows STD MODE 0, SENS 2-3 FROM MAX GROUND, NOTCH FIRST BAR IRON DISCM 20-25 TH ATS IT.
Used in water depth just below water line. I will take on any high end detector. That's the story NO BS. FINDS THIS SUMMER ARE OVER 3000.00 IN GOLD, SILVER, COINS.
Remember this the further out from the shore line you are the less junk you will find and more of the goodies. 45 years hunting and I put in about 20-30 hours a week.
I live in a gated lake complex here in VIRGINIA W/5 BEACHES.

 

[dgruff]

I live in a gated lake complex here in VIRGINIA W/5 BEACHES.

Dang!! Y'all got any vacancies? That sounds like a place where I could live.

 

[huntingsonny]

BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK.........

 

[CladDog]

I think the AT Pro and Tesor Tiger Shark are great fresh water units that will give you plenty of depth.

Most fresh water beaches do not have the sink rate like salt water beaches, so that is big help.

Also, the deeper a unit goes, the more unreliable the tones and TID screen become.

So at after certain depth, if it beeps, you'd better dig it regardless of the tone or TID screen.

 

[asiandigger]

Never said that you doubt anyone will ever master the AT PRO, because I have. Guys here been know to use my name,,,stating that I've been there that's why there's nothing left. AT PRO is an great machine.