Salt Water Surf Hunting and the AT PRO

[EZrider]

Yeah due to that fact catalogs and brochures have been know to be in serious error more than once so don't bet your life on those. HAA.

Bill

You were the one who said "If Garrett says so, it's a fact"

All anyone has to do is read the specs on some dedicated water machines. How and why they work well in the salt. A good machine to look at is a Fisher CZ-21. Just so we don't always compare to a Minelab.

Thing like, Patented Dual-Frequency Fourier Domain Signal analysis, Wet-sand operation, Separately sealed battery compartment with 4-9v batteries (gives a solid 45 hour use. This is coped from the Fisher CZ-21. Mind you it even has a concentric coil not a DD. Like a said before. I think some will take it to the salt water beach and even make some finds with it. But unless it has a mode or switch that allows to to GB in the wet salt sand "fagidabouit".

Just like the post someone made above. I don't like to see people buy into something and being mislead on a product. With the price of dedicated salt water beach/dive machines. I can see where people are looking at the AT.

 

[jbow]

n/t

 

[jbow]

That will be for the AT- PROb modeal... b for beach.

J

 

[jbow]

What the AT seems to be (to me) is a midrange relic machine that will hunt in the rain, no problem and a freshwater beach hunting machine for jewelry. Not the best coin machine but OK. Lightweight and fun to use.

Does anyone really think that Garretts is going to introduce a detector that sells for a but over 500 bucks that is going out perform their "top of the line" detector that sells for a bit over 900 bucks??

What sort of business model would that be? Sort of "Well, we have thing expensive model here but we also have a mid range model for near half the price that is a better detector. You get more functions on the expensive one but you don't need them, the cheaper one will go just as deep, work better, and find more treasure".

Does that make any sense at all?? I think the AT-PRO is a big step in the right direction for people who want a good midrange relic machine. The waterproofing is an big extra. Maybe they will move ahead with this platform and produce a dedicated saltwater AT model.

In any case I wouldn't look for the AT-PRO to be better than a 1k dollar machine and certainly not better than a 1.5k dollar machine... it is always better to be pleasantly surprised than it is to be disappointed.

Just my opinion... I could am sometimes wrong (but I don't think so this time).

J

 

[SteveP(NH)]

<snip>
Just to clear up a thing for you. DD coils are not the coil if choice to use in salt environments All DD coils share a few drawbacks. They act up in the salt environment, generally by falsing, and they have a particular good liking for rusty bottle caps. DD coils are designed for strong ground mineralization as iron enriched soil such as the red clay type found inland, and the bad stuff in the gold fields.
<snip>

Pretty much all of the information I have read from manufacturers, dealers and forums is that the DD coil is the coil of choice to use on a salt water beach, (I include a graphic from Garrett's recently published AT-Pro brochure as an illustration of what I mean). Also most of the other detectorists (using VLF machines) I see at the beach are using DD coils.

You are the first one I have heard say that a DD is not the coil of choice. So I would very much like to hear you reasoning about why another coil would be preferable, beside that DDs like rusty iron which I agree they do. It seems to me from using both concentric and DD coils at the beach on all purpose VLF machines that there is not any performance characteristic using the concentric that would make it a better choice. Can you say what coil you think is best to use on a VLF and why that coil is a better choice than the DD coil? Thanks it is always a good thing to learn something new about detecting.

 

[Mr.Bill]

n/t

 

[bearkat4160]

I've seen the low cost ACE 250 beat or keep up with much more expensive, other brand machines. I would expect the At Pro to do the same. It should keep up with the F75 or T2. Maybe not best them but keep up, which is fine with me as I saved $500-$600 on the AT Pro instead of an F75 per se.


Alan

 

[bearkat4160]

You are correct Steve....concentrics are noisy in hot ground as well as salt ground. DD's purr. Dont know what Bill was getting at.

Alan

 

[EZrider]

CZ-21 has concentric and is dead quiet in the salt.. But it's built for it. My ETrac has a DD and while it handles the wet salt. It isnt built for it. The ETrac is more noisy and not as deep there. So DD vs Concentric is a moot point. It takes more than a manual ground balance and a coil to run in wet salt. It has to be built into the machine. Hot red ground is different than wet salt sand.

 

[tigermoth]

All you armchair experts procrastinating over the failure of the AT PRO before its release is quite comical :Ive seen all this before and when it proves to be a success they just melt back into their bubble and you don't hear anything more ,Ive always trusted Garrett and always will,they have been able to sell me a product that has repaid for itself,not many hobby's can do that and that's why I am a happy repeat buyer,lets just wait and see ,and put to the test by us the public,then you can give an opinion,I don't think we will be disappointed,,,Bazza

 

[Tony in FL]

All you armchair experts procrastinating over the failure of the AT PRO before its release is quite comical :Ive seen all this before and when it proves to be a success they just melt back into their bubble and you don't hear anything more ,Ive always trusted Garrett and always will,they have been able to sell me a product that has repaid for itself,not many hobby's can do that and that's why I am a happy repeat buyer,lets just wait and see ,and put to the test by us the public,then you can give an opinion,I don't think we will be disappointed,,,Bazza

The point of this thread is not that the AT PRO is going to be a failure but rather acknowledging that Garrett themselves seem to suggest that the AT PRO is a NO GO in the salt water surf environment and I trust they are correct in that matter. I am looking for a second machine right now and the AT PRO was on my short list until I saw the information directly from Garrett.

 

[gmanlight]

Mr Bill sold me a single frequency machine late this summer.
In a head to head test against a CZ the single freq machine hit better on a small
low conductive shallow target.
On a deep nickle the CZ had the edge.
This was in wet salt , the single freq machine is as stable as the CZ .
Mr Bill is a great guy to deal with.

 

[Detectorguru]

I bet it can hunt salt water. They have 2 high end beach detectors in their lineup. Why advertise the Pro to be able to accomplish this at a lower price point. Kinda like kickin your beach detectors to the curb.

 

[gmanlight]

If it as good as touted thy should dump every thing above the Ace and below the 2500.

If it was a killer at the beach thy would just raise the price instead of keeping
it a secret.

 

[NJgeoman]

FREAK OUT!

Good in SALT or Not good in SALT?????????????????????????????????

We need to know now! Give us the difinitive answer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jbow]

They did... it is in the OP.

J

 

[foiled again tab hunter]

n/t

 

[SteveP(NH)]

OP = Original Poster - i.e. the person who started the thread, so just go to the top of this topic and read the first post. This is a widely used term all across the internet. If you are going to use the net you need to learn the lingo.

Here is a resource for you in case you run into other terms you don't understand -

http://netforbeginners.about.com/cs/netiquette101/a/abbreviations.htm

 

[lasergod]

I am on the fence over this. Should I wait and find out? Should I get on the roller coaster? Is Garrett going to be quiet about this? I think the other options are great. But I think the Detector I own is great for what I do.
I really think think Garrett would initially sell allot more of these units if this question is answered correctly (release a better public statement). As far as full time use in the salt--- Maybe not the machine. Could be? Occasionally, if there is no south bound swell? I want this detector to work in the salt 95% in the salt water when there (5 times a year). In reality I could use one of those cheap Chinese machine for that length of time. I don't think a statement concerning balancing in saltwater would really effect the overall sale of the unit with its qualities.

After doing this post I feel... worried and uncomfortable about this purchase. Hype, Bull****, What is real?

THIS STATEMENT HAS BEEN APPROVED BY ME..... AND CAN BE FORWARDED TO GARRETT.

 

[EZrider]

Since the AT and the new G2 that has been tested in the wet salt are close. If the AT can ground balance in the wet it will work. But like the G2 it just get the depth of a machine that is designed for salt water. The G2 specificly states it will ground balance to salt. Also has a DD coil. I just don't see it replacing my deicated land and water machine.