I started with the Garrett Ace 350. Great in the dry sand, but falses on the wet if you don't tone down the sensitivity.
Next was the Garrett Sea Hunter. It's a diver's pulse induction machine. Be prepared to dig everything. I nicknamed it "Hairpin" for a reason.
Then came the Fisher CZ-21. Great water machine. It has a good transition from the dry sand to the wet with little falsing or adjustment. It is waterproof up to 200 ft. The coil and headphones are fixed. It's a little heavy, so be prepared to belt mount the controls.
I wanted the flexibility to change the coil and headphones, so I bought a used Minelab Sovereign GT and added the 15" Coiltek Wonderful Orange Thing coil and Skullies headphones. The "SovWOT" controls are not submersible, but the coil is fine in salt water. It transitions well from dry to wet sand and is DEEP. It takes some time to learn the tones, but once I STARTED to dial it in, a whole new world opened up. I like the SovWOT so much, I sold "Hairpin" bought a backup GT. But Itsa is right, you need to slow your swing to give it time to process the target signal.
As good as the CZ is, I got so used to the GT that the CZ only saw the light of day maybe four times since December 2013. It started to get hard to re-think the ground balancing, tones, etc. I knew I needed a waterproof machine, so I sold the CZ and bought a Minelab Excalibur 1000 (Blue). Similar mode of operation and tones, but submersible to 200 feet.
So, there you have it! I have the Ace 350, two Sovereign GTs, and an Excal Blue in the stable. The Ace hasn't seen the light of day in nearly three years, but I keep it to loan to a friend if they want to try the hobby. If I were to do it again, the Ace 350 was a good choice for a starter. Today, I might start with an AT Pro, but knowing what I know now, I would have transitioned directly to the Sovereign GT.
How's that?
R5