Steve, thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge with me, it is greatly appreciated. While I did read about leaving the GB neutral, I have never actually tried it before as the ATX tends to go crazy once the coil gets in or near the water. I will certainly try your suggestions and update you on my results.
One thing I should also ask about is the Frequency Scan (FS) function. I normally do my set-up steps as per the GARRETT manual (similar to what you outlined in your reply), but how and when do you think is best to perform the FS?
I've seen ATX user's holding the coil elevated, some rest it on the ground and some even do the FS with the coil in the water.
Also I turn my Pin-pointer on when I'm doing the FS as I found that the carrot creates a lot of unwanted feedback in the headphones when I use it if I don't do this first, which can be very annoying to say the least.
Fortunately, we have no black sand here ... just an unbelievable amount of pure white parrot fish deposits, beach-rock and probably the most saline water in the Western hemisphere.
Once again, thank you for your feedback.