Garrett AT Max Chatter

[mh9162013]

4 minutes ago, 67GTA said:

They will both find about the same as far as coins/relics. Where the multi-IQ shines is with small jewelry and low conductors such as foil/nickels. The Max will give a more scratchy signal and targets can be easily walked over because they can get lost in with the chatter. As you probably already know, multi will still give you clear signals even down to 1.

That makes sense. Right now, I'm leaning toward keeping the AT Max and selling my 540, as I still have a Vanquish 340 which I think should do just fine at a salt water beach or tot lot.

[kac]

The Max is very gainy so first nudge up the iron disc a few clicks to see if that helps. If that doesn't work and the machine makes noise when not in motion there could be emi issues. Couple clicks down from max sensitivity shouldn't hurt depth much.

If you generally have trouble ground balancing it even with sensitivity dropped down you may need to send it in for service. Buddy had to do that with his as he may have banged it up when he moved.

[mh9162013]

9 hours ago, kac said:

If you generally have trouble ground balancing it even with sensitivity dropped down you may need to send it in for service. Buddy had to do that with his as he may have banged it up when he moved.

What do you mean by trouble ground balance? I ask because I have the following question:

Is it normal for the AT Max to be chattery while ground balancing?

Generally, I need to keep my AT Max at around a 3-4 on the sensitivity to stop most of the chatter while detecting in my yard. Sometimes I can get to 5, but 3-4 is the norm.

When ground balancing, an otherwise quiet AT Max will start getting chatty and jittery. This occurs even if I have the sensitivity at a 1 while ground balancing and it's completely quiet when just sitting still.

In other words, is it normal to have all that noise while I pump the coil up and down until the "back and forth" sound (that you typically hear when ground balancing, but dies down as you pump the coil) goes away?

[mh9162013]

9 hours ago, kac said:

The Max is very gainy so first nudge up the iron disc a few clicks to see if that helps.

That does help, but it's such a neurotic machine, I still get an occasional blip or chirp even when I set the iron discrim all the way up to 44. Luckily, it's not bad and doesn't hinder my coin/silver hunting attempts at all. It's just not as quiet as my 540, but I can live with that.

[kac]

If you have to run your sensitivity that low then that is the issue my buddy had with his. Could be something broken internally not sure. Garrett fixed and sent his back but I haven't checked it out for him yet. He says it is much quieter.

Max should be noisier than the AT Pro in comparison as it has much more power to it. In other words depth wise the AT Max with stock coil is close to same depth as an AT Pro with a Nel Big 17x15 coil to give you an idea. You should be able to run it on most grounds though with maybe couple clicks down on sensitivity where the AT Pro you can run flat out in most areas. Some areas th ground is too tough for some machines.

Do you have a lot of red clay where you are?

[mh9162013]

27 minutes ago, kac said:

Do you have a lot of red clay where you are?

In my yard, I seem to have a lot of EMI. When using my 540, I usually have my sensitivity no higher than 8. With my AT Max, I keep it around a 2 or 3,  but no higher than 4. However, at a local park, I can run my AT Max at 5 or 6 sensitivity, no problem. Even 7 is usable, although not the most enjoyable or easy to use.

As for red clay, no, not in my yard. But I do have some reddish-brown-yellow clay that's about 1-4 inches below some relatively mild dark brown/black soil. I've attached a pic of what my soil (in terms of color) and its profile roughly looks like. This isn't from my yard (it's from a nearby town where I sometimes hunt), but gives you an idea of the kind of clay I have and the dark brown dirt that's above it.

Based on how many users on Youtube use their AT Maxes, it seems like my level of chattiness is normal. The only exception seems to be the ground balancing. Last time I was at the park, I forgot to ground balance it before hunting, but that's b/c I was hunting a sand-filled tot lot and it worked just fine. But I'll need to try ground balancing somewhere besides my home to determine if its' my machine or maybe my EMI.

[mh9162013]

29 minutes ago, kac said:

In other words depth wise the AT Max with stock coil is close to same depth as an AT Pro with a Nel Big 17x15 coil to give you an idea.

That's good to know. Out of curiosity, how do you know that? Did you do some air or real world tests to compare the machines/coils?

Based on my research, the NEL Big gives the AT Pro about an extra 25%-33% increase in depth on coin targets during air testing when compared to the stock coil. However, in real world conditions, I'm getting the impression the depth increase is closer to 5%-15%. However, the ability of the AT Pro to accurately ID the target goes up. That alone is a good reason to get the bigger coil as I know one weakness of the AT Max or Pro against an MIQ machine is that it may be able to detect the a target to depths that are as good as an Equinox or Vanquish, but the VDI will indicate it's iron or an iffy signal that no one would usually dig. However, the MIQ machine is more likely to give it a proper solid tone and/or be more accurate with its ID.

[kac]

Did an air test between the Max with stock dd and AT pro with nel big when my buddy first got it. Stock dd vs nel big air test is 50% deeper on the AT Pro but in the field that can be much less and really depends on ground conditions. I don't think it is worth the weight to swing though, it is really heavy. ID accuracy at depth is definitely better on the ML at depth in bad ground though when I got my AT Pro back from service Garrett had put in the latest firmware and now id's and audio are better paired up, in other words as the signal drops off I still have id #'s

If your looking for a smooth coil on your max You should check out the Mars Tiger. I may have my buddy try it on his max and see how he likes it, very stable on the Pro.

[mh9162013]

7 hours ago, kac said:

I don't think it is worth the weight to swing though, it is really heavy

That's the impression I'm getting concerning that coil. People would rather use the NEL Storm instead...

[kac]

For Nel coils the Superfly is pretty sweet. Very light but not robust so i tend not to use it in the woods. The Mars Tiger is slightly heavier than the stock Garrett coil but very emi resistant. This might explain why it's quiet. Took my AT Pro to the old river here that has a lot of iron patches and the coil did very well there.