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Garrett AT Max Chatter


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8 hours ago, kac said:

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.

Something to consider, thanks!

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It seems for any detector with troublesome EMI the Mars Tiger might be the way to go.  My T2 was shocking for EMI, so much so I pulled it apart and did some EMI mods to it like extra shielding paint and copper tape on the housing wired to the shield point on the PCB.   That gave some improvement but nowhere near the improvement I get by just strapping on the Mars Tiger.

This persons experience with the Tiger on the T2 basically mirrors mine.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/teknetics/578415-review-mars-tiger-coil.html

For your chattery AT Pro it maybe the coil of choice, it's also solid as a rock, I'd say the best built coil I've ever owned, it's tough, absolutely tough if you haven't seen these videos of them strength testing the Mars coils it's worth the watch, quite funny really.  I doubt many coils would stand up to this punishment, even the coil cables are super tough.

 

It's not a super light coil, I think the strength justifies the weight though.

 

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Thanks for the additional insight, phrunt!

If the Mars Tiger is so good, why don't we hear more about it? Seems like when it comes to Garrett AT series aftermarket coils, NEL gets all the love.

EDIT: Hmmm, maybe it's because it's not designed for the AT Max? According to Mars' website, the AT Max isn't listed as a compatible detector.

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ahhh bugger! That explains it, I think Mars also struggled to get a foothold in many markets outside of Europe as they don't seem to have enough distributors.  I don't know about US availability but here we have to import them direct from Ukraine which ads to the cost of buying locally.

Nel is really the market leader in aftermarket VLF coils so I think by default people just order Nel/Cors.

Detech make a really good coil with the Ultimate coil but again the Nel Tornado although a lot heavier is the more popular coil.   The Ultimate isn't very good in high EMI though, the Tornado is slightly better. 

Something Mars point out on their coils marketing is they have protection from electrical interference, prior to buying one I thought this might be just marketing, but it does appear they really do have some sort of protection, I don't know how they do it, but it does work.

487789158_Tigercoil.jpg.576fb7f64871a1f58e7bbc07ca389dca.jpg

 

And yea, Serious Detecting sell the Tiger for the AT Gold but specifically mention it's not for the AT Max.

https://www.seriousdetecting.com/product/mars-tiger-13x10-dd-waterproof-search-coil-garrett-gold-metal-detector/

 

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I did some searching online for the Mars Tiger coil and many sellers list the AT Max as a supported detector. But based on the link you just sent and what I found on Mars' website, I'm guessing those distributors are wrong.

Or maybe they're not wrong, in that the coil will work with the AT Max. However, it won't work very well and maybe it barely outperforms the stock coil.

 

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Just tried my buddies Max since he got it back from service and it ground balances without chatter at full sensitivity now. We couldn't get it quiet before down to 2-3 bars from the minimum. With that being said I would call Garrett and send it in.

As for coils the AT series coils should be compatible. I put my 9x12 AT Pro concentric on his Max and it runs good. He will be using it on his trip to NC.

Depth difference on my AT Pro between the concentric and stock dd is not a whole lot maybe an inch or so? I bought little more than a year ago to hunt near bottle cap infested areas because concentrics run flat iron closer to the iron range and it worked well just didn't use it much.

I didn't get a chance to try the Mars on it but may try it this thursday if I can sneak out hunting with him.

When changing coils on the AT series machines you do need to do a factory reset in case you didn't know that already.

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6 hours ago, kac said:

With that being said I would call Garrett and send it in.

From what I've seen on Youtube, my AT Max is about as chatty as many other machines...I don't think there's anything "wrong" with it.

That being said, I can see Garrett tuning down the gain/power somewhat if I were to send it in. Not sure if I'm going to do that, but it's something to consider. It's fairly new and should still be under warranty (assuming the warranty is transferrable as I bought this used).

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My Buddies Max was broken where we couldn't ground balance it without setting the ground balance way way down. Previously it was fine. After the repair it works well.

AT Max is chatty because they really boost the power and noisy if compared to the AT Pro. Just saying that as I have used both. Garrett won't tune it down or nerf the machine.

Try in different areas and even different times of day to see if EMI might be the cause.

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7 hours ago, kac said:

Try in different areas and even different times of day to see if EMI might be the cause.

Will do.

I already tried it at a local tot lot and it was much better. Slightly usable at even a 7 (out of eight) on the sensitivity setting. Definitely usable at 5.

I need to do more testing, but have been busy lately (and it's been a lot hotter outside). I need to complete testing to decide if I'm going to sell the AT Max or my Vanquish 540.

My current assessment is that it's not an overall better or worse machine than my 540 in terms of finding coins in my yard or at a local tot lot. Rather, it's just different.

I think of my AT Max as a sail boat while my 540 is pleasure cruiser. They should still get you to where you need to go on the water, but one requires more effort and practice from the user to get there.

Right now, the idea of learning how to sail is appealing. I just need to confirm my area where I like to hunt has enough "wind" to make sailing possible.

 

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If EMI is becoming a problem not the machines fault but the areas, the Max can still make a good dependable water hunter especially fresh water lakes and rivers. EMI is not a problem when the control box is submersed.

I have the SeaHunter that is fantastic around bog iron but because we have power lines all over the place I am limited where I can hunt with it along rivers and lakes unless the box is submerged.

Still concerns me that you can't run that machine flat out or close to flat out. Wouldn't hurt to ask Garrett.

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