Garrett AT Max Chatter

[mh9162013]

1 hour ago, kac said:

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

I've watched a bunch of Youtube personalities who usually or occasionally operate the AT Max. Many of them can't reliably operate their machines at the 8 sensitivity setting (full sensitivity). Case in point:

 

At the 4:01 point she mentions how she normally runs the AT Max at 6 (2 off the top).

I think the only time I could use an AT Max on full sensitivity is in the middle of the woods, dozens of miles away from the nearest cell phone tower. And I'm perfectly fine with that. I'd rather have an "ultra mode" that I can only use 1% of the time than not have that "ultra mode" at all.

 

[kac]

I agree on the max but it should still be able to ground balance unless your ground is heavily mineralized. Reminds me of the Kruzer where you can't really run it full in most places. Your ground could be just really hot. If your having trouble and it is recent then I would investigate further. If the machine always ran like that in your area then it could be the area.

The Max has an All Metal mode, if you want to hear any EMI change to that and set the threshold so you can hear it and you may notice a flutter. Machines with just filtered modes the id's can get jumpy and unreliable.

[mh9162013]

58 minutes ago, kac said:

I agree on the max but it should still be able to ground balance unless your ground is heavily mineralized.

It's funny you bring that up, b/c I just watched a Hoover Boys video where they compare all 3 AT machines and when ground balancing the AT Max (at around a 90-95), it makes the same noise mine does. However, my soil is around 70-85, but still fairly mineralized. So now I'm not worried.

EDIT: 

This is the video phrunt mentioned. At the 3:27 mark you can hear the AT Max getting ground balanced...sounds just like mine in my soil.

 

[mh9162013]

47 minutes ago, kac said:

The Max has an All Metal mode, if you want to hear any EMI change to that and set the threshold so you can hear it and you may notice a flutter.

Would that flutter be the AT Max getting "hit" with an EMI burst or something?

[kac]

With the coil Not in motion and off the ground, any jumpy numbers or flutter is EMI. Could be cell towers, wifi boosters or just general transformers. In general high gain machines like the Max and like the Kruzer are more sensitive to that from my experience.

Off hours when people are sleeping try testing the machine and see if it's the same.

My buddies machine got bounced around and we believe his kid was playing around with it and his did have an issue that Garrett fixed. So in the same spot we couldnt get it quiet and ground balance with only 2-3 bars on sensitivity. After repairs the machine ground balanced at 2 bars and was pretty quiet (not like the AT Pro) and we were able to run it flat out and still not too bad with noise.

[mh9162013]

24 minutes ago, kac said:

Off hours when people are sleeping try testing the machine and see if it's the same.

I will, thanks for the suggestion.

[mh9162013]

Did a little testing with my AT Max in the front yard this morning. I noticed a few things.

One, the chatter was very fickle. Sometimes, it was horrendous (although just fine if sensitivity was at a 5 out of 8). But after ground balancing (usually in the 80s), it would sometimes go away. Or if I moved to another part of the yard, it got a lot better, even if directly under or 30-45 degree below-off-center of the power lines. Also changing channels sometimes seemed to make a difference and other times did not. Regardless, I was able to hunt at b/w a 5 or 8 (yes, 8!) sensitivity without serious issue. Also, the chatter/EMI issues usually got worse after I would turn off the machine, then turn it back on. As far as I know, the AT Max doesn't do any noise canceling on start up but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I'm beginning to think that the the machine's settings when last turned off has an effect on how chatty it is when you turn it on next.

So like Kac alluded to, different times of day seem to make a big difference in EMI issues.

Two, it looks like there are some issues with a few LCD segments on my screen. I've contacted Garrett to see what can be done about it.

So far, it looks like I'm going to keep this machine. Still need to do some more testing/hunting, though. I'm hoping to do it later this week...