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Unstable Garrett At Max

W

Waterdog

Well-known member
I took my At max with a friend who also has a Garrett At Max to a few parks this afternoon. Both of our machines were not stable at any of three parks we went to, even after we properly ground balanced at each of these parks. The sound was good but the numbers were jumping all over the place. On the surface the numbers were good, but once the coins were 2 to 3 inches down not stable.
Never had this issue with the Garrett At Pro at any of these 3 parks.
We were hunting with the 5x8 coin, ground balanced between 88-91-95 in zero mode.
Any ideas or comments ?
 
Rebooted it?
Flipped the headset around?
Turned down the sensitivity?
Change to Difference frequency?
Detecting too close together?
 
We was metal detecting 100 yards apart. I turned my sensitivity down, and tried hunting, tried rebooting the machine, and tried a few different frequencies. My head phones was on the correct side. (already posted on that ) Going to go back to these parks tomorrow with the pro and see if I can duplicate what happened today. Going to take the max and the pro see if I get these same results. If I get the same results tomorrow on the max again and not the pro, I may just go back to the pro.
I took the max with me to Rye patch hunt in Nevada and the ground was 95 and I had no problems...
 
When I stop and think about it, even at Rye patch the numbers jumped around, but at that kind of of hunt I dig it all when it beeps.
 
I have a good understanding in what you are conveying. I noticed this too. It seems as if the AT Pro is more stable with more reliable number readouts. The Max seems more "fluid" with numbers jumping around more. Try lowering your sensitivity a few bars and go into a negative threshold. (at least give this is try) This calmed the machine down for me. The Max is definitely more sensitive and seems the slightest movement of the coil gets things jumping. The audio report is definitely different then the Pro. A different "Twang" to it and doesn't seem as "sharp" as the Pro either. Hard to describe. I also noticed when I got a hit on a target at several inches deep, I had to scan back over to make sure I was hearing correctly. I then had to slow down considerably to get a (for the most part) stable readout. I am not quite sure how to word this but the Max seems different in that it "draws" target signals out of the ground. Not so with the Pro. The Pro, boom! you hit a nice target. The Max, almost seems like it is trying to coerce the signal up and out. Maybe better stated, the Max kind of like jumps on the minerals in the ground pounding on them and wrestling to get the good target signal. I feel maybe this is where the instability in numbers comes from while it is trying to lock onto the target. Well, that is my take on what I have experienced in the very short time I have owned it. Let us know how you make out. Hopefully if all goes well, I am taking the Max to the ocean this weekend.


Waterdog said:
I took my At max with a friend who also has a Garrett At Max to a few parks this afternoon. Both of our machines were not stable at any of three parks we went to, even after we properly ground balanced at each of these parks. The sound was good but the numbers were jumping all over the place. On the surface the numbers were good, but once the coins were 2 to 3 inches down not stable.
Never had this issue with the Garrett At Pro at any of these 3 parks.
We were hunting with the 5x8 coin, ground balanced between 88-91-95 in zero mode.
Any ideas or comments ?
Click to expand...
 
I went back to the park with the Garrett At pro and the Garrett At max with both the coils. ( 8 1/2 x 11 and the 5x8 coils ) I took the Garrett At pro out first and found a quarter at 6 inches with 8 1/2 x 11 coil. I marked the spot went back and got the Garrett At max with the 8 1/2 x 11 coil . I went over the marked area ground balanced it Then went over the spot I could not tell you what was in the ground. The numbers was unstable and every pass gave me a new number. I reset the machine and still had the same results.
So I went back to the car put her away and called Garrett. I told them what was happening that I had tried both coils, reset the machine ect, They gave me a RMA number to return the control box and the coil at a local UPS office.
Once again I am waiting on a Garrett At max but they took care of me. :goodnight:
 
You will be good, it just one of life's adventures. Let us know how it all turns out. HH jim tn
 
Did it give an audio indication that the quarter was there?
 
Well is your buddy sending his back also?
 
Dang his may of had the same thing going on with it. When you get yours back and in tip top working condition he may be wishing he hung on to it.
 
When I sent the max in I told them in a letter to keep it till they had it right. I have an At pro to use while it's out.
 
[size=medium]JIm I will try to explain what Garretts Engineer told me yesterday at the factory. I too had a problem with the sounds ect with my MAX ( BUT I have a 80% hearing Loss). Ok He said he designed the AT Max audio system based on the AT Golds audio system with newer updates and changes to utilze the thershold and the modulated deep signals. Nothning can make it louder by design.but it does work and works correctly, ony thing I can do itswitch to the Blue water Phones, I tried them and they are louder on the Max and signals seemed sharper. may just be my hearing but hope this helps you or someone else out.

BTW I Love my MAX[/size]
 
[size=medium]:crazy:Also forgot to mention the recovery rate is almost twice as fast as the Pro and you have to really slow you swing speed down when you do it will surprise you what you will find[/size]
 
I noticed this too. Much faster recovery than the Pro.

Buddy_TX said:
[size=medium]:crazy:Also forgot to mention the recovery rate is almost twice as fast as the Pro and you have to really slow you swing speed down when you do it will surprise you what you will find[/size]
Click to expand...
 
I went to a park and when an object like a quarter or a dime was buried more than three or four inches I could not ID the target. Air tests was different
 
Definitely something wrong with your machine. I buried a silver quarter, silver dime and a silver war nickel (each one was freshly buried at 7") in my highly mineralized soil. I was able to clearly hear and have positive ID even with the iron junk that was present in the hole. ID was jumpy but slowing down my coil speed minimized the "jumpiness" . I would definitely Contact Garrett. Keep us posted.
 
Mine is doing the exact same thing. This maybe the 3rd time I've used it. Glad I got plenty of spares to use. The wireless pin pointer also having issues. I have 2 at pros , minelab CTX, and Etrac, a couple of Fishers. Garrett has something going on with the detector. Waiting on a reply from them now.
 
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