A2coins
Gold Member
I got out with my new AT MAX in the snow for a couple hours, and also today in the rain I found a good amount of clad in a spot Ive hit many times with my AT PRO. No pics I did find a gun ciggarette lighter which Ill post soon. I wanted to post how I liked the at max. It was very easy to use since Ive used the at pro for so long .I love the bigger VDI and backlight and the cordless headphones are awesome the signals seem much crisper on coins and this machine gets coins deeper then my at pro I tested both machines in my test area for a half dollar and a dime and the max hit the target about 2 to 3 inches deeper. I'm not trying to promote this detecter I just really like it its easy to learn and just the upgrades are great enough to switch from pro to the max . The all metal mode I'm learning every target you pass the coil over the beep sound is the same not like the pro mode where coins are a higher pitch sound and iron a lower pitch. In all metal I have to look at the vdi numbers for every target usually 79 and up for coins and use iron audio to see if its a good target also. I'm still a pro mode fan, sensitivity up all the way I know there hasn't been many reviews yet and I haven't done a full long hunt yet but I love it. No programs and lengthy adjustments ect my jewelry and silver coin cases are getting bigger, the all metal seems like it would be good in areas without a lot of junk Ive learned to hunt a lot by the target sound all metal takes a lot of reading your vdi. Ive learned on both machines pop tops will vary vdi numbers 7 to 8 numbers.I tried all metal Ill wait to reply more on that and learn more about the threshold option. Anyway just my experience.I hope to hear more people share their experience with the AT MAX also. This post is only to share my experience with my new AT MAX also I found this to help explain threshold I hope this might help any other AT MAX users I found this on another site helped me get it!!!thanks TOMMY
| An adjustable threshold is not a setting most lower-end detectors give you, and many do not even allow you to hear the threshold tone. In most machines used today, when detecting in a discrimination mode, the machine is quiet until you detect an object. This is not because there was nothing to hear, but simply because the background signal is not passed on to the user at all. Instead artificial tones are generated when the electronics detect a signal that it's processors deem worthy of your notice. But deep inside, the machine "hears" this constant signal coming from the coil, and decides at what point a small change in that signal is worthy of being sent to you, the user. But all the older machines allowed you to hear this constant background noise, and it can bring in very deep or weak signals other detectorists miss. The upper-end Whites machines still have this feature, as do a few other brands, especially when they are in the all-metal mode. Consider it as if you are listening to the raw signal from the ground, without any processors deciding for you if it's a good target or not. You decide, and it's your ears and brain that tell the difference between a change due to your swing or nearby metal surface object, and a repeatable faint whisper of change that is from a deep object. For every positive signal you get in your machine, telling you that it found a target.. there are probably hundreds of time that the machine CHOOSE to ignore a good signal detection rather than send it to you. Why? Because of THRESHOLD. Threshold is the level at which the barrage of background noise, be it ground signal or EMI, is ignored. You all do this automatically in everyday life. You have learned to TUNE OUT the sound of fluorescent lighting in an office, or the low hum of air conditioners. You still can HEAR it, but you have adjusted your perception to ignore it. If you didn't, then you would be barraged by so many sounds that your daily life would be painful and you could not concentrate. A metal detector's circuits do the same. They are set (or you set them) to ignore the small fluctuations in the background signal coming from the coil. But small changes in that background signal are also coming from deep metal targets, not just ground interference or EMI. If the detector has TUNED OUT (or set the threshold higher than) that small change in incoming signal, then you will never know what you just passed over. It's like you not noticing a tiny, momentary pitch change in the AC in your office. It's impossible for a detector to tell that a small change in signal that was detected from a deep coin was any different than an identical signal change from random noise or bad ground. Only YOU, by re-sweeping the suspected target area and hearing that tone REPEAT are YOU able to make that observation and know that this was no fluke of ground noise, but a real object under the ground. You have one thing the machine does not.. eyes. Here's a chart that shows where the threshold level should be at and why. In this graph, the blue line is the signal coming from the ground and converted into an audio wave. The spike ¾ of the way across is a weak, but good target. The bump at the far end is a very weak, very signal, down deep. The background hum is the state of the machine being in perfect ground balance. It's like listening to the fog of ground noise. If you turn this down too low you cannot hear the faint increase in tonal pitch caused by a weak deep signal as it just barely rises above the ground noise. If you set it too high, all you hear is background noise, which then masks out those weaker signals. If the detector sets this level automatically, you can see (depending on ground conditions and EMI) that you can miss the weaker signals. This is what happens without you knowing it with a machine that runs silently. The machine is deciding what level of signal rises to the level of being heard - not you. Having a machine that allows you to hear and adjust the threshold level, puts you in more control of the machine, allows you to hear things you never would otherwise (weak signals, null, and ground imbalance) and find those elusive targets everyone else missed! This is one reason the old White's 5800 and 6000 detectors are still very popular with the old pros and still fetch a premium on eBay. Get your hands on a White's 6000 Di Pro XL - and you will be amazed at what sounds you've been missing. __________________ We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that death will tremble to take us. 
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Does the vdi work well in threshold mode where your machine wont give you a peep but your using the hum?? I'm trying to think out of the box but like the wife says I've been in the dumb box for a long time.. 
