AT Max questions

[MikeRo]

Hello, I'm basically new to the MDing sport. I'm an avid outdoorsman & recently got into MDing for something to do during off season outdoor months. I finally took my ace 350 to the outer banks about a month ago & found a lot of coins, sinkers, and a small piece of jewelry along with a ton of trash. Needless to say, I'm hooked. I bought a AT Max about 2 weeks ago....found a few coins around our property while trying to get familiar with it (very different than the 350). I took it to myrtle last week & found a few things, but nothing of value. I found this site while looking for info & tips on the Max. Great site with a lot of info. Is the 5x8 coil worth getting? A lot of opinions say it's a much better detector with it over the stock coil. Also, could someone explain ground balance.....basically what are the advantages & disadvantages of manually positively or negatively ground balancing in different soils? I've basically figured out if the id number bounces radically it's usually a trash target & the 5x8 coil may reduce this. And I also negativity GB at myrtle & the Max was very stable in the saltwater & wet sand ..... I just don't know why. Any info would be great. Thanks in advance

 

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[Zip Zip]

Welcome Mike ! The 5X8 is an excellent addition and so is the Super Sniper AT Coil ( small concentric coil)

 

[DiggerinVA]

The 5x8 is the best coil Garrett makes and a must have for anyone who owns any of the Garrett AT machines. As far as the GB question, 90% of the time a perfect GB setting(neither pos. or neg.) is the best option. There are times when i like to run a little bit of a negative GB this is also sometimes called "power balancing". An example of when i do this is when i have been hunting a civil war camp or battle site for quite a while and consider the site to be "hunted out". Anything left here is either iron junk or really deep, maybe just a touch out of my detectors range, By setting my GB a touch on the negative side it will make the machine more sensitive to small or deep objects. The problem is it will also make the rusty iron objects more likely to false(sound good), so be prepared to possibly dig more iron. The key is to not go to far negative, usually about two numbers on the AT series is enough. So if your perfect Gb is say a 79, bump it down to 77. Hope this helps.

 

[MikeRo]

Thanks for the replies. Im gonna look into buying a 5x8 coil. That also makes sense on ground balance & gives me a better understanding. Ive had the max for about 3 weeks now & did have a few problems with it. Garrett sent me a new coil that seemed to really help. Sometimes when i get a fairly solid hit, it will show a vdi number but no depth or no vdi number & show depth. Then going over the hit again both will show. It seems to do it more often on deeper targets. Is this normal for the max? Or should i call Garrett and have it checked out?

 

[DiggerinVA]

On the really deep targets focus more on the sound and not anything on the screen....All detectors lie once the targets get deep. Also, realize that a soft sounding mid tone could actually be a really deep silver dime. Sometimes the tones arent accurate either.

 

[DiggerinVA]

Just an example, i dug the Eagle breast plate in the picture to the left using an AT pro. It was REALLY deep and gave a mid tone in one direction and an iron grunt the other direction. I may not have dug this target except for the fact that it was right in the middle of an area i had been finding other civil war relics.

 

[MikeRo]

That makes sense. Wanted to make sure that it was working properly. I’m still learning the the max & every bit of info helps. Big difference from the ace 350! Thanks for the replies, information, & help. Any other info & tips would be great! Thanks

 

[MikeRo]

I found these about 2’ apart on my grandfathers property. He was a retired pipeline welder, so there’s a good bit of trash. Been playing with the custom settings & advice I’ve learned from treasure net. Starting to get a good feel & understanding of the Max. Penny (1961)was about 5”& 22 bullet was about 7”. Thanks

 

[smokeythecat]

I had borrowed a friend's AT MAX just recently to play with. You know, one of those you try my machine and I'll try yours thing. Got a soft tone, nothing on the VDI but dug it anyway. It was a tiny brass watch winder down a whopping 10".

 

[MikeRo]

That’s interesting.....I’ve had a few of those hits & didn’t dig them! I’ve been trying to clean the place up & digging all the strong signals. Lots of steel, old pull tabs, & welding slag. A few coins. I’m now planning on going back over the area & concentrate on the soft hits! Thanks