I purchased the AT Max specifically to use at a salt water beach. I wanted a general purpose metal detector, but one that was specifically salt water beach capable. Garrett assured me that the AT Max was appropriate for salt water beaches and salt water shallow surf, as long as the control box was not submerged. After 8 hours detecting at the beach, my experiences were that same as the OP: constant chatter, regardless of ground balance efforts. In 22 holes with 90+ readings, I was able to locate exactly ZERO metalic objects. I even dropped a coin on the sand to test it, and was not able to distinguish the coin from the beeps caused by the ground mineralization. I had very high hopes for the AT MAX, but I simply was not able to get it to work, at all, in the environment I needed it for. Pass on this one.
I am on the same page with you. Its not the ideal machine at the beach. And like you I wanted just something I can use inland and the water. I was disappointed. I hope you moved on and secured a more appropriate to machine to meet your metal detecting needs.
I have the older Garrett Infinium LS which I bought used. I had lots of problems with sensitivity the first few times out. After playing with it at home I found that you can silence the machine by putting it in slow mode and then holding the coil away from the ground in mid air until it goes dead quiet. Then switch it to lock. This recalibrates it I think. That and messing with frequency adjust and it works perfectly. I hope this helps someone with other Garrett detectors. It seems like the ATX is quite similar to the Infinium.
Set Iron at 35 , turn of iron sound and change frequency if needed , along with ground balancing correctly , AT Max works very well in those conditions you was in
After speaking with the people at Garrett, this was the best I could get the ATM to work in salt water ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dISPxJPpEFg.html
Be sure to check out he followup video showing the settings to make it work in salt water ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dISPxJPpEFg.html
Do you think ground balancing when set on zero disc. may have something to do with it not working? I was always of the impression that when ground balancing a Garrett machine, (not sure about other makes) that you always ground balance in all metal mode with zero disc. Just saying that's what I saw whenever you showed the detectors screen. GL&HH
Thanks very much for your quick response. I see you did it about the way I would do it if I upgraded from the Pro to the Max. I respect what you did and believe your results speak for themselves. I will have more to think about now. My biggest worry is the ground balance and your results make the Max seem less useable. The salt water here in South Florida varies a little bit and I have had trouble at the beaches around Boca Raton and a few other spots, but have also had success at beaches from Delray to West Palm Beach. I think that is because the Gulfstream comes closer to shore here and perhaps moves the currents faster along the beach and also the mineralization is less. All of the wet sand north or south of Boca reads fine and it rocks in the dry sand as well. Only Boca beaches have given me any trouble in spots. So thanks for your clear description of how you ground balanced the Max. I know I can upgrade to it and gain about 1.5 to 2 inches in depth with my NEL Hunter coil on it for sure, but perhaps the single frequency will still be the point that makes me switch to the Equinox from Minelab or break down and sell the Garrett AT Pro and and take out a loan and buy an Excalibur ll that can be customized to work for me. I hope the Equinox will level the price point playing field and rock my world and then I can work the dirt, dry sand, wet sand, and the water hard. The Equinox looks good for shallow beaches. The only worry I have is will the Equinox be sturdy enough or will it be too fragile. Hope you get to try one soon. I will be looking forward to a test someday!
Steve Moore at Garrett asked me to test the AT Max in salt water by ground balancing while swing side to side. The AT Max is capable of ground balancing a range so it is designed to sweep side to side. This is for salt water and highly mineralized areas. Move the coil side to side while holding down the GB button until there is minimal audio response. Here is Garrett's training video, go to the 2:27 point in the video and learn about the AT Max garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby_at_max_video_pt3_en.aspx
My findings are the same. The Garrett AT Max isn’t effectively usable in salt water on beaches that contain minerals such as magnetite (which is virtually every beach on the West Coast).
I admire your work and have observed quite a few (2/3 Or more) of your videos. I find them informative and interesting. I am not surprised (though hoping for different results) that you have spotty to bad results with your AT Max in the water. I have seen a few others get much better results. The AT Max is supposed to get better results with it's higher number of points to ground balance versus older models such as the AT Pro. I have had pretty good success manually ground balancing my AT Pro then adjusting it to make the reading on the ground balance 3 settings to the negative. I sometimes still have noisy readings and cannot hunt in the water, but for me that is the more mineralized beaches. I think that the AT Max is different in this respect. I don't own one yet and am debating whether to purchase it or the new Minelab Equinox Model coming soon. Because the Equinox has mulitfrequency capability I am leaning more towards it as prices are similar. That being said I wonder if the AT Max has a manual ground balance mode where you could first set ground balance in auto mode then take the reading and adjust your ground balance to that point manually and then adjust it lower by minus 3 to 4 points below and at full or no more than three points lower than max sensitivity get very much more usable readings. Could you try another test and show us the readout that way. I would be interested in seeing if your results are the same then. I think there are ways to ground balance that are different from what you are used to and may be how the Garrett operators are doing their salt water searches. Your expertise is not being challenged here, but rather a different way to tune the ground balance first automatically then manually that may make the Garrett machine more useful. If you try testing it this new way and reproduce good results yourself it would be a plus for me in making my choice of which machine to purchase. I am pretty used to the Garrett machine but I am fully confident that an Equinox would be a solid purchase once they are available in production form. I guess I am just wanting to see another test of the AT Max by a person who knows what they are doing and you are one of those guys I trust. As a land, dry and wet sand hunter I like the AT Pro and am comfortable with it. I feel for the price it can hardly be beat unless you are talking some of the other higher end models across the range of detectors available. I think since I don't have scuba gear I don't have as much need for the Excalibur ll, though I think it's water capability is far superior to the AT Pro. Price is my #1 issue at this time. I guess I am hoping the AT Max will trip my trigger, but on the other hand multi freq capable Minelab Equinox may be my tipping point. Maybe I should just wait until you get you hands on one and see if you have decent results with it. The many choices and decisions to make give me headsches!
Steve Moore from Garrett asked me to ground balance the detector in salt water by sweeping side to side while holding down the auto ground balance button. When doing this, the GB would adjust down to 14 and the AT Max was still chatty. I also manually ground balanced and at 11, it maybe became slightly less chatty but nothing really noticeable. Also note that different areas of salt water have different levels of salt which makes a big difference in how stable the AT Max will run.
DetectorComparisons n But buy lowering these balance settings isn't it leaving the detector not only at a great loss of depth on thin gold rings but quite possibly blanking small gold chains & bracelets. The detector can't "see" it as a small single hunk of gold but rather then a bunch of tiny pieces of metal with a low VDI no less. I've seen some of these thin chains/bracelets just barely come in as a positive number on my DFX between +2 - +4. And that"s not even throwing black sand in the mix? But as I'm sure you know you can just accept down to the -15 (small iron range) And in a sense it's what these AT machines are doing. I believe anyway as I haven't actually used one yet. And seeing your video it looks like I won't need to. Anyway the water depth plays tricks on the coil in shallow water as the field is tracking/balancing to non conductive air in it's AC/Disc mode which working like crazy below the coil. I've noticed in some of your videos you'll hunt in a DC or pinpoint mode "which I do more often then not". This helps me a lot in less then a foot of water by keeping that signal in the ground and not bouncing around the salty minerals below and running wild above the coil. If I'm in a hot area where there's a cut producing good targets and it's under 12" of water i'll play it safe and get the old PI Pro out and then I dont worry about much. Other then those darn fish hooks. I'll drag a few magnets around first and it's shocking the amount of pea size iron that's crumbled off things from 100 plus years ago laying around everywhere. Yeah it's a little work but sometimes I wonder if I would've hit those deep faint targets had we not "swept the field" for 15 minutes first? Great job on your videos I like how you can hear the detector in the Go Pro. I've been water hunting a long time and wanted to make video but I really was hoping to not let the cat out of the bag if you know what I mean. Being it's kind of not a secret anymore I watch these videos and I have to admit you've pulled some stuff that had me shaking my head. Just when you've about seen it all someone pulls a ring with a .9999 hallmark! Or a pocket knife with a silver quarter sticking out of it. That's classic and something you'll remember for a long time lol. I will and you dug it lol I wish you the best of luck and I hope you keep finding nicer surprises under every stone. One of your sites looks very familiar to me I won't say where but I've caught some nice striped bass around those rocky beaches at night. And detected a few times in the day. I can go on all day so I better wind it up. But God bless kelp them coming.
I wonder why you are having trouble with it but I can go to the beach and have no trouble at all. Also you should Manually ground balance to get the extra 75 points really helps quiet the machine down.
great video on that garrett i heard alot of people saying how this new garrett would be good in salt water and i kinda chuckled and said i will see it when i believe it!! after watching your video you confirmed my fears!! awesome video keep up the great updates looking foward to more!!
NH beach metaldetecting. You said that backwards but I'm sure we all knew what you were saying. When will people learn and keep the AT series out of and away from salt water. It doesn't belong in salt water!!! That's what Pi machines are for.
Here in the UK my AT Pro is exactly the same. It''s usable on the dry sand but unusable on the wet or in the water. I almost feel cheated and am upgrading this year but not to a Max.
On my AT PRO I discriminated and notched so it cut everything out below ID 60. Did the auto GB and dropped it a little manually. I had the sensitivity down to 2 bars at one point but it didn't help. Anyone got any suggestions for this ?
I have the max and it also struggles on dry sand and waterlogged fields tbh. The only thing it's good for detecting in these conditions seems to be iron... it finds that like a beaut lol
The Fisher and DetectorPro you mention have a lot in common (Gary Storm). I wonder how a Racer 2 would do there? It will GB to zero and does as well at my beaches as any single freq. But nothing beats a good multi or PI so far. Maybe someday... I've seen a to or you r videos and appreciate them greatly. I still would not make a final rejection on anyone persons experience, but I'd say we are at the seriously questioning stage. Max does seem like a clear improvement over previous ATs and a very good choice for non-salt hunting. Thanks for posting!
Always good to get a lot of opinions. Also the salt levels are different at different beaches and that is a definite factor in the detector running stable. Thanks for watching.
I find that garret At pro was usless in salt water, one had to decrease the sensitivty and it was still chattery, the new At Max is just as noisy, These seams to be something that garret is missing, I use a Sea hunter it works well in salt water disc set at 6.5 no pull tabs plenty rings and silver. I am thinking of getting another detector with a read out, My choice is the mine lab Nox 800, WHY? Mine lab have comitted in writtng it is designed for salt water! Garret wont comitt to saying the new AT max is designed for salt water, only fresh water it seams. many folks have tried it on the beach, very chatery, I cant say I am happy with that and the AT Max on the Beach. Thanks for confirming my feeling I rate is as 5/10 for beach work.
It will work in salt water but it is limited to how well it will work because it still is a single frequency machine. Using a multi-frequency machine will give you more stability and depth in salt water
Thanks for the information....have you heard anything on the mine lab equinox? Someone said it might be at max machine only good in highly mineralized areas like you are showing. Thanks for the info
I only know what I have read about the Equinox. I look forward to testing it when it comes out. Being a multi frequency machine, my guess is that it should work fine but I'll give it a good testing.
smoberdeen If read his other comments he said that one of the Garrett's told him to try this or balance it this way as well. He would not knock a product just to knock it....he is alright.
AC, you are correct. Here is my response to Smoberdeen:Steve Moore at Garrett asked me to test the AT Max in salt water by ground balancing while swing side to side. The AT Max is capable of ground balancing a range so it is designed to sweep side to side. This is for salt water and highly mineralized areas. Move the coil side to side while holding down the GB button until there is minimal audio response. Here is Garrett's training video, go to the 2:27 point in the video and learn about the AT Max garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby_at_max_video_pt3_en.aspx
i have been using the at pro at the beach 2 years its the same at max no improvement minelab equinox may be the way 2 go for me garrett have improved but not enough for me
My AT Pro did better than my Max on gulf coast beaches. I can run the Pro at 1 bar from top in the water. The Max had to be reduced by half. I was disappointing to say the least but I didn't by either of them for beach detectors. They are my relic machines along with my AT Gold and T2. My Whites DFX is my beach machine for now. Works great except it isnt waterproof.
in zero put ya descrim up to 45 and ya sensitivity all the way up works fine, some sound but when you hit a target it shows up as clear as day. I still use me xcal on the beach but the AT will work if you set it up right first, use the excel an AT on the same targets and it picked up all of them. AT not my choice for the beach tho.
Worked on the settings needed to make the AT Max work in salt water ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dISPxJPpEFgW.htmlith the discrimination at 45, small gold rings disappear when I tested it....
Yesterday I went over to Rye beach in Maine. I changed the settings as recommended by Garrett for salt water. My AT max sounded like a pinball machine. I went to the strongest spot and it gave no Depth The carrot showed nothing. I dug about 4 inches then the carrot went nuts so I dug further and still beeping but nothing there. That happened in several places not close to each other. Anyone else seen that before?
The engineers at Garrett recommended the side to side balancing..... After speaking with the folks at Garrett and working on the settings, here is a video showing the settings which makes the AT Max work in salt water ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dISPxJPpEFg.html These are not in the instruction manual.
Garrett should refund everyone thats brought one including me, Ive tried every adjustment possible i get quiet the machine down to useable but all it will do is find iron and give you various target ID including non ferrous, Away from the beach its a fantastic machine very accurate and great finding deep targets. Ive had my one 4 years and used it couple hundred times and also been detecting for 20 plus years various machines, if your looking for a beach machine trust me look else where, the vanquish 540 is not the way to go either for beach detecting, good luck happy hunting
Worked on the settings needed to make the AT Max work in salt water ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dISPxJPpEFgW.htmlith the discrimination at 44, small gold rings disappear when I tested it....
Thank you for the video, was waiting for it. and results are exactly how i expected them to be, useless , cant belive the false advertisement of garrett. shame on them! HAHAHA. BS Y FP
Wow glad I didn't waste money on that thing all the big youtubers pitching this thing like it's made by god and it's no better than the harbor freight actually my harbor freight special never was that bad 😂 gladly will keep my etrac
Sorry but the MX can do a lot better it you use the different mode's that you did not show how to use that would of solved your beach episode. Don't judge it if you can't fully understand a anew machine. Learn how to use it . if its that bad why does everyone want one?
Reading the description of the video can be helpful.... After speaking with the folks at Garrett and working on the settings, here is a video showing the settings which makes the AT Max work in salt water ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dISPxJPpEFg.html These are not in the instruction manual.
Here in the UK my AT Pro is exactly the same. It''s usable on the dry sand but unusable on the wet or in the water. I almost feel cheated and am upgrading this year but not to a Max.
I really think you should modify this video, writing in the beginning that this was recorded when you stull didn’t know how to set it correctly for salt water use. Many people is gonna watch this without reading the updated comments that you wrote later about the right settings and they’re gonna get a bad idea about the AT Max (as you can see from many users comments....) I’m using it on the beach and salt water with no problems and great results.
This video was done based on the instructions that came with the AT Max. It is not a simple machine to use in salt water as shown in this video. When I called the folks at Garrett, I received many suggestions that were not in the user manual. After some tweaking, the AT Max is usable in salt water but most people will simply follow the instructions that come with the AT Max and it will not work well for them in salt water. You will also notice that I post this follow-up video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dISPxJPpEFg.html to every comment made so people see how it needs to be set to make it function in salt water.
Mine wasn’t a bad critic about you or the video, it was just a suggestion based on the fact that everyone who’s gonna watch this video not paying attention to your answers on people comments, or simply that are not gonna see the other video will think that the Max is unusable in salt water. I know it’s not a simple machine, it needs experience and practice, so I’m not sayin you did something wrong, just suggesting to add a short preview to this video to explain that this detector CAN hunt in salt water with good results, you just need to set it up with the right settings (that are not explained in the istructions, you’re right)
