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Another AT Max or Equinox 800 thread.

HDMontana

Elite Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2019
Messages
934
New guy with decision to make. I am still new to detecting. Started last summer after getting a Bounty Hunter Discovery 3300. Found a lot of clad and a few trinkets. I ordered and received a Garrett AT Max a couple of weeks ago. I've had it out 5 times for about 4-5 hours each. Finding some clad and got my first real ring, a heavy sterling one, and first silver coin, a 1942 mercury dime. Neither was very deep and both were in a new area to me so the bounty hunter would probably found them. My problem is whether I jumped too soon on the AT Max. I'm still learning it but I have been reading a lot about how good the nox 800 is. I primarily hunt parks, athletic fields and a few houses. I have a few old cabin sites up in the mountains that I will detect this year. I also live in an area where I could use the detector for gold searching. My soil seems highly mineralized. I have 2 weeks to return the max if I so chose. I could then get the nox. Would it be worth it or would I just have another detector to learn all the quirks of. Thank you.
 
I had the At Max for awhile and found some great things. None were all that deep and I felt like I was missing things. Hunted the same spots with an Equinox and found more deeper. The Equinox is the better machine. Welcome to the forum and good luck!
 
I had, what I consider, really good results with the AT Max. It's a good machine. I was interested in the 800. I bought one to add to my arsenal. I've been putting in a lot of practice with the 800. I like the tones better. I'm not sure that I'm finding more with the 800 than I would with the AT Max, but I can tell you this... I haven't used the AT Max since I've owned the 800.
 
Hi HDMontana

I'm going to assume that you are in Montana. Counting me, you have received three answers from detector users in the Rocky Mountain region where our dirt can be very mineralized and drive some single frequency detectors crazy or seem to take away half of their transmit frequency power. So,I am going to echo the other two contributors. I found my former Garrett ATGold to be a very good detector in normal soil conditions. It did not handle mineralized soil very well especially in the gold fields I have prospected. I sold it and purchased both the Equinox 600 and 800. They handle mineralized soil very well and can go deep due to the use of simultaneous multiple frequencies and ample power supply. If you buy one and are really patient with it (don't push it to go really deep in the beginning, due to mineralization-turn down the sensitivity to 15 or so until it quiets down in Park 1 and use 5 tones, noise cancel and ground balance too each time) you will have no major problems. There is a learning curve but these forums, the online manual and experience will get you through the hard part.

good luck
Jeff
 
garrett or equnox 800

sorry charles garrett but i purchased the AT PRO about 3 weeks ago and the max aint lot better than the pro in my summation but i have now just received my new equinox 800 yesterday boy this is a leaning curve all in its self havent even got it all charged up i have wires all over the house trying to charge the detector charge the head phones and the module going this evening to get me the 2.0 charging for everything but i have read everything i can find on u-tube and also on the forum here but it said to charge everything up well so i am doing that now they said without the 2.0 out put it will be about 18 hours charging and then im going to buy me a storage battery to carry with me but i beleive from what i have watched and learned that the equinox is the only way to run so i am going to run with the big guys just not as fast heheaha
 
Thanks for the responses. I have an equinox 800 arriving tomorrow. Still have a couple of weeks to send back the at max, if I so choose. I will have Thursday and Friday to take out the nox and then decide if the max is going back.

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Thanks for the responses. I have an equinox 800 arriving tomorrow. Still have a couple of weeks to send back the at max, if I so choose. I will have Thursday and Friday to take out the nox and then decide if the max is going back.

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

That's a lot of pressure!! Both machines will take some time to learn. Whatever you decide, don't look back! Looking forward to seeing some nice finds from you.
 
So after 2 days and about six hours on the nox 800, I really like it. Not near as much crackling as the at max, and I tried different setting to try and quiet the max down. I like the tones more on the nox, and am getting pretty good with the pinpointing on it. Haven't found any jewelry, but almost $7.00 in clad and misc junk. I believe it is a keeper for me.

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Hi HDMontana,

Sounds like the Nox is working out well for you. The jewelry will come soon.
If you get a solid number and rounded tone from 6 to the low 20s with no extra numbers and it pinpoints as a small target it could be gold. Silver depending on the size can start around 18 and go all the way to 39. Again look for solid numbers with good tone in that range.

good luck,
Jeff
 
Hi HDMontana,



Sounds like the Nox is working out well for you. The jewelry will come soon.

If you get a solid number and rounded tone from 6 to the low 20s with no extra numbers and it pinpoints as a small target it could be gold. Silver depending on the size can start around 18 and go all the way to 39. Again look for solid numbers with good tone in that range.



good luck,

Jeff
Thanks for the tip. Since I'm still fairly new to this, I will accept any help I can get.

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