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AT Max Battery Life

diggin4clad

Elite Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2016
Messages
6,541
Location
Eastern Connecticut
I recently bought an AT MAX detector and quickly found out that it has short battery life....7-8 hours per set of four. The Garrett video claims the MAX will go "up to" 20 hours on a new set. I know the wireless system will drain batteries quickly but this seems excessive. Any other MAX users having this issue or is my detector faulty? I'll be investing in rechargeables next spring and rechargeables last even less time than ordinary batteries but it'll be better than paying for batteries every time I blink.
 
I bought this recharging kit from Walmart about 5 years ago,it was $23 with the batteries included...My batteries can be completely dead and in 15 minutes they’re fully charged..Best investment I ever made.You can also buy extra batteries at Walmart,they’re $5 for 2...They also make aaa rechargeable that this charger will charge,and I bought them for all my remotes in the house..
 

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I bought this recharging kit from Walmart about 5 years ago,it was $23 with the batteries included...My batteries can be completely dead and in 15 minutes they’re fully charged..Best investment I ever made.You can also buy extra batteries at Walmart,they’re $5 for 2...They also make aaa rechargeable that this charger will charge,and I bought them for all my remotes in the house..
When I do get the rechargeables it'll be from either Walmart or Amazon, whichever has the best price. My AT Pro goes 22-23 hours on a set of batteries and the MAX has been going 7-8, quite a big drop-off. Thanks for the info.
 
I recently bought an AT MAX detector and quickly found out that it has short battery life....7-8 hours per set of four. The Garrett video claims the MAX will go "up to" 20 hours on a new set. I know the wireless system will drain batteries quickly but this seems excessive. Any other MAX users having this issue or is my detector faulty? I'll be investing in rechargeables next spring and rechargeables last even less time than ordinary batteries but it'll be better than paying for batteries every time I blink.

I had the same basic experience with my AT Max, which I used exclusively between March 2018 and November 2018. My previous detector had been an Ace 400, and while I expected there would be a difference, I was surprised to notice a significant decrease in run time when I switched to the Max. I had already made the switch to rechargeables when I bought the Max, and I was using Eneloop Pro AAs at the time. On my Ace, I was getting 10-15 hours with the Eneloops. I seriously didn't get much more than 5 or 6 hours out of the Eneloops on the Max. I quickly relegated those to "backup" duty, and bought an RNB Innovations power pack. Things improved enough to be manageable with the RNB - I was getting 10-12 hours of hunt time consistently, so I didn't feel like I necessarily had to recharge after every hunt. I never tried traditional alkaline or lithium AAs in the AT Max to compare, but there was no doubt in my mind that the Max was more of a power hog, in general. I always used the wireless headphones, so the internal z-lynk was always active - I'm sure that played a role in the reduced battery life.
 
I had the same basic experience with my AT Max, which I used exclusively between March 2018 and November 2018. My previous detector had been an Ace 400, and while I expected there would be a difference, I was surprised to notice a significant decrease in run time when I switched to the Max. I had already made the switch to rechargeables when I bought the Max, and I was using Eneloop Pro AAs at the time. On my Ace, I was getting 10-15 hours with the Eneloops. I seriously didn't get much more than 5 or 6 hours out of the Eneloops on the Max. I quickly relegated those to "backup" duty, and bought an RNB Innovations power pack. Things improved enough to be manageable with the RNB - I was getting 10-12 hours of hunt time consistently, so I didn't feel like I necessarily had to recharge after every hunt. I never tried traditional alkaline or lithium AAs in the AT Max to compare, but there was no doubt in my mind that the Max was more of a power hog, in general. I always used the wireless headphones, so the internal z-lynk was always active - I'm sure that played a role in the reduced battery life.
Thanks for your input.....I generally get in 150-175 hours per year of hunt time so if I continue with traditional batteries I'd have to go through 20-25 sets of batteries per year. That would amount to a small fortune in battery costs. Not using the headphones would probably save battery consumption but I prefer to use them so I'm going to invest in two sets of rechargeables….one set in the detector and the other set ready to go when they need to be changed in the field. My AT Pro and Ace 400 get 22-23 hours per set. Though I like the Max, if I'd have known about the very short battery life I most likely wouldn't have bought it.
 
R&B Innovations Power Pack

Get it for sure. Best thing I've ever done buying the R&B power pack. No more buying batteries. I do keep the original batter pack in my trunk, just in case I forget to charge the R&B. I've never run out of batter if I charged the batter pack. I'm guessing maybe 15 hours, or more? The owner of R&B is a super nice guy. It works in the ATMAX or ATPRO. Buy it!!!!!!!!!!! Google it, he's there. Oh, I should mention, he designs power packs for other machines too.
HH everyone
 
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