I have a Garret AT-Max for gold detecting.........should I be worried?

After purchasing my new AT-Max....I then did the research!

I rapidly learnt the difference between VLF and PI detectors and how they perform in Australian conditions. Then thinking 'hhhmmmmm gotta remember, research first then buy'.

Not to be perturbed...I am a logical soul after all, and with ground balance (auto and manual), sensitivity, threshold, iron audio, iron discrimination, three discrimination modes, a custom mode and a zero mode, mono coils, DD coils, round coils, fat coils and thin coils surely I can find a combination that will squeeze something gold like out of Maximus (yes it has a name)!

But what I take from this forum suggests that my opportunity may be limited to little pickers 6" down.

Any suggestion from other AT-Max users looking for the mother lode would be appreciated.

Don't let your purchase worry you Nuggerty. More of a fitness for purpose thing. Although the AT Max has the lowest frequency of the 3 AT series detectors, it can still be used to prospect for gold nuggets & although I do not own one (but have spent some time with a mates AT pro & At gold), here are some tips.
If you're after small gram to sub gram gold nuggets, invest in a small coil. A smaller coil having a much more concentrated field will effectively be better at locating the smaller gold on or near the surface, not to mention improving the detectors discrimination capabilities at almost maximum depth.
Of course if you wanted a VLF strictly for gold nugget hunting, the better choice would have been the AT Gold, designed for gold nugget hunting, at 18 KHz, as compared to 13.6KHz on the AT Max, but let me not stray from what I want to say. Being a low frequency detector of 13.6KHz will not only handle mineralized ground better, than a higher frequency VLF would, but also punch much deeper on larger multigram size targets.
Keeping all this in mind put it over appropriate ground to suit the detectors capabilities (fitness for purpose) & you should attain the best performance from your detectors capabilities.

Cheers Kon.