Vanquish Went Quiet Fast

[Cal_Cobra]

53 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

I know your statement is tongue-in-cheek and a humorous jab grounded in some level of truth, but ML does not corner the market on delayed releases.  The first (and last) detector I ever pre-paid/pre-ordered was the Nokta Impact.  Ended up prying my $$ back from the dealer and cancelling my order when the promised March release languished into May.  XP subsequent Deus promised (through official XP marketing material announcements) upgrade releases lingered for months and in one case for more than a year.  A lot of hoopla months before the lukewarm Garrett AT series upgrade, the AT Max, finally came to market.  The Whites MX Sport release debacle is painfully fresh in my mind.  And how long have we been talking about the "imminent" release of the latest FT PI offering?  Not defending ML, my only point being that all the leading manufacturers suffer from this issue and also have a track record for delays and those of us who anxiously await the next best thing in detectors are an impatient lot, which seems to make the wait that much worse.  That being said, I am definitely not waiting for the the Vanquish to show up and other than the coil selection as an Equinox owner am not all that interested, but am really looking forward to getting my hands on the new Simplex (here soon, yes it was not an "Impact" situation, thankfully).  My first Nokta machine that appears to be a great value-based compliment to my Deus/Equinox arsenal.  Would like to bounce its performance off my venerable F75 and whites MXT, my only two remaining fixed single frequency machines.

I completely agree with you.  Although I wasn't really planning to get a Simplex as it seems like it would be redundant when I have the MMK, I have been curiously following the various field reports on it to see how it shakes out.  Thus far, it looks like the fine folks at Nokta Makro have pulled off one of the best deals in the detecting industry, but I really look forward to field reports from advanced users such as yourself that use a variety of machines and have an advanced level of knowledge to use them, and more importantly, share that knowledge with the rest of us 👍

[coinhunterseth]

Apart from waterproofing, and a dedicated beach mode,  I think the simplex has fewer bells and whistles than an f75. The Simplex has all metal, 2 tone, 3 tone, and beach modes. The f75 has more tone options, as well a the various processes (Bp, Cl, Pf, etc). 

[Goldpick]

I still feel that it was a missed opportunity to not make the Vanquish series at least weatherproof (not counting the control box covers), just as FT did for the F11-F44 series.  Especially the case if these detectors are going anywhere near the beach/salty air.

I guess it was simply overlooked when made as a direct competitor to the Ace series of detectors, though Minelab could have raised the bar a little higher just as Nokta/Makro did with the Simplex +. 

As for DP on the F75, I really wanted to like it, though I found it was a little disappointing when compared to 99 tones (fulltones) on the Deus or even multitones on the Explorer/Etrac. 

[Chase Goldman]

6 hours ago, coinhunterseth said:

Apart from waterproofing, and a dedicated beach mode,  I think the simplex has fewer bells and whistles than an f75. The Simplex has all metal, 2 tone, 3 tone, and beach modes. The f75 has more tone options, as well a the various processes (Bp, Cl, Pf, etc). 

I know that stating the Simplex is on par with an F75 is perhaps a bit of a stretch, but only a bit and for 95% of situations, I suspect the Simplex can hold its own against an F75 user using similar coils.  Don't sell the Simplex short.  Phrunt somewhat debunked the first statement regarding the bells and whistles and the Simplex modes are not just "tone" options, they are signal processing mode options that go beyound the comparatively less sophisticated process modes on the F75 including the ability to go potentially deep AND fast.  My F75 was lapped easily by the Equinox 600 and has not really seen the light of day since the 800 arrived at my door.  I now have the opportunity to do so some A to B comparisons and if Nokta provides the adfitional accessory coils, as promised, I will lose the last remaining legitimate reason I keep my F75 around.

[Steve Herschbach]

Bells and whistles are nice but almost all comparison posts and videos ask only one question.... “how deep does it go?”

[Chase Goldman]

11 minutes ago, phrunt said:

Do you think any one high end VLF goes deeper than a competitors matching frequency high end VLF? It's a question I've often wondered.

I know my T2 goes deeper than my Gold Bug Pro especially if discrimination is involved, but I assumed that was because 13khz is a deeper frequency than 19khz?   The Simplex being 12khz as long as it handles the ground as well as a T2 I would expect with the same size coil they'd be very similar in depth. 

I'm asking this question as I really don't know the answer.

There are so many variables at play, it is always hard to come up with a definitive answer for that question.  But at 12 khz, I think the Simplex will hold its own against the F75 or MXT under most conditions and with comparably sized coils.

I just realized we turned this into a Simplex thread in the ML forum and are WAAAY OFF TOPIC.  Nevertheless, I hope to have my Simplex in my hands in time to give it a go at my favorite site next weekend.  We'll see how it does, provided I remain disciplined enough to break it out and not just stick with my Deus/Equinox hot hand machine since I don't get to this site often enough and must make the most of it in the few hours I am allowed to be there. #Excited to Just Dig Baby.

[Joe D.]

Good question Simon, 

Ive wondered the same thing! Also, is a VLF's depth related to it power output, like a PI? Don't know near as much as i would like to, and I've been at it longer than you, but quite obviously don't know near as much! You've really put your limited years detecting to good use! I'm impressed!👑

PS: Don't worry if we are off topic! Steve will move if he deems it is!👍

[Steve Herschbach]

Personally I think single frequency VLF maxed out many years ago, and on the same targets on the same ground all I observe is the classic difference in strength with low frequencies having a edge on high conductors and high frequencies having an edge on low conductors. Frequency to frequency it’s really splitting hairs with differences often attributable to the coil, not the detector.

The short answer is single frequency VLF hit a depth limit ages ago and so now we are in a race to the bottom for how many features can be offered at the lowest price. I expect Simplex will be as good as anything offered in the last ten years when it comes to single frequency and depth.

[Chase Goldman]

4 minutes ago, Joe D. said:

Also, is a VLF's depth related to it power output, like a PI?

No, the voltage source (battery) for a VLF is regulated typically through a switched electronic dc/dc power supply to provide the appropriate fixed voltages to the electronics and transmit coil winding.

[Chase Goldman]

4 minutes ago, phrunt said:

If the Equinox didn't exist and these two came out we wouldn't be thinking of them as entry level and I doubt their manufacturers would either.

Good point.  Agree.