Testing The Vanquish 540

[67GTA]

The DD coils come standard on every detector nowadays. They are good in iron if the targets and iron are close to being on the same plane. The concentric coils are just the opposite. Back in the day they used to be standard on most detectors and did better at unmasking where iron was above good targets, and also sniffing out bottle caps. Just the limitations of the technology.

[Steve Herschbach]

On 5/9/2020 at 2:23 AM, phrunt said:

Don't get me wrong, I know nothing about this stuff, I was just surprised how well everyone's detector was doing with nails nearby in these tests so i dropped one near my buried coin then was all disappointed none of my detectors could see the coin when the nail was there.  Sure it's an old rusty square nail I found prospecting so I tried a modern nail, no difference.  They were all blind to it, a bit disheartening.  I think it's very uncommon a nail and a coin are going to be sitting next to each at the exact same depth but it obviously happens as I've found coins with nails, that means those tests are pretty pointless in common real world situations.  Now I need to find myself a detector that can do it.  CTX? XP Deus?  If I was hunting in iron which isn't very likely here fortunately no detector I own would be ideal by the looks of it.  I'm now wondering how many good coins I've missed due to masking.

I'd love to be proven wrong.

Bury a dime at a few inches and put various trash targets nearby and on the surface and try to detect the dime. The amount of stuff in the ground that is masked depends on how much shallower trash exists. In an old park the best coins are deep, but the most trash, especially aluminum, is near surface. It is likely in some locations more coins remain in the ground than are detected. As long as people use discrimination that is the way it is.

The solution is actually very simple. Use all metal and dig everything. People think this is impossible. “Too much trash” they say. Really? All it really takes is time and patience targeting the best areas.

A PI can be a good tool for the job. Beneath The Mask

 

[Hardtimehermit]

Wow Steve, thanks for sharing the article. I think i might try a different strategy, i call it the double coil technique. 😄 

[Steve Herschbach]

A person can dig everything in a park, but you have to have common sense. No making the area look like a war zone and getting us all banned. Just pick a spot that used to produce some real good finds but now nothing. Go in and dig a dozen targets or whatever, but keep it spread out just like normal detecting. Now leave it be for a month. Then come back and dig some more. Do this round robin at a dozen sites so as to not put too much pressure on any one site at any time, but still enough to keep you busy. You might just end up amazed at what has gone undetected by hundreds if not thousands of detectorists at some top locations. Yeah, you will dig lots of trash. If you don't want to, don't do this. But if you want to try something unique that could really pay off, here is your chance.

You don't need a PI. Just a good VLF with an all metal mode. Instead of discrimination, look for and try and dig nice mellow sounding "round" targets. Not only will you be removing the masking effect, you will be getting more depth with a true all metal mode (as opposed to zero disc).

[palzynski]

1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Bury a dime at a few inches and put various trash targets nearby and on the surface and try to detect the dime. The amount of stuff in the ground that is masked depends on how much shallower trash exists. In an old park the best coins are deep, but the most trash, especially aluminum, is near surface. It is likely in some locations more coins remain in the ground than are detected. As long as people use discrimination that is the way it is.

The solution is actually very simple. Use all metal and dig everything. People think this is impossible. “Too much trash” they say. Really? All it really takes is time and patience targeting the best areas.

A PI can be a good tool for the job. Beneath The Mask

 

Depends where you are … Around here there are areas where there are several thousands of nails coming from very old collapsed houses roofs. Ferrous beep all the time in all metal mode … PI are unusable over here . I have tried a GPX4500 in the 2000s , you become crazy with a PI over here ...🙂  … Quickly sent back the GPX to the shop ….  

Just to clarify this , I will do measurements this summer on an high iron trashed area that I know very well  , however not yet available because cultivated at the moment . It is a large field , around 500 yards X 200 yards , will nails and remaining good targets almost evrywhere in the field ..

I will pick up a cubic foot of ground , then will extract the ferrous from the ground and count them one by one. A good way to have a good idea of the ferrous density in the soil  . It has been a long time I wanted to do this very simple test ...

[Steve Herschbach]

It just depends on what the targets are worth. If the field was full of gold coins I'll dig nails all day. I have done exactly that metal detecting for gold nuggets. I fully agree there are places where there is too much trash and the targets are not worth the effort. It's up for each of us to decide what is worth our time and effort. But as long as anything remains that goes beep in the ground, good targets can still remain, masked by that very last trash target.

 

[palzynski]

3 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

It just depends on what the targets are worth. If the field was full of gold coins I'll dig nails all day. I have done exactly that metal detecting for gold nuggets. I fully agree there are places where there is too much trash and the targets are not worth the effort. It's up for each of us to decide what is worth our time and effort. But as long as anything remains that goes beep in the ground, good targets can still remain, masked by that very last trash target.

 

No unfortunately this field is not full of gold coins …🙂   Mainly small little and often corroded bronze coins so not worth the effort digging everything including the ferrous …  Never found a gold coin here but probably there are a few remaining , it is just a matter of chance...

[palzynski]

And the results of today's outing with my Vanquish 540 fitted with the V12 coil : 3 coins , one 50 centimes 1922 , the other 10 centimes of the 1920s , and an older liard de France copper coin from the 16th century. All the 3 corroded the soil is acid here, only silver coins are in a good state in this area.  The area is a forest close to a little town were I go for testing new machines , the testing area is around 300 X 200 yards , and it is difficult to find new targets here...  The soil is sandy , low mineralized , low to medium iron trash.

The Vanquish 540 audio is almost the same as the Equinox 800 , so very accurate with an excellent iron disc.  The All Metal button helps a lot in case of doubtful signals , the more often it tells you that there is a ferrous under the coil.  I very often used my pinpointer today with this big coil , it is of great help to center the targets .

Comparing the Vanquish and the Equinox , I would say they obtain very similar results in this area, so a very good result for the Vanquish .

I just found the Vanquish V12 coil a little heavy after 2 hours detecting , so I will probably order the V10 coil to lighten the machine while keeping good depth performances.

  

[palzynski]

COMPARING THE VANQUISH 540 V12 WITH THE VANQUISH 340 V10:

I had the occasion to borrow a Vanquish 340 from a friend who bought it just a month ago . I had the time to do my usual depth tests on my test boxes , and measure the detector/coil weights. 

DEPTH TESTS :

( the ground is moderately mineralized ) :

- 10grams copper coin at 11inches :

The 340 V10 detects it with a slight high pitched signal , so very good news because this coin is deep.
The 540 V12 is a little deeper which is normal because of the bigger size of the V12 coil.

- 2grams bronze coin at 6inches:

The 340 V10 detects it with a sharp medium signal, the same result as the 540 V12 actually. An excellent result for a 240e entry level machine  ...   🙂

WEIGHTS :

Vanquish 340 V10 : 1160grams  ( without coil cover )
Vanquish 540 V12 : 1250grams  ( without cc ) 

- V12 coil : 440 grams without cc , 500 grams incl cc
- V10 coil : 360 grams without cc , 400 grams incl cc
- V8  coil : 310 grams without cc ,  340 grams incl cc

Then the V10 coil is 80 grams lighter than the V12 ! This makes a big difference knowing that the V10 is close
to the V12 in terms of depth perfos . Actually I found the V12 a little heavy after 2 or hours detecting ..
And the V10 should do better than the V12 on iron trashed areas because of a lower iron masking ...

Following this test I have ordered the V10 coil for my Vanquish 540 , I am waiting forward to use it on the field ...

 

[Chase Goldman]

Nice but seem to be splitting hairs at this point.  Yes, the V10 is going to spit the difference between the V8 and V12 in terms of weight and performance - logical.  Not sure it makes economical sense to pay additional for that type of resolution, but it's your money...good to have choices, I suppose.