Garrett Apex Testing Video #1

[jmaryt]

On 7/18/2020 at 3:44 PM, phrunt said:

If I was to buy a new Garrett they'd need to make a high end model, incorporating higher frequencies and some improvements over what I have already.  A thing people are often concerned about is finding good stuff in dense trash and they put up with what I hear are poor ID's on the Deus to get this. I don't care about targets in trash, trash is not an issue for me.   My ideal VLF has good sensitivity to tiny gold, water proof in case I drop it in a creek by accident, a back light, a nice loud speaker and good ID's on very deep coins.  I've got that already.  They'd need to improve on any of those things to spark my interest 🙂 The only thing that may do it is the ability to use aftermarket coils and Nel, Mars and Detech hopefully deciding to pump them out.

I don't need anymore detectors.  I mean it this time.  An Apex isn't in my future.   It's moving in the right direction though as I think specialty detectors are only there for profits in this day and age and I guess because manufacturers like to have 20+ year production runs, multi purpose detectors should now be capable of being good at everything.  Aftermarket coils for my favorite Gold detecting multi purpose VLF and it's virtually nailed it for me, sadly the coils won't happen so if Garrett decides over 20kHz isn't just fluff and they make a high end Multi Freaker they may spark my interest, but seeing 20+ kHz is fluff... I guess that's unlikely.

believe it or not, i am waiting for the "results" of this thing in "dense trash" because that is where i live!...want to be able to 
hunt "cooked" parks and other public sites that have been "burnt" for years.am holding off going after a minelab because want to 
determine if garrett can make a difference, and IF it's (s.m.f.) can possibly improve on the minelab's offerings under those conditions. if not, then i'll invest in the stock, but NOT  the detector, because it will still sell very well.

(h.h.!)

j.t.

[jmaryt]

On 7/18/2020 at 6:44 PM, Jeff McClendon said:

At least those unadjustable tones are fairly musical. Palzynski, if the Apex has better recovery speed/target separation ability in thick iron than the Equinox or even the Vanquish I will be pleasantly surprised, but mostly shocked. There are ways to set up the Equinox so that it will do almost as well and the Deus/ORX in thick iron trash. I like having both. 

Jeff

this is what i am thinking too!..that little vanquish is headed towards true "sleeper" territory the more people 
use it, the more people are finding out about it.

[Jeff McClendon]

JT, the Vanquish models are really fun to use and they actually work very well if the hunting conditions aren't too extreme. Would I sell my Equinox and just use the Vanquish. Heck no. I guess if I just wanted to do a little casual hunting now and then and was not totally addicted to metal detecting the Vanquish would be fine....... (sometimes I wish I got paid to detect other than with finds and the experience which are priceless, the hours and hours I have spent in the field...........)

I really hope the new APEX will be just as fun to use and hopefully a little more versatile for more extreme conditions than the Vanquish.

[jmaryt]

On 7/19/2020 at 6:11 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

Until somebody actually uses an Apex who will genuinely report on it then it’s pure guesswork. One thing is for sure. Garrett positioned this as an Ace, part of its low end range. Don’t believe for one second there is not a reason for that. I would not expect blistering performance. To do so and give it away at a low price is corporate malfeasance, and I don’t think Garrett is that stupid.

i was wondering this same thing.the eq 800 sells for $899.00
you can get the apex for $400.00  less than half compared
to the minelab..makes perfect "marketing sense" to me, with such a large disparity
in price, i doubt the garrett will be the "sleeper" that matches the 800's performance over all.
doubt they will make a "ringer" for $400.00..just sayin'


(h.h.!)

j.t.

[jmaryt]

4 minutes ago, Jeff McClendon said:

JT, the Vanquish models are really fun to use and they actually work very well if the hunting conditions aren't too extreme. Would I sell my Equinox and just use the Vanquish. Heck no. I guess if I just wanted to do a little casual hunting now and then and was not totally addicted to metal detecting the Vanquish would be fine....... (sometimes I wish I got paid to detect other than with finds and the experience which are priceless, the hours and hours I have spent in the field...........)

I really hope the new APEX will be just as fun to use and hopefully a little more versatile for more extreme conditions than the Vanquish.

yeah! i am hoping as well! i just want to see how the garrett hunts blistered parks
that have been cooked for years and yeas, then we will find out whether, or not,
it's worth two sh*ts!..just sayin'
 

(h.h.!)

j.t.

[Chase Goldman]

1 hour ago, jmaryt said:

i was wondering this same thing.the eq 800 sells for $899.00
you can get the apex for $400.00  less than half compared
to the minelab..makes perfect "marketing sense" to me, with such a large disparity
in price, i doubt the garrett will be the "sleeper" that matches the 800's performance over all.
doubt they will make a "ringer" for $400.00..just sayin'


(h.h.!)

j.t.

Better to compare the Apex ($425) to the Equinox 600 ($650). 

I put together a table here to better show the comparison of Apex to Simplex, Vanquish, and to the Equinox 600.  Even with that comparison the Apex is a pretty good deal.  However, your focus is on using it on trashed parks and the fact is that the Apex will have a fixed recovery speed and you get what you are going to get.  Garrett detectors seem to be just OK on recovery speed in general.  The 600 allows you to adjust recovery speed up and down to suit the site conditions.  So you can set it high for trashed parks and lower if you want to eek a little more depth for less trashy situations or split the difference.  No such adjustment on the Apex.  Apex is stuck at 5 tones vs. 2, 5, or 50 for the Equinox 600.  Finally, the Equinox has basically 6 different multifrequency modes whereas the Apex has only 2.  I think Apex will be pretty good for what it is and a good value even compared to Equinox, the big question mark is how will it actually perform in the real world, especially in trashy conditions with a fixed recovery speed.  On paper the Equinox 600 beats the Apex.  But is the 600 $225 better than the Apex.  Hopefully, we will find out soon.

[Jeff McClendon]

43 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Better to compare the Apex ($425) to the Equinox 600 ($650). 

I put together a table here to better show the comparison of Apex to Simplex, Vanquish, and to the Equinox 600.  Even with that comparison the Apex is a pretty good deal.  However, your focus is on using it on trashed parks and the fact is that the Apex will have a fixed recovery speed and you get what you are going to get.  Garrett detectors seem to be just OK on recovery speed in general.  The 600 allows you to adjust recovery speed up and down to suit the site conditions.  So you can set it high for trashed parks and lower if you want to eek a little more depth for less trashy situations or split the difference.  No such adjustment on the Apex.  Apex is stuck at 5 tones vs. 2, 5, or 50 for the Equinox 600.  Finally, the Equinox has basically 6 different multifrequency modes whereas the Apex has only 2.  I think Apex will be pretty good for what it is and a good value even compared to Equinox, the big question mark is how will it actually perform in the real world, especially in trashy conditions with a fixed recovery speed.  On paper the Equinox 600 beats the Apex.  But is the 600 $225 better than the Apex.  Hopefully, we will find out soon.

Metal detectors..............I have seen this scenario so often lately. A person that has used a certain model/ brand for years switches to an Equinox 800 thinking that magic will happen immediately. Probably not, unless they put in some major hours, turn off their "I like this and I hate that" part of their brain and just be patient and start out in easier detecting environments. They probably should have bought the Vanquish. For me, the beauty of the Vanquish models is that they just work really well right out of the box for basic detecting. Yep, they have been dumbed down quite a bit BUT, they work really well. The Simplex is a really good detector too on paper and I have seen them make some decent finds in the field. I personally was not impressed with the one I tried out here in admittedly bad mineralization. For a waterproof detector that works okay in salt water which I will only use occasionally as an inexpensive detector for general hunting, the Simplex does just fine as a backup or as a " I'm not sure about this hobby yet" detector.

Is the new APEX going to be something extraordinary or is it really still just a Garrett ACE with a big display, wireless, more modes and settings, multi and selectable frequencies, etc? Can anybody use it easily as in is it still going to be dumbed down like the Vanquish/Simplex/ACE type detectors that are just meant for the casual hunter who just wants to go out and have fun without spending a ton of money. Or, will it drive beginners and people who can't change crazy, and really perform like the ORX and the Nox 600 which can seriously hunt just as well as their more expensive brothers and sisters except for the lack of some features and settings?

?????

[jmaryt]

i agree! i know about the eq 600's additional features i guess you could say, i am hoping the garrett
does well in junked spots, because i really don't care for the minelab's build quality. i have never owned a garrett either,
but one can tell it has a more robust build quality, at least to me it does. hopefully, garrett has made it fast enough to 
satisfactorily "hunt the junk!"..guys who will pay hard money are the ones i will pay attention to when they get it, and report on
the performance.

(h.h.!)

j.t.

[Chase Goldman]

3 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Metal detectors..............I have seen this scenario so often lately. A person that has used a certain model/ brand for years switches to an Equinox 800 thinking that magic will happen immediately. Probably not, unless they put in some major hours, turn off their "I like this and I hate that" part of their brain and just be patient and start out in easier detecting environments. They probably should have bought the Vanquish.

I agree with you.  Right now my go to detector is the Deus but I have proven with some awesome finds that the Orx can hold its own.  And I will also pull the Equinox out as I see fit.  The differences in performance are really slim.  It comes down to feature preferences vice performance.  Things like weight, tone customizations, and ability to perform slightly better in hot dirt, thick iron, or salt water and subjective factors such as what detector "performed best" on the last hunt weigh in the decision of what detector gets pulled out of the truck on any given outing.  A detecting friend of mine who had been doing excellent research on some CW sites and who is pretty proficient with Equinox but has been coming up with slim pickings of late asked whether he should purchase and switch to the Deus, noting that I seemed to be preferentially hunting with the Deus instead of the Equinox and was having great success.  Other friends had made similar switches.  As much as I love the Deus, I told him flat out that he shouldn't bother.  If the targets are there, then the Equinox will find them.  The Deus wouldn't be creating a step change in success.

Similarly, unless the Apex is a recovery speed slug, I doubt it's performance will be significantly below that of the $200 more expensive 600.

BTW - I was only comparing the Apex to the 600 in response to j.t.'s comparison to the 800 (that's why I quoted j.t.).  As far as performance is concerned on paper the 600 appears to have an edge over Apex, Vanquish, and Simplex overall.  Looking at features on paper I give a slight nod to Apex over Vanquish and Simplex because Apex has both multiple single frequency options absent on Vanquish and simultaneous multifrequency absent on Simplex, but all three detectors are basically in the same ballpark.

[jmaryt]

for what it's worth, i am seriously hoping the apex performance matches,
or exceeds the 600's performance in the field, because if it does, then "all bets are off"
and the garrett will be the better detector,and the better value.

(h.h.!)

j.t.