Ace Apex On Gold Nuggets?

[Chase Goldman]

9 minutes ago, Wazzie Ozzie said:

Tried the apex guys briefly in the goldfields but just too noisy in our mineralised ground. And the sensitivity to small targets not great.

I may have things to learn but certainly not a good machine for western australia.

Not a surprising outcome.  If you are still interested in a VLF machine with discrimination for nugget hunting, there are a number of superior choices to Apex and resources on this site for researching them.

 

[Steve Herschbach]

Since this thread started I've had the Apex on some nasty magnetic serpentine soil. Now, honestly, this stuff will kill most VLF detectors, and the Apex was no different, I'd say sub-par in comparison to dedicated prospecting VLF machines. But it was a very limited test and truly worst case, so I'll find out more later on milder ground. I'd expect it to do ok, but as I figured it does not have anything special going on in really bad ground. So our two limited tests match up.

Gotta admit I like the machine though. The form factor is very nice, good feel. It's just a cool little detector that many park hunters would enjoy. No, it breaks no records, but I think it is a little better than it has gotten credit for so far. Now that I've gotten used to that tiny control box, everything else except a Deus seems boxy and large. Remember I started with the mailbox detectors back in the 70s, and this little detector is a dream when it comes to the general package.

[Jeff McClendon]

11 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Since this thread started I've had the Apex on some nasty magnetic serpentine soil. Now, honestly, this stuff will kill most VLF detectors, and the Apex was no different, I'd say sub-par in comparison to dedicated prospecting VLF machines. But it was a very limited test and truly worst case, so I'll find out more later on milder ground. I'd expect it to do ok, but as I figured it does not have anything special going on in really bad ground. So our two limited tests match up.

Gotta admit I like the machine though. The form factor is very nice, good feel. It's just a cool little detector that many park hunters would enjoy. No, it breaks no records, but I think it is a little better than it has gotten credit for so far. Now that I've gotten used to that tiny control box, everything else except a Deus seems boxy and large. Remember I started with the mailbox detectors back in the 70s, and this little detector is a dream when it comes to the general package.

Thank you for the short but not surprising review. Garrett has definitely designed a very nice looking detector that works well for the casual hunter or for a person that only wants to do limited depth work in milder soil conditions. For Garrett VLF gold prospecting, I would pick the AT Gold over the Apex without a second thought however. 

I keep a close eye on Ebay used detector sales. Very few Garrett APEX used sales recently so the clamor for and against the APEX seems to have died down substantially. The big sale of used AT Pros has not died down at all and the consistently large amount of used Whites (Garrett) detector sales is really sad.

[GB_Amateur]

2 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

The big sale of used AT Pros has not died down at all and the consistently large amount of used Whites (Garrett) detector sales is really sad.

I monitor Ebay detector sales, too.  As you note the (used) AT-Pro has been a hot seller (in terms of number of units as the prices seem to have been fairly steady of the last few years) for a long time.  That was and still is a very popular detector in the USA which I think accounts for the volume, not what some like to think (to bolster their own beliefs) that people are dumping them because they no longer measure up.  Whether they measure up is a separate question, but IMO most people who have them do like them.

Regarding the White's products, I wonder if people are thinking "oh, this is a great time to sell since with them out-of-business I can get top dollar!"  But are they getting high prices?  When it comes to detectors I only look at the prices-realized when I'm serious about buying.  I have noticed that there seems to be some price gouging for certain accessories -- Chuck Anders (ridge runner) pointed that out when he was trying to find a common battery holder which used to sell for $10.  Some people are asking $40 and more for those....  (Again, are they getting that?  I don't know.)

One thing I noticed early on -- used detector prices are strongly season-dependent.  That's common a lot of recreational equipment.  Best time to buy seems to me to be in late summer and early autumn.  People who take a snapshot of detector sales and think that represents a major change in the market aren't getting a fair picture.  You've got to observe for a long time, meaning many months and preferably multiple years.

[Dances With Doves]

Has anyone   found a gold nugget using the   Apex yet?

[Dances With Doves]

Time changes everything.The xterra was a popular machine a few years ago but since the Nox came out there are not many people that use it much anymore.There was a lot of comparison between that and the At pro.At pro won  for being waterproof and the xterra for being more    versatile. For turf hunting   I  would take the X-terra any day.The Apex is a different and new machine with better beach performance at a good   price so it will take away from AT Pro sales.The Nox- Vanquish machines have taken more then there share of the market and that is we are  today.All of my friends that turf hunt are using  the Nox  today.The  Apex type machines will be the AT Pros of yesterday if they keep improving it.  

[Jeff McClendon]

7 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

I monitor Ebay detector sales, too.  As you note the (used) AT-Pro has been a hot seller (in terms of number of units as the prices seem to have been fairly steady of the last few years) for a long time.  That was and still is a very popular detector in the USA which I think accounts for the volume, not what some like to think (to bolster their own beliefs) that people are dumping them because they no longer measure up.  Whether they measure up is a separate question, but IMO most people who have them do like them.

I have contacted some of the AT Pro sellers on EBay in the past, to find out why they were selling their AT Pros. I was curious because I too have no problem with the AT Pro personally aside from not liking the doorbell audio. I did not bother contacting sales that appeared to be from dealers/pawn shops. The owners that replied were either getting out of detecting or were “upgrading” to an AT Max, Equinox, Deus or more recently mostly to the APEX. 

[Steve Herschbach]

On 1/21/2021 at 7:54 AM, Jeff McClendon said:

For Garrett VLF gold prospecting, I would pick the AT Gold over the Apex without a second thought however. 

I agree. I’m just trying to get my head around the Apex capabilities. A smaller coil would help also, so I may have to get one. I think this is just a good start, and Garrett was wise to ease into it this way. Get the hardware validated, and keep working on the circuit.