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Simplex V2.77 Vs ??? And Lower Shaft Flex Video


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I have not been very kind to the Nokta Makro Simplex. I was able to use one for three "normal" coin and jewelry baseball/soccer/football field hunts here in Colorado USA. At the time (March 2020) the only three tone mode was the original Park mode. I was not impressed. I was deliberately hunting for surface to 6" targets or recent drops. I was hoping for good audio and numerical target ID on solid sounding targets. Unfortunately the fixed tone break in the original Park mode was set way too low for gold jewelry and USA coins which basically made any shallow to 6" low to mid conductor sound like a clad dime, copper penny, clad quarter or silver coin or jewelry and have high conductor target IDs too due to single frequency up averaging in the high mineralization I was hunting in. Depth was very poor also. The only 6" targets I dug were large can slaw which read up in the 90s. That was with the sensitivity maxed out, ground balanced properly and with Nokta Makro wireless headphones. I did find some shallow clad which read accurately as high conductors but I really had no idea what I was about to dig otherwise. It acted like every other single frequency detector I had used on the highly mineralized ground I hunt on most of the time no matter what brand or how much they cost. I moved on and wrote the Simplex off, along with the Racer 2 and the Multi Kruzer/Kruzer which behaved similarly in my hunting areas just like all the other single frequency VLFs I tried..

I recently started testing some other detectors that I had never tried like the Whites DFX and V3i, paid more attention to my MX5 and Nokta Makro Gold Kruzer and finally lost it for good with the XP ORX. I was looking for a detector besides the Minelab Equinox and Vanquish that might have an edge over them in certain scenarios or at least a different but very applicable use as a gold jewelry hunter. I love the Equinox and Vanquish and they have been very good to me and fit my hunting style. I also like detectors from other brands too.

The Whites multi freqs got killed by EMI and ground mineralization here, unfortunately and very unexpectedly. The MX5 as much as I really like it is just too slow, can't handle the mineralization here and can't tell the difference between a US nickel/pulltab and a US clad quarter at 3" depth. I absolutely love the XP Deus and XP ORX for ergonomics and for adjustability. I really do not like their audio. I also really do not like how they too can't tell the difference between a US nickel/pulltab and a US clad quarter at 3" depth or more in the dirt I often hunt in. For gold prospecting the Orx is fantastic. So is the Nokta Makro Gold Kruzer but the Gold Kruzer has three tone audio AND adjustable iron audio, plus a boost and fast single tone mode with discrimination and an all metal mode that work great for prospecting. The Gold Kruzer is an incredible micro jewelry hunter too and it is fully waterproof and made like a military tank.

So, after reading about the Simplex updates, already having the green wireless headphones and needing a wired headphone jack cable for my Gold Kruzer I thought I would revisit the Simplex with V2.77 software. Plus, if the rumors are true, the Simplex form factor may be used for Nokta Makros next and greatly anticipated SMF detector.

I am really glad I tried the Simplex again. The new Park mode (Park 1) is a huge improvement with its more USA coin and gold jewelry hunting friendly tone breaks. The boosted sensitivity, mute function (and thank you Nokta Makro for letting the pinpoint button double as the mute button instead of the power button which was used by another now defunct famous detector manufacturer and resulted in turning them off completely repeatedly during hunts even on their latest models after years of complaints) and the very good mineralization bar among other fine improvements make the Simplex an even better detector for basic detecting use.

I have made two trips to the same baseball/soccer/football field complex as before with the 2.77 version Simplex. These fields have two or three targets per sweep so I would label that as fairly spread out target wise as opposed to dense type aluminum trash. The new mineralization bar was 1/2 to almost completely full whenever I checked it. Wow, this detector has possibilities. In Park 1, with nothing discriminated, iron audio on setting 1, sensitivity on five or six of seven, and properly ground balanced the Simplex was able to do something very basic which it could not do before. It could definitively identify low and mid conductors that were easily down to 4" deep. The only detectors that I have used that could do that consistently were the Equinox and Vanquish.

I am hunting these fields for : gold jewelry, silver jewelry, silver coins and modern US coins in that order of importance. I want to know if I am about to dig a low, mid or high conductive target. I don't want to waste my time digging a 3" pull tab that sounds and reads like a copper penny or clad dime. So, all of the pull tabs and evenly shaped can slaw that I dug along with several US nickels had solid, dig me tones that put them squarely in the low to mid non-ferrous conductive range and they had tight numbers that only wavered a few digits between 22 and 55 depending on size and depth. There was some up averaging but not completely out of the appropriate tone bin. That is all I need. I will be digging most of those targets no matter what they turn out to be. US zinc pennies and larger beaver tail ring pull tabs read almost at the mid tone/high tone break so that makes the blended mid/high tone a good identifier. All of the other high conductor targets are dig me no brainers on the V 2.77 Simplex if they aren't too deep. Like many have said, good quality undamaged targets that aren't too deep sound fantastic on the Simplex with the newer software. Jagged, misshapen aluminum and ferrous targets have widely varying tones and target ID numbers. So far, I have only dug one very rusty steel crown bottle cap. So, I am extremely impressed with the vastly improved performance and I haven't even tried the smaller coils in dense aluminum or iron trash yet.

My only negative and it is quite a negative is the ridiculous lower shaft on the Simplex I received from a well known vendor. This Simplex was a basic model with no wireless headphones. It was a return and I purchased it for substantially below the new price. It looked new to me but maybe the lower shaft issue was the reason for the return. It should have been replaced. Watch this video of a Gold Kruzer, Vanquish and Simplex comparing lower shaft flex.

I hope there is some kind of solution for this. I know there is some kind of insert that goes into the end of the lower shaft. I don't think it will help this flimsy, too easy to bend plastic toy shaft however.

Jeff

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Excellent detailed post.  Good to see you were wise enough to give it a second chance.  But I ask for one clarification.  Your beginning/intro said that the Simplex had very similar performance to other single frequency detectors in your demanding ground.  After the software upgrade, are you saying that the (single frequency) Simplex outperforms most other single frequency detectors you've tried in those conditions?  It sounds like it, which if so is pretty amazing given its $255 pricetag.

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18 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Excellent detailed post.  Good to see you were wise enough to give it a second chance.  But I ask for one clarification.  Your beginning/intro said that the Simplex had very similar performance to other single frequency detectors in your demanding ground.  After the software upgrade, are you saying that the (single frequency) Simplex outperforms most other single frequency detectors you've tried in those conditions?  It sounds like it, which if so is pretty amazing given its $255 pricetag.

So far, the answer to your question is yes. The only detector that comes close would be a really hot F19/G2+ on a good day target ID wise. 

The Simplex I have, running 2.77 which seems to have the transmit gain set really high, reminds me a lot of the T2 and the Quest 40, but with much more stable target ID, general features, settings choices, better audio, better adjustability and most of all waterproofing that I trust. I had it out in the rain today (it actually rained here today and was not 95 degrees for the first time since right after July 4th) and I didn't even think twice about it. 

I continue to like the mellow tones of the Equinox and Vanquish and their amazingly accurate numerical target ID at depth. The Simplex can't compete with them in that category. There are times though when I need a sparky, quick detector. Hopefully the Simplex and my Gold Kruzer can do that job until Nok Mak comes out with their SMF detector.

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I do like the toughness of the Kruzer shaft. Always wondered how those plastic retractable shafts would be. Always assumed they would have more flex than traditional shafts. One the big reasons I chose the MK over the Amphibio. Good demo on the shafts along side of that attack dog of yours 😲

You may like the eliptical coil on the Simplex. I find they do better in bad ground over wider coils. Sniping targets between trash is easier too.

Got one question for ya... What id's do you have for us coins and common trash like square tabs and ring tabs?

 

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17 minutes ago, kac said:

Got one question for ya... What id's do you have for us coins and common trash like square tabs and ring tabs?

Where I often detect, your question is a moving target. The ground can be so mineralized that low and mid conductor target IDs rise quickly the deeper the target is. So for shallow 3" or less nickels and common modern pull tabs, the IDs are 22 or so for square tabs, 24 or so for nickels, 28 or so for the most modern rounded pull tabs and 50 to 65 on various kinds of ring pulls depending on size and if they are intact. Just the beaver tail can read from 20 to 30 so far.

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Great report Jeff. I’m glad to hear the Simplex software is shaping up. Seems a clear case of pushed to market too soon, and only now is the machine getting properly dialed in. I like update facilities but an unforeseen side effect is it allows manufacturers to release things sooner than they would back in the analog days.

It might not be too hard to find a thin tube or even a light wood dowel to drive in as a stiffener. Even a round tube would work as long as you got contact on four sides. I wonder how much the weight would increase if you shot it full of expandable foam? And whether that would add enough stiffness to be worth the extra weight?

Contact Dilek for sure just in case there was a known run of wimpy rods.

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Great post, Jeff.  I like the SW tweaks Nokta has done with Simplex,too.  I find AM mode to be pretty quirky in my test garden, it performs worse than Park 2 (the old Park 1) on mid and high conductors at depth which is just weird.  I like the Relic, Park 1, and Beach modes best.  The flexible lower shaft was something I really noticed when the detector got warm sitting in the garage or my car.  It is unacceptably flexible under those conditions.  Would like to get my hands on one of the accessory coils to see what it can do.

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44 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Great post, Jeff.  I like the SW tweaks Nokta has done with Simplex,too.  I find AM mode to be pretty quirky in my test garden, it performs worse than Park 2 (the old Park 1) on mid and high conductors at depth which is just weird.  I like the Relic, Park 1, and Beach modes best.  The flexible lower shaft was something I really noticed when the detector got warm sitting in the garage or my car.  It is unacceptably flexible under those conditions.  Would like to get my hands on one of the accessory coils to see what it can do.

I like the same modes as you. The all metal mode is kind of wimpy but that seems to be the trend lately with Nokta Makro. Their Park 1 and Field mode on the Simplex and the Boost/Deep modes on the Kruzers are really amazing and out perform the Gen modes in most soil conditions.

If the XP ORX had equal stable numerical IDs, audio as good as the Simplex, along with adjustable volume for iron audio, I would probably still own one. Oh well..........back to my Deus Lite that you helped me with.

I tend to use the onboard pinpoint function on the Simplex quite a bit and I like to get the coil as close to the surface as possible. Feeling that lower shaft flex backwards about 2 inches definitely takes some getting used to. Otherwise, I continue to be extremely impressed with whatever Nokta Makro did to make the target IDs much more stable which also really lessened up averaging of low and mid conductors. I actually dug two 6" Jefferson nickels today in dirt that filled up the mineralization bar using Park 1. I got plenty of 24 VDIs mixed in with some 50s and 60s on passes. Just by those numbers and the wonderful audio responses, I was sure they were either nickels, lead or gold jewelry. Very impressive. 

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  • 1 month later...
On 8/28/2020 at 5:34 PM, Jeff McClendon said:

My only negative and it is quite a negative is the ridiculous lower shaft on the Simplex

I just found out there is an optional carbon fiber lower rod available for the Simplex+. I have no idea when it came out though.

Part Number : 17000067
Description : Simplex+ Lower Shaft (Carbon Fiber)
https://www.noktadetectors.com/accessoire/simplex-lower-shaft-carbon-fiber/

lower-rod-carbon-fiber-simplex+-nokta-makro.jpg

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The Gold Kruzer has a lower carbon fiber rod on it.

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