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Any Suggestions For " Do It Yourself " Vanquish Accessories?


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Ok thanks for the armrest pics but not really interested by that because it will not lighten the Vanquish I think . I would rather be interested by a new control box design even if I know that it will probably never be done because too complex ...

Btw I recommend to replace the Vanquish lower and mid shafts by carbon shafts ( see Testing The Vanquish 540 - Page 9 - Minelab Metal Detectors - DetectorProspector.com ) . This is quite easy to do and it significantly  improves the  vanquish balance  . I went detecting with my 540 today and the Vanquish is really more fun to use with these carbon shafts than with the stock ones  . btw I have seen on this forum someone making carbon shafts for the Equinox , probably he would have customers for a Vanquish carbon front shafts package ...

 

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The balance is also very important.

The vanquish 540 is top heavy with the V12 coil

No balance

attach 100g to the back of the armrest for testing and then walk with it, you will notice that it is more comfortable.

100g heavier but more comfortable 🙂

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Thanks for the UK conversion kit info, Great idea , would like to get one before the brexit  🙂...

Btw I mostly use a V10 coil on my 540 . I only use the V12 in specific cases , for example when finishing an area to go at max depth ( I noticed  that the V12 goes  3 or 4cm deeper than the V10 on big coins on my bed tests ).

The V12 is too heavy for me to be used during long outings . Attaching 100g at the back yes I will try this and let you know ....

For me the V10 is by far far the best coil of the Vanquish coil set , it is powerful and light . I dont understand why ML does not sell the 540 with a V10 as stock coil , like it is the case for the 340 and 440 ...

 

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9 hours ago, Frank M said:

The balance is also very important.

The vanquish 540 is top heavy with the V12 coil

No balance

attach 100g to the back of the armrest for testing and then walk with it, you will notice that it is more comfortable.

100g heavier but more comfortable 🙂

Interesting... So my idea of having a way to pull the battery pack back to the elbow (attached under the armrest for example) may actually be helpful... Will have to wait until I've been out swinging it and play around with the balance etc... A re-designed control box which is at least "water resistant" for quick drops in the surf etc (not going to go diving with it lol). And a built-in smaller rechargable battery pack that holds up about as well as the AA cells, swap to carbon fiber tubes, and then add an optional elbow mounted holder for an additional USB battery pack that can power/charge the internal cell, might be a cool "Turbo Upgrade Kit" for the 540 (especially with the V12). Keep the weight roughly under control, better balance, waterproof, and improved battery performance/options... 

9 hours ago, Frank M said:

But if you really want to save weight, you can build or buy carbon.

buy example:

CMD Vanquish Straight Shaft Carbon Fibre Conversion Kit

Comes from UK

But top heavy again with V12 😉

 

VanStr01-500x500.jpg

That's a cool suggestion, I hadn't thought about replacing the tubes with carbon. What is the opinion in general on straight tube vs the "S" configuration the vanquish uses by default? Is one clearly "better" than the other in some way? Or is it purely subjective?

8 hours ago, palzynski said:

Thanks for the UK conversion kit info, Great idea , would like to get one before the brexit  🙂...

Btw I mostly use a V10 coil on my 540 . I only use the V12 in specific cases , for example when finishing an area to go at max depth ( I noticed  that the V12 goes  3 or 4cm deeper than the V10 on big coins on my bed tests ).

The V12 is too heavy for me to be used during long outings . Attaching 100g at the back yes I will try this and let you know ....

For me the V10 is by far far the best coil of the Vanquish coil set , it is powerful and light . I dont understand why ML does not sell the 540 with a V10 as stock coil , like it is the case for the 340 and 440 ...

 

So if the overall machine was reasonable weight, and had balance improved, would you say the V12 is superior overall, the only reason you say the V10 is better is because it's nearly as good as V12 but lighter?

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4 minutes ago, phrunt said:

I think wait until you get it in your hands before deciding it's too heavy as you may find quite the opposite, you don't look like a small guy 🙂

Of course, I won't make any final choices until I've got my hands on it. But it's always good to canvas the community and see what others think too. If I were to make a set of upgrade parts, is good to know what there is general demand for. Then when I get my hands on it, any/all of those items that I feel are useful to me as well, I can then design and make available to others. 🙂

And yeah, I have had words like "Sasquach" or "Giant" used to refer to me in the past lol... Based on geneology there is a fair bit of Viking blood in me... (I'm roughly 2M tall, and "built like a brick shithouse" I think is the term my father used to say lol... hopefully that doesn't violate forum rules...)

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Built like a brick shithouse is a quaint British expression. It refers to the days when the lavatory was not indoors, but a seperate building at the end of your garden. They were often crude wooden constructions, but better quality ones were made of bricks. A brick shithouse.

And being 2m tall may have implications on your detector fit. You may want a longer shaft ... but don't forget the limited length of cable that's standard on the coil. Another reason for an extension-cable, even if it is only 4 inches long.

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35 minutes ago, PimentoUK said:

Built like a brick shithouse is a quaint British expression. It refers to the days when the lavatory was not indoors, but a seperate building at the end of your garden. They were often crude wooden constructions, but better quality ones were made of bricks. A brick shithouse.

And being 2m tall may have implications on your detector fit. You may want a longer shaft ... but don't forget the limited length of cable that's standard on the coil. Another reason for an extension-cable, even if it is only 4 inches long.

Thanks Pimento, Yeah always interesting to understand the beginnings of the colloquialisms we use. I figured the general meaning, but didn't realize it was British origin. Unfortunately when I was younger it probably had a more appropriate meaning (when I was fit, etc, used to play sports, and do a lot of Olympic type lifting, etc...). These days it's probably more like a "loosely piled clay shithouse" lol... (I'm way out of shape these days) 🙂 Though I am resuming my lifting currently, so hopefully I can get into better shape over the coming months lol.

As for height, I had wondered if that would be an issue, but will have to see once I get using it. And as you said, extensions, etc can address that pretty easily if it's needed. (to be exact, I'm about 195cm tall, not quite 2M, but still quite tall)

Anyway, thanks everyone for the responses on this thread, so far tons of great feedback.

I'm aware I'm kind of grasping in the dark, since I haven't actually handled the detector myself yet (WHY did I agree to this whole "not opening gifts until Christmas" thing?!?!?) lol...

But it's great to hear what everyone else using the detector thinks, and start to get a feel for what kind of customizations/improvements/mods might be fun to work on, and "well-received" by the community 🙂

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2 hours ago, Glasswalker said:

....That's a cool suggestion, I hadn't thought about replacing the tubes with carbon. What is the opinion in general on straight tube vs the "S" configuration the vanquish uses by default? Is one clearly "better" than the other in some way? Or is it purely subjective?

So if the overall machine was reasonable weight, and had balance improved, would you say the V12 is superior overall, the only reason you say the V10 is better is because it's nearly as good as V12 but lighter?

- I prefer a S configuration vs a straight shaft. This for 2 reasons :

   First I find easier to sweep a S shaft because with a straight shaft the detector center of gravity is lower than with a straight shaft . This means that with a straight shaft you have a pendulum effect that does not exist on a S shaft .

   Second when you put your machine on the ground a detector with a straight shaft often rotates to one side due to the high position of the control box , and the control box side hits the ground  at each time , which is not really good for the electronics .... 

- I think that Phrunt prefers the V12 because he uses it in low iron trash areas . However in most of my areas ( in France ) there are quite a lot of ferrous and the V12 has too much iron masking for me , I need a smaller coil that will perform better amoung the ferrous , so the V10 is a better choice for me , apart from the weight criteria.  The coil choice depends on your soil contents and also on the type of targets you are looking for , small coins , big coins , etc 

 

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21 minutes ago, Glasswalker said:

....

As for height, I had wondered if that would be an issue, but will have to see once I get using it. And as you said, extensions, etc can address that pretty easily if it's needed. (to be exact, I'm about 195cm tall, not quite 2M, but still quite tall)

...

I forgot to say that if you are 195cm tall , probably the Vanquish stock shaft will be too short for you . Then you will have to make at least one "do it yourself" accessory , a longer lower shaft  ... 🙂

BTW the Vanquish is a very good machine , but it takes a little time to get used to its audio because this detector is a bit chatty , especially in iron trashed areas.  Usually people get used to it after say minimum 10/12hours detecting.  Start to use it in a clean area , avoid gardens , parks etc during the first hours ...   

HH

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