Testing The Garret Apex + Viper Coil

[palzynski]

As I have up to now mainly been using the Ripper coil , I decided this time to test the stock Viper coil.
I went to a path in a wood near a small town. As usual , such paths are infested by irons of all sizes and this one was not an exception ... The soil is moderatly mineralized there.

I immediately noticed a very similar behaviour between the Viper and the Ripper, short and reactive signals on targets with an excellent iron filtering. 

Just the Viper has a more important coverage than the Ripper , however the Viper is a little heavier and it is more difficult to center the targets with it , a poinpointer is often required ,hopefully I had my ML Profind 35 with me ...

As usual the Apex was very easy to use despite the difficult conditions , even with this bigger Viper coil. The Apex is almost silent on the ferrous and only beeps on good targets , this is quite impressive ...

At the beginning I found quite a lot of targets but only trash . However at the end of the outing I heard a signal on the left side of the path , not very clear so I switched to Iron Audio that gave me a mix of iron and good stuff . So I decided to dig and was quite surprised to see a nice silver coin , a 1937 2 Mark probably lost by a WW2 German soldier...  Never found such a coin ... Thanks Mr Garrett  ... 🙂

Now I have 15 hours with the Ripper + 2 hours with the Viper and I confirm that the Apex is a very good machine , excellent on small and bigger targets . It just requires a few hours( around 10 hours )  to get used to its audio and settings . Once done it is very fun to use , not the deepest one with the Viper but frighteningly efficient in the field especially in the iron trash .. 🙂

My settings  : RELICS factory mode , MF freq , SENS 7 , GB 83

 

At home after a little cleaning : 

 

 

And the trash ...

 

[locator]

Thanks for the report, palzynski. Can you say something about the depth comparison of those two coils?

[palzynski]

Actually on my home bed tests I did not see much depth difference between the Ripper and Viper, either for the big 10g copper coin at 11in depth or the little 3g bronze coin at 6in depth. I was a little surprised by this but I think that it comes from the coils similar ( and small ) widths  , 6 in for the Viper and 5 for the Ripper . For me the Viper advantage vs the Ripper is the ground coverage and not the depth. 

Btw I have just ordered the Raider 8.5 X 11 yesterday , I should receive it next week . Normally it should go deeper because it is a larger coil . I plan to use it on clean soils .  I will send a post as soon as I have more infos ...

The 10g copper coin test box :

[Monte]

On 7/4/2021 at 3:13 AM, palzynski said:

Actually on my home bed tests I did not see much depth difference between the Ripper and Viper, either for the big 10g copper coin at 11in depth or the little 3g bronze coin at 6in depth. I was a little surprised by this but I think that it comes from the coils similar ( and small ) widths  , 6 in for the Viper and 5 for the Ripper . For me the Viper advantage vs the Ripper is the ground coverage and not the depth. 

Btw I have just ordered the Raider 8.5 X 11 yesterday , I should receive it next week . Normally it should go deeper because it is a larger coil . I plan to use it on clean soils .  I will send a post as soon as I have more infos ...

I guess I was fortunate because I got my first Apex at the early release date so all my detecting at first was with the Viper coil. It is a good coil, and it will work fine for a lot of folks getting into this great sport .... until they learn the benefits of larger-size and smaller-size search coils.🙂

At the announcement of the release of their first two accessory coils, the Ripper and Raider, I secured both of those at the same time I got my second Apex. Since about 1972 I have enjoyed maintaining a few detectors in my outfit and keeping preferred coils mounted on certain detectors so that I just grabbed the detector / coil combination that I felt best suited my needs at a site. Plus, since 1968, I have preferred smaller size coils that range from about 41/2" to maybe 61/2"-7" DD for the bulk of my hunting needs.

Why, some might ask? For two reasons. One is that most of the sites I typically hunt have a lot of trash and / or are very brushy and the confined space amongst all the trash or interfering brush calls for a smaller coil for best performance. The second reason is that most of the good targets I have found in the past decades we're relatively shallow, such as surface to maybe 4" or 5".

And the same holds true today, because I hunt sites that are very brushy, have a lot of building rubble, and / or there's just a lot of closely scattered debris. Smaller size coils, to some midsize coils, work okay in those conditions. When I do work a site that is more open, such as a plowed field, a beach, a wide-open grassy park or sports field where I have fewer masking targets and can achieve a little improved depth on small-size targets such as coins, then I opted for what today is a standard coil or what we used to consider a larger or oversized coil.

As I said, the Viper coil is a good coil but it's not for me for most of my search needs . The Ripper coil, with its nice open-frame 5X8 size, is ideal and that coil on my Apex is my most-used combination .

On my 2nd Apex I keep the Raider coil mounted full-time. Although that 81/2X11 open–frame design is close to standard on many detectors today, it's actually what we used to call a larger-than-standard size coil .... and for me, it still is. That is mainly because I am usually searching for smaller size objects such as coins, trade tokens, buttons, bullets, thimbles, jewelry and all sorts of smaller-size objects.  When you get to search coils larger than that you will soon come to a point where their performance and the detectors responsiveness on smaller-sized targets starts to diminish because the trade-off is that the bigger coils are best suited for finding bigger targets.

I'm enjoying your review of the Apex and available search coils. I do have 3 of the Apex devices, and I'm hoping Garrett will make a smaller size round coil, such as their 41/2"  Concentric, for the Apex.  Until then, I have a 5" NEL Sharp mounted on that unit.

Yes, I have a Viper coil available. I keep mine mounted on a spare lower rod in my Accessory Coil Tote but seldom opt for it because the Ripper & Raider team work so well.  Besides, I do have a 4th Apex w/Viper on-hand and that I use as a loaner-unit for friends and family. So far, all users have been very satisfied with that combination when we've been out detecting together.

 I'm looking forward to your report on the Raider coil once you've had the opportunity to check it out in some of your hunt sites. Until then, enjoy your success with Garrett's excellent Apex detector

Monte

[Elbert]

Monte, what are your thoughts about comparing the NEL 5" Sharp coil  against the NEL 6.5 x 3.5 Snake Coil for your type of relic/old home sites?

Thanks and hope all is going well in Clyde Tx.

El

[kac]

So far I have been using the Viper coil and agree that it takes a bit to pin point with. I think that is because unlike a butterfly coil where you have a center that tapers on either end where the Tx and Rx cross over it is reletively straight giving a near equal signal from the center to the ends.

Not a bad thing, just takes a bit of getting used to and where I rarely use the pinpoint mode and tend to approach the target at different angles (criss cross) to locate the target.

Overall even in the woods the Viper seems to be a well rounded starting point and I have yet to descide what coil I would want next.

NOW.......... if Garrett came out with a 6x9 concentric I would snag one in a heartbeat.

I have been using my Apex even in high trash areas and can see the Ripper doing a bit better in isolating targets but probably not by much.

[JCR]

I too would like to see Concentric coils available for Garrett's new Multiflex.

[kac]

Took the Apex out for another quick run at the local park. For kicks and not sure why I didn't think of it before, I kicked the volume up to 8 and turned it down on my headphones so my eardrums don't burst and you can hear nuances with the targets and even hear faint signals so it isn't a beep n dig as I first thought.

Do wish Nokta had a volume adjust on their headphones. Really makes a difference.

[JCR]

I know on the AT Max the proportional audio is best at max volume(8) on the detector & adjust the separate headphone volume to what is wanted. And yes, NM should have a volume control on the wireless headphones. What am I missing having to keep the detector volume below 3? 

[palzynski]

11 hours ago, kac said:

So far I have been using the Viper coil and agree that it takes a bit to pin point with. I think that is because unlike a butterfly coil where you have a center that tapers on either end where the Tx and Rx cross over it is reletively straight giving a near equal signal from the center to the ends.

....

I have been using my Apex even in high trash areas and can see the Ripper doing a bit better in isolating targets but probably not by much.

From my standpoint  I always have a pinpointer with me when using the Viper coil .  I dont need the pinpointer as much with the Ripper .  Anyway both coils are excellent , you cant go wrong with them ... 🙂