Minelab Vanquish Successor Predictions

[Noah (FL)]

Since the Vanquish line seems to be aimed at the big box/ sporting goods retail market I would imagine it will be around for a good while. If you look at the shelves where they are sold there is usually a model or two that are sold out.  If you consider that 20+ year old Bounty Hunter models still sell by the pallet load at Costco then I’m sure the Vanquish is doing just fine sales wise with the beginner/recreational market.  
I have a 340that lives in my van for scouting new spots I stumble across and it always seems to do the job and find some goodies. It lacks all the bells and whistles of “professional” models but still packs quite a punch 

[GB_Amateur]

On 4/1/2023 at 10:42 PM, Dug D said:

Its already working, because the x-terra pro looks a lot better to many people because it uses the nox coils.

I think I just read a report here in the last couple days that this isn't necessarily the case.  (Don't recall the thread but it was one of the X-Terra Pro threads.)

[Dug D]

That was me, day after getting the X Pro I tried my nox coils and they didn't work, but I did find a you tube video where the guy was using a nox coil and it worked fine. I'm waiting to hear back from Minelab repair about what to do with mine. 

[Nuke em]

2 hours ago, Dug D said:

That was me, day after getting the X Pro I tried my nox coils and they didn't work, but I did find a you tube video where the guy was using a nox coil and it worked fine. I'm waiting to hear back from Minelab repair about what to do with mine. 

I got a replacement 11 in coil for my Nox and it works with my Terra now.

[mcjtom]

On 3/27/2023 at 5:19 AM, Chase Goldman said:

the operational shortcomings of Vanquish (fixed ground balance, does not retain user adjusted settings, no recovery speed adjustment, lack of an anti-EMI single frequency mode) become stark.

But are they real shortcomings, I wonder?

(semi-)Fixed ground balance doesn't seem to matter that much on beaches and notching out low negative ID numbers should mostly take care of ground noise in some other places.

It does retain the settings - both global as in sensitivity or volume and notching (and the current Mode's recovery speed) in the Custom Mode.

Each of the 3 modes brings a different recovery speed with it.  Coins is the fastest (probably equivalent to 5 on the Nox), then Jewelry (similar to 4 on the Nox, then Relic (perhaps 2 on the Nox).  When you save the current notching into the Custom mode, the current Mode's recovery speed will be saved with it.

I don't know much about the EMI, but haven't heard much about this being a problem with the Vanquish.  The trick of notching out the lowest negative ID numbers reportedly helps with the EMI as well.  Would switchable single frequencies be even better than the Vanquish auto-EMI?

In the end, I was thinking about and looking into new detectors - a harmless hobby just like with new cameras - but I figured that they wouldn't be much different, despite having more adjustability...

Cheers!

[CliveHamy]

On 7/20/2023 at 10:53 AM, mcjtom said:

But are they real shortcomings, I wonder?

 

Good point. It is easy for the top md experts to disparage the simpler entry level machines. They forget that to the entry level newbies, often short of cash, confronting a new complex hobby, a simple to use, high value for money, great performance detector like the Vanquish is ideal. These "shortcomings" are advantages. Beginners have more chance of gaining confidence and learning the hobby. They can (if they have the money) then trade up for the fancier machines. In the past the Garrett ACE machines were the affordable go to's for the beginner. Now the Vanquish, with same pick up and use simplicity, but with the powerful Equinox Multi-IQ engine seems to have taken over that market segment. ML got the product and the market pitch just right.

I've taught over 60 archaeological students completely new to detecting to be effective with the vanquish within 45 minutes of practise and coaching.  The bonus is that the Vanquish signals are very similar to my NOX 800, so I can easily check out what the students have detected.

In addition I'm finding in my MD club that many detectorists with over 20 years experience, who did not have the cash to buy the expert Equinoxs, Deus, CTZ3030 etc, have bought the Vanquish and are very successful in finding coins and artefacts. Their recent finds include medieval hammered and Roman coins.

 

[phrunt]

Great Post CliveHamy, I agree 100%.

What can they do for a Vanquish successor? Options are becoming very limited, if they adjust much like add on single frequencies or adjustable recovery speed it's getting too close to an Equinox 600, the X-Terra they were able to give a lot of features as they stuck with Single Frequencies, once you're on the Multi-IQ platform it doesn't take much to get it too close to the next model up.  They've got a fine line between having too many models and models cutting into other models.  At the moment I think they've tried to saturate the market with models to ensure they've got something to give the competition a difficult time as Minelab have an answer for just about everything.

The Manticore isn't a giant leap over an Equinox, the 2D target trace being one of its biggest standouts over the Nox but the CTX did it better a decade ago.

So now, they're bringing out models with tweaked features or minor changes like more audio options etc, better or different build designs being the biggest changes.

They've hit a wall, and now releasing more models in the future is looking to be very difficult.  You can only improve on the same things so many times when you're at the limits already.

So if they do a new Vanquish, it will just have a similar body to the X-terra and a few minor modifications to features that they allow it to run, perhaps a ground balance option but really... It's competitor at the time was the Ace series, and they didn't have ground balance either.  Their advertising of it was targeting the Ace series.  The X-Terra was there to destroy the Simplex.  The Nox 900 was because Nokta kept laughing at Minelab's flaws especially around build quality so they fixed that up, and added more Target ID's to counter the Legend having more.  

The GPX 6000 now does what they prevented the GPZ by doing on small gold largely by limiting its coils.  GPZ owners should be upset that they paid that much for a detector that they put a performance cap on by restrictions.  The GPZ is so much better than they allowed it to be so they have some left in the tank for other models in the future.

I'm going to struggle to buy another Minelab detector or any detector really as I really don't think it will be all that different from any that I've already got, I don't need any more disappointments.  Only a new CTX would perk my interest as I think that modern technology could improve it further.  The 6000 was at the start a massive disappointment however as they've fixed its problems it's now OK, it is the detector I hoped it would be although if I didn't own it I'd not be missing much as with my "Unlocked" GPZ the benefits of the 6000 are nowhere near as exciting as they are to someone with a "locked" GPZ. 

I hope they make the Vanquish better and keep the price point low, these entry level machines can do a great job for a majority of people, and won't leave all that much in the ground that people with these fancy superior machines will be able to find.  I use my Vanquish a lot, and don't feel at all throttled by doing so.  

[Jeff McClendon]

The Vanquish 340, 440 and 540 are outstanding beginner level detectors. I have taught absolute beginners how to successfully use one in 5 minutes.

I own a 440 but I gave it to one of my sons to use when he occasionally needs a break from being in the US Navy and wants to do some casual park or saltwater beach detecting.

I can't use a Vanquish were I detect. Just too much magnetite and volcanic stuff in the soil around here. Even rejecting part of the ground noise, lowest iron range on the 440 and 540 is not enough.

So not being able to ground balance them is my first beef with the Vanquish models and Monte Berry's too (requiescat in pace).

My second beef (and Monte's too) was the extreme battery consumption.

My third and final beef is that the Vanquish models are not waterproof.

So, I am having a difficult, old man bout with this conundrum.  

Why did Minelab create a non-waterproof, entry level detector with Multi IQ only operation (for saltwater beaches????) in an obviously designed for complete beginners, flashy Garrett ACE like shell and then produce a fully waterproof, selectable single frequency operation only, with an actual saltwater beach mode (huh???), entry level detector based on the Equinox 700/900 footprint????? That just seems to be utterly bassackwards to me. 

I know I am not a very smart person, especially when it comes to marketing. Minelab marketing and Minelab in general give the impression that they are top dog, top shelf and all over it. Whatever.

I also know I would buy a X-Terra Pro that had Multi IQ without selectable single frequencies in a heartbeat. Just put the Equinox 600 without selectable single frequencies and maybe just Park 1, Park 2 and Beach 2 in an X-Terra Pro shell and shaft system and sell it for $400 US. They would sell that detector by the millions.

[Chase Goldman]

On 8/28/2023 at 4:58 AM, CliveHamy said:

Good point. It is easy for the top md experts to disparage the simpler entry level machines. They forget that to the entry level newbies, often short of cash, confronting a new complex hobby, a simple to use, high value for money, great performance detector like the Vanquish is ideal. These "shortcomings" are advantages.

I'm not so sure the shortcomings (articulated well by Jeff above) are advantages  when they can (in the case of a fixed GB setting) hinder a beginner's ability to learn or be less frustrated, especially when a cheaper and more feature rich alternative in the guise of the Xterra Pro addresses them.  ML has also somehow come up with a decent performing single frequency salt beach machine whose only real shortcoming is performance in highly mineralized dirt as Jeff points out above. 

So in my case at least, this has nothing to do with MD disparagement due to price or features snobbery, as I would personally endorse the less expensive XT Pro over any of the Vanquishes (but especially the upper two tier models).  And as Jeff pointed out above, an XTerra Pro variant with a simple Vanquish like Multi IQ mode implementation to better handle Salt and Mineralized soil would be a great fit (and replacement for Vanquish) priced between the XT Pro and the Nox 600.

[George1971]

The only things I would add in Vanquish are just two. Definitely waterproof and ground balance. Simplicity is everything.