Quest Q40 Metal Detector

[Jeff McClendon]

Hi,

I'm not trying to start any trouble here. A Quest Q40 pretty much fell in my lap for 1/4 of the retail price. I have had the former Deteknix pinpointer and the small ear cup wireless headphones with the plug in wireless module for several years. Both of those products have been trouble free and excellent in quality after loads of use. So, when this Q40 deal came about I thought: what the heck, FTP and  Quest seem to have come to an agreement, Quest is partially an American company and I like their other products. Well, the Q40 is a very nice detector indeed. It feels and operates very well. It has plenty of adjustments and is customizable for discrimination and for tones. It really locks on to coins well so far.  Most of all for me, it has a very comfortable hand grip, feels much lighter and better balanced than my Equinoxes, has wireless audio, Li-Po USB charging for the detector and has a very adjustable shaft system. It does not remind me of any particular company's detector but it does have many separate modern features that all of the other manufacturers have. Its like a combination of every company except maybe Tesoro. I would not feel hesitant about taking it anywhere to detect for coins, jewelry and relics. Until FTP and Nokta/Makro come out with their new models sometime soon (I hope,)  the Quest 40 is a very viable option for someone looking to use a modern designed, single frequency 13kHZ VLF,  with lots of features (the pinpointing is outstanding unlike my Nox) that the big boys have for a lower price and it can hunt. I can only imagine what the newly designed Quest Pro is like... 

Jeff

[Steve Herschbach]

Hi Jeff,

I am not sure why you think your post would start any trouble. We don’t do trouble on this forum!  From all I hear the Quest delivers very good performance for the price. I admit that personally I find the idea that they got their start getting caught ripping off First Texas to be a turn off, but that’s just me and I suppose I should get over it. Thanks for the report, it confirms what I have heard elsewhere.

Quest Q40 Metal Detector

[Guest Tnsharpshooter]

I used a quest briefly a few weeks ago.

Gent with me used it more than I did.

It seemed to be doing alright base on what’s I witnessed.  Evenness comapred Some Nox located targets using it.

Believe it or not it made the find of the day between us.

It May have been the quest 30 model.  I can’t remember.

[Dubious]

The Quest seems very good value for the money, with cutting edge features, but there is that cloud.  I hadn't been aware of the story, but just looked it up:  According to reports, Chinese-based Deteknix among other things introduced a copied Teknetics T2--both hardware and software--in the US as the "Deteknix Quest Pro."  Surprisingly bold.  Case has settled and Deteknix is now Quest.  https://md-hunter.com/deteknix-is-gone-just-got-sued-by-its-competitor/

I tried a Deteknix pinpointer a couple years ago that I may still have.  But I think I'll stay away from Deteknix/Quest products in the future.  It's one thing for companies to be fighting over patents where they both developed the technology and things are murky, but this T2 episode was something else.

[Jeff McClendon]

Hi Dubious

I've read the article you referred to also and as others have said here MD-Hunter is not my first choice for factual information. To me they seem to sensationalize a lot of their stories or maybe something gets jumbled in translation. I have to admit that I do enjoy reading some of their stuff!  Here is a quote from Dave J. who I think is Dave Johnson of First Texas referring to the founder of the original Quest Pro Maoquan Deng in February 2018:

The story of Mr. Deng is an unusual one. I'll tell it as best I can here, and if someone thinks I got it wrong (including Mr. Deng himself) they're welcome to post their disagreement. 

Mr. Deng is a metal detector enthusiast, and resident of California. He wanted to get into the metal detector business. He had business contacts in China who furnished him with T2 clones disguised as something else. But with a trademark sounding kind of like "Teknetics" and virtually identical behaviors, the intent was for customers to know they were getting a T2 clone since the T2 has a good reputation. 

Now in the USA, all that would be regarded as unethical. An honest businessperson wouldn't do it, and I don't recall anything like that ever happening in the past. However China has no history of the concept of "intellectual property", only of fraudulent representation which is fraud no matter how you cut it. So in Chinese culture, what Mr. Deng did would not be considered unethical at all. They were good honest clones, Mr. Deng packaged them in a design of his own making, no fraudulent misrepresentation that I'm aware of. The dispute was over IP. Mr. Deng made a business decision that seemed legit to him, and learned a hard lesson about differences in business cultures. 

I don't regard Mr. Deng as a "bad guy" -- as far as I can tell, he's a decent chap who made a miscalculation out of ignorance. I haven't paid much attention to his products or company, but if his company survives he'll probably turn out ot be a respected competitor.  

And at this point, with his own designs, his opinion of knockoff artists is probably about the same as ours.

--Dave J. 

It's my understanding that the original Quest Pro and the new series of Quest metal detectors were physically designed by Maoquan Deng and bear no hardware resemblance to a Teknetics T2.  The original Quest Pro definitely had patented intellectual property software code that resembled the T2 and the FTP lawsuit stemmed from that issue. The newer Quest detectors do not have any pirated software or components as far as I know. I have seen many listings on the big internet auction site for clones of the T2 and the G2+. There was one or more on almost every page for awhile! I think First Texas had a successful lawsuit stopping that cloning for the moment earlier this summer. The number of Garrett clones currently is really ridiculous!!! The MD-Hunter article did not do a good job of separating the nature of these two totally different lawsuits by First Texas.

 

[Steve Herschbach]

I agree about the MD Hunter site not being a source of reliable information. That is why here we go straight to the source. Just read the lawsuit documents...

Like I said, probably not worth getting all hot and bothered over. Clearly Dave is a forgiving guy and if he is not holding a grudge why should anyone else? In my case it is a moot point anyway.

 

[Redneck]

I bought a Q20 last year. Its a handy detector. Works very well.  Its no clone of the F70  I had 5 years back.  Its  a very smooth running machine. Hard to beat its performance in its price range. 

[Steve Herschbach]

The only problem now is it appears something is up with Quest. The units are being cleared out by various dealers, with rumors Quest is shutting down U.S. operations? Or is it just a new generation of product already on the way? Don't know. I included them in my listing of 21st Century Metal Detectors - be a shame to lose them again already.

[Jeff McClendon]

Hi Steve,

I have heard rumors about a new Quest X5 which will be a less featured entry level version of the Q20. It looks really nice. It is being advertised on the Quest USA website. I think the 3 frequency Quest Pro will be around for awhile. Don't know about the Q20 or Q40. MDF Quest forum announced two new Quest detectors coming in late January 2019. I still can't get the QuestGo App to work completely on my iPhone. Others are having similar issues on both Android and IOS phones. Quest page on Facebook is still receiving updates from Quest as of last week. I noticed Serious Detecting has a 15% off sale on all Quest/Deteknix products and some distributors are complaining about lack of stock.

Jeff 

[Jeff McClendon]

Read today on another forum a report by Sven Stau that Quest detectors had abandon its North American dealers and market and that Jason Deng is no longer with Quest/Deteknix. European and Asian markets are still in place for now. So if you have Quest/Deteknix products, the nearest parts/repair/warranty service is probably in The Netherlands. Some parts are still available in the US from unsold stock.