abenson

Just my 2 cents. But I suggested the Equinox 800 to a friend that had never owned a metal detector before. He bought it at the beginning of the summer and I have been out with him a few times. He is really struggling with the unit even in the preset modes. I go over a target and have him listen and he still struggles to understand the tones and ID. Not sure the Equinox 800 is a good choice for someone who has never owned a metal detector before. The Vanquish IMO would be a better first detector, the tones and ID are more straight forward. Nokta Makro Simplex would be another good one.

Use Minelab GPX battery harness and cable for sale. Battery is good and holds a charge for about 11 hours. $250 includes shipping to lower 48. I take PayPal or Venmo. Add %3 if you don't wa t to do friends or family.

Congratulations Hugh on the gold coin! That's a day you won't forget. It was great seeing you at DIV.

Well I can tell you in the hot Culpeper dirt of VA that the Equinox ground balances in the mid to high teens in Park 1 and that's really hot ground. So it appears the higher the number the milder the ground. But maybe I'm wrong. In Utah I ground balance in the low teens, on the Fisher F75 it's 4-5 bars.

Most of the parks I hunt have moderate trash. Yes there are areas that are really bad and require a different detector. Beaches are the same.

The Vanquish 340 and the Apex are a pretty close match performance wise. Depth in my ground is about the same, I can get one more direction on the nail board with the 340. They are probably a close match on the beach too. I like the audio on the 340 better and numbers are more stable on the 340. But the Apex has a lot more features like wireless headphones, backlight etc, etc. It's also $225 more. So if those features are what a person wants then the Apex might be better for that person.

All good stuff in the last couple of posts. And things to think about in the future when posting. I will have to agree that almost every Garrett feed on any forum out there always turns into a comparison battle and usually involves Minelab products. As far as the under $300 forum goes, I thought it was good. But it was still ruled by those that post most on more expensive detectors and there lies the problem. Knowledge of those upper end models has a tendency to bleed into thoughts that are posted about less expensive units and their shortfalls. Honestly though I doubt most new users

Here's my thought on the V10 and you feel like you really need it. If you already have the 540 pro pack, why not just by a 340. It's only like $80 more than just the coil. Then you have all the coils and a loaner for friends and family. BTW that's exactly what I did bought a barley used 540 pro pack and a new 340 for less than the 540 pro pack new. I wasn't ever impressed with Vanquish in trash but I will have to say, it's a great beach and park detector. Hence the reason for picking another one up. I even have fun running the 340 in the parks, it's deep and simple to use. Really don't f

Steve-Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. So why not give yours? Maybe you'll change some of us trolls. I'm not totally against the Apex, it really does have some good modern features. I just wish Garrett would get away from the same old single mode disc pattern rut they've been in for years and show us some new technology.

Having all these coils out all of a sudden tells me one of two things. Either Garrett thought way ahead and let Nel have access to the technology or there's nothing special about Garrett MF. In any case I'm done with the Apex. Hopefully all these new coils will help the Apex out but I'm not spending any more money to find out. I'd rather swing an Equinox plain and simple. And if you're going to spend $425 on the Apex and then add a coil you just as well spend a little extra money and get an Equinox 600.

I'm pretty confident a GPX would hit. But they're expensive

Jeff I saw your post last night but didn't have time to comment. As you do more video it will get easier to film and edit, so keep at it. I'm not that great either and even though I have 2 GoPros I still tend to use my Samsung smart phone for most of my videos. I hate to keep harping on the Apex but this exact situation is why I'm not a big fan of it. The MF on the Apex has very little if any difference in operation as any of the single frequency settings. Even Calabash noted this in his mild ground. The Equinox and to a great extent the Vanquish are 2 of the only metal detector plat

We like to keep it a secret. LOL I like mine I just don't post finds much. In 2 weeks I will be in Culpeper, VA and will hopefully meet up with Mr Cambell AKA ChaseGoldman. We hope to give the Tarsacci a go in that hot dirt and hopefully finds some Civil War relics. I'm sure we'll have a lot to say once we return.

I've done exactly that more that a few times with my GPX. It sure is a lot of work, sometimes it pays off sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes just running a GPX through an iron patch will uncover stuff a VLF misses. One recent hunt netted me 9 military buttons my Equinox missed in a mess of nails. Even changing the timing on a GPX can result in finds. Because everytime you change the timing iron reacts differently. The GPX is a fascinating machine if you take the time to really understand it.