abenson

Garrett Ace Apex Review Part 2 Part 2 is the Apex depth test and comparison. Let me say right up front that my soil is 4-5 bars on the F75, so not mild ground. So, you’ll probably get different results if you have really hot ground or mild ground. The multi frequency feature of the Apex is what most interests me. I want to see how it compares against the Equinox (for target ID and depth) and other single frequency machines with similar sized coils. I’ve got a test garden in my yard of buried items, some in polluted holes. They are quarters buried at 2, 4, *6 & 8 inches. Dimes buried at 2, 4 & *6 inches. Nickels buried at 2, 4, 6 & 8 inches. Small pewter button (is a close representation of a $1 gold coin) buried at 2, 4 & 6 inches. *indicates polluted hole. In the above test, I’m not only looking at whether or not a machine can detect the item but how accurate the ID is at each depth. The Apex was tested against the following metal detector and coil combinations: Minelab Equinox 800 (park 1) 6” coil (closest size for comparison), XP Deus 9” HF coil (deep mode), Fisher F19 5 x 10 coil, Nokta Makro Simplex (field mode) 5 x 10 coil & Makro Racer 2 (deep mode) 7 x 11 coil. I’ll try to make this short-Equinox with 6” coils sees all targets, and accurately ID’s the 2, 4 & 6 inch targets it will also accurately ID the 8” nickel. Nokta Makro simplex accurately ID’s the 2 inch targets, hits the 4” but ID is off, can also see the 6” targets except the dime and small pewter. Fisher F19 can accurately ID 2 & 4 inch targets. XP Deus can accurately ID the 2 & 4 inch targets can also ID the 6” quarter and nickel. Makro Racer 2 can accurately ID 2 & 4 inch targets. Garrett Apex can accurately ID all 2” targets but after that it can hit all targets but ID is for the most part all over the place. I only did a video on the Simplex and the Apex. Would just take way too long to video every detector. You can find the link to the video at the end of this post. Also, in my yard I have an IHP buried at 3” with 2 nails on the surface 3” out from center. A 5” coil can get between the two nails but regardless of the metal detector/coil used I’ve yet to find one that can hit the IHP (even with a 5” coil). The nails always win, might be my mineralized dirt. But, in any case the Apex can’t hit it either. The only other metal detector I wish I had access to is the Minelab Vanquish 540. But I know that unit well enough to know that performance in iron would be about the same as the Apex. However, the Vanquish I feel would have a clear depth advantage. Overall I feel like the Apex (as far as depth goes) fits nicely in the price range it falls in with other similar detectors. It looks good, feels good, has wireless headphones and a rechargeable battery. Performance would best suit it for open park areas and wet sand on the beach. In a trashy environment the Apex seriously lacks performance and I personally feel like I would be walking over too much in a ghost town or trashy relic site or any trashy site to justify using it. Here’s the video If you want to see the Nokta Makro Simplex and Garrett Apex being compared on a separation and depth test.

One other thing. Target ID is really pulled down with iron near a good target on the Apex, even in MF. Unlike the Equinox or Vanquish when they hit a target next to iron the ID suffers very little. Example: on the nail board test, even though the Equinox is not a super performer, the targets it does hit shows a pretty accurate ID. The Apex grunts just above iron on the few directions it can hit the penny. Probably explains why the relic mode was the best performing.

Single frequency or MF results were honestly about the same. 20KHz gave a slight edge but not enough to worry about. The relic mode actually was the best performing mode on the separation tests for me. I would have thought coin or jewelry. It really doesn't appear there's that much difference in recovery speed between modes though. Pro zero made it plain annoying with the iron audio.

I want to start by saying that I really hate posting reviews like this when I'm disappointed in the results. Makes me feel like the bad guy or that maybe, just maybe I had the metal detectors setup wrong. Anyway here is a quick review. Garrett Ace Apex Review Part 1 Got a Garrett Ace Apex delivered today, work is slow right now so I got right to testing it out. I’m going to post my review in 2 parts. Part 1 will be about the separation abilities of the Apex. Part 2 will be about the depth capabilities of the Apex. First wanted to say, I’m pretty impressed with the build quality and ergonomics of the Apex. I won’t bore you with the overview of the machine. I’m sure there are others that will give or have given a full run down of the physical qualities of the detector. In my mind (and I might be wrong) the question most educated (meaning they already own a metal detector) perspective buyers will have is how does the Apex compare to the Minelab Equinox and Minelab Vanquish. Minelab pretty much has the multi-frequency thing figured out, so how will the new Apex compare in multi-frequency. Historically multi-frequency machines haven’t been known for their lightning speed separation abilities. So not only will I compare the Minelab Equinox but I’m also going to through in some other popular detectors. There are 2 tests I like to do that will give me a pretty good idea of how a metal detector performs in iron. The end to end nail test with coins in between and Monte’s nail board (I used my own rusty square nails, not an official board you can buy from him). On the nail board (your results may vary, I think mine is tougher) I tested XP Deus 9” HF coil (sonar), Minelab Equinox 6” (park1), Fisher F19 5 x 10 coil, Nokta Makro Simplex 5 x 10 coil (park 2) & Makro Racer 2 7 x 11 (3 tones) against the Apex (zero mode MF). Results are as follows: XP Deus 7/8 hits, Minelab Equinox 5/8, Fisher F19 6/8, Nokta Makro Simplex 8/8 Makro Racer 2 7/8, Garrett Apex 4/8. If you remember my test of the Minelab Vanquish I was not impressed with either the v12 or v8 coil in this test. The end to end nail test has nails end to end with a penny, dime and nickel in between the nails with a space of about 1.5 inches. I like this test vs the coin between 2 perpendicular nails as most metal detectors can hit a coin between 2 perpendicular nails without a problem. Not a real good test IMO. Results from end to end nail test are as follows: XP Deus 9” passes even with a fast sweep speed, Minelab Equinox 6” coil struggles 11” coil has no problem, Fisher F19 5 x 10 passes even with a fast sweep speed, Makro racer 2 7 x 11 passes but sweep speed needs to be slow, Nokta Makro Simplex 5 x 10 passes but sweep speed needs to be slow, Garrett Apex will not hit any of the coins in any mode at any frequency. If you remember my test of the Minelab Vanquish with both the v12 and v8 coils neither coil could hit any of the coins either. The thing that’s interesting about the above tests is that some of the detectors excel at one test but not the other test and visa versa. For example the Nokta Makro detectors excel at the nail board test but kind of struggle with the end to end test. This is the very reason I like doing both tests it show performance in multiple scenarios. When I’ve taken the above knowledge into the field and compared one detector to another the performance results for the most part mirror the results I got doing the above tests. I read about people all the time saying I took this new machine to a place I’ve pounded in the past with this other detector(s) and I found this awesome coin/relic. This new metal detector is the best on the market. Well that all fine and dandy but if you didn’t compare the two prior to digging the target how do you know one’s better than the other. Maybe you just missed that patch of ground or you approached the target from a different direction, or, or, or. You get my point. But if you get a target and run another detector over the area and get no response, or better response, etc. then you can say, yes this is a better detector. Otherwise there are no facts to back your claim. I’ll probably do a video of the above results when I have more time. In the end I’m not impressed with the Apex compared to other machines in it’s price range. Slightly worse separation performance than the Vanquish 540. The Apex has a lot going for it, wireless, rechargeable batteries, light weight, looks good and weatherproof. But honestly, I’ll take a Simplex over the Apex. Hopefully the Apex can redeem itself in the depth test like the Vanquish did.

Nice rundown of how you prefer to set up the Deus. I know the sonar program was not initially intended to be run in heavy iron. It's very noisy and can be quite annoying at times. I personally like the deep program filters. Good thought though about setting the two different versions up the same so a person can see the true differences in the 2.0 vs 5.0.

Had a little fun comparing Deus Fast vs the Sonar program on an iron infested site. Didn't find anything good while filming the comparisons but I mixed in some good finds made by the Deus.

I should have an Apex in hand by the end of the week. Won't take long for me to see how it performs against a few of the detectors I've got in iron. I've got a simplex and a F19 fitted with the 5 x 10 and a Racer 2 fitted with the 7 x 11, that should be a pretty good comparison for the 6 x 11 on the Apex.

Had this same thing happen many times before. Not only at the beach but relic hunting and park hunting. My buddy actually had a guy walk up to talk to him while he was relic hunting and two steps away from where they are talking the guy finds a flying eagle cent as he's leaving. I've also been the offender, not on purpose. I was hunting with my brother-in-law at the beach and walked over to see if he had found anything. As I turn and walk away I got a signal that turned out to be a 13 gram 18K ring. He still gives me crap to this day, all in fun of course.

If I'm not in excessive trash I like the Mixed Mode. In trash the disc mode works way better for me. I don't mind the tone in disc mode but it does take some getting used to. To make it easier on the ears, since the iron bong is so dominant, you can run the disc at 0 so you only have to hear the mid and high tone.

I agree with this. In my moderately mineralized dirt my Equinox gave a more accurate ID on deeper targets than the Multi Kruzer. With the Multi Kruzer I found myself digging deep junk like pull tabs. Like most single frequency VLF's the Kruzer has a tenancy to up average the ID on deeper targets and you can't count on the tone or ID. Now if you're digging relics it's a mute point, but for coins I would go with the Equinox in anything but mild ground.

Steve-You beat me to posting the Video. LOL

Sorry to hear that. I spoke with him on the phone quite a few times about the TDI platform and his mods. I knew he had bad health but it's still a surprise. Prays for his family.

Yes Steve that's what I meant. Thanks for the correction.

Wow I didn't know it was that simple! Whites wanted a AA battery pack that was less expensive. Dumb move! But even on the SL I owned with the higher voltage batteries it still wouldn't equal the depth of my TDI Pro.

I've had the TDI Pro and compared it to the GPX on nickels. The GPX (normal timing) with the 11" coil is 2" deeper than the TDI with the 12" coil. The GPX with a 14" coil is a good 4" deeper than the TDI. That test was at the Great Salt Lake, mega salt environment. The deepest nickel was 18". On a black sand beach that could change. I know one area of the Great Salt Lake where the mineralization is high or something close to mountain and rock outcropping. Depth on the GPX (salt timing) with a 14" coil and a nickel drops to 14". TDI at that area was really noisy and I couldn't quiet it down unless I raised the pulse delay to about 20. TDI was hitting it at about 11" I think the reason they changed the TDI was issues with the battery and flight regulations.

Yea I wish I had the AQ right now. It would be nice to go back over the same spot and see what, if anything the GPX missed. I'm sure I missed stuff though with that bad battery. But I did dig every signal unless it blanked out on the GPX, which is iron.

Yea actually looked into that repair kit but it's been out of stock. I've got an electronics guy close to me I think I'll take a battery and schematic into him and see if he can find the parts and fix it.

Got out Saturday morning early to try and beat the heat but by 11 am it was pushing 90. Used my GPX with the 14" Coiltek DD coil and ran in Salt mode most of the time, used normal a while too but Salt was much quieter. Had to walk half a mile down the beach to get to where I wanted to hunt and found either my headphones or battery had an issue. The volume was real weak even at full volume, I dealt with it but had the wind been blowing I would have had to walk back. Later found out it was a battery issue, amp must be bad. I think it's time to get Docs gold screamer setup. I'm tired of spending $450 for batteries Minelab claims can't be repaired. This is the second battery in a year that has gone bad. I hunted the wet sand down to the waters edge. Based on all the swim cap buckles, I was in the right place but just couldn't pull up any gold. The Chinese cache coin was kind of cool and all the coins were older. 2 corroded wheat pennies, silver Roosevelt dime, Jefferson nickel, buffalo and what looks like a V-nickel or possible token. Everything I found is pictured with the exception of a long piece of copper wire and two iron blobs that I left in the garbage can. All of the targets were shovel head deep or deeper

All my metal detectors love iron. GPX loves iron too but depending on which timing you use it can pass right over some iron relics. I found this out a while back when a buddy asked me to go over a few targets he had located with his Equinox. I was running sensitive extra because I knew from past experience that it did better in square nails than the other timings. Two of the targets he had marked I couldn't get a peep out of with the GPX. One turned out to be an iron ring about the size of a silver dollar and the other was a 6 inch long iron spike. I though that was very interesting.

I've got it but only use it when I hit a hot spot out in the middle of field with no reference points. That way I can find my way back.

Steve-if your high ping falses were in the 28-30 range, which I also get when running in high minerals/salt. You can disc those out and possibly make the unit run a lot quieter. You could set the disc at 28 and actually take care of 26-30 which might help some.

I could be way off the mark in saying this but. From what I'm reading and seeing in videos....it seems to me that those who have used the whites TDI and are familiar with it's sounds/characteristics are going to have the easiest time learning the AQ. I've owned 4 big box TDI's and one SL, the AQ sounds and acts a lot like the TDI from what I can see.

Pallets in burn pits some how manage to make there way down to the wet sand. The beaches I hunt in South CA have plenty of nails.

Very interesting results, thanks for reply. I would like to hear more from others experiences in similar situations. We don't know what we don't know unless people test different scenarios that could be encountered in the wild. That test alone tells me clipped signals should probably be investigated or at least scrutinized more closely. I would do a bunch of testing myself and report but I don't see me getting an AQ for at least a few more weeks.

Steve thanks for your reply and having used a number of PI's in the past on beaches and relic hunting I do understand that the AQ is still going to have the same issues as other PI's with bottle caps, wire, flat tin, rusted washers, etc. I was wondering about nails and more specifically rusted nails. Just wondered if anyone had done a test as I described because I also plan on trying to using the AQ for relic hunting for low conductors and if it can see past nails better than other machines, then all the better. Right now I use a GPX for the deep stuff and we all know the trouble it has with iron, even if you use iron reject you can't pick out anything do the the blanking. Although I have picked out some pretty amazing stuff in nail patches using the 5 x 10 DD coil on the GPX. You just have to go slow and be patient.