67GTA

Also forgot to mention that after the 2.77 downgrade I had trouble with any computer recognizing the detector when it was plugged in. It would only work occasionally. Once I was finally able to flash it back to 2.78 it is recognized every time it is plugged in. 

Decided to try the downgrade from 2.78 to 2.77. The Nokta tool said it was successful but warned that I was downgrading. Everything seems to work fine until I connect the wireless headphones. After a few minutes the Simplex will lock up and have to be forced off. Without the headphones connected it works fine. I also noticed that with 2.77 it will not let me do a factory reset. Upgrading back to 2.78 fixes all these issues. I've downloaded the 2.77 update several times with three different web browsers with the same results. Anybody else had trouble after downgrading? Not sure if Nokta is hosting a bad 2.77 rom image or if I need to send this thing in for repairs.

Just got an email about your reply. Logged in at the moment.

Same here. Can't log in on 2 home PC's. Posting this from my phone since it was never logged out. Password reset not working either. Probably a lot of people that can't get logged in to respond.

I just got a brand new Simplex. Updated to 2.78 out of the box. Figured I would roll this one back to 2.77 just out of curiosity. Both my Windows 10 desktop and laptop give a "USB port not found" error. Tried on my daughters Win 10 laptop and it connected right away. Seems like your mileage may vary with the Win 10 frankenstein operating system. Can't find any support options other than contacting the US service center. I doubt they are going to diagnose your computer. Do you have another PC's to try the update tool on?

Not sure what steps you took. Similar to this?

I agree. The Vanquish, even with the 12×7 coil, consistently gets 1 or 2 inches less than the Equinox in Park and Field modes with my testing. Never considered testing in Beach mode because I don't have any beaches in my area. Now I'm curious if they are equal in that mode.

I forgot about that. My Vanquish is noticeably quieter than my Nox in high EMI areas even after several noise cancel attempts on the Nox. 5khz is usually the culprit in multi.

In clean/mild ground the Vanquish almost rivals the Equinox. The lack of ground balance makes it painful to use in almost any other soil conditions. I can almost tame it by notching out -8 & -9 in all metal and lowering the sensitive until the coil no longer gives a tone when bobbing. You will still get occasional chirps just from the lack of GB.

I just assumed it was zero with every mode like the Nox, and the recovery speed slightly affected the amount of mineralization heard (mostly iron tones at -9 & -8). Guess we will never know for sure. I just wasn't going to try and have a conversation with this depth of ideas on a Facebook post!

You're probably right, but I hate seeing people spread misinformation. If I don't know, I will ask instead of blurting out something. Even if I were to post a link with irrefutable evidence to back it up, it would only get buried in the sea of other BS posts and the OP would probably never see it. Guess that's what I get for trying to participate in Facebook group conversations. I see several posts everyday on FB where new users ask questions and get really stupid answers. Forums like this hold a lifetime of knowledge, but aren't very popular anymore. 

Does anyone have any official info from Minelab stating that the Vanquish defaults to zero GB like the Equinox? It is stated in the Equinox manual, but is not present in the Vanquish manual. I see a lot of people on Facebook groups telling people that the Vanquish has auto ground balance. I tried to argue that they are referencing auto noise cancel, but can't produce any official sources to back up my claim. I can tell the 540 has no GB because of the lack of a GB button, and pumping the coil gives a high or low tones depending on weather it's over or under ground balanced. I'm trying to find some dummy proof info.

Hopefully one that will connect wirelessly to their new SMF detector and headphones 

The Nox and Vanquish with nails will pinpoint on the edges of the coils and are silent in the center. Coins and non ferrous will pinpoint normal like you would expect. 

Just ran across this video. It blew my mind. Didn't know this was even possible. It only works for coins. My Nox and Vanquish struggle with this because they tend to pinpoint on the outside edge of the coils. The SP24 coil works better than the SP28. Wonder if the Deus or other detectors work the same?

They will both find about the same as far as coins/relics. Where the multi-IQ shines is with small jewelry and low conductors such as foil/nickels. The Max will give a more scratchy signal and targets can be easily walked over because they can get lost in with the chatter. As you probably already know, multi will still give you clear signals even down to 1.

"Compared to the XPs the Apex is probably quite close to the Deus in terms of separation , but the Deus has the edge concerning its weight ( 800g for the Deus instead of 1150g for the Apex/ripper )." 

Are you saying it separates on the same level as the Deus? I would have to see that to believe it. From my experience the Deus is the king of separation in iron. That would imply that the Apex also beats the Equinox, T2, and F75 at separation.

From playing with the AT Max and listening to Apex videos, I can tell you that it is a similar situation (to my ears) to the Deus and low conductors while using full tones. Sometimes they can bleed together and be missed.

On 4/8/2021 at 2:20 PM, palzynski said:

I went today with my "new" Apex for a short outing to a third test location to double check that the "false signals " issue has been solved by the new Viper coil sent by the Garrett support . It is an iron infested path in a wood where I have tested the Vanquish 540 a year ago. 

- First the Apex/Viper is very stable , no more false signals .🙂

- Second I have been very impressed by the Apex , it is almost silent on the iron trash, with sharp beeps on good signals . I confirm that the Apex iron filtering is excellent and better than the MLs Vanquish and Equinox in iron trashed areas. 🙂

It is the third outing with the Viper new coil without any pb , then I consider that this "false signal" issue is now solved. 

I will continue to test the Apex but will post my reports in a new thread ...

 

• More distinctive tones to better differentiate good targets from iron

I am very interested to see how this changes the tones. Got to play with the AT Max last year in heavy iron and some of the lower tones were hard to distinguish from the iron tones. They tended to blend together. The Apex tones sound just like the AT Max to me. Doesn't seem to be enough tonal space between lower tones and iron.

Sounds more like you are getting false signals from the ground or having EMI issues. Maybe make a video of it while detecting on the ground. 

When you move the cable while it's pointed at your car you are causing the coil to wiggle and pick up the metal in the car. If it was just the cable causing the problem, it would cause the detector to sound off when the cable was moved no matter what the coil was pointed at.

Looks like it is falsing off your car. If it was your cable it would also do it in the air.

If I had ran across Chase's post earlier it would have cleared it up a lot quicker. I didn't realize I needed that info until recently 😅. 

My brain has been programmed over the years by all the VLF detectors I've used, and their default operation. You had notch (absence of audio) and discrimination (absence of detection). Then with the Deus, I had to introduce the silencer paradigm into my brain. No problem, kind of a hybrid discrim/audio filter to keep you from hearing "iffy" signals. A higher silencer setting will only let strong/confident signals through. When I started using the Equinox, I only quickly skimmed through the manual and started using it. My brain automatically associated iron bias with iron discrimination, and the horseshoe button with a preset audio notch. Apparently I've been using it wrong. According to the manual, the iron bias is more like the Deus silencer setting, and the horseshoe button is a preset iron discrimination pattern. My brain started smoking while I was testing stuff in my yard. With the horseshoe button on and iron bias F2@9, I was still hearing an iron nail next to a dime. I was expecting the nail to be discriminated out because of the iron bias setting. It was just the opposite. The nail doesn't get detected with the horseshoe button off and doesn't even register on the screen because it's being discriminated out. Hopefully this helps some new or even old detectorists understand the Equinox better. Minelab and their manual are very vague about the Equinox technology. I assume this would also apply to the Vanquish series.

Went back to the same site today and tested auto ground tracking and beach modes. The beach modes seemed to be a little quieter, but only just a little. I'm guessing it is more of the hard minerals the Nox is picking up and not salt. Auto ground tracking worked well but didn't help much with the ground noise. I really thought it would help more. I ocaissionaly double checked the auto GB numbers by manually ground balancing and they were within 2-3 numbers of each other. The Nox is just like the Deus ground tracking. If the coil doesn't move for several minutes (if your digging a 2 foot deep hole) the GB will be off until you start swinging it again.