mh9162013

Oh, most definitely! But I'd rather have a cop called on me b/c I'm metal detecting, not playing "army."

GB: MOLLE is pretty handy, but just keep in mind that it carries certain connotations. Depending on where you hunt, it could draw additional unwanted attention.

I can relate to that. I usually tether my pinpointer when hunting away from my home. The one exception: when I hunt tot lots. I have so few pieces of gear, it's easy to account for everything I need to bring home. Glad to hear you didn't lose your TRX. That's like losing $250...

I think in certain situations, there could be true. At the very least, it could be a benefit to coming second when it comes to pricing and marketing efforts. However, in regards to software changes, any benefit from coming in second to adjust software can easily be "countered" by simply coming first, and making your machine easily updateable. There's a great movie quote about how there are 3 ways to succeed in the financial world: 1. Be smarter than everybody else. 2. Cheat 3. Be first. Of the above three, it's a lot easier to just be first. Not always accurate, but I think it can easily apply in the metal detecting world.

Now that you mention it, it's possible that my issues with the pouch moving around might be better remedied by moving the loops down (like you referenced) as opposed to making them smaller. Something to consider...

It's a great pouch. The loops are large, so depending on the size of your belt, the pouch might move around more than you'd like. I could fix this problem if I really wanted to, but it's not a big deal.

But she would look stylish while detecting! Unlike most of us...

I compared my Garrett Carrot (well used) to an almost new one that I sold recently. On low and medium sensitivity, they were almost identical in terms of overall sensitivity and closing range (ratcheting). However, on max sensitivity, the newer one had an extra inch to an inch-and-one-quarter in overall sensitivity. However, it still "maxed out" at the same spot my older Carrot did. Oh, and the target I was using was a 9v battery.

Oh, I'd only do the root cutting on my own property and with small or dead roots.

I've definitely noticed that when digging around trees in my yard. It usually takes me hacking away like I'm stabbing the root with the tip of my shovel to get through the root. And most of the time, 4 out of every 5 hacks involve the shovel bouncing/slipping off the root. I've considered getting some gardening shears/pruners to help with the roots that are 1" or less in diameter. Or maybe a Silky foldable saw? But those are such nice saws, I'd probably care more about that saw than my metal detector!

What advantage do you see this shovel as having over the Sampson Lesche that I use? Seems like the Lesche Sampson was used by many people until somewhat recently. Now I see more people using other similar shovels, but am curious as to the reason why.

It just happened to be the only plastic trowel I had laying around! But it works well in sand, ground up tires and wood chips. That trowel was one of the first things I noticed in your original post.

This is my current set up. Has seen some recent changes, so some more testing is still needed. One is for tot lots and the other is for my yard and permissions. I'm sure you guys can guess which is which. When I'm in a park, I'll use the "yard and permission" set up, but I won't have the shovel with me. In the bags are extra batteries, gloves, a tooth brush, finds box (an old and small lock and lock container with paper towels), a small water bottle and a small rag. The middle OD bag is for holding trash. Ask me to post my gear in year and I'm sure things will look radically different. The biggest challenge I'm working on is how to strengthen the fingertips of my gloves to avoid holes from forming. Unlike some people, I don't use my pinpointer to dig. But I will used my gloved hand to dig. I swing and pinpoint with my left hand, which is gloveless and never touches dirt during a hunt unless I make an interesting find. My right hand is gloved and is what comes into contact with the dirt. I hunt this way to even out some wear and tear on my body (I'm right handed) and b/c of my ring on my left hand and watch on my left wrist.

What were you hunting with?

I can understand that sentiment. For me, I prefer fiddling with the mechanical/electronic aspects, not the settings, though. However, figuring out the settings and seeing positive results is very satisfying.

If you get the 540, I would recommend 2 things given how weight is important to you (your wife). First, run it off AAA batteries with AAA to AA adapters (this assume your wife will detecting for an hour or 2 at a time). Second, run it with the V8 coil, not the V12. If you run the 540 with the V12 and AA batteries, it will wear you out if you're not used to metal detecting. This is true even if you worked out regularly. The unique forces placed on the wrist, arm, elbow and shoulder take its toll after an hour or two of swinging. I also find the top of the 540's grip to be uncomfortable and used a foam donut (like you see on the Equinox) to distribute the weight more evenly on my swinging hand.

IGNORE

In tot lots, they seem to be the same to me in terms of being able to find the coins. The 540 is more pleasant to use though, in that it's lighter (I think...feels that way, at least) and a lot less noisy or chattery. In my soil (which ground balances anywhere from the upper 70s into the low 90s), they both seem to perform about the same, although the AT Max might have a slight edge. After doing some direct comparisons b/w the two in my yard, it seems like that at least 95% of the time, whatever one machine found, the other machine would have found it too. I did the comparisons with the 540 in custom mode where only targets hitting 20 or above would come through. With the AT Max, I was usually in custom mode where only targets hitting 70 or above would come through. I was often hunting with the AT Max at 3-5 sensitivity, but could go to 8 if I needed a better VDI read on a deeper target. One thing I really like about the AT Max over the 540 is the all metal mode. Because of my highly mineralized clay layer about 2-6 inches down in my soil, I know the 540 has a tendency to increase the VDI numbers of target sometimes. And in some cases, I think my 540 has flat out falsed, saying there was a quarter 10+ inches down when all that was there was clay. This was especially evident when the soil was wet. Given the 540's tendencies, I tend to ignore its iffy signals that are 10+ inches down, assuming it's either falsing on the clay or its reading foil or iron as a higher conducting target. But with the AT Max, I have the ability to check an iffy signal and see what happens when I try to detect it in all metal mode. During one of my digs today, I got an iffy signal with the AT Max saying I had a dime or quarter target about 8-10 inches down. The Max's VDIs were all over the place, but I was getting a consistent high tone in at least 1 direction. Then in all metal mode, it was clear I was getting a signal, and while jumpy, the VDIs would sometimes hit 90. With my 540, even on max sensitivity, it was an iffy signal, hitting in the mid 20s and sometimes upper 20s...and sometimes nothing at all. In the past, I would have ignored this signal thinking it was iron or foil that was deep and my 540's inability to ground balance was making it seem like a better target than it really was. I dug it, and it ended up being 2 clad quarters located just inside the layer of clay that lies beneath the upper layer of milder brown/black soil in my yard. Anyways, this is only a half-dozen hours of comparison b/w the 540 and my AT Max, but I think the AT Max is going to stay and the 540 is going to go. Another factor in this decision is that I found out my AT Max is a much older machine than I thought and that its 2 missing LCD segments on the screen can't be fixed under warranty. Finally, there's the fact that I still have the Vanquish 340. Thanks to many of you who humored me and provided advice and feedback on my observations and questions with the AT Max over the past week or so. Oh, and I found my first IHP today too, thanks to the AT Max. It was at least 8 inches down and around the clay layer . My 540 was able to pick it up from the surface, so I probably would have found it with my 540...probably.

Most people don't have the time or money to buy a machine, try it for 50+ hours, then make a decision whether to keep it or not. And if they need to sell it, they don't want to spend the time, effort and money of listing it in eBay, Craiglist, etc. Then there's always that small risk of having that "buyer from hell." And from I've seen about the Apex's resell value, it's doesn't have the re-salability that the AT Pro or Max seem to have. So many people have no choice but to rely on other people to get an idea of how well a machine does or doesn't work. I agree, any online opinion must be taken with a few shakes of the salt shaker. But when multiple people are criticizing a machine in a similar manner, there's probably a pattern of some sort going on. You can use me as an example of this. I bought an AT Max more than 2 weeks ago, but I only have have a few hours on it and I'm still trying to decide whether to keep it or not (I'm leaning towards yes). When I do make my decision (hopefully later today, when I should have a few hours to play with it some more), I then need to spend the time to prepare and list either the AT Max of my Vanquish 540 for sale. That's gonna take some time and effort I'm not looking forward to. And then it'll probably be a few weeks until I finally have the money in hand. I'm fortunate enough to be ok with having $250-$400 "floating" right now, but I imagine a lot of other people don't have that luxury.

I think many people were expecting that, yes, as unfair as that is. However, I think many people were also expecting it to be a Vanquish killer too, especially at its price, but from what I've seen and read, it's not. A lot of people knock the Apex in terms of performance. But I think that's only half of the issue. The other half is its price. If it's street price was $100 less (give or take), I think that would have made a massive difference in the criticism it received. On the other hand, I do understand why it's priced the way it is, given how it has features that go above and beyond the Vanquish 540. But I think the Apex is a great example of how perception > reality. And I'm of the belief if that the Apex were cheaper, yes, Garrett would have had a drop in revenue, but I think the Apex would have been viewed far more positively and perhaps that would have been worth the lower income/unit sold.

I have fairly mineralized soil (usually in the mid 80s when ground balancing on an AT Max, but sometimes in the low 90s), but not the hottest stuff possible, so using a Vanquish works in my soil, although I can begin to see its limitations. However when using the 540 (or 340) in tot lots with sand, ground up tires or wood chips, the Vanquish works so well, I'm like Babe Ruth calling my shots (coins). Heck, it's almost like having X-ray vision. But functionally, this doesn't matter, because I dig everything in tot lots. I can afford to do this due to how easy it is to dig and the low amount of trash compared to coins.

Yeah, not having the ground balancing is a problem in my moderate-high mineralized soil. I'm curious as to MInelab's decision not to have it in the 540 (or any of the Vanquishes). I understand that if you give the 540 too many features, it'll became the 600. But I wonder if the ground balance feature made such a big difference, that Minelab felt the 540 become too close in performance to the 600 for too many users. Regardless, trying to figure out what's really going on with our machines matters to me. Like you, I appreciate the automation, but I want to know what's going on to make a more informed decision when comparing different detectors. P.S. it's great to have you back and I have appreciated your recent posts and contributions.

This an awesome thread and such a fascinating read...

Did a little testing with my AT Max in the front yard this morning. I noticed a few things. One, the chatter was very fickle. Sometimes, it was horrendous (although just fine if sensitivity was at a 5 out of 8). But after ground balancing (usually in the 80s), it would sometimes go away. Or if I moved to another part of the yard, it got a lot better, even if directly under or 30-45 degree below-off-center of the power lines. Also changing channels sometimes seemed to make a difference and other times did not. Regardless, I was able to hunt at b/w a 5 or 8 (yes, 8!) sensitivity without serious issue. Also, the chatter/EMI issues usually got worse after I would turn off the machine, then turn it back on. As far as I know, the AT Max doesn't do any noise canceling on start up but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I'm beginning to think that the the machine's settings when last turned off has an effect on how chatty it is when you turn it on next. So like Kac alluded to, different times of day seem to make a big difference in EMI issues. Two, it looks like there are some issues with a few LCD segments on my screen. I've contacted Garrett to see what can be done about it. So far, it looks like I'm going to keep this machine. Still need to do some more testing/hunting, though. I'm hoping to do it later this week...

I will, thanks for the suggestion.