mh9162013

I don't understand. You say you want the best, but then you got a Vanquish 540 when you already had an Equinox 800. From a form factor perspective, I agree that Vanquish > Equinox, but from a technical capability perspective the Vanquish is inferior to the Equinox, right? I concur 100% with you that the Apex isn't that big of a jump from the old Ace line. But that doesn't mean it doesn't serve a particular group of detectorists. There are so many reasons why someone would want to buy the Apex. I'm a believer in that one should avoid the "muddle in the middle" as much as possible. For instance, if I wanted a SMF detector, I'd try to get either the Vanquish 340 or the Equinox 800. I'd avoid the Equinox 600 or the Vanquish 540/440 like the plague. My general philosophy is to go cheap or go all out; kinda like Yoda, "there is no try." If you can't afford the Equinox 800, but can afford the 600, just wait to buy the 800. If you can afford the Vanquish 540/440 but don't need the Equinox 800, get the 340 and save the left over money for other things, like a pinpointer, paying bills, buying another toy, etc. Of course, there are plenty of reasons to get a Vanquish 440/540 or an Equinox 600. Some of them may actually apply to me. But getting one of those machines goes against my general philosophy. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with what you buy or think, phrunt; I just don't follow your reasoning. I mean, I'm considering a Tesoro as my next detector. Why? Because I get to tinker with the knobs, not worry about my machine getting superseded by a newer model (that ship sailed a decade ago) and figure out how to replace its 9V battery power source. Yeah, those aren't the most practical or logical reasons.

Says the advanced metal detector user who purchased a Vanquish! Granted, you got a 540... But seriously, going from an old Ace to the Apex is a prett big jump, is it not? Even if Garrett's SMF tech works only have as well as Minelab's, it's still a nice upgrade. I guess for someone who wants to really push their metal detecting limits, in terms of areas to hunt and skills to develop, it may not be a big jump. But someone who wants to keep things casual and doesn't expect to go underwater, it's a nice upgrade.

Which is more than you can usually say for Minelab.

Great finds and thanks for sharing. I'm thinking my next machine will be the 340...

I have to give Garrett credit for actually producing and shipping a product they announced just a few months earlier. None of this announce/tease, then make people wait for years. And even if there were delays, it would be understandable, given this virus thing going around.

My Pro-Find 35, when I still had it, was particular about the 9V batteries it could use, i.e. alkaline only. Heavy duty batteries caused glitching.

Those are good choices, as they're PI devices and use AA batteries and have good sensitivity (from what I've heard and seen online). Another option is the Minelab Pro-Find 35.

I have multiple, and always carry one in my car. I also have a specialized first aid kit/survival kit combo in my metal detecting equipment bag. It's more like a first aid kit with a few survival gadgets inside. As for choice of equipment, I'd stick with name brand gear and avoid the no-name knock offs. I mean, if money was that tight where you had to choose between a low quality piece of equipment and nothing at all, I'll take the low quality stuff. But if you're going to do something you'll rely on with your life, buy some reasonably decent gear. For flashlights, I'm thinking of companies like Pelican, Fenix, Surefire, Streamlight, Maglite, Underwater Kinetics and Princeton Tec.

The lanyard I use looks exactly like that one.

Never mind. I saw one of your posts which makes my response moot. Sorry about that.

Rusting shouldn't be a problem as long as you use stainless steel.The problem is that if they penetrate the OEM endcap from the top, that could potentially lead to water intrusion. Also, if they stick past the endcap too far, they might interfere with the 9V battery inside. Screwing into the sides of the endcap might work, though. You have far more plastic to work with.

How would you bond the "T" to the endcap? Is there a solvent that would work? I think, given the forces needed to twist off the endcap, a solvent would be needed, not just an adhesive or glue. Or maybe some kind of mechanical way of attaching it. Another idea is to attach a thick, round disc to the endcap. I'm thinking this disc can be 6 to 10 mm thick. Then in the middle you can cut/etch a line so you can use a coin to twist off the endcap, kind of like what the F-Pulse has. I dunno how durable this would be. You'd need a very durable material if you wanted to keep the round disc as thin as possible. However, I doubt a hard enough material would be able to be solvent-welded to the OEM endcap.

If I had to do that, yes, I'd use some sort of insert/spacer. As for the end-cap being slick, I hear you. The endcap on the Pro-Find 35 was a little bit better, but it was still a bit of a hassle. I noticed that adding some silicone grease (which is a necessary part of maintenance) to the o-ring can help a little bit with the difficult endcap removal.

I'm trying to stick with cells I already have. I have more than a hundred of LSD AA and AAA cells (mostly Eneloop) for all my devices (flashlights, controllers, homemade battery banks, radios, etc.), so I try to stick with my standardization of choice.

I just finished the next iteration of my 9V to AAA battery adapter for my Pro-Pointer AT (Carrot). You can read about it in my blog post that will be uploaded soon (see my profile for the link, if you're that curious), but most of the "juice" is in the pictures. In case you're wondering (or you don't recall my prior blog posts about this building process😞 1. Yes, waterproof integrity is maintained.2. Yes, the performance when using this adapter is identical to using a regular 9V battery.3. Yes, this can still use a regular 9V battery.4. Yes, runtime is less than with a regular 9V battery, but should be enough to get you at least a full day (8+ hours) of run time. I estimate this will get you about 1/3 of whatever an alkaline 9V battery will get you.5. Yes, this can run on other types of AAA cells, including NiCd, NiMH, lithium (primary; think Energizer Ultimate Lithiums) and alkaline.6. I did this modification because I like tinkering and because I really hate 9V batteries. Background info of prior builds:

😄

My "bid" is early 2023.

That explains a lot, thanks! Looks like I have a bit of brainstorming to do...

I've successfully removed 9V batteries from my Garrett Carrot (which now uses AAA batteries) and I've started on the process and getting rid of 9V batteries in my Fisher F2. I've taken the approach if trying to use a single battery to power the F2. A while back, I read from somewhere that the F2 ran off two 9v batteries running in parallel. However, this means that if I use a single battery for the F2, it should work (assuming the single battery has the ability to provide the necessary current). But when I try to use this set up, my battery gets warm. I eventually realized that the Fisher F2 is NOT using a "pure" parallel setup. If it were, it would not be creating a short circuit in my single power source setup. So my question is: how exactly is the Fisher F2 power wiring arranged? It's not parallel and it doesn't appear to be in series, either. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!

That's a good deal on a decent detector. I'd go that route. Then use the money you saved on a quality pinpointer.

I've thought about that too, although it wouldn't be a course, but rather, a set location. I imagined it could be a small plastic kiddie pool filled with dry sand and say...6 out of a total of 10 possible buried objects, such as a clad quarter, clad penny, clad nickel, silver dime, silver quarter, sterling silver ring, 14K gold chain, pull tab, iron nail, skeleton key, etc. Each competitor would get point(s) for correctly identifying the object (without digging it up, of course) with a tie breaker being the shortest time taken to complete the hunt.

That's good to know, thanks for the additional info.

What Steve said: contact the deal directly, but do not reveal your pressing need for the machine ASAP. You can mention it after you agree on a price, but whatever you agree on will most likely include USPS Priority Mail at best and if you need something by Friday, you'll want overnight or two-day shipping which could cost a pretty penny. I'd be surprised if you're able to get the 15% military discount on top of another significant cash discount, but I could be wrong. I'm guessing you could get the 15% military discount plus free overnight shipping. That's the best I imagine you can expect. And because shipping is important to you, you might have better luck finding a dealer that's close by, like the next state over.

Your issues seem to relate to that particular battery's physical shape, not chemistry.

I would agree, but apparently there's a difference between the power bank and the wall wart that the Vanquish can detect. I was wondering if it's current delivery capability. So maybe the wall wart can deliver 5W, but the power bank can only deliver 1W or something? If that's the case, it would have to be a really cheap power bank.