palzynski

20 hours ago, NCtoad said:

I just weighed my nox. It has an Anderson carbon fiber shaft and their metal armrest, home made counterweight, deanos control box cover, and a coil ear stiffener.  Guess how much it weighs?  Check pic below for the answer.  The counterweight makes it more comfortable for me to swing but it’s still heavy, especially after 4 or 5 hours.  ...

 

For your Deus2 11" I would say 800g ( 28,2 oz ), this with the CB in the pocket and without coil cover .  This is around half your Nox weight  ( 58.1 oz ) ... Then normally you should see the difference in the field... 🙂

If you have the CB on the shaft + the CC on the coil you add 7oz then your D2 will weight around 35oz , which is still much lighter than the Nox .

btw no need to add  a carbon shaft or a counterweight on a Deus , the stock machine is so light that these extras are useless ...  I have never seen anyone using a counterweight on a Deus up to now , at least over here .. May be it could be useful with the big 13"X 11" but very few people use this coil because it is too heavy they prefer the 11" coil 

10 minutes ago, ColonelDan said:

I plan to keep my two EQX 800s but.....what do I do with my highly modified Excalibur II and my CTX 3030 with 4 coils and all those accessories??

 

 

--> to the retirement home ...   🙂 🙂

Yes good idea to keep on with the D1 if you are an inland hunter 

Probably the Deus2 wont be better than the D1 in inland iron infested sites . A field test comparison has still to be done between them , however I dont see a D2/9" coil beating a D1/eliptical HF on nail beds ...  

On the other hand the D2 will probably be deeper than the D1 on medium/big coins on clean inland soils and of course it can do things that the D1 cannot do, beach hunting and diving , plus it has a new SQUARE audio , the bottlecap rejection etc ... 

1 hour ago, GB_Amateur said:

Some things can't be fixed in software.  Hardware improvements are very expensive so unless it's something so severe that warranty claims cover it, it will likely have to wait for the next model.

Garrett probably has the most loyal following of any detector company today.  ...

If it was only me I would be ok , but there has been several pbs with the Apex  posted by different users of this forum and I know French MD dealers who have had pbs with some of their Apex customers.  

I would have appreciated a little more communication from Garrett, at least to know what was going on with this machine. 

Bad luck this Apex was my 1st Garrett machine ..  I hope I will be more lucky with their future machines lol 🙂 🙂...

Happy New Year 2022 to everybody , this is the most important ...  🙂 ✌️ ✌️

Probably the ON/OFF button broken . A friend of mine has had this issue , the ML after service replaced the CB by a brand new one . 

Excellent video thx. The kind of antique sites that we also have in France ...  The D2 seems to be excellent in the irons even in the GENERAL mode . btw I like the Park audio , these Park SQUARE signals seem to be very reactive and clean on targets.

Now it would have been interesting to compare the D2 results with more specialized detectors like a Deus1 or an Orx with an HF coil in this field.  Not sure that the D2 would have done better than the D1/Orx ...

Which is normal btw, the D2 is a multipurpose detector which cannot beat more specialized machines on their terrains . 

I am looking forward to testing the D2 , I am curious to see how it will perform vs the D1 in the irons  , Vanquish in clean soil , etc ...

19 hours ago, Tahts-a-dats-ago said:

.... I think the Apex is a solid machine: it doesn't WOW me with its performance (unlike some of my other machines) but it hasn't disappointed me either.  ... 

Ok it looks like some are happy with their happy with their Apex  , some others not. For me I am done with the Apex , I have left enough time ( 1 year since Autumn 2020 ) to Garrett to fix my issues , this has not been done I prefer to give up now ....  This even I have found a few nice things with it ...

Then I will sell what I can , probably the coils and the wireless headphones . I wont sell the Apex CB as I dont want to sell something I am not confident with  ...  

Concerning the Vanquish , I have never had any reliability issue with it ,either the 540 or the 340 , it is a very reliable detector, deep and very accurate in clean soils ( low iron trash ).  On the other hand it doesnt like the high iron trash where it is noisy and unstable .  Definitely a good machine I have around 60 hours with it .

1 hour ago, abenson said:

.... The SMF technology on the Apex is definitely poor compared to other similar priced SMF machines currently on the market. In iron it has very erratic behavior, falses constantly and has a hard time centering on a good target. It's too bad because like was already said the Apex it a very well designed machine and has all the latest features such as rechargeable batteries and wireless headphones ....

Agree . Sometimes I wonder if the Garretts top managers have ever used their Apex in the field   ... Probably not , otherwise they would have fixed all these issues ... 

Yes too bad for Garrett especially with the Apex current competition : Vanquish from 240e, Orx from 600e , Deus1 Lite from 650e etc ..

I did this 1.28.1 update (dating from Nov2021) a few days ago and decided to test it in a ( cut ) corn field where I have already been with my Deus HF several times . This field is irons infested then it is an excellent testing area for MDs ...

I hoped that with this update Garrett had solved a few issues that I still have with my Apex, especially the lack of stability in the irons with false signals and erratic beeps between targets . I was wrong ...

Long story short I did not see any changes with this new update , I still have these very annoying erratic beeps between good targets . Yes I found targets with the Apex , but the Deus is far easier to use and is much more stable between targets in this field.

I have been too optimistic with the Apex when I have tested it a few months ago. I dont like to be negative but there are definitely things still to be improved on this machine ,especially its audio . It is a pity because I like it , it is very light , excellent wireless headphones and CB ergonomy , very easy to use .  

I have a dream , Garrett and FT working together , integrating the T2 ( or G2? ) electronics plus the SMF into an Apex control box ...  That would be a top machine ..  🙂 🙂

btw I am wondering if anyone else has done and tested this Apex 1.28.1 update ... I would be interested by your feedbacks , thx 

I just sold my Vanquish 540 with 3 coils and I sold a Deus1 9" HF coil too. It has not been easy for me to sell the 540 because I like this machine and it has been a good friend during the past 2 years

I still have a Deus1 10X6 HF and an Apex.

My next detector will be a Deus2 "Lite" with a 9" coil .

At the end I will probably keep only the D2 and the D1 . I like simple things , 2 detectors are largely enough for me . I just need a backup in case where my first machine fails ... 

Thanks Simon , have a Merry Christmas in NZ ... 

Heck I dont see my D2 WS6 MASTER  , perhaps behing the column ?  🙂 🙂

Have deleted this post because off topic 

6.  A better iron filtering . Suppressing the false signals ,these annoying strong "beeps" between targets in the irons . The Apex should definitely be quieter in the irons , as it has been designed for the irons ...

7.  Improve the Apex overall reliability . First I had to send my Apex to the after service for a a faulty Viper coil .  Second my Apex bugs from time to time, it suddenly becomes very noisy and unusable. The only bypass I found is to stop the Apex, remove/reconnect the coil connector,  and restart it.

Plus an "hardware" update :

8.  Better coil to cb male/female connectors . Mine are too tightened . It is very difficult to insert / remove the connector in / from the CB . Very annoying too ..

1 hour ago, Jeff McClendon said:

...

First for Palzynski, in my personal and experienced opinion the only configuration using the Deus 1, ORX (haven't touched a Deus 2 yet but assume it is similar) that is truly and wonderfully ergonomic is with 9" round or elliptical coils. Using an 11" or larger coil..........I get arm and wrist pain fairly quickly due to most of the weight being in the bigger coil which makes the detector nose heavy. So weight is relative to the coil being used and how balance is distributed in the detector design.
...

I agree I only use a 9" and the 11X6" on my Deus WS4 I dont like the 11".  Then I am going for a D2 with the 9" coil set .

1 hour ago, midalake said:

 

As a long time hunter, performance is #1.  Weight is of the machine is WAY down the checklist.  

If performance is #1 for you , then you should consider the D2 because it looks like it outperforms the Equinox in the irons 🙂  .... Concerning depth , the D2 and Equinox perfos will probably be similar, to be confirmed in the field

From my standpoint I need a fast and reactive machine in the irons , which can also goes deep on clean soils , and comfortable to sweep .  This is why I am interested by the D2 

3 hours ago, Seiko said:

My thoughts on the dues 2 v Equinox 800 v Dues 1
lets look at the pros and cons?.

Dues 1                                                                                  Equinox 800
1-Excellent in the iron unmasking                                  1- not as good in iron unmasking
2-Good depth on targets in open ground                     2- very good depth on targets in open ground
3-very good in lose or plowed ground                          3- not so good in lose or plowed ground
4- can be affected by EMI                                               4- can be affected by EMI
5- can be dial in to most conditions                          5- can de dial in to most conditions
6- poor in the wet sand                                                    6- excellent on the wet sand

Dues 2 
1-Excellent in the iron unmasking 
2-- very good depth on targets in open ground 
 3-very good in lose or plowed ground
4- can be affected by EMI  
5- can be dial in to most conditions
6- excellent on the wet sand

...

You forgot the detector' s weight / detection comfort. The D2 ( 750g cb in the pocket ) outperforms the Equinox ( 1,3kg ) on this criteria . 

This single reason is a very good reason to move from the Eq to the D2 ... , assuming of course that their perfos ( separation/depth etc ) are similar , which seems to be the case up to now from the testers feedbacks , at least in low to moderately mineralized soils .  

Static comparative tests must be done to accurately assess/compare the depth performances of detectors .  Up to now I havent seen any video/report doing an accurate depth test comparison between a D2 and a D1 .  The only comparative depth tests I have seen are those done by calabash between  the D2 and an Eq800 .  The above video one is just a D2 outing , I did not see any D1 during this video ..

From my standpoint I expect the D2 to be a little deeper than the D1 on medium/big coins because the FMF uses lower freqs like 4k which go deeper on big targets than higher freqs which are mostly used when using a D1 .    I run 14k and 30k on my D1 HF , mostly 30k .

For small coins/targets I agree the D2 D1 depths should be similar 

22 minutes ago, Loren said:

...

I am not saying the machine doesn't matter (I would say a good machine produces its superior results in the long run, difficult areas, hunted out areas, etc), but for a single hunt, where you walk in the location primarily determines what you will find ...

This is the principle of a poll , during a poll only a small percentage of the population ( usually a few thousands ) has  to answer to a given question . Then how do you explain that it works very well ?  Because statistics are also mathematics ...

Ideally yes the given question should be asked to all the millions of people of the country for having the exact result  , but of course it is not possible because it would be too far too long and expensive.

This is the same for detecting , ideally yes "the long run" with say 100 hours testing per machine should be done . Then 300 hours testing for my 3 detectors  . Who is going to do a comparative tests during 300 hours ? You may ask to calabash or CPT_ghostlight but I doubt they accept , not me anyway ...🙂 

19 minutes ago, Loren said:

...
Where you happen to randomly walk and in what orientation makes a significant difference.

It is impossible to follow an orientation in such big fields unless you have a GPS . I had no GPS in this field. So I believe that my test was almost 100/100 random . Statistics are mathematical things used for example by polls for assessing candidates during elections , they just need to ask a few thousands of people to have a quite good idea of the reality for a country , even if sometimes they fail ... 🙂   

But I am going off topic and I know that the forum admins dont like politics,  so Id better stop here lol ...🙂 🙂

1 hour ago, Loren said:

I like the idea of scanning real targets in the ground using both detectors, and using both detectors to do the initial acquisition of targets and then comparing each detector's response to a given target.

But the method quoted above clearly has some problems. E.g. the detector that detects first has the advantage. The first detector gets the location fresh, while the 2nd detector is used on a partially depleted location, making a comparison of their results invalid.

Yes this is a good remark , I should have said that the testing area should be large enough so that there is a negligible target depletion  after each detector testing . During this 2020 summer test I was in a very large field ( 800X500 yards ) with lots of targets remaining everywhere in the area.  Of course if I had done this test in a 20X20 or even a 50X50 yards area I agree the results would have been biased ..

Notice that during this 2 hours "iron trash" comparative test the final rating was Deus1 1st , Apex 2nd and Vanquish 3rd .  From the opinions I could get from other people in France and in this forum , I think that this rating is quite close from the reality , for example the D1 is a standard in Europe in the iron trash,  while the vanquish prefer cleaner soils ..

Very good video thx.

There is an other simple "in the field" test which provides a very reliable idea of a detector performance  :

Go to one of your favorite sites , detect say 2 hours with the D2 , then 2 hours with the other detector ( an Equinox here ).  At the end compare the results, number of all targets , number of coins for each one . Then you will have a very accurate idea of each machine efficiency in real conditions . No bias with this method ( the tester does not know where the targets are ) , it is a purely statistical/mathematical method ...

I did such a test a year ago with a Deus1 HF , an Apex and a Vanquish 540 , this method works very well  🙂,look at the last post of the following thread : 

Thx for the video , the D2 signals on targets are for me significantly cleaner than the Equinox ones .  Curious to see what a Deus1 Hf set at 30khz would have done on this test btw ... I believe that the D2 main competitor could be the D1 or the Orx rather than the Equinox in the irons 🙂... Just my opinion 

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Gb_amateur said
....
For my "grass is always greener on the other side" whine of the day, I wish metal detecting sales were like they were a few decades ago.  I think there were dealers who would let you take a detector for a test drive (probably on their property in a test garden).  ...
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--->

Ideally the best thing would be to take the detector for at least 20 hours testing , this is the minimum required to correctly assess a machine. But this is not possible in the real life and you have to rely on other users feedbacks/reports. 

It is not specific to MD but for eveything else , cars , planes , etc .... When you buy a product , even if you have a lot of positive infos on it,  there is always a risk that it does not match your needs. As we say in France , "le risque zero n'existe pas "   (  the zero risk does not exist  )...   

Concerning the D2 there will be more more infos coming during the following days/weeks then it is probably a good thing to wait a little before taking a decision , even if the 1st tests look to be very positive. It is what I will do anyway ...

I just watched this very interesting UK video. thx for the video btw ... 🙂

For me the Equinox and D2 depth perfos on this test are similar . I dont see the D2 going deeper than the Equinox during this video.

Nevertheless this is a very good result for the D2 because the Equinox is one of the deepest machines on medium/big coins in clean ( no irons ) soils . 

If you add to this that the D2 is much lighter than the Equinox , second that it will probably be much better than the Equinox in the irons , it is not surprising that a lot of MD hunters are interested by this new machine ... 🙂

Back to the video , bad luck they did not test the D2 SQUARE fluty audio 😒 it is a pity because this might add some depth perfo to the D2 to my opinion . May be they will do the test another time ...   I hope so .. 🙂