palzynski

Hi Simon , Yes this was strange this EMI pb it just occured once with the Ripper. Now I never unplug the coil connector , it is always connected to the control box, even when I dont use the Apex . With no more risk to damage either the connectors or the CB when connecting / disconnecting the coil ... Concerning the Apex , may be you could be disappointed with it in NZ because for me it is more a machine for iron infested sites and it is not the deepest machine . The Vanquish or the Equinox go deeper on clean soils , but for me they are more difficult to use in the iron trash of European soils ...

As the fields are plowed now , I have been able to do a few more outings with my Apex. The last one was in a field near a small village in an area where I had already found small copper medieval coins . Curious to see if the Apex could find other coins ... Now I almost only use the Apex with the Ripper coil because this coil is very light and accurate . No time lost to locate the targets with a pinpointer , the Ripper does the job itself 🙂... Btw I wonder why Garrett has not proposed the Ripper as stock coil , for me the Ripper is the best coil of the Garrett coil set .. After 10 minutes of detecting , I was lucky enough to find a medieval coin , it was near the surface and the Apex did not miss it with a low tone ( VDI 43 ) .. Could not id the coin up to now , it is a feodal coin weighing 0.8g and dating from between the 10 to 12th centuries . I initially thought it was a silver but it looks like there is just a thin layer of silver on it, may be a fake one ... Anyway very happy with this find , the Apex has done the (right 🙂) job again .. Now after around 23 hours I better know the Apex. It is a little less stable than a Deus/Orx in high iron trash areas with a few false signals , but still excellent and accurate with short signals on targets . It is very easy to id high conductivity targets with their high tones. Definitely a very nice machine which however needs some time to get used to its audio as it is the case for all detectors ... and the trash , mainly 1st WW trash , casings bullets shrappnels etc ...

The same for me , I only hunt by ear with the Deus , no screen at all , just by ear. However I know very well the Deus audio as I have been using it since 2013 , and a Goldmaxx ( the Deus father 🙂 ) between 2007 and 2013 ... For example it is easy to recognize 1st ww casings with their medium tone and their little fuzzy sound ... Coins and relatively thin targets can be id with a clean sound but with a little reverberation ..

A little more infos concerning the detectors weights , as it is my speciality 🙂: - Deus / Orx 9HF detector total weight 750g ( coil weight 320g + 30g battery ) - Deus / Orx 11 X35 " " 800g ( coil weight 400g ) - Equinox 11 " " 1260g ( coil weight 420g ) Weights measured without coil cover

As it seems that lightness is important for you , the 9 HF is significantly lighter than the 11 X35 : - 9HF coil weight 320g + battery 30g - 11 X35 400g Then I would rather suggest the HF coil , which is for me the best of the XP coils . It has good depth performances on medium/big coins using the 14khz freq , and is excellent on small targets like small jewellery using higher freqs like 30khz. The 11 X35 coil will be deeper on big coins at depth using a low freq like 5khz , so it can be an interesting coil . However a little heavier , more iron masking , and the targets are more difficult to center ( a pinpointer is required ) .

Agree the Orx is still an excellent machine , my prev. post was a little too negative about it ... Just It is a pity that XP did not add at least 5 tones on it considering its price ( 600euros ) . At 550euros the Apex has 5 tones and the Vanquish 540 ( 440euros) has 5 tones too ...

You are right , people rather hunt plowed fields , woods and forests over here. And less parks , ballfields , schoolyards that are usually forbidden to detectors ..

Hi, I would choose a Deus for a single feature : the audio tones ; 5 TONES and FULLTONES for the Deus while they are limited to only 3 TONES on the Orx. For me 5 tones is a minimum . For example using 5 TONES helps me to id high conductivity targets like big copper/silver coins( high tone) , or low cond like small hammered coins ( low tone ) . FULL TONES is even more accurate , very interesting to id very low cond targets , like alu foils for example . Apart from that I dont see much differences between the Orx and the Deus performances , as they are using the same coils . Their depth and separation are similar in the field for my European detecting conditions ( mild soils , low to high iron trash , coin hunting ) . However the Deus has much more settings than the Orx . From my standpoint I only use the Deus factory modes with very little changes of the settings . On my Deus Lite WS4 I always use DEUS FAST , 5 TONES or FULLTONES. I know that other forum members do use expert Deus settings and they will probably answer on this ... HH ...

Agree I like these quick beeps which are very accurate ,especially in the iron trash , compared to the elongated signals of other machines ... Just I find the Apex sounds on targets a little too sharp or "abrupts" as you said in an other thread. I would have preferred a little softer audio . I hope that Garrett will change this in a future update. Apart from this the Apex is a very nice machine , I will have more time to use it starting from next week in the plowed fields...

Hi Slavomir, ... which can stably detect over the limit of 35cm , AND efficient in the field. I say this because there are some settings with some detectors that go very deep on static depth tests ( like the DEEP program on the Deus ) , that I however found unusable in the field as soon as there is a little iron trash ... Btw on my static depth tests my limit is rather 30cm for a 2 euro coin , but my soil is a little mineralized . Then 35cm for a 10cent coin for sure I will be interested by this machine ... Looking forward for your tests report ... Alain

What about the iron trash ? Did you dig a lot of them ? thx

I have used the Blackubes a few hours in my Vanquish 540 . I had sometimes pbs to insert the usb connectors in the batteries . As I now use an Apex with an integrated lithium battery I cant really answer to the question sorry ..

I remember 2 or 3 years ago here in France , it was in July , 27deg at 11PM , dont know in Fahrenheit sorry ... Too hot to sleep. I decided to go detecting .... And I was lucky enough to find a very nice merovingian silver coin dating from around +730 in a field at midnight ... A good day eventually ...

39degs at 10PM this is crazy ... Cold wave here at Soissons , North of France , 15deg at 11PM 🙂 ... HH

Thanks for this info which is not in the Apex manual btw, I had this idea but never tried it in the field. Will try it asap ... I like the Garrett MS-3 volume potentiometer , the MS-3 design is perfect ... 🙂

From my standpoint I always have a pinpointer with me when using the Viper coil . I dont need the pinpointer as much with the Ripper . Anyway both coils are excellent , you cant go wrong with them ... 🙂

Yes I agree, for example the Apex has five tones, the same for the Vanquish 540 ... But it is not the only one , the XP Orx has only 3 tones ... I hope that the new NM SMF will have at least 5 tones ...

Hi Steve , I may be off topic , but I like rucksacks . For several reasons , because I have my hands free when carrying a rucksack , second it is easier to carry heavy loads with a rucksack than with an hardcase , and there are a lot of pockets in my rucksack for all my stuff ... The detector in the central pocket can be protected by adding pieces of foam ... Just an idea for easy travelling , and in the field... But a top end rucksack is required , this one is a Lafuma Landcruiser 65 and its price was around 180euros , mine is a second hand ..

My detection gear : - A leather belt with the Profind 35 pinpointer and a pouch for trash and targets. - A rucksack ( Lafuma Lancruiser 65 ) which contains a lot of things : . the detector - here an Apex + the spade ( Fiskars Xact ) 2 parts in the central pocket . a water bottle in the left side pocket . my wallet , the car key , a Garmin Oregon 600 and mosquito spray in the right side pocket . the MS-3 detector headphones in the top pocket . etc ...🙂

Actually on my home bed tests I did not see much depth difference between the Ripper and Viper, either for the big 10g copper coin at 11in depth or the little 3g bronze coin at 6in depth. I was a little surprised by this but I think that it comes from the coils similar ( and small ) widths , 6 in for the Viper and 5 for the Ripper . For me the Viper advantage vs the Ripper is the ground coverage and not the depth. Btw I have just ordered the Raider 8.5 X 11 yesterday , I should receive it next week . Normally it should go deeper because it is a larger coil . I plan to use it on clean soils . I will send a post as soon as I have more infos ... The 10g copper coin test box :

As I have up to now mainly been using the Ripper coil , I decided this time to test the stock Viper coil. I went to a path in a wood near a small town. As usual , such paths are infested by irons of all sizes and this one was not an exception ... The soil is moderatly mineralized there. I immediately noticed a very similar behaviour between the Viper and the Ripper, short and reactive signals on targets with an excellent iron filtering. Just the Viper has a more important coverage than the Ripper , however the Viper is a little heavier and it is more difficult to center the targets with it , a poinpointer is often required ,hopefully I had my ML Profind 35 with me ... As usual the Apex was very easy to use despite the difficult conditions , even with this bigger Viper coil. The Apex is almost silent on the ferrous and only beeps on good targets , this is quite impressive ... At the beginning I found quite a lot of targets but only trash . However at the end of the outing I heard a signal on the left side of the path , not very clear so I switched to Iron Audio that gave me a mix of iron and good stuff . So I decided to dig and was quite surprised to see a nice silver coin , a 1937 2 Mark probably lost by a WW2 German soldier... Never found such a coin ... Thanks Mr Garrett ... 🙂 Now I have 15 hours with the Ripper + 2 hours with the Viper and I confirm that the Apex is a very good machine , excellent on small and bigger targets . It just requires a few hours( around 10 hours ) to get used to its audio and settings . Once done it is very fun to use , not the deepest one with the Viper but frighteningly efficient in the field especially in the iron trash .. 🙂 My settings : RELICS factory mode , MF freq , SENS 7 , GB 83 At home after a little cleaning : And the trash ...

For the moment I have just feedbacks from French dealers saying that the XP SMF machine is on the way , I will try to have more detailed infos ... 🙂

Dont forget that XP is coming with a new SMF machine . There will be competitors for the new NM machine in the field ... On the other hand competition is always good for the end users ...

I agree the Ripper goes deep for its size , Garrett could have proposed it as stock coil for the Apex because it is an excellent coil , very light , deep and great in iron trash

Hi, I have looked the video but could not see the Deus screen. Never mind I understand that detecting in mild soils and mineralized are very different things . And detecting in Colorado is very different from detecting in French mild soils. Might be interesting to inform the US XP support about this VDI shifting, and see what they answer about this issue ...