palzynski

Hi , From what I have seen up to now , I am quite sure that you will have good results with the Apex concerning the "separation speed on mask of nails" , especially with the Ripper coil . Looking forward for your comparative tests ...

From my standpoint , the Apex factory recovery speed is correctly set and works very well in the field and I never needed to change it up to now , even in the extreme iron trash of this last outing . I think that Garrett has designed and tested the Apex to be very efficient in the iron trash, this to take advantage over the multifreq competition ( ML at the moment ) ... From what I have seen up to now they have succeeded. On the other hand the ML multifreqs like the Equinox and Vanquish go a little deeper than the Apex in clean soil ( low/medium iron trash ) and they have more accurate/stable VDIs . And lighter coils . So both brands have their advantages and disadvantages , and it is probably not easy to choose between them for a newbye ... Just my opinion ..

Thanks Slavomir , yes the Ripper coil is the right coil for hunting small areas littered with iron trash and I like it . I have tested a little the Viper since I received the new one from the Garett support , this coil also works very well ; excellent iron filtering and reactivity on targets. The Viper will be the right coil for open areas like open fields , beaches etc I think ...

Actually I found that the Apex manual is not very clear about this "Iron Audio" function . I just discovered in the field that pressing the Iron Audio allows to hear the low ferrous tones and that works well for me at the moment ... I will try to understand the Iron Audio details when I have some time available... I have never tried the all metal ZERO mode yet, yes may be an interesting mode I will try it. On the other hand yes I have had teething pains 🙂 last year with my Apex because of this faulty Viper coil . The reason why my first reports were so negative ... I hope that Garrett has solved this quality issue now ... Anyway I have a totally different machine compared to the one I had last year and I enjoy it now ... 🙂

I went today to one of my favourite testing areas , a very old site in a forest , low mineralized soil but infested with thousands of nails. It is my first outing there with the Apex . I decided to use the Ripper (5X8)coil instead of the Viper ( 6X11 ) because of its smaller size which means better separation , and also because it is lighter than the Viper ( 330g instead of 400g ). Up to now I had only done a few short outings with the Apex in less difficult areas , so I have some experience of the machine and its settings . I already know that it works very well in iron trashed areas , but I am wondering if it will do the job in todays "extreme" outing ... Ok lets start the detector . First thing the Apex is very stable , almost silent on the nail bed. There is no noise at all compared for example with the ML multifreqs like the Equinox or the Vanquish , which is a very good thing. My settings : Jewellery mode , freq MF , sens MAX. Apex soft. version : 1.28 I found my first coin only after 5 minutes . Very good news because it is difficult to find new targets here. The Ripper coil has the perfect size for hunting (very) small roman coins . It is also very easy to center the targets with that coil , no pinpointer required. The MS3 wireless headphones are excellent and very reliable , it is a pleasure to use them. An important thing , in case of a doubtful signal I always press the Iron Audio button to have more audio info. This "Iron Audio" is just equivalent to the Equinox and Vanquish AM ( all metal ) function. I dont know why Garrett did not simply call this button AM instead of "Iron Audio" ... The signals on targets are sharp and clean , may be a little too sharp , I would have preferred a little "softer" audio , but it works very well and this is the most important Long story short , I found a total of 6 coins during 1 hour , which is a very good result.🙂 I am not sure that I would have found more coins with my Deus HF which is a reference in iron trashed areas. So I confirm that the Apex is a very good detector in iron trash. It outperforms the ML multifreqs in iron trash to my opinion. It is very good on tiny targets as it can be seen on the pics below. 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 1100g for the Apex/ripper ). On the other hand the Apex is probably much better than the Deus at the beach, and could be a good choice for users looking for a detector performing very well on both inland and beach hunting ... So conclusion of this test the Apex is a very good detector , both easy to use and very efficient in the field , especially with the excellent Ripper coil ... GARRETT APEX + RIPPER COIL -- PLUS AND CONS : THE PROS : . excellent on iron trashed areas . very good audio / excellent iron filtering . sensitive to tiny targets as well as bigger ones ( multifrequency ) . fast and reactive/accurate on targets . a light detector , weighting only 2.4lbs (1,1kg ) with the Ripper coil . the thin control box . the lithium/ion battery . easy to use even by beginners . the excellent MS3 wireless headphones THE CONS : . VDIs a little unstable . the rod outdated compared to other brands . the coil cable too short for tall persons ( above 6 feet/ 1,85m ) . no dedicated backlight button . the running freq info ( 5k,10k ... , MF..) NOT displayed on the main detection screen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few pics of todays outing below ... 1) First coin with the Apex/Ripper : 2) A bigger one ... : 3) Total 6 coins : 4) Back home , after cleaning , a nice roman coin : Constantinus , AD 360 , 1660 years old ! : legend : CONSTANTINUS PF AUG reverse legend : GLORIA EXERCITUS 5) The Viper 6X11 and the Ripper 5X8 :

I have used the XP goldmaxx from 2007 to 2013 , then the Deus from 2013 to now . A total of 14 years with XP .... I agree that the Deus has the best target separation in iron trash from all the machines I have used since 1998. In Europe separation is the key feature because we very often detect on nail beds here , this is why I am curious about this tarsacci... 🙂

Yes wet ground is more conductive than dry ground. But I have never had any issue with either my 540 or my 340 in mild ground , either dry or wet. Looks like the above "false signals" pb is a combination of very high mineralization + wet ground . However I am not a specialist of hot grounds we have only mild grounds over here in the north of France ... Slavomir ( El Nino77 ) do you have hot grounds in Slovakia ? thx

All the Vanquish have fixed GB. In mild soil the Vanquish has an excellent iron disc , impossible to dig nails with it in mild soil. So the pb perhaps comes from your soil mineralization .

Ok for mineralized soil but what about the Tarsacci in mild soil with iron trash ? Does it perform better than the Deus there ? thx ..

Hi Dancer , Actually I should have said that if my Deus HF is running at 14khz in this area and despite my experience, I would find nothing . You start to find things there at frequencies above 20khz , either you are experienced or not, and whatever the detector. The only exception is the Teknetics T2 14khz that is performing well with its FA mode, this detector has something special ...🙂 The funny thing is once you know the correct settings , the Deus is very easy to use , even by a beginner and even on these nail beds . The Deus is far easier to use there than an equinox/vanquish for example , With a Deus you dont hear the irons because it filters them , and it just beeps on the good targets. The pb with the Deus is the number of settings, for example 11 detection modes . The beginners are messed up with all the settings and for example they often use the wrong detection mode . Btw it took me 2 years to understand that the Deus Fast mode was the best mode for my kind of hunting. For beginners , the Orx is simpler and a better choice than the Deus to my opinion btw I dont remember why we are discussing about the Deus settings in the Garrett forum 🙂 ...

If the original coin weight is 1.3 to 1.4g ,and yours 3.1g , then yours is very probably a fake coin. The hammered medieval coins are very thin it is an easy way to recognize them ...

Yes I agree . I have a little story about this . Once I was in a "sea of iron nails" with my deus hf set at 30khz and there was an other guy , that I never met before , who arrived at the same time with an Ace , I dont remember which model . Two hours later we compared our finds , I had 15 small coins in my hand and he had found ... nothing. I was really disappointed for him actually btw ... Conclusion in this area you absolutely need a specialized high freq machine if you want to find something . You would find very few with a machine running under 15khz there .. This was a very interesting ( and not planned ) field test , which simply means that you need the right tool for the right job . Concerning the software update yes I consider it as a very interesting feature , even if sometimes I get excited when microsoft blocks my PC with a windows update and I have something urgent to do lol ... 🙂

I am a little surprised by this , the Deus/Orx are for me the best machines in heavy iron trash. They can pick up very small coins ( then low conductors ) among nail beds when using high freqs like 30khz and this is the reason why they are references over here in Europe. What I mean by nail beds are for example antic house roofs that have collapsed resulting in soils containing thousands of rusty nails and their fragments... From the other detectors that I have used since 1998 , only the Tesoro Lobo and the Teknetics T2 ( FA mode ) were able to compete with the Deus and Orx . Probably the Tek G2 would do the job , but I have never used/tested one up to now... Concering the Apex , from what I have seen during my first tests it is good in iron trash but not as much as the XPs , but I need to confirm this in the field with more hours detecting. The only thing that I can tell at this time is that the Apex is better than the ML multifreqs ( vanquish , equinox etc.. ) on these areas, which is a very positive feature 🙂 ..

Hi 67GTA , I dont know the AT MAX but I currently own a Deus HF and a Vanquish 540 , so I will be able to compare them with the Apex. At this moment I need a few more hours detecting with the Apex to have a more accurate idea of its ability in iron trashed areas . I will update this thread as soon as I have more field test results ...

Thanks Slavomir for this info , I will do the update as soon as possible . Looks like they have improved the Apex audio , and powering on the backlight when activating the menu is a great idea. 🙂. I had not much time to test the Apex these last days but I plan to do a lot of field testing with it during the coming weeks ...

New coils have been designed for the Apex , I imagine that it will be the same with the new XP ... Alain

Hi relicmeister , From what I know XP will release their first multifreq machine in the coming months . it will probably a "fast mf" detector to be very efficient in iron trashed areas like the Apex , and as usual a very light machine. Future will tell ..

In France/Europe we have hundreds of coin types/sizes/weights dating from the antic /medieval to modern ages , ranging from 0.5 to 30g so that we only use the VIDs as an indication , except in very specific situations . Perhaps that this is probably why XP has not really focused on this VID normalization but rather on reactivity / iron filtering / ability on nail beds etc ... To summarize this VID feature is interesting but it is not the most important thing for us . Just my opinion as usual ... Of course it would be better that those IDs are normalized as it is very useful in other countries like the US which are a big market for XP I imagine 🙂 ...

About the weigths : 11 x X35 --> 470g with coil cover 13X11 --> 590g with cc See :http://www.xpmetaldetectors.com/metal-detector/category/accessories-deus/ So quite a big weight difference between the coils ... Concerning field results , I only know the 11 coil old version ( not the X35 ) , it is deep on big coins at depth in clean soils if you use a low freq like 5khz

Just one important thing when setting such bed tests ; ensure that there are NO iron bits remaining in the ground that will be used for testing. Otherwise the results will be falsed. The ground must absolutely be iron free .. A detector in the all metal mode can be used for extracting the iron bits before filling the box/bucket ..

Yes nice set up I have a similar test garden with 4 boxes filled with different ground thicknesses. The targets are simply set down under the middle of the boxes. The first boxes are filled with inland mild ground and the 4th filled with sand and salt water. I use these boxes since 4 or 5 years now and they are VERY helpful to test different settings of a machine. Of course field tests are the most important but you learn a lot of things with these kind of test gardens... On the pics below I was testing the Garrett Apex ..

I have the Minelab Profind 35 , it has a major difference vs the others : the iron disc , a big plus in iron trash areas or to locate big ferrous at depth. I have also heard people complaining about its reliability however mine is working perfectly since 2 years now ...

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 ...

And it is the opposite with the Garrett Apex , their coil cables are too small for tall guys ...Just at the limit for me hopefully ... More testing from the manufacturers before delivering to the customers would probably be a good thing ... 🙂

Hi ,I had an issue with my ML80 headphones a year ago. The ON/OFF button was broken . I sent it back to my seller and they sent me a brand new one. May be it is related with your pb I dont know ... Anyway those ML80 buttons are fragile compared to the Garrett MS3 headphones for example