palzynski

Chase and kac , Nothing proves up to now that these false signals comes from EMI. It could come from something else .For example when I was using my Goldmaxx or my Xterra during rainy outings with a high hygrometry level these detectors were often failing with random noises after less than one hour detecting , this because of the condensation progressively occuring on the electronics board. For detectors that are not IP protected like the Goldmaxx and the Xterra it is very easy for the humidity to get into the control box through the speaker control box opening for example. So for the moment I have no idea where the pb comes from for the Apex ... And it seems that sometimes the pb is not repeatable even for agiven location see my next post. So now I will wait from Garrett's answer on the issue , we will see what they say ... It looks like that somebody else in the forum ( coinboy ) has the same issue as mine btw ...Look at Abenson's last thread .. Kac, the pb happened either with the wireless headphones connected or not if I remember well.

Hi coinboy , have you read my report/thread on the Apex ? I have the same pb as yours , false signals , So we are at least 2 on this forum having this issue ... I know that other French Apex users have also this pb ,so it looks like Garrett might have a major issue with this .. https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/14043-testing-the-garrett-apex-false-signals

For me it is a fault because I went to 3 different locations , and I had troubles on 2. So it occurs too frequently to be considered as a minor issue ... From now on I will use my other detectors ( Deus Vanquish ) because I am sure that they will work everywhere ... Yes "wrap in tinfoil" I had this idea too, I will try this thanks .. 🙂 About the weight the Apex weights 1,17kg without cc , not so far from the 1,13kg of the manual. But yes they should learn to weight a detector at Garretts ( and Noktas too ) ...😄

I think I tried singe frequencies but it did not change anything . I will redo a test to be sure about this . However the Apex should work correctly even using MF like the others multifreqs ( Equinox , Vanquish ) do ...

Hi , my answer at

TESTING THE GARRETT APEX ------------------------------- I have followed for the Apex exactly the same procedure already used for the other detectors that I have tested in the past : a) static depth tests , b) field tests . For info I live in the North of France, the soil is low to moderated mineralized there . The iron trash varies from medium to very high. I have used the Apex inland only ( no beach detecting ) During this test, I will compare the Apex with the Vanquish and Deus/Orx that I know very well and which are in the same price category ( Apex 600e ,Vanquish 540 pp 550e, XP Deus Lite/Orx 650e ).. The Deus/Orx are a reference over here. And the Vanquish is a very good machine . So all what needed for a realistic comparison .. 1) First impressions : ---------------------- The Apex is very well built , I like the thin control box which is much more compact than the Vanquish control box. The lithium battery is a plus. The shaft has a little outdated design I would have preferred a telescopic shaft like the Vanquish , but it is easy to mount and seems robust. The Apex weights 1,17kg without the coil cover , 1,23kg with the cc , so more than what indicated in the manual ( 1,13kg ). The Apex 6X 11 coil weights 400grams without the cc , it is a little heavy compared to the Vanquish V10 coil which weights only 360grams. The Apex coil shape is a little unusual , long and narrow , almost rectangular , but this has the advantage to provide an important ground coverage par sweep compared to circular or even elliptical shapes. The Apex is easy to use . The manual is short , only 25 pages this is a good thing. The wireless headphones are very well build, they have no noticeable latency. and they worked well during the test. I just noticed a few drops out but nothing dramatic 2) Static depth tests : ----------------------- 2 depth tests have been done , one using a big copper 10grams coin at 28cm ( 11 inches ) depth , the other using a small 3grams bronze coin at 15cm ( 6 inches ) depth. See pics below. I have always used the MF mode during this test. As I expected the Apex does not hit the big 10grams copper coin at 11 inches , so the Apex does not go as deep as for example a Vanquish plus the V12 coil. This is due to the small width (6inches ) of the Apex coil and it is quite logical. However the Apex hits the small 3 grams coin at 6inches , the same result as the Vanquish and Deus so a good result. I noticed at this moment that the Apex audio signals on targets ( coins for example ) are quite sharp. Actually I found them too sharp , as if there was a little iron in all the coins that I was testing. The Apex audio is a little unusual and I would have preferred softer signals actually .. So conclusion of this part the depth tests are ok , the Apex audio is a little surprising with these sharp signals on targets , but probably just a matter of a few hours detecting to get used to it .. 3) Field tests : ---------------- I have tested the Apex at 3 different locations, where I always go when testing new detectors : - a plowed field which has been occupied by a camp hospital during the 1st WW. So quite a lot of iron trash ,plus aluminium fragments , etc .. and interesting things like buttons, buckles , etc .. - a wood near a small town containing medieval artefacts among a very high density of iron trash - others fields near a big town Total detecting time : 8 hours 3.1) plowed field : ------------------- I went 3 times in this field with the Apex. During the 1st outing everything went ok . Actually I do not like the Apex audio ,I find it not enough accurate compared to the Vanquish/Deus and too sharp on targets as I said above . And the Vanquish VDIs are much more accurate that the Apex VDIs .. Then I started to have serious troubles with the Apex .. 😬 During the next outings done in this field there I have been constantly bothered by FALSE SIGNALS. The Apex was randomly beeping while no target under the coil. There are power lines quite close to the field but I have never had such pbs pb here with other detectors Equinox , Vanquish and Deus. During the 3rd outing in this field I have even decided to leave the area after 15 minutes because it was impossible to detect due to the erratic signals. 3.2) wood : ----------- The outing in this wood has been more positive.I had very few false signals there and the Apex did a good job in this area infested by little ferrous. I even found a nice medieval buckle missed by the other detectors. I have appreciated the 11X6 coil which has very good separation abilities . As I said I am not a fan of the Apex audio but it worked ... at least in this area. 🙂 btw it has rained during all the outing , so difficult conditions , and I had no pb with the high hygrometry , a good thing 3.3) other plowed fields : -------------------------- During this outing we tried 2 fields In the first field I had the same pb as above , false signals again .. There was a gsm antenna not far , perhaps this could explain the pb . But not justify it , because other detectors work very well here .. It went better in the second field where I found 2 coins. My friend found 3 coins with his Deus . So quite a good result for the Apex here.. One more thing I do not like with the Apex , the backlight activation. To activate it the menu button must be pressed 6 times, then the + button 1 time ,. Total 7 times ... Same thing for desactivating it.... On the Vanquish 540 you just have to press one time the dedicated button it is far simpler , I usually just need the backlight a few seconds to check the VDI , so the Apex backlight is almost unusable for me ... The Apex should have a dedicated backlight button .. CONCLUSION --------------- At the moment I have decided to stop the Apex tests because of this important 'false signal" issue . This is not normal that the Apex cannot be used at places where other detectors work perfectly well. 😒 I have never experienced a pb like this actually. I do not know where it comes from, EMI or others ... I have informed my dealer about this pb and he will contact Garrett. I hope I will have news on this soon.. and a solution to fix that pb , so that I can restart the tests. btw I have tried all the settings to get rid of the "false signals" issue , reducing the sensitivity , ground balancing , changing the channel , etc ... With no results up to now ... I think that the pb is more related to the Apex electronics/software or coil design ... Future will tell

The Vanquish 340 is lighter than the Simplex. The 340 weights around 1,2kg while the Simplex weights around 1,4kg. Part of the difference comes from the coil weights , the Vanquish V10 coil weights only 360 grams while the Siimplex 11 coil weights 480grams. This makes an important difference . At the moment the lighter machines are the XP Orx ( 750 grams) and XP Deus ( 850 grams ). If you have a tennis elbow using a harness like the Minelab harness could be a good idea whatever the detector you use.

Hi , I agree with Chase, the Orx is perfect on iron trashed areas. Concerning the settings I use COIN FAST mode , 14khz on low to medium iron trashed areas , 30khz on high iron trashed areas. I rarely use 50khz because of the important depth loss. For info I have a white 9i HF coil I know a little the T2, it is a very good machine , I used the FA mode when I had mine , very efficient on iron trashed areas .. but monotone .. Happy hunting ... BTW I have just seen that this is an old thread dating from 2019 .. So I am a little late on this ... 🙂

And the Vanquish is just the opposite , a VW pink beetle look-a-like with a Porsche motor in it .... 😀 ... Honestly I prefer the pink beetle with the Porsche motor .. 🙂

Yes but the Simplex has an important drawbac:k ; it is an heavy machine with its 11 stock coil . At around 1,4kg it is largely above the average , its 11coil / 480 grams is front heavy compared to the 360grams of the Vanquish 340and 440. I would not recommend the Simplex for young people and women for example ..

I was comparing the detectors ruuning at their factory settings. So yes the Equinox could be a fast as the Apex with recovery settings set to high . I do not have the Equinox any more so I cannot check this in the field at the moment ... Concerning the Vanquish for sure the Apex is faster , but the Apex is not accurate enough to my opinion , this with unstable VDIs ... ( for me ) One positive thing however, it is very easy to pinpoint the targets with the Apex and the 11 X 6 coil is excellent for this. It is very easy to find the targets with the Apex compared to other detectors using bigger coils.

Yes I agree with you Abenson the Apex is faster than the Vanquish and the Equinox but approximative in the audio signals with jumpy IDs when the targets are a little deep. I largely prefer the little slower MLs which give very accurate/reliable audio and VDIs informations this even at depth . I have compared the Apex with a Vanquish 540 up to now , but I am sure that the 340 / 240euros will be much better than the Apex / 520euros from the audio/VDI accuracy standpoint. Knowing that the audio is the most important thing for a detector ..

Hi , I received the Apex last week and did 4 outings with it , total around 5 hours detecting upto now ... I will write a specific thread on this but for the moment I am quite disappointed with this machine . I do not like the audio , the sounds on targets are not stable unless the targets are shallow. The VDIS are very jumpy unless the targets are shallow . Also many false signals between the targets . I compared the Apex with a Vanquish 540 in the same area and the Vanquish outperforms the Garrett . Much more precise and stable on targets etc ... On the other hand the Apex mechanical design is good I like the thin control box , the headphones are very well made. But again the Equinox , Vanquish , Deus/Orx , T2 ,Tesoro's audios are much better than the Apex. Just my opinion as usual... I will give more details later in the new thread ... Like Abenson I dont like writing negative things on a machine . However for the moment I am not really happy with the Apex ... 😒

Yes I agree only 3 tones on the Orx is not normal knowing the price of this machine 700 euros over here. A Vanquish 540 at 440euros has 5 tones it should be at least 5 tones and ideally fulltones for the Orx . Perhaps it would be a good thing to inform the XP support about this , I have informed my seller in Paris about this issue but no answer from XP for the moment . Perhaps if the request comes from the US they will be more reactive ... 🙂

Hi , excellent video , the first one really showing the apex in action , just like if I was using the machine myself thanks ... A few comments:, the Apex audio looks like the .... XPs Goldmaxx , Deus audio ... With very reactive sounds on targets , for example the Apex is for me much more reactive than the the MLs Equinox / Vanquish, I like that ... It looks like it also filters better the small irons than the MLs then it will be easier to use because more silent on iron trashed areas. so this field test is very positive for me . I have ordered one so I will do my own tests in European conditions I hope that they will confirm yours ...🙂

Hi , I have tested the Chaser 14khz for a shop in France called "Le Fouilleur" 3years ago. A very deep detector especially with the 12 X 10 coil on medium/big coins in low iron trashed areas , which is quite surprising considering its relatively high freq of 14khz. A little deeper than the Equinox I would say . This was the positive thing with this machine. On the other hand a few negative issues : - the multitone audio does not work correctly because the target tone change with the target distance from the coil . This is the main issue with this detector , the multitone is not reliable at all and for example the Vanquish/Equinox multitones are far better and accurate ... Same pb with the VDIs which are not reliable. - the iron disc on big ferrous at depth is approximative they often sound like good targets - the Chaser is heavy , around 1,7kg with the 12 X 10 coil However I did this test 3 years ago in 2017 , perhaps Detech has fixed some issues and especially the multitone issue since 2017 ... Not sure about this ... I would suggest you to check this with your dealer if you plan to buy one ..

Hi , very nice rings ... Which detector were you using btw ?

I have ordered an Apex so I will soon post my results in the field ( coin hunting , mild soil , typical European high iron trashed areas) . .. "Easy separation in iron infested areas" ---> I will check this and compare the Apex with my Vanquish 540 and Deus HF 9i in my testing areas ...

For coin shooting in mild soils , low to moderate iron trash , the Equinox 800 and the Vanquish 540 do almost the same job ( for me ) . So no real need to keep them both . I preferred to keep the Vanquish 540 because of the excellent V8 V10 V12 coils and its simpler ergonomy.

No I do not have the same deus since 2013 , sorry I did not explain very well... I have started in 2013 with a 9inch black coil plus ws5 headphones , then I changed in 2018 for a 9i HF coil plus ws4 headphones . No battery failures during this time . Just an issue with the ws5 headphones fixed by the XP support. An excellent result for 7 years of quite intensive use , in often difficult conditions , rain , mud , dust , etc ... 🙂

You will see that when you are used to detecting with a Deus or an Orx it is difficult to come back to a wired machine. When I connect the coil cable on my Vanquish control box I always feel coming back to the prehistoric ages ... 🙂I Concerning the reliability of the XPs internal batteries that you mentioned in an other post above , they are very reliable. In fact those lithium internal batteries are much more reliable than external AA batteries. I have had very few issues with my Deus since I am using it ( 2013 ), either with the coil or the ws4 . The Deus/Orx are the most reliable detector I have ever had since I have been detecting ( I started in 1998 ). However If you use intensively your Orx you might have to change a battery in 3 or 4 years , just like with a smartphone, which is normal. Btw I am happy to see that you appreciate the Orx , I have tested it 2 years ago and was very impressed with it , just like the Deus it is a killer in iron trashed areas like ploughed fields , especially with the 9i white HF coil... Very light and simple to use also .. I could not find anything wrong with this machine , except the multitone limited to only 3 tones. HH ...

Thanks Chase , actually I just read the comments and did not look the video for the moment , I will do it asap ..

Thank you for you static Apex separation tests . Very interesting . Have you planned to do field tests to confirm the separation test results ? I mean a place where you have already tried other machines so that you can compare them together. I say this because from my experience sometimes the results in the field may differ from what can be seen on static tests .. Btw if it is confirmed that the if Apex separation is only equivalent to the Vanquish then this is not good news , because the Apex was supposed to be very good in iron trash from the Garrett Marketing specs , and the Vanquish is not a reference in nail beds , at least the ones that we have in Europe ....

Very nice finds , yes the Vanquish serie are excellent in low to medium iron trashed areas . a little less on nail beds where they are are too chatty due to a lack of small irons filtering . But considering their prices they are all great values for money , either the 340, 440 or 540. Fun and very easy to use , and also very efficient machines , especially with the very good V10 coil ... btw I only use them inland , but I am not surprised by your excellent results with the 440 at the beach ...

Ok for the Deus Lite avail. in the US Actually my seller wanted to sell me the controller when I bought the Deus in 2013 but I found the single controller a little bit too expensive at more than 500euros ... 🙂 As I almost do not change the "Deus fast" mode factory settings ( except for fulltones once and frequency in the field depending on the iron trash ) I do not really need the controller . The software internet updates are done by my seller. But probably I am the only one , most of the Deus users have the controller over here ... 🙂 Yes I agree the Orx is certainly a better value than the Deus Lite , the Orx controller is more friendly to use than the WS4 little screen and buttons ..