palzynski

Hi captain , I entirely agree with Joe's answer , there are valuable targets in the 10-20 range . For example in Europe we have small/very small old coins starting from 1gram weight that are in this 10-20 tid range ... So I never use the notch on my MLs. For info I use the 50 tones mode on the Eq , with this I can easily recognize the aluminium foil with a very low tone (below 10 TID ) . So most of the time I dig all targets , except those very low conductivity alu foils. However in some rare situations I only dig medium/high conductors above 20 tid , for example when looking for 1st WW relics , buttons , buckles … which are rather high conductors Of course on the beach with a lot of trash pulltabs etc it might be different , but I am not a beachcomber , only inland detecting so I will not answer on this .. Just to finish an example showing that one must be careful with the notch function. See pic below, in my hand 2 very different targets , a 1st WW 10 grams lead schrappnel a very common rubbish in my area , and a very nice antique 4 grams gold coin ( that I bought in a shop ,not found by myself … ). Actually those 2 targets have exactly the same TID at 17 ! So if I notch 17 to eliminate the schrappnell rubbish , I will never find this kind of coin because it will be also be eliminated by the notch ...

Hi joe , thx for your pics and infos . I have a question , what is the percentage of iron targets found among the total ? In mute and tone mode … thx again ..

Yes the Equinox is a little more complex than other machines like the Xterra , Deus , Tesoros , etc .. Actually it took me one year to master its audio and settings , although I already had a good experience of the ML multifreqs with my Explorer XS. The Equinox is a little "chatty" it takes time to get used to it … Just my opinion On the other hand when you know the machine it is a powerful detector , very sensible on targets of all sizes , big and tiny . I like the ML multifreqs . For info at the moment I use a Vanquish 540 which I find as efficient as the Equinox for what I am doing ( coin hunting on mild soils ) , this with a simplified user interface.

- Using the 6" you will loose around 10 or 15% depth vs the 11"coil I think , no more. In fact the drawback of the 6 coil is its low surface coverage because of its very small size . Then the 6 coil will be great for relatively small areas , gardens , paths , etc .. and less suited for large surfaces like open fields . However it is a very light coil , so fun to use I like it … 🙂 And possibly this small 6 coil might be less sensible to EMI than the big 11 coil ... - Concerning the disc , I never changed this setting on my 800 … I prefer to change a minimum of factory settings on my machines - For info the settings I use with my 800 on iron trash areas are : . low/medium iron trashed area : Park2 factory , sens 25 , iron bias from 0 to 4 . high iron trashed area : Field2 factory , sens 25, iron bias from 4 to 6 - Dig only when you have a repeatable signal on both sides I have a 800 and not a 600 , so the 600 might be a little different .. However I am quite sure that you will find the 6 coil very good on difficult/extreme areas with your 600 ..

If you are on trashy areas the 6 inches coil is much better than the 11 stock coil , this small coil is a must on trashy areas … And it has still a good depth

One other thing would be to test an other 600 to see if it behaves like with yours … Perhaps you can borrow a 600 from somebody else ? Did you ask your seller about his issue? No other idea up to now from my standpoint , perhaps someone else in the forum has an idea ...

It would be interesting to do your test on low mineralized ground if you can ( less than GB 30 ) . Normally you should have similar depth results between mono 5khz and multi for a big coin...

This is odd , I have an Eq800 and on my test boxes I get the same depth result between mono 5khz and Multi on a 10grams copper coin ( with a very slight advantage to 5khz). Park1 or Park2 . Coin depth 11inches ..Moderate mineralized ground ( Balance at 30 ). This test is very reliable I use it since several years now . Then I always use Multi because I do not want to miss small targets that are not seen by the 5kz mono .

Hi phd_angel , I have a Vanquish 540 with the 3 coils V8 V10 V12 ( 30 hours detecting with it up to now ) and a friend who is a beginner has a 340 since a few weeks so I have a few feedbacks from him about the 340. .. And we could detect together 2 times , so I could compare the 340 with the 540 , in fact their perfos and audio are very similar , just the 540 has more functions like the wireless , backlight , etc ... My conditions are inland detecting on mild soils , coin and relic hunting … ( No beach or nugget hunting ) So my friend the beginner is happy with the 340 , he uses it more in woods / forests with low/moderate iron trash. In such areas it is an excellent machine, very accurate and sensible to both big AND tiny targets with the MultiIQ. If you dont want to miss tiny targets the 340 will be better than the F22 . The Fisher F22 uses a 7khz low freq which means that it will miss tiny targets for sure .. It depends what you are looking for ... One more plus , the Vanquish has an excellent telescopic shaft not available on the F22. It means that you can adjust the shaft exactly to your size this is very important. Also it is very compact when in a ruksack. I really like this telescopic shaft , a great design from ML ... On the other hand my friend had a little trouble with the 340 on high iron trashed areas ( in open fields with iron trash for example ). I agree with him that the Vanquish ( and Equinox ) are a little too chatty on such areas , and it needs a few hours to get used to the MLs audio , probably a F22 will be more "silent" on such iron trashed areas. I prefer using my Deus than the Vanquish on high iron trash areas .. If I had to choose , I would go for the Vanquish , even knowing that it needs a little time to get used to its sometimes "chatty" audio . Once you are used to it, it is an excellent machine you cant go wrong with it ... Concerning the pinpointer I have a Minelab Profind 35 which is the only one with a very useful iron discri . Very happy with it ... Hope that helps ...

Steve just for info , what are the soil/sand characteristics at Tahoe beach ? Is it low mineralized , is it salted ? Just to know your conditions of testing .. I saw somewhere in the forum that the AQ would be deeper on wet salt beach than on low mineralized dry ground , this is why I ask the question … Thx

I have a very similar dream team ... 🙂 ; a Vanquish 540 and a Deus ws4 HF 9in … Both great machines ..

The XP Orx is an excellent machine on high iron trashed areas , the Equinox prefers low/medium iron trashed areas . So a good thing to have both...

Someone in this forum called the Deus/Orx "bodybuilded Tesoros" . This is true the Orx is very reactive with a very good iron discri in the "coin fast" factory mode , just like a Tesoro. However it takes a long time to get used to the XPs audio and their response to ferrous targets , often several months , sometimes years ... In fact the Deus/Orx have been rather designed to perform in areas littered with little irons ( old nails ) .And it can , like the Tesoros or other detectors , give a good signal on a deep big iron . Normally it is not a pb because such big irons are usually rare . The most accurate detectors on big deep irons are to my opinion the ML multifreqs Equinox , Etrac , Vanquish , etc .. I almost never dig big irons with my Vanquish , the ALL METAL button helps a lot for this ..

Not harsh , it was not my intention anyway … I just wanted to explain how I use my pinpointer, no more than this .. Concerning the pinpointer attachment for sure if I do not attach it I will loose it , so no real choice … Expense yes you are right it can be a problem for newcomers , but on the other hand the coin that I dug last day (without damage because of the pinpointer ) is worth around 90euros , it is the the price of a second hand high quality pinpointer , so even for a newcomer it is a good investment I think… But not mandatory of course , just without a pinpointer you have more risks to damage valuable targets .. The beep you are right , hopefully when switching on the profind 35 there is just a discrete white LED activated , no beep , so its ergonomy is perfect for me, I did not need to program or modify anything with it , they made a good job at ML 🙂 ....

I detect on inland sites Yes I agree the main advantage of a pinpointer is to avoid to damage targets. 2 days ago I found with my Vanquish 540 a very nice silver I am sure I would have damaged it without a pinpointer because it was at the bottom of the hole and the soil is very dry at the moment. BTW I use a ML profind 35 , a very good pinpointer , the only one having an iron disc very useful to id big deep iron targets often id as good targets by the detectors. One more thing , the use of a pinpointer is also linked to the size of the coil , I have a Vanquish 540 with the 3 coils V8 , V10 , V12: - with the small V8 8X6 coil I never take my pinpointer - with the V10 10X8 coil I take it and often use it in the field - with the big V12 12X10 coil a pinpointer is almost mandatory , I use it all the time Concerning the pinpointer disadvantages : a)it's one more thing to carry --------> yes b)and one more thing with a battery that might go flat/get left at home/etc ---------> carry a spare battery ( a 9V for the profind 35 ) c)they are easy to lose, tread on, etc ---------> no risk at all with a leash attached to the holster , see pic below d)they can slow recovery, due to the 'inching in on the target' effect ---------> in most cases they rather accelerate the recovery , just my opinion .. e)some of them have a beep you can't turn off, which may not always be ideal ---------> no beep on the profind 35 f)expense ---------> 135e for the ML profind 35 g)they won't always find the tiny targets ---------> yes

Vanquish 540 V10 in action … A very nice find with a silver coin dating from 1859 Napoleon III , found today in a wood near a small town. Very happy with this 😊 I never found this kind of coin before ... I still find the Vanquish a little noisy on the ferrous ( and there are a lot of them over here ) , but I must admit that when it is on a target it is very accurate and deep... The id was 26 with a high pitched tone. Hopefully I had the Profind 35 with me because the coin was at the bottom /center of the hole, I would probably have damaged it without the pinpointer … The Vanquish performs very well in woods / forests ,and this V10 coil is excellent in the field, light and powerful , this confirms my previous static depth tests ( see above ) ...🙂

Yes I agree with you Steve there is an optimum coil for a given target size. Concerning the air tests they are too far from the field results, so I do not do them any more it is a waste of time to my opinion. So I just keep on doing ground tests with my boxes filled with mild ground . I have been doing these tests since several years now , and the max depth I measured with VLFs for a big coin is around 11/12 inches , so very similar results as GB_amateur's and yours ... Btw from what I saw in other threads , only PIs go deeper , 15/16inches for a big coin with a TDI GB off . And it looks like the impulse AQ will be rather in the 20inches range for such a big coin We will know very soon now .. . 🙂 Of course with reduced iron disc capabilities for the PIs ..

The ORX is very similar in terms of performances ( depth , separation ) to the Deus . Just it is simpler to use for a beginner . 12 modes on the Deus can be a mess for a beginner… On the ORX there are only 4 modes : 2 coin 2 gold and the necessary settings thats all. And at 700e with the ORX you have a control box , more fun to use than the small buttons of the Deus Lite headphones ( WS4 or WS5 ) .. I just found that the Deus "fulltones" audio is missing on the Orx , it is limited to only 3 tones …

I never tried the elliptical 9.5 HF coil , however I have been using for several years now the 9 white HF coil on my DeuS WS4. For gold hunting I do not know but for coin shooting it is a great coil , perhaps the best coil that XP has ever made up to now …And ultra light , the 9 HF coil itself weights 320grams plus 20grams for the battery at the top of the lower shaft. The only thing to remember is to use 14khz freq on low iron trashed areas, and switch to 30khz on trashy areas. Concerning the depth perfo , probably the 9i HF coil will be a little deeper than the elliptical 9.5 on large nuggets . It is just a guess ..

Yes I agree with you , after hundreds of hours detecting with the ML explorer , Eq 800 , now the Vanquish 540, I still find the ML multifreqs audio a little complex , they "talk" all the time compared to other brands like Tesoro , Xp , Teknetics and so on . ML multifreqs are not really "silent search" machines … 🙂 Probably a lack of audio filtering on the irons . However when you get used to them they are very good machines , very sensiitive to targets of all sizes , from tiny to bigger ones . This is why I have a Vanquish 540 plus the 3 coils … Just my opinion

In fact the lower shafts are carbon shafts that I made myself to save weight. Like the middle shaft which is also a handmade carbon shaft . My Vanquish 540 / V10 coil only weights 1,06 kg with carbon lower/mid shafts and 4 lithium AA batteries ( instead of 1,2kg before modif ) , see pics below … carbon lower shaft dimensions : length 630mm , ext diameter 19mm , thickness 1mm / weight 70grams carbon mid shaft dimensions : length 500mm , ext diameter 22mm , thickness 1mm / weight 50grams

COMPARATIVE DEPTH TEST OF THE V8 V10 V12 COILS ( VANQUISH 540 ) : -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have just received my V10 coil so I could do a comparative depth test of the 3 Vanquish coils on my test boxes. This on my usual targets , a big copper coin 10g at 30cm ( 12inches ) and a small bronze coin 2g at 17cm ( 7 inches ). The boxes ground is moderately mineralized and free of iron targets. A) Depth test / 10g copper coin at 12 inches : 1st. 540 V12 : A quite clean signal / high tone 2nd. 540 V10 : A weaker signal / high tone 3rd. 540 V8 : No signal B) Depth test / 2g bronze coin at 7 inches : 1st. 540 V10 : A sharp signal / medium tone 2nd. 540 V12 : A less clean signal / medium tone 3rd. 540 V8 : A weaker signal / medium pitched tone So a little conclusion from this quick test : the V12 is the most sensitive coil to big coins say from 5grams and more , and the V10 the most sensitive coil to small coins say from 1gram to 5grams. About the V8 I have no specific test with very small targets but I have some experience with it on the field and I know that the V8 is very sensitive to very small shallow targets like shotgun pellets. There is nothing really new with this , of course there is a link between the coil size and the target size , but I wanted to confirm this with the Vanquish .. From my standpoint , as I usually look the more often for small coins between 2 and 5 grams , clearly the V10 coil is the most interesting for me. It is a powerful coil , lighter than the V12, I expect very good results with it on the field … Coils other infos : - Vanquish coil sizes / weights ( without coil cover ) V12 : 12in X 10in / 440 grams V10 : 10in X 8in / 360 grams V8 : 8in X 6in / 310 grams

I would not recommend the wm08 little box , I had often drops out ( short loss of transmissions ) with it and I am not the only one noticing this .... I do not use it any more . I prefer using the ML80 Wireless headphones which are very reliable even if they are less reactive due to a little greater lag.

As it is not documented by ML I will forget about powering my Vanquish with a power bank for the moment 🙁 , I will carry on using lithium AA batteries even they are not rechargeable, 15 hours autonomy with the lithium is quite good 🙂 ... Concerning the battery vs li ion reliability, actually since I use my Vanquish I had a few accidental power shutdowns due to little impacts , for example when putting the detector down on the ground before digging . I suppose that such micro impacts move the batteries a little bit just enough to stop the electronics. I have added a piece of foam between the batteries and the cover to block the batteries ( see pics below ) and it looks like it has solved the pb. I would not have had this issue with a li ion battery I think ..

Nice chart , just 2 things. .. First concerning the weights, in the "real world" the Vanquish 540 + V12 coil weights 1,32kg , the Simplex 1,42kg . This would give 1 Apex , 2 Equinox Vanquish , 3 Simplex+ And I would have added a "battery type' item , li ion or AA batteries , with of course a plus for the detectors powered by a li ion battery ( Simplex, Apex , Equinox ) and a minus for the Vanquish ...