palzynski

No I have not eliminated a bad connection between my headphones connector and the WM08, I will check this . Perhaps by trying other headphones I dont know … Actually I have asked the question to the ML support in France on this ( loss of transmission ) issue a few months ago , but no answer from them up to now ..

Thanks for the info Chase. However even when clipping the WM08 on my headphones on the same ( right ) side as the detector I have the issue. To me it looks like a design pb , perhaps the WiStream signal is too weak. Never experienced such an issue with my Deus or the Orx . Hopefully the ML80 APtX headphones works perfectly , even if a little less reactive than the WM08 .. And the ML80 also works very well with my Vanquish 540 ..

Just for info , I have an issue when using the WM08 with my Equinox 800 , I has quite frequent audio cuts off ( short blanks in the audio ) in certain situations . For example when the detector is laying on the ground and I pass ground under the coil to find the target . Very disturbing ... So I did not use the WM08 any more, and only use the ML80 headphones . I am not the only one having this issue , others users have mentioned it on internet , google search with the "ML80 cuts off" keyword ...

Thanks El Nino ... Actually I use lithium batteries because they are very light , 15grams each instead of 28grams for the MLs stock NiMh batteries, this saves 50grams. Just a little issue with the V8 coil I forgot to mention , the ML Vanquish lower stem is a little too short for me . This stem is ok for the V12 coil , but with the V8 on a descending slope it is defintely too short for me . My height is 1,83m . So I will make a longer stem for the V8 and everything will be ok ... Yes at 103 euros the V8 is almost a bargain. As I already have the V8 and the V12 I will probably order the V10 because it is a very polyvalent size and it should be very good on the Vanquish. Let me know about your tests with the V8 . Btw do you use your Vanquish for coin/relic hunting ? thanks ...

TESTING THE VANQUISH V8 COIL I went today to the prev wood were I found the very small coin with the Vanquish 540 and the V12 coil ( see above ). This time I wanted to change and try the small V8 coil. I spent around one hour at this place . Actually the V8 coil did very well , it is much quieter than the V12 because of its low iron masking level. It is very accurate and it is very easy to center a target compared to the V12 coil , no pinpointer is needed. And in addition the V8 is very light ( 310 grams instead of 440 for the V12). Finally I found an other hammered copper coin from the 15 or 14th century, not in a very good state however , but happy with this because it is very difficult to find new targets on this area as it is one on my favorite test sites... Definitely the V8 is an excellent coil for iron trashed areas , I found it even better than the Equinox 6in coil because it has a better ground coverage ( 8inches for the V8 instead of 6inches for the Nox 6 coil ) The weather was a little wet today , I had some concern about the behaviour of the 540 in wet conditions , because the Vanquish has no IP protection. But no pb today everything went well , good news ... The 2nd picture shows the Lithium AA batteries that I am using with the Vanquish since I have it . I have been using the 540 for about 13/14 hours now , and the Vanquish screen still shows full charge . So again very happy with my Vanquish 540 Pro pack . Both V12 and V8 coils are excellent , the ML80 headphones works very well , the 540 is very reliable up to now ... I really like this machine ...

Go Good choice ! Just one thing , be careful with the coils that you will use with your vanquish. If you often go on iron trashed sites , choose a vanquish with a V10 coil or a small V8 coil. This because the V12 coil has a high level of iron masking due to its big size . I have a 540 PP with a V12 and a V8 coil and there is an important difference between both coils , the V8 is very good on infested iron sites … And my V12 coil is rather dedicated to "clean" sites .. With the V12 and V8 coils plus the MultiIQ , the 540 PP covers a wide range of detecting activities . Actually I am quite impressed by the job done by ML on the Vanquish series ...

Yes same for me I didnt notice anything with the last Equinox update . All the updates that I have done up to now either with my XP Deus or Equinox did not fundamentally change the detector behaviour , it rather added functionalities like new coils compatibility and so on .. Although these updates are a very good thing , they will not transform your detector in a "miracle' machine .. So will not transform your Equinox in an iron trashed area specialized machine like the Deus , Orx , Tesoro Lobo , Tek G2 , etc ...

Hi , yes with the Equinox the 6inches coil will work better than the 11 stock coil.on iron trashed areas . But the Nox 6inches coil is quite small and its surface coverage limits it to small areas. Otherwise the best setting that I found on my the Equinox 11inches coil : Field2 , sens 25 , iron bias from 4 to 6 Iron bias is very important , it is a kind of filter of the ferrous . The higher Iron bias is set and the more the ferrrous are filtered, then the quieter is the detector . You loose a little depth when iron bias is set high but this is not the most important on iron trashed areas However for iron trashed sites the MLs are not the best to my opinion and specialized detectors will do better .For example the XP Orx or Deus with a 9inches white HF coil gives excellents results on such areas , because they are faster and more reactive than the MLs multifreqs . Also they are much quieter . The XP 9inches coil offers a good surface coverage while being excellent to pick up good targets amoung the ferrous.. For info I have also a Vanquish 540 with the V8 and V12 coils. The V8 coil is quite good on iron trashed areas , and with its 8inches size provides a better surface coverage than the Equinox 6inches coil

I have tested the Simplex+ for a MD shop here in France a few weeks ago. Concernig the depth test I have 2 test boxes , one on a big 10grams copper coin at 12in deep , the other on a small 2 grams 6in deep. On the big coin the Simplex+ perfos were similar to other detectors like the equinox , vanquish so no pb . However I noticed with the simplex+ a loss of sensivity on the small 2grams coin . Which is logical because the Simplex+ is a monofreq machine using a relatively low freq at 12khz. 12khz is ok for medium to big targets , but cannot compete with high freq monofreq or multifreq like the Vanquish on small targets I think. This with the round 28cm coil, this was the only coil available when I did the test. For info my Simplex+ full test here , in French only, II do not know if Google can translate it ... https://www.metaux-detection.fr/xp-orx-disque-circ-22cm-hf,fr,4,TEST-SIMPLEX28cm.cfm All the tests at : https://www.metaux-detection.fr/nos-tests,fr,3,65.cfm

I do not need an Automated GB or Manual Gb adjustment on my Vanquish .It works perfectly without this in my area .. ML it is urgent to do Nothing on this machine … 🙂 Look at the end of the thread below :

Recent finds made by the Vanquish 540 V12. The 540 can find very small things as well as big things... The big thing is a relic from the 1st WW , the 2nd is a coin from the 15th century. They have been found at different locations , in both cases already hunted by other detectors so difficult to find new targets there … The war relic has been found today, the coin a few days ago I already showed it in an other thread ..

Hi Actually I could reproduce this issue on my test box. On the JEWELRY mode , All metal activated , I have a beep on the down stroke and the screen displays -8 . This ground is a little mineralized , with the Equinox it showed a mineralization of +30 if I remember well ..

Ok if I understand well this issue occurs when using the All metal/horseshoe button and only on high mineralized soils. Same as Simon , I never had this issue but the soils are rather low to moderately mineralized here in France ...

First coin found with my Vanquish 540 V12 , it is a hammered coin of the 15th century probably charles VII . I have found it on one of my favorite testing areas . I have been there dozens of times with several other detectors so difficult to find new targets here . Actually this is a highly iron trashed area and the Vanquish 540 is not always easy to use there , it a little ( too ) noisy ... But it works this is the most important , the signal on this little coin ( 0,8grams ) was perfectly clear and I have missed this coin with the other detectors , so good news the 540 can locate very small targets even with the big V12 coil … 🙂 Sorry the picture quality is not very good because it has been taken at the end of the day ...

I id not pay attention up to now to this MulitIQ ID accuracy at depth feature . Clearly it can help in a lot of situations when you look for a very specific kind of target , for example big buckles of the 1st WW whose IDs are very different from cartridges , bullets and so on ... . Up to now I was only relying on the audio but the screen ID is much more accurate . Will use this with my Vanquish and will look more at its screen now 🙂… Thanks a lot

I feel like Steve on this question , it is just by experience , thousands of hours detecting , that you learn that such a brand/detector is good for nugget hunting , such an other brand/ detector is more dedicated to coin hunting and so on … It takes a long time to learn all those things … It has been 22 years I have been detecting now and I still learn things while detecting ... So if you are a beginner or less experienced , the best thing to do is to think to what you exactly plan to do with your detector , then discuss of this with experienced people , like in this forum ,and they will help you for finding the machine(s) that you need .. About the "why" question , sometimes even very experienced prospectors do not always know why such detector is better than an othe ron the field . Often only the electronics engineers that have designed the detector electronics and coils have the technical answer on this ....

Yes Steve I understand better now , you use the Equinox for nugget hunting and beach hunting , in addition to coin/relic hunting. And I am ( and unfortunately 🙂 ) only a coin/relic hunter . Then for example I have never used the beach modes or the gold modes of the Equinox during a whole year of detection with the 800. Actually I bought the Equinox only because of its high depth performances on coins in low/medium iron trashed areas and I was happy with that . Now I have the Vanquish 540 that has almost the same perfos on coins with a simplified list of functions that perfectly suit to me for what I am doing ( coin hunting ) and I am also very happy with it ... So to answer mh9162013 , you must exactly know what you will do with your detector before buying it , searching for nuggets in hot ground is not be the same as searching for coins in mild soil , not the same as beach hunting , not the same as cache hunting and so on … And clearly I agree there are very few detectors that cover such a wide range of detecting activities like the Equinox ...

Steve on this pic the Deus is fiited with a big 12inches coil . Did you test the Deus with the smaller 9inches round coil ? I just say this because the Deus is much more often used over here with a 9i round rather than the 12i . The Deus 9coil has a much better iron separation than the 12i coil … And unfortunately there is no 9inches coil available for the Equinox … , just a 6i coil but this it is very small and it is limited to narrow areas , even if it works very well ..

Actually it would be very interesting to know the number of metal detectors units sold ( per model/per country/per year )by each manufacturer. So we would better know where we are, which detectors are the most popular , in which country , what is the percentage of multi freq machines used , etc .. We have accurate figures for car sales given by the car manufacturers , why is it not the case in the MD industry ?

Ok thanks for the infos , I did not know about these very small US coins ...

On iron trashed areas the most important thing is reactivity rather than depth capacity. I think that monofreqs at high freq like the Deus/ORX at 30khz are faster to react than a ML multifreq machine. Why ? Probably because it is more complex to analyze a multifreq output signal rather than a single freq signal, then it takes more time for the detector processor , then the machine is less reactive on these targets among nails. In fact in Europe we have very specific conditions that you do not have in the US I think , we are often looking for small / very small coins ( sometimes around 1gram ) not existing in the US of course, where the coins are bigger . To get those small targets in iron trash you must have a very reactive detectector , which explains that the Deus/ORx are a standard over here in Europe . In fact we need very specialized detectors for those "nail carpets" as we call them... The first detector that had a great success in France at the beginning of the 2000s was the Tesoro lobo at 18khz , because of its high frequency / reactivity. Then XP came with the Goldmaxx at 18 khz in 2005 and the Deus/Orx a few years later, which has a great success because it answers perfectly to European prospectors needs. Actually reading the prev posts , I can see that Deus/Orxs are also used in the US ( at least by Jeff and Chase 🙂 ) for detecting on iron trashed areas , so this is not specific to Europe ... However the ML multifreqs like the Eq800 and the Vanquish 540 are to me better than the monofreqs for finding medium/big size coins at important depths in low to medium iron trashed areas. This is why I often use my Vanquish 540 with the big V12 coil .. All this applies for inland detecting only . For salt beaches it is totally different . I am not a beach hunter so I will not give my opinion on this , even if I know that the ML multifreqs are excellent at the beach ...

You are lucky Phrunt because in the wood where I am currently detecting here , with an ID of 15 or 16 there are 99/100 chances that there is a schrapnell under my coil ...😄 However I prefer to dig for the remaining 1/100 chances that there is something else under it 😊.. Back to mh2162013's question , what I have found after hundreds ( thousands ? ) of hours detecting either with single freq machines like the Deus/Orx , Goldmaxx , T2 , etc … or multi like the Explorer XS , Eq 800 , Vanquish 540 is that the multifreqs are a little deeper on low to medium iron trashed areas. On high iron trashed areas with thousands of old nails , the ML multifreqs cant compete with single frequency machines like the Deus , ORX , Tesoro Lobo , T2 on the FA mode , … It is just my opinion .. This applies for Europe , in the US the high iron trashed areas are probably less frequent than over here .. Which could explain that multifreq detectors are more often used in the US than in Europe , again just my opinion...

Actually I am currently using here in the North of France the Vanquish 540 V12 in a similar environment as yours I think , the 1st WW . I find the 540 excellent in this kind of "war relics" hunting . It is very accurate and goes deep with the V12 coil , the shaft is a real pleasure , the 540 is very simple to use , very reliable , however requires a few hours to get used to the audio. Normally I am rather a coin hunter but with the corona limitations I canot take my car to go to my usual areas for the moment .. Just one more thing I very often use a pinpointer with the 540 V12 , I have the ML Profind 35 that I find excellent for locating targets , also because it has an iron disc that helps a lot for certain big ferrous deeply buried that sometimes give a good signal .. Happy Hunting ..

Yes I remember I made some some tests in 2005/2006 with a GPX4500 . I remember having even broken a potentiometer on the GPX back control panel , and my GPX had to go back to Minelab for repair. Yes clearly the Equinox is much more protected against accidental settings changes or bumps than the GPX , but probably I will make a kind of plastic hardcover so that I will be sure that my Nox settings stay the same while detecting ... BTW at this time I rather use the Vanquish 540 than the Nox . I think that I will probably keep only 2 detectors , my trusty Deus HF 9i coil and the Vanquish 540 V12 + V8 coils. I can do all what I want with these 2 detectors , detecting in high iron trashed areas with the Deus and using the Vanquish V12 for finding deep coins in low to moderated iron trashed areas.

Actually I do not understand why there should not be a lock on a detector while it is a standard on most of our cellular phones , I also very frequently use the lock function on my Garmin Dakota 20 GPS. For me a detector is even more subject to accidental contacts than a phone or a GPS because a detector is often used in difficult conditions , in woods , among the vegetation and so on ... So to me it is still an issue, and if I remember my first years detecting at the begining of the 2000s I had a similar pb with my tesoro silver sabre potentiometers which tended to to turn too easily , I remember I had to maintain them with elastics to prevent them from turning ... On the XPs like the Goldmaxx in 2007 they started to use specific potentiometers more difficult to turn, then preventing accidental settings change when detecting. On the very recent Nokta Simplex+ you must push the buttons quite strongly to activate them , no risk to activate them accidentally, a very good idea I think .. So to conclude this detector settings lock story is not a new story … More or less taken into account by the manufacturers ...