Chuck M

22 hours ago, phrunt said:

I love my Vanquish 540, it's an awesome detector for its price and I especially like its rock solid target ID stability and depth it can achieve on deep silver coins using the v12 coil in my mild soils, while I've not used a high-end Nokta machine like the Legend to get a baseline with my only experience being a Simplex but we won't go there I would think the Double Score model should have the edge on depth, especially in milder soils as it has an option for a 13.5 x 12.5" SC35 Coil, this coil "should" go  deeper than the biggest coil for the Vanquish, the v12 which is 12x9" and if it doesn't, then I'd be very disappointed in the Score.

Appreciate the feedback. My brother uses the Simplex and he wishes he would have purchased the 540, my 540 tones and depth are much greater then his Simplex. I really love my 540 but I want a waterproof detector and I was thinking for the price, the Double Score might be the ticket, especially since I love a turn on and go detector like the 540. 

23 hours ago, Digalicious said:

Hi Chuck.

I owned a 540, but quickly grew out of it and got a Legend.

Yes, the Score models use Legend hardware, minus some features and settings. 

The Vanquish line uses the same technology as the Equinox line. The Score models, the Legend, the 540, and the Nox, all have about the same depth.

Is it just the waterproofing you're after, or was there something else as well?

 

Appreciate the feedback, I'm also after some seperation and ground balance features although I can run my 540 wide open practically all the time, there have been some occasions where I believe ground balance would have helped 

I currently use the Vanquish 540, it's a great detector and I have found 94 silver coins over a 3yr period, I absolutely love its simplicity. I want a waterproof detector, I'm leaning Double Score because to me, it appears to be a Legend without functions that I would probably never use. I hunt mostly coins, my 540 goes deep, I'm concerned the Double Score might not match the 540 depth, am I wrong. Would the Double Score be a good upgrade?

On 12/30/2023 at 1:30 AM, gilgsn said:

Well, I just ordered the Double Score, saved 110 Euros, got a nice shovel... I figured performances will be similar, and less settings to contend with. Too bad for the ferrocheck. Metal detecting will not be my main hobby, and I have a few, so I don't really need to most feature rich machine.  The regular Score was out of the race for being too restricted...

My best wishes to you all for 2024 and lots of finds!

Gil.

I'm leaning Double score as well. I believe performance wise the Legend and Double score are similar. I currently own the Vanquish 540, it's a turn on and go, the Double Score has some nice features over my 540 without being overwhelming.

I haven't seen many reviews on the Equinox 700 but many on the 900. From what I see and hear most would recommend the 900 over the Legend but what about the 700, would you recommend that over the Legend as well. I'm wanting to upgrade from my Vanquish 540 and I'm leaning towards the 700, does it get the same depth/seperation as the 900. 

Do you think the 700 will outperform the 800. 

I currently use the Minelab Vanquish 540 pro pack, I really like it and have found many awesome finds with it. I been recently wanting to upgrade to the Equinox as I always thought there performance are top notch and I like there tones. But I always felt the Equinox quality issues were of concern, but now Minelab has just addressed all the quality issues we been asking them to do, plus a few other additions. With that said I'm excited to purchase either the 700 or 900. I have looked at the Legend but from what I see the Equinox is slightly better performance wise and I think the Equinox tones sound better. The Legend is built rock solid but it looks like the new Equinox will match the Legend in quality. 

On 12/23/2021 at 11:40 PM, mcjtom said:

With Deism vanquishing the airwaves, in other news: https://detecthistory.com/news/broken-vanquish-metal-detectors-what-vanquish-owners-should-consider/

I been using the Minelab Vanquish 540 for just about a year now. I haven't had one issue, I personally think the Vanquish is built pretty well. He must have been using the detector for w walking cane

On 2/7/2021 at 8:40 AM, nickeldNdimed said:

How do you like the Vanquish compared to the F22?  I still love to take my F22 out occasionally instead of my 600. Looking to try a Vanquish sometime. 

I really love my 540 Vanquish. I also really like the Fisher F22 but there is no contest, the 540 goes much deeper and I get great reading from my 540. If you buy the Vanquish you wont regret it. Also the 540 is very rugged, I have the pro pack and I really like the wireless headphones as well. 

On 2/7/2021 at 8:40 AM, nickeldNdimed said:

How do you like the Vanquish compared to the F22?  I still love to take my F22 out occasionally instead of my 600. Looking to try a Vanquish sometime. 

The Vanquish 540 goes much deeper with good reading. I'm finding silver coins with the 540. I'm able to run the Vanquish mist times on full sensitivity. I would highly recommended this detector to anyone 

14 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

That totally depends on what you are hunting for, how trashy the area is (especially iron trash) and what kind of climate and mineralization you deal with. 

For me and my hunting conditions (fairly dry climate and very mineralized dirt) if I could only afford one detector of the two you mentioned and I only wanted to hunt coin sized objects or bigger in moderately or less trashy areas, and I needed really accurate numerical and tone target IDs down to 10"+ deep, I would pick the Vanquish 540 Pro Pack. 

If I hunted in damp or rainy areas where waterproofing or at least weather proofing was important, I was mostly relic hunting in moderate to thick iron trash on old sites with moderate to mild mineralization, and I needed a threshold based all metal mode, faster recovery speed, better target separation and didn't care too much about accurate tone and numerical target IDs, I would pick the Simplex with wireless headphones.

Thanks Jeff for your opinion. I have a real concern with the tones on the Simplex, they are horrible in my opinion. 

On 2/2/2021 at 8:41 PM, Jeff McClendon said:

My hunt logs say I coin, jewelry and relic detected for 1,354 hours last year.....somehow metal detecting seemed to be a good activity during a pandemic and during the loss of two part-time jobs.

At least a thousand hours was with the Equinox 800. Most of the rest was with the XP Deus. A little was with the Garrett AT Gold and the new Vanquish models. I did try out the Simplex and sold it (not because I didn't like it, I just don't need it.) The same thing happened to my Nokta Makro Gold Kruzer and XP ORX.........I have a Nox, Deus and rock solid waterproof AT Gold. I don't need those other detectors.

On the PI front, my son and I together bought a Minelab SDC 2300 with his military discount. It got about 100 hours of use in the gold fields of Colorado which are not included in my 1,354 hours. We both liked the SDC 2300 somewhat, but did not like the unbalanced weight or the unstable threshold/over sensitivity to EMI. We both agreed to let it go. In late November a Whites dealer who had bought all of Whites-Oregon's test models (brands other than Whites) put a QED PL3 on Ebay. I made a deal with him and now have a basically brand new QED PL3 to play with for way less than half the price of a new one. Simon really helped me with some unbiased encouragement since he knows the QED and the SDC pretty well. More to come on the QED PL3.

Jeff, in your opinion which is best between the Minelab Vanquish 540 pro pack or Simplex. I dont hunt in the water. 

52 minutes ago, Joe D. said:

I'll take a small stab at that Chuck!

  But i only used the V12 the day i was out! (First trip to the beach with it)!

   Nothing really unexpected! It ran very much like the Nox on the beach; with the exception that the running tidal surf would make the coil sound off fairly often! Which i could probably have dropped the sensitivity down more, but opted not to, as it was running stable on the wet sand!

   Also, i would sometimes miss the lower volume iron tone, that was along with a good one-way higher tone blip, during the loud surf conditions that day!

   But so far, over all with one land hunt, and one beach hunt! It works as expected! Other than not waterproof, it's a good, and simple to use backup to my Nox! Which is down, due to my third coil replacement in progress!👍👍

   

Thanks Joe. 

On 10/13/2020 at 3:24 AM, Nuke em said:

I quite like the Vanquish . I have used my 540 4 times and found 2 Gold rings on the first search and a few Silver rings along with £60 in coinage. 

I bought the Nox 800 again and that seems to find things but the Gold is missing this year . 

On Friday i will take the 540 to the beach for the long tides and get on the sand . 

The only thing i have an issue with on the Vanquish is that when using it on the beach if there is Seaweed the Vanquish sounds off on it . Minelab needs to sort that one out . The Nox doesn't do it on my settings .

As for my moan about headphones in the past. I have found that if using the WM08 there is more chance of interference from EMI and phones cut out than if you use the phones on there own . 

I have also found a nice cheap alternative to the Minelab phones on Amazon , they are August EP650B . Not CB only B . They pair perfectly .

 

How did the minelab vanquish 540 perform on the beach. Did you get a chance to try the 8" coil, if so what are your thoughts. Thanks

I'm new to the hobby, started late in 2020 but I used the Fisher F22 then bought a Minelab Vanquish 540 pro pack 

On 1/16/2021 at 5:33 AM, palzynski said:

Hi ,

Concerning the balance, the Vanquish is front heavy with the V12 coil ( the V12 coil weights 440grams without coil cover ) .  I found a solution to this issue using the V10 which is an excellent coil , much lighter ( 360grams ) and almost as deep as the V12. Also I never use coil covers , this saves 60grams  this can help a little also ...  Front carbon shafts would also improve the balance 

Concerning the noisy audio, perhaps you could try your 540 inland in mild soil . Normally it should be quiet except on trashy sites,  if it is not the case may be there could be pb with the machine .. This would help to diag your pb anyway ... 

Hope that helps ... HH ...

How do you like the 10" coil, is it quieter and did you lose much depth 

The minelab vanquish is a great detector