Tahts-a-dats-ago

Great insight. For me, one of the most important factors when it comes to choosing a detector is the fun factor. The Apex has it in spades.

I like the Apex quite a lot. Very good build quality. Easy to swing. Great headphones. Decent performance (better than I had expected) and I can spend a minute or two showing someone (who has never used a metal detector) the settings and they don't feel like they're tasked with programming the space shuttle. They just hunt and have fun. That is where Garrett nailed the Apex (as far as I am concerned) - it is fun. That is a factor that is difficult to quantify, but knowing what I know about the Apex, I'd buy one in a heartbeat if I didn't already own one.

More than fair in my opinion. As someone who was a longtime lurker prior to becoming a member, I can say that such rules would not have bothered me in the slightest. I look at this forum as an opportunity to learn more about a hobby that I very much enjoy, and (on occasion) share my thoughts when I think they might possibly prove helpful to someone.

While I think the talk of the Xterra Pro killing the Simplex is decidedly premature, I must admit that the videos of the Xterra's beach performance is intriguing. For me the $269 price is a bit misleading though, as that is the price without wireless headphones or the smaller coil. Add those two items to the list and the price is somewhere around the $500 range. That puts the Xterra (price wise) in proximity to the Legend, the Equinox 600 and the Equinox 700. At that price (for me) the other options are far more promising. Of course, that isn't counting the bonus of using Equinox coils on the Xterra - a strong selling point for those of us who own an Equinox and extra coils. For me (Equinox 800 owner) that still requires the additional expense of the headphones - so the cost (of the Xterra) would be somewhere in the $400 range. Again - a price point that favors the Legend and/or the Equinox 600 (for me, anyway). All that and we still don't know the details of the new Simplex models. IF - that's a big IF - Nokta put a beach mode (from the Legend) on the mid-range and the Ultra version of their new Simplex models and marketed those models as having SMF capabilities in the beach mode... all while allowing the user to select (in the other modes) a frequency (say 5, 15, 20 are the choices) ... The Simplex Lite - a single frequency turn on and go machine. No headphones, no complexity at all. Just a simple, easy to use machine. Price point around $175 - $200 and I'd buy one just as a loaner machine. The Simplex BT - No headphones, but you can add whatever BT headphones you'd like. A few more tuning options, but not as many as the Ultra. Price point around $270 and the Xterra Pro faces stiff competition. The Simplex Ultra - package it with wireless headphones and another (smaller coil). More modes, more tuning options, and a price point of $400. I would buy that machine, but if the price was higher than $400, I would find the Legend to be a better deal (I own a Legend). Personally, I would be very surprised if the new Simplex machines aren't very competitive (price wise and performance wise) to the Xterra Pro. Nokta just has to sharpen the pencil - something they've been very good at thus far. The one thing I am absolutely sure about is - competition is a wonderful thing as far as we consumers are concerned.

Steve, I don't post very often, but I find your forum to be so informative that I'd gladly pay a membership fee should you decided to take that route.

Excellent news. Looking forward to the new update. Hope you have a great holiday Dilek.

Well done review. Very helpful.

What happened to your wife is horrible. I'm at a loss for words, but I feel great sorrow for what happened to the two of you.

The 11 inch coil. It did great. Better than I would have thought it would. I first went there with my ORX, but once I got there I could not get the ORX to pair with the headphones (don't know why it wouldn't work) so I went home and got the Legend. I had the 11 inch coil on the Legend because I had gone to the beach yesterday. I was annoyed with the ORX and didn't want to take the minute or so to change the coil on my Legend. I'll definitely go with the 6 inch coil the next time I go to that location. BTW - got home and tried the ORX again. The headphones paired right up. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be an ORX day?

I made it a point to pay attention to the ferro-check today. I went to what is probably my most difficult permission. This location has had human activity (not counting natives) dating back to the late 1600's. Over time there has been a glass house (glass slag all over the property), a blacksmith, a slaughterhouse, a timber mill, a feed mill, a junk yard, and a mechanic shop (he worked on boats and vehicles). The current owner (a friend) grew up on the property - his father had the mechanic shop and what was essentially a junk yard (scrap metal, vehicles, engines, etc..). That's the history that I am aware of. The soil is fairly mild (2-3 bars on the Deus mineral meter) but so chock full of bits and pieces of various metals that I don't bother trying to ground balance. The metal pieces run the gamut - square nails, iron bits, brass, copper, tin, aluminum, etc.. There is so much trash in the ground that I don't believe I've ever dug a target that didn't have some sort of metal trash in the hole. The area that I hunted today (maybe 15 X 30 feet) must have been a burn pile, or perhaps a building had burned down at some point in the past. Around 6 inches (give/take) down it is clear that everything was burned, and in sections there is a lot of what looks like lump charcoal (forget what it ID's at, but it gives a nice mid tone) 4+ inches below the surface. There is a heavy layer of fist-sized and smaller rocks ranging from 4-6 inches below the surface over most of that small area. I never try for depth on this permission, because all the metal trash makes depth an impossible thing. I dug every target that gave a good tone (even 1-way)(provided the target isn't large) as I always do at this location. But this time I paid attention to the ferro-check. I never had a signal that didn't show at least 1 bar in the ferro-check meter, but that's because there was some sort of [ferrous] metal trash in with the "good" targets. I say "good" because a number of those "good" targets were brass, copper, or aluminum. I did dig some targets that the ferro-check filled halfway or better - all were ferrous junk. They were, at best, very iffy tones to begin with. From what I saw today, the ferro-check is a pretty effective tool down to a depth of 5 inches or so. I didn't dig anything deeper so I can't really say just how deep the ferro-check can be effective. I continue to be impressed with the capabilities of the Legend. In spite of the claims made by some, it does very well in trashy sites. So why do I bother with a location that has that kind of metal trash? There's silver in there. Today's take, after about 3 hours of hunting, was 3 Wheats, 2 copper memorials, and a Merc. I also dug a small compact that dates from 1920 - 1925. The brass and copper items were donated to a friend who saves that stuff for recycling at the local scrapyard.

So far I really like 60 tones. I had assumed that 6 tones would be my choice (with tone breaks set where I prefer) but once I tried 60 tones I haven't changed back.

To my ears the Legend is one of the best machines I've used when it comes to telling crown caps from other targets. The crown caps (so far anyway) just sound terrible - even if they ID as a good target (coin). The newer Corona crown caps often ID somewhere around 49-50 and the ID tends to be steady, but the sound is really off (verses a coin). I usually forget all about looking at Ferro check, so I can't really say how well it works at identifying crown caps. Smashed screw caps (aluminum) are far more difficult (for me) to identify. The tone is close enough to a coin (usually 41-42 ID) that I can't tell for sure that the target isn't a coin. The size is close enough (to coin size) that while they often seem to be a tad too big (for a coin) I'm just not sure, so I dig them anyway. Park, M1, 60 tones with the low side at the lowest pitch and the high side at the highest pitch (my hearing picks up on the higher tones more readily). I did raise the iron volume with version 1.07 - I now run it at 3. Jeff's list of target ID's is pretty much dead on in my experience so far.

No problems loading 1.07 for me. I have not used version 1.07 in the field. Yet.

Hi Dilek, Thanks for all that you do. I think NM nailed it with the Legend. Great build quality, great performance, and a great price. My wish list consists of: Make it easier to discern which feature group is selected in the settings menu. Perhaps the selected grouping could be highlighted, or the square filled in with a light gray, so it is easily differentiated from the other boxes (selections). My eyes aren't what they used to be, and it is difficult for me to tell which box has been selected. Mineralization meter - displayed while ground balancing would be great. I like the idea of a VCO option (tones) as well. Mid-size (7" - 8") concentric coil. Wireless (bluetooth) lightweight (summer use) headphones or ear plugs. In the case of ear plugs, I'd prefer the kind that hangs over the ear. Coils that are already in development (9 inch and 5X9).

Yep. That method is far more effective in trashy spots. I think it is faster too. The problem I had was the size of the coil (11 inch). There were times where the multiple targets (under the coil) made it very difficult to discern exactly where the good target was. I have no doubt that the 6 inch coil will work very well in such situations.