mcjtom

So in other words, would it be correct to say that the recovery speed on the 340 in its All Metal mode feels more similar to the Jewelry setting than to the slower recovery used in the Relic mode on the 540?

Here is a famous thread on the topic:

Has anybody used the Golden Mask brand metal detectors? I believe the company is from Bulgaria. https://www.goldenmaskdetectors.com/

A request for Vanquish 340 users (as I have no access to it now, but was asked this question): The recovery speed is baked into modes in all Vanquish models. In the 440 model, the recovery speed is fast in Coins Mode, slower in Jewelry Mode, and the slowest in the Relic mode. In the 340 model, the recovery speeds seem to be the same as in the 440 for Coins (fast) and Jewelry (medium) modes. What is the recovery speed in the 340's All Metal mode? Thanks!

Would varying the recovery speed affect this phenomenon?

Could you describe the 'double ring' of iron at depth (as opposed to nonferrous single ring as iron at depth)? Near-surface ferrous targets could double (or triple) ring for different reasons - does it sound different than the 'double ferrous ring' at depth? p.s. A question probably for @Geotech: does it make sense to explain the 'double ring' of iron target at depth as: 1) the Tx magnetic field magnetizing the ferromagnetic target by induction and the target returning the signal immediately, in phase, 2) the same alternating Tx field inducing eddy currents in the target which in turn produce Rx magnetic field, but this time the return is delayed. The delay between the two returns changes the way how a target sounds? I don't know how it sounds on the Equinox (and possibly on Vanquish by association), but I tried to imagine why deep iron should 'double beep' but deep nonferrous could show like iron but not 'double beep'...

This leads me to, what I think, is a fair question: while I understand that the ability to swing and interpret the detector's signals is not all there is to finding things, it seems like a skill that people hone for years and cherish. Has a target-detecting competition ever been attempted where the detectors are standardized (and, importantly, simplified, so the ability to optimise detectors matters little) so that only the skill matters? Say, everybody gets the Vanquish 340 and let the best one win 🙂 How differently would people do?

The friend's wife got the Vanquish 340, which was probably a good idea. The controls are superbly simple, understandable, and usable. I was afraid that the adjustments could be too crude, but that's the beauty of it. It's like with good cameras - the fewer the buttons the better (up to a point... :-). a The tone breaks and modes' notching are in reasonable places. There is All Metal Mode - reporting all targets and letting you investigate them. There is the same awesomely stable ID system as in more expensive detectors with the same technology. It behaves well enough in moderately bad grounds and on ocean beaches Modes have been assigned reasonable recovery speeds for their purposes - the Coins mode is pretty fast (not sure about the recovery in All Metals Mode - either the same as in Jewellery Mode (medium) or slower). And all that with nearly no need for fiddling with settings (and thinking about what else can you do to make it detect better) - just go detecting. 3 Modes + Sensitivity - one of them should work out... And, on top of it, it can identify and find things quite well.

I thought that the basemap images were the same on both versions. Maybe it's the US coverage only?

https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0hnvrn4/england-s-largest-gold-nugget-discovered

Would anybody know if on Vanquish 340 in the 'All Metal' mode, the baked-in recovery speed is the same as either in Coins Mode (fast speed) or in Jewellery Mode (medium speed), or perhaps it uses a slower recovery speed (just like the Relic mode in the 440 and 540 models)?

You beat me to it...! I was thinking about something similar but with specific info/references to laws by members living or knowing about regulations/consequences or detecting/finding things in their countries.

That's a bit of absurdity - the guy was arrested for using a metal detector! (as opposed to actually digging out anything, let alone damaging an archaeological site). I didn't know it was even possible. Would it be useful to have a section somewhere (perhaps something like a Google Sheet or a Doc where members could keep adding info and links to confirmed and current legal requirements/changes for different places in different countries?

I wonder, what do laws in e.g. Poland actually say? Can one detect anywhere public? Are beaches off limits? Can one detect at all, as opposed to finding something of historical value that needs to be, idk, registered/returned? Is there a 'finders share' law in place? What happens if say, unlikely, a gold nugget is found on e.g. public land (or some other land)? Where to look for clarification on this?

Could somebody point me out to a source of soil type maps that could be useful in getting a feel for the soil mineralisation useful in metal detecting? I realise that the relevant conditions may be localised and there are plenty of geological maps available, but I'm not sure what to look for. p.s. Another question are soil conditions in forests. Is there anything special about them metal-detecting wise?

He mentions that his 'invisible enemy' ceramic piece contains some iron, but it wouldn't be detectable as a target. But what is it and how does it mask the target in the ground already mineralized with magnetite?

Did anybody shed some light on it, out of curiosity?

Why reducing the recovery speed may be helpful in wet sand?

I know it's been some years ago, but just want to report that all three links seem broken. I was able to find Carl's eye-opening article here: https://bodhi3.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/coils.pdf

An ignorant question: for small gold nuggets, is their value strictly the value of the gold they contain or do they carry some premium for being a natural nugget or having a rare shape/composition or perhaps something else?

How did the conditions differ?

There are several discussions on the Vanquish on this forum: https://www.detectorprospector.com/search/?&q=Vanquish 540&search_and_or=and&sortby=relevancy The 'glitch' is a bit of a misnomer and it affects all Vanquish detectors. It has to do with a low ferrous signal (ID -9 to maybe -4) in certain soils and certain situations which are not caused by targets. There is an easy work around if that happens (except for the 340 model in which notching is coupled with the modes) by notching out one or two of the lowest discrimination notches, as shown in the VDO below. You won't be able to use the horseshoe button in this case as it uses no discrimination, but you can save a discrimination pattern (along with the Mode) with all segments accepted except the lowest one or two notches in the Custom mode and use that as a horseshoe. The modes differ mostly by the recovery speed and the default notching. The horseshoe button merely turns all the notches on using the mode you're in - the recovery speed, which is baked into each mode, doesn't change. I think that the Vanquish are excellent and fun detectors that should work fine in all but the most difficult grounds. There are several Vanquish users on this forum that use and appreciate the Vanquish series who are way more experienced than I am and may be able to comment some more (or correct me).

About two years ago I bought a Chinese Mental Detector for some $40 thinking they are all the same. Kind members of this forum quickly set me straight and I got Vanquish 440. By no means I'm experienced or even succesful, but I have a technical background and the interest and the time to read about metal detecting, ask questions, experiment with settings, and be happy swinging. And I think by now I know enough to appreciate the complexities involved in metal detecting. Now the problem: I've been asked, obviously being an expert :⁠-⁠), by a friend as to what fun detector to buy for his wife so that she could look for things mostly around their summer house in a forest in Europe (and maybe later elsewhere, like on a beach). To my eye the ground there is mild, but I don't really know. She probably doesn't want to look for anything in particular, just explore what may be under ground. The detector should be sufficiently easy to use so that she doesn't get discouraged at first and not super expensive as he is not sure if his wife would like the new hobby. The question I got was if the Xterra Pro was the right choice. He also looked at the Simplex Ultra. My answer was that the Vanquish 340 or 440 may not look as modern, but she may have a better luck with it as it may be simpler to set and more stable to operate and read. Am I wrong? Is there something else that I should have said?

Where would one start looking for information on past or potential gold deposits but in countries other than the US, for example in Thailand or elsewhere in SE Asia?

Perhaps sub-plots showing weird stories on how the finds actually got there in the first place could add some excitement to the game and broaden the scope?