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I open this topic for new users of the Garrett Apex and the Pro-Pointer, a.k.a. "Carrott". There might be something experienced operators might want to ask as well. I had originally planned on writing a huge intense review about Apex features and detail the operation of it, but I think it might be less boring and more productive if users asked me specific questions they have. I have owned the Apex now for 4 years and really enjoy using it. I'm not a water hunter, nor gold prospector... I hunt mostly coins, flat buttons, jewelry, and relics in the oldest locations I can find. If that interests you, I will be happy to share what I know about the Apex and land metal detecting in general. Yesterday (4/16), on a permission I have been hunting (more like beating to death) for 13 years now, the law of diminishing returns is starting to become evident. So I spent the day hunting in random directions over my colonial era crop field... hunting more slowly, hoping to find anything at all actually. So I relaxed a little and removed some pressure from myself by not competing with myself! I have found everything imaginable here from coins, buttons, and relics lost by the people who plowed these fields long ago... Right on through to items people are still losing today. Towards the end of day, expecting to go home empty-handed yet again, I hunted near a good-sized Hickory tree in the middle of the field which likely presented an obstacle to one of farmers long ago. It was probably left standing anyway because it was at the crest of a hill and possibly for its never ending crop of nuts. My target signal (only 8 feet inside the shade from the tree) sounded surface loud. The pitch bounced from "foil to pull-tab", back and forth. Walking around the target, I was able to somewhat isolate the "60-ish from the 40-ish" conductive ID, making it more stable and repeatable in the higher direction. A quick glance of the depth scale in the custom search mode I use showed 3 bars or only 6". I ran my iron technique in Pinpoint and proved the target not to be large iron at least. There were plenty of little iron "grunts" around the location though. OK I thought, one more out of context pull-tab or gnarly foil wad and I'll hit the road for home! Folding a plug back, the "Carrott" started to "Bugs Bunny" in the bottom of the hole... A little more dirt and it's out! I checked the hole depth with the embossed scale on the side of the pinpointer... 6" nearly on the mark. But no pull-tab or foil... It was an 1863 cupro-nickel Indian! Normally the "Fatty's" are oxidized into date oblivion, but this ground was kind. This penny still had some light green patina in the recesses. It must have been dropped not too long after circulation. It was in the same era of a rare campaign button I once found in the other end of this field. Not far from my dig, I got another signal that read "51". I was hoping for possibly a "Shield" nickel, only to be disappointed with a 1981 Jefferson at about the same depth as the Indian! 🙂 Hopefully this little (true) story will invite some questions about how I use and adjust the Apex and get us started!

Hi, I'm new here and I came here to find out if anybody is familiar with this scenario. I bought an Apex last year and I live in an area of New Mexico that is filled with iron, actually found a old 1940's iron which gave me a 92 reading. My concern is my machine does a lot of false readings. I've tried different settings, channels, frequencies, as it is really noisy while showing constant high readings in the range of 84-98, only to find nothing there. As well as additional iron tones on top of the readings. Everywhere I walk it's beeps high numbers, also seems to jump around fast in number display in a fanatic highs and lows. I've done a factory reset, which didn't help. I was reading about how some of models had faulty coil connections which would cause false such readings while swinging and it was a problem with the first 100 produced. I don't know if mine was one on those. Who knows, any advice would be helpful and thanks.

Can any one offer an opinion on the Garrett Ace Apex 6x11 DD coil? 5-20kHz

Just want to introduce myself as I am new to this site as well as metal detecting. My brother and I just purchased Garrett ACE Apex Metal Detector with 6x11" DD Multi-Flex Viper Searchcoil and have yet to use it. Can anyone tell me what mode I should set it to to locate gold?

Looks like I have to send my beloved Apex Demo unit to the factory. In the past couple of weeks, I've noticed really faint tones in the background but nothing shows on the screen. I thought maybe it was designed that way because the signal wasn't strong enough to show a reading so the tone was softer. The problem is, I don't remember it doing that before. Mary @ Customer Service spoke with one of the Techs who said it wasn't normal and to try a Factory Reset which I did when it first started doing it.

Having spent the better part of the last two decades writing up field tests on metal detectors, I have had the opportunity to use a lot of machines. Due to publishing deadlines, timing of receiving the unit, testing/learning the detector and a lot of behind-the-scenes tasks required to get a field test published, it is not the gravy train that a lot of folks think it is. Yes, it can be fun, but it is work. The toughest part on rare occasions was to not have the time to really flush out a new metal detector, especially when other articles and field tests were lining up. While I could get a sense of using the detector and describing its features in the context of a field test, there were times that I really wanted to have more time to get to know a detector. Well now that I am retired from writing up field tests due to Western and Eastern Treasures Magazine ceasing publication at the end of 2022, time has become available to revisit a detector or two. One such case is the Garrett Ace Apex, Garrett’s first multi-frequency detector that was introduced in 2020. I wrote the field test on the Apex for the November 2020 issue of Western and Eastern Treasures and after that was delivered the detector basically sat idle until about 2 months ago. With all the constant buzz about various new multi-frequency detectors, incessant “update” anxiety and the like, I found myself overloaded on the whole multi-frequency side of our hobby. That led me to recall the Apex. I remember that I liked it some, had good luck with it at the beach and decent but not overwhelming success with it inland. After digging the detector out of my garage I put it on the charger and decided to do a little Internet research to see how the Apex had gone over since its introduction. To my surprise, there were very few recent posts and videos. Digging a bit deeper I discovered that Garrett had issued an update on 11/30/2022 that offered several improvements: · Improved overall stability · Faster and more accurate ground balance in saltwater · More accurate pinpointing · More distinctive tones to better differentiate good targets from bad Just like with the Apex itself, this update garnered very little web/forum activity, again a bit of a surprise. I wondered why the Apex, Garrett’s first multi-frequency detector, seemed to have been forgotten, lost in the wake of the multi-frequency whirlwind that hit the industry over the past several years. That led me to this post. Basically, over the course of the last two months I decided to revisit the Apex to see just what it could, and could not do. I would like to make one thing clear before the post. This revisiting of the Apex is of my own doing. It was not requested by Garrett, nor do I, or have I ever, been consulted by them regarding developing or testing of their metal detectors. This post is very simply reflective of my desire to spend more time with the Apex than my field test allowed. For those of you who are interested I’ve attached a copy of my original field test for your reference. Comment if you wish, criticize at your own risk, and no matter what, dear God please don’t ask me what my settings are. Fair enough? Now, let’s revisit the Apex. The Apex Itself What I had forgotten about the Apex is how much I liked its “landscape orientation” control box. Since the industry has gone all in on the pod design common to just about every new detector release, the Garrett approach is one that I find refreshing. The display is nicely arranged, the menus make sense and aren’t buried, and the thumb wheel of control buttons beats any pod set of pushbuttons by a mile. The detector is also very easy to swing and well balanced. The Viper coil is one that I prefer due to it’s blade like configuration. While I have used the larger Reaper coil which does give greater coverage, I do not think you lose much with the Viper. Plus it is lighter. Setup to Detect Given the fact that the Apex is part of the Ace line, there are minimal adjustments compared to higher end detectors. You basically turn on the detector, select a search mode, adjust sensitivity and go. What impressed me about this second tour of the Apex is that this lack of adjustability did not affect performance in my hunting environments at all. Not to mention it made my hunts more enjoyable. Features News flash: the Apex DOES NOT HAVE A BOTTLE CAP REJECT SETTING. NOR DOES IT HAVE AN IRON MASK SETTING. How on earth can you hunt with such a primitive detector? It’s easy thanks to Garrett’s Iron Audio feature. Yes, when you have it on all the time the iron grunting will drive you crazy. SO JUST USE IT SELECTIVELY. On the saltwater beaches, this feature was terrific at identifying suspect signals. When I got jumpy numbers, or overly high numbers, all I had to do was turn on the Iron Audio. If it was iron or a bottlecap it grunted every time. The only time it would get fooled was on those tiny screw caps that you find on airline liquor bottles. The Apex was also the only metal detector that I have ever used that was not fooled by the most insidious of all bottlecaps: the dreaded foil-wrapped cap. They read good on every machine I have used except the Apex. When you hit one with the Apex you will get a high slightly bouncy number and when you tun the Iron Audio on it grunts. I also used this feature in the parks and it worked equally well. I’d also like to comment on target ID on the Apex. I love the old school bars across the top, they are a handy reference. And the Apex’s 1 0 – 99 scale is pretty solid as opposed to other multi’s that I have used where the expanded TID scales result in jumpy numbers. It’s not perfect but I could get pretty consistent numbers with multiple swings over targets. The Beach The Apex is flat out a great saltwater beach detector. This second tour with it confirmed just that. In my last four hunts I found gold three times using the Viper coil which excellent on small gold. A thin 10K ring that read a solid 44. A small gold earring that gave a good tone but had weird, jumpy numbers, from 40 – 55. I almost didn’t dig it but the sound was, well weird. It was different than jumpy bottlecap numbers. I checked it with Iron Audio and got a partial grunt but also good tone. The reason? When I recovered the earring the clasp was open. Closed it read a solid 55. I had two buddies with their high-end detectors check the earring with the clasp open and both said they would not have dug it because it sounded like junk. And finally, last week a 14K butterfly charm with inlaid diamonds that read 48. All in the wet sand with one bar below max sensitivity. The Apex falsed very little on the wet sand and when it did get a little noisy all I had to do was a quick ground balance. In terms of coins, the Apex did just fine on both wet and dry sand. A mentioned earlier, I liked the Viper coil better than the Reaper at the beach and I think my results speak for themselves. I should note that on these hunts there were up to eight other hunters gridding the same sections of the beach that I was hunting. Every one of them was using a high dollar, top end multi-frequency detector. I did not feel like I was losing anything with my Apex. Now, if you are a surf wash hunter, the Apex is not for you. Yes, it does ground balance easily when submerged in salt water. But the wash will cause it to false with each pass of the whitewater. Personally, since the Apex is not waterproof, only water-resistant, I would not hunt the surf line anyway. Having been hit by a rogue wave years ago I’m not willing to take the risk. If you do hunt the surf and in the water there are better options in terms of detectors. Inland Whatever they did with the update, the general hunting experience of the Apex has been improved in my view. I ran U.S. Coins, which is a nifty option in that it includes all high conductors plus nickels (a range where I have been historically very lucky finding gold). In my hunts in very trashy parks this mode worked great. Some tabs read at the low end of zincs, around 66, and I was able to recognize them after digging several. The Apex target ID numbers are very solid and not jumpy, which given the 0 – 99 TID range is an advantage. While not having a myriad of adjustable settings, the Apex performed pretty well in the high trash. Yes, when you use Jewelry Mode the foil comes to life but that is the case with any detector. I generally don’t hunt in this mode in trash because there is just too much noise to sort through. Using U.S. Coins I was able to hit coin targets easily, even when there were multiple targets. The Iron Audio is a huge advantage when used to check targets. If I got a good hit but it was a bit clipped, turning the Iron Audio on would confirm for me that there was iron present as well. The YouTube idiots who dismissed this detector when it came out because of the noisy Iron Audio just didn’t understand that you shouldn’t leave it on all of the time. Bottlecaps were a cinch to ID. When I got a good high target ID and a solid one-way target response it was always a bottlecap. I checked first with the Iron Audio and confirmed that the target was iron. This worked on everything except screw caps. The other advantage that the Apex has in high trash is the Viper coil. Due to its long, narrow footprint, it can sort out and pinpoint multiple targets easily, much more so than a traditional round coil. By the way, I didn’t notice anything new about the pinpointing. It works just fine but I didn’t have an issue with it when I field tested the detector. I’m just noticing the page length here and need to restrict my field tester instincts before this becomes a full-blown article. Therefore I will sum up this revisiting of the Apex by saying that in my personal view, it is a very cable multi-frequency metal detector that has not received its due. It finds stuff and uses a platform that is markedly different from its competitors. It is a very enjoyable metal detector to use. I sincerely hope that Garrett continues to develop Multi-Flex and I believe that if enhanced in a higher end model it could be a completely unique offering in the world of multi-frequency metal detecting. FYI I intend to keep using mine. Apex Field Test 11202020.pdf

Personally I have had a lot of issues with the Apex . Faulty coil , instable electronics , coil connector very difficult to connect/disconnect . Perhaps because it was one of the first released units and perhaps these pbs have been fixed now , I hope so .. If other forum members know about such fixes I would be interested because there is no communication from Garrett about this .. Nothing

Garrett is starting to release videos showing the Apex and it's features, I always found these sorts of videos very helpful when I was learning my Ace detector when I was new to detecting so I figured I'd drop them here to help people find them that may in the future need them. I think Garrett's done a good job with the Apex, it's often forgotten it's a beginners detector and Garrett certainly doesn't try say otherwise in their videos, very honest, if anything I think they under-rate it. I'm sure if I owned an Apex I'd do very well with it in my detecting spots, after all a majority of my coins finds I could have made with my Ace 300, and many of them have been. I guess not too long ago a detector with this pedigree and features would be considered much more than a beginners detector. I still think the Apex is one of the best looking detectors on the market, love the big screen and design. I hope their AT Series replacement follows along looking like the Apex.

A friend of mine has been struggling with finding anything much with his detector. I offered to sell it for him on Ebay. Since I have had it for a few days and my messed up ankle can at least let me stand on it..... I decided to do a little US nickel/US quarter target ID accuracy test video featuring the XP Orx, Garrett Apex and Nokta Legend. It is only 3 minutes long or so. Nothing earth shattering or unexpected in this video from these three detectors that have very similar prices. A surface US nickel, a 4" deep US nickel and a 6" deep US nickel are detected for accuracy and signs of up and down averaging in high iron mineralized dirt. Same for a surface US clad quarter and a 6" deep US quarter. See if you can guess which detector is driving my friend crazy enough to just stop detecting for good.......

I did this 1.28.1 update (dating from Nov2021) a few days ago and decided to test it in a ( cut ) corn field where I have already been with my Deus HF several times . This field is irons infested then it is an excellent testing area for MDs ... I hoped that with this update Garrett had solved a few issues that I still have with my Apex, especially the lack of stability in the irons with false signals and erratic beeps between targets . I was wrong ... Long story short I did not see any changes with this new update , I still have these very annoying erratic beeps between good targets . Yes I found targets with the Apex , but the Deus is far easier to use and is much more stable between targets in this field. I have been too optimistic with the Apex when I have tested it a few months ago. I dont like to be negative but there are definitely things still to be improved on this machine ,especially its audio . It is a pity because I like it , it is very light , excellent wireless headphones and CB ergonomy , very easy to use . I have a dream , Garrett and FT working together , integrating the T2 ( or G2? ) electronics plus the SMF into an Apex control box ... That would be a top machine .. 🙂 🙂 btw I am wondering if anyone else has done and tested this Apex 1.28.1 update ... I would be interested by your feedbacks , thx

What would all of the Garrett Apex owners like to see included in the next Garrett Apex Update? I do not work for Garrett, and I cannot say that there will be another update anytime soon, but if there is one in the works, and many of the Garrett Apex users collectively comment, perhaps the powers to be at Garrett will consider the most popular requests and incorporate some of those into the next update. Here are a few items that would make the detector a whole lot more useful in the field. 1. Adjustable Recovery Speed - Maybe a three or five step adjustable Recovery Speed with the current Recovery Speed being in the middle of the range. It would allow the machine to be more selective in trashy spots without necessarily resorting to a smaller coil. The current VDI digits could be used to allow the Recovery Speed setting to be adjusted up or down and represented as r1, r2, r3, etc.. Assuming there are no hardware limitations preventing this, a simple addition to the menu loop could implement this feature. 2. A Mute Function - When trying to use a pin pointer (standard or Z-Lynk) on the target, getting rid of EMI induced beeping in the headphones would be a real blessing. Tap the PP button or another button to mute the detector, tap the same button again to restore sound from the detector. 3. Progressive length "Iron On" Sound - As the "Iron On" sound is presently designed, makes it nearly useless to hunt in a coins mode with the "Iron On" sound enabled. As the "Iron On" volume is turned down, make the length of the "Iron On" sound shorter in duration. Turned Up, it would lengthen. No menu item would be needed for this. 4. Enable the LED Backlight Briefly During Detection Mode Changes - Garrett added the LED Backlight "on" during menu changes in 1.28 and slightly earlier versions, but skipped over the detection mode changes. Knowing what mode you have selected while hunting at dusk or dawn would be helpful. 5.... If Apex users all suggest items and we can get the attention of Garrett, maybe Garrett will pick and choose the most popular from the list, and show their customers that they listen to suggestions from their users. Ultimately it will make the Apex an even better detector, and give them thought for future versions of the Apex in any form.

I recently picked up a Garrett Ace Apex with 3 coils for a very good price locally. This is the second one I have owned. I spent the last few weeks doing some indoor and outdoor tests as well as some park hunting to get reacquainted with it. I stated on the Garrett forum that I would give the Apex another chance and do some infield testing against the Equinox and Simplex and report back. I had a chance to spend about 5 hours at a relic site over the weekend and do just that. The site has had mixed usage since the late 1850’s and includes Military artifacts as well as more modern house site items. The site has been hammered over the last 6 decades and so I thought it would be the perfect test. Ground is 4-5 bars on the F75 and is for the most part loaded with iron except farther out where we will usually just find fired .58 cal bullets, shotgun and .22 brass. I started with the Apex 8.5 x 11 coil out where we usually just find bullets running MF, custom program where everything is accepted over 20 and sensitivity all the way up. My goal was to just see if I could find bullets, no comparisons were done. I quickly found out the sensitivity was too high as I got a lot of false signals and chased a few ghost signals. Once turned down 1 bar the Apex ran smooth. I managed to find 4 .58 cal bullets and a few .22 and shotgun brass. Deepest bullet was 6 inches and was a very jumpy signal. I’ve done a video in the past digging bullets with the Apex in this same area if you want to see it you can find it in the Garrett forum. It’s under 10 things I like and 5 I don’t like about the Apex. Unlike the Equinox in this same area, the Apex has a real hard time identifying deep large targets vs small .22 brass. The signals are jumpy in both regards and hard to determine depth. Next I moved to an area close by that has produced quite a few buttons and dropped bullets in the past. The area is very trashy in places with glass shards and square nails. I used the Equinox 800 with the 11” coil running Park 1, 50 tones, iron bias F2 0, recovery 4, Multi and sensitivity 22. The Equinox 600 can be setup exactly the same way. I proceeded to mark 8 targets that came in at as low as 1 up to the highest being 15 on the Equinox. All of these targets were located in the trashy areas. The Simplex 11” coil Park 2 was able to see all but 2 targets, one being a small pewter button about 3 inches deep the other being a fired percussion cap also about 3 inches deep. The Apex 8.5 x 11 coil unfortunately was only able to see 2 targets. The first being a large pewter button maybe and 1 inch deep the other being a fired percussion cap on the surface. A small Navy cuff button laying on the surface (that only read 1 on the Equinox) was surprising invisible to the Apex. Granted there were a lot of iron signals around it. Last area, the house site. This time I started with the Simplex 11” coil running park 2. Now I know what some of you are going to say. Why use the larger coils in trashy sites? I wanted to see what the stock coils would do, I consider the 8.5 x 11 the stock coil for the Garrett machines. Yes I may have gotten better results with the Apex using a smaller coil. Anyway, I located and marked 4 targets with the Simplex. The Equinox was able to see all 4 but did struggle with one, all explain in a minute. The Apex was able to see 3 out of the 4, but was totally blind to the one the Equinox struggled with. Target 1 was a modern penny about 1 inch deep and was not a problem for any of the detectors. Target 2 was a small piece of decorative brass about 2 inches deep which all the detectors saw. But the Apex numbers were all over the place where as the Equinox was a solid 14 and the Simplex a solid 44. Target 3 turned out to be a 1929 S wheat penny at 5 inches deep. The Simplex read 66-68 and could get the signal as I rotated all the way around it. The Equinox struggled, first direction I tried got nothing but iron grunts. But as I rotated around it, I started to get a choppy signal that would bounce up to about 17. The Apex got nothing but iron grunts no matter what I tried. Signal 4 turned out to be a 1946 dime at about 3 inches and was a good solid signal on all the detectors. I also located 2 old clay marbles while I was walking around the house site. In a relic hunting scenario, the Equinox and Simplex have a clear advantage over the Apex. The Apex likes round objects and does the best on them and has a fairly accurate ID. Odd shapes are not it’s strong point for sure. But for someone who only wants to dig coins, it could be great. I will also say that of the 3 the Apex was most comfortable to swing and I think I like the wireless headphones the best on the Apex. In the future I plan to take the same 3 machines to a ghost town and the beach to see how they stack up against each other. I will say that the more I use the Simplex the more I see just how great a value this machine is. For the money you can’t beat it.

First off I got the 9" as I like round coils to navigate in the woods better than the long Viper coil I had. I didn't want to get a coil too big or open where it becomes cumbersom. Tried a quick air test but emi is really bad in my house so only yielded 1/2" better depth on the Ultimate coil vs Viper but in the field away from EMI things are noticeably better. Separation seems a little less than the stock coil but overal stability is better with the Ultimate 9. Machine is quieter and pinpointing is better with the Ultimate 9 also. Did a quick run at local school field that buddy and I have hit over the years that has a can line in the 8-10 mark and tons of can slaw. I had hit this area a couple of times with the stock coil so went back and did a pass down the field and back. I was pretty impressed how nicely it picked out nickels we missed as well as the other clad. Cans themselves ran lower on id's down in the 70's with the zincolns instead of low-mid 80. Soil there is rich black dirt with ground balacance low to mid 90's Most the coins were in the 6-8" range and I had no question what they were before digging. So is the coil worth the $170 price tag? Depends how much you love your Apex but consider the Ripper too if your looking for another coil. I will be keeping this coil on for a long time.

First. The title of this topic has been changed to APEX vs Equinox. That was not my title and I don’t agree with it. I did not start this topic as one versus the other. These two detectors are not equal in technology or price. I just wanted to show what they can do on the same test. If you want to make it a versus comparison that is your choice. I performed these Monte's (outstanding member of this forum) nail board tests using the Garrett ACE APEX with the stock Viper coil and the Equinox 800 using its 6" coil so at least coil widths are similar. I do not have any other APEX coils to test presently. If the Mercury dime is heard during both left and right swings that equals 2 points. If it is only heard in one swing direction that equals 1 point. If it is not heard, that equals 0 points. A perfect score is 16 points. I did not make these videos in order to make one detector look bad and another look good, etc. I think they both performed at about their respective price points. By the way, my Deus in Pitch mode with the 9" HF coil consistently scores 15 on this test with a USA Indian Head penny, Mercury dime and Half dime. The APEX and Equinox scores in these videos are also consistent with my off camera testing on those coins. I made them to show first of all that relic hunting/coin shooting in iron trash should not be done in any of the APEX preset modes other than Zero. However, in my soil conditions, using Zero adds too much ground noise to the audio even with a good ground balance. I use a Custom mode very similar to Monte's suggestions with discrimination set from +20 to +99. This allows silver and copper coins to be detected audibly. At least with the circa late 1800s square nails I am using, the iron plus Mercury dime VDIs sometimes end up in the low to mid 30s. Garrett's preset Relic mode starts at +35 and Jewelry starts at +40. Using either mode may unintentionally silence non-ferrous targets in thick iron trash. Also, the Viper coil has to be exquisitely swung at just the right coil height during this video in order to get the best results. That coil height is different for each of the four swing directions. I struggled to get it right while holding my camera.........but the results are consistent with off camera testing for my/Monte's Custom mode and the default Jewelry mode. There is a bit of EMI and the APEX does have a bit of iron falsing on some of the nail heads. This APEX has the latest 1.28.1 software update installed. I also made them to dispel opinions or rumors that the Equinox 600 and 800 are not very good in iron trash. Personally, they do well for me........as well as a Deus, of course not. Better than any simultaneous multi frequency detector on the market today........if set up optimally, yes. I used Park 2 with a similar amount of the iron range accepted compared to the APEX Custom mode and Field 2 with the entire iron range rejected similar to the APEX Jewelry mode. The Equinox down averaged the Mercury dime also due to all of the iron targets. However, those VDIs stayed well within the mid conductor non-ferrous area. The Equinox also had some iron falsing on some of the nail heads. Thanks for watching. Turn up your volume. Sorry about my very poor video skills. Both videos are around 5 minutes each in length.. ACE APEX EQUINOX 800

Wasn't long ago Nel and Cors were making coils for the Apex. Now they seem to be non existent. Have they been pulled from the market?

As I have up to now mainly been using the Ripper coil , I decided this time to test the stock Viper coil. I went to a path in a wood near a small town. As usual , such paths are infested by irons of all sizes and this one was not an exception ... The soil is moderatly mineralized there. I immediately noticed a very similar behaviour between the Viper and the Ripper, short and reactive signals on targets with an excellent iron filtering. Just the Viper has a more important coverage than the Ripper , however the Viper is a little heavier and it is more difficult to center the targets with it , a poinpointer is often required ,hopefully I had my ML Profind 35 with me ... As usual the Apex was very easy to use despite the difficult conditions , even with this bigger Viper coil. The Apex is almost silent on the ferrous and only beeps on good targets , this is quite impressive ... At the beginning I found quite a lot of targets but only trash . However at the end of the outing I heard a signal on the left side of the path , not very clear so I switched to Iron Audio that gave me a mix of iron and good stuff . So I decided to dig and was quite surprised to see a nice silver coin , a 1937 2 Mark probably lost by a WW2 German soldier... Never found such a coin ... Thanks Mr Garrett ... 🙂 Now I have 15 hours with the Ripper + 2 hours with the Viper and I confirm that the Apex is a very good machine , excellent on small and bigger targets . It just requires a few hours( around 10 hours ) to get used to its audio and settings . Once done it is very fun to use , not the deepest one with the Viper but frighteningly efficient in the field especially in the iron trash .. 🙂 My settings : RELICS factory mode , MF freq , SENS 7 , GB 83 At home after a little cleaning : And the trash ...

Here is the settings I use on the Apex in high trash areas. I keep iron audio set to 1-2 and note the first notch is accepted. This helps quite a bit on bottle caps. Targets in the nickel range and gold range if you come across square tabs their numbers are usually bit jumpier. Don't be affaid to drop the sensitivity down more if needed. For areas with lots of rusty sheet metal pieces, old tinned cans it is best to use zero mode as disc modes will trim out good targets. This is the same on the AT series machines.

Shipped my Orx back and settled on the Apex with viper coil and ws-3 headphones. Did the update and did a quickie depth test at 2 clicks down from max due to a bunch of emi where I test. Overall depth is similar to the Orx and the Tejon with a 8x9 concentric. Hit a park for about an hour to give it a try and the audio reminds me of something halfway between the AT Pro and the Ace series. Very abrubt clear signals. Going to take me a while to get used to it as I am so used to vco tone hunting. Machine would false a bit from the ground (phase in the low 90's) so 2 clicks down fixed that. Hunted mostly in zero mode with iron audio on and only picked up 2 bottle caps, rest of the iron I could hear clearly which is a huge difference from the Orx. ID's were very stable on targets, maybe a shift of 1-2 but would focus well when short sweeps over the target was used. Junk like aluminum would have jumpier numbers. Now if Garret makes a nice carbon lower and mid shaft the machine will feel much lighter. Has that beefy s shaft they use on the other machines. Last thing, MS-3's are nice but wouldn't mind if they came out with a light pair of wireless headphones. MS-3's will be on the hot side this summer. Didn't bother posting my handful of clad, think you guys seen enough of that already 🙂

https://garrett.com/accessories/search-coils-covers

I went today to one of my favourite testing areas , a very old site in a forest , low mineralized soil but infested with thousands of nails. It is my first outing there with the Apex . I decided to use the Ripper (5X8)coil instead of the Viper ( 6X11 ) because of its smaller size which means better separation , and also because it is lighter than the Viper ( 330g instead of 400g ). Up to now I had only done a few short outings with the Apex in less difficult areas , so I have some experience of the machine and its settings . I already know that it works very well in iron trashed areas , but I am wondering if it will do the job in todays "extreme" outing ... Ok lets start the detector . First thing the Apex is very stable , almost silent on the nail bed. There is no noise at all compared for example with the ML multifreqs like the Equinox or the Vanquish , which is a very good thing. My settings : Jewellery mode , freq MF , sens MAX. Apex soft. version : 1.28 I found my first coin only after 5 minutes . Very good news because it is difficult to find new targets here. The Ripper coil has the perfect size for hunting (very) small roman coins . It is also very easy to center the targets with that coil , no pinpointer required. The MS3 wireless headphones are excellent and very reliable , it is a pleasure to use them. An important thing , in case of a doubtful signal I always press the Iron Audio button to have more audio info. This "Iron Audio" is just equivalent to the Equinox and Vanquish AM ( all metal ) function. I dont know why Garrett did not simply call this button AM instead of "Iron Audio" ... The signals on targets are sharp and clean , may be a little too sharp , I would have preferred a little "softer" audio , but it works very well and this is the most important Long story short , I found a total of 6 coins during 1 hour , which is a very good result.🙂 I am not sure that I would have found more coins with my Deus HF which is a reference in iron trashed areas. So I confirm that the Apex is a very good detector in iron trash. It outperforms the ML multifreqs in iron trash to my opinion. It is very good on tiny targets as it can be seen on the pics below. Compared to the XPs the Apex is probably quite close to the Deus in terms of separation , but the Deus has the edge concerning its weight ( 800g for the Deus instead of 1100g for the Apex/ripper ). On the other hand the Apex is probably much better than the Deus at the beach, and could be a good choice for users looking for a detector performing very well on both inland and beach hunting ... So conclusion of this test the Apex is a very good detector , both easy to use and very efficient in the field , especially with the excellent Ripper coil ... GARRETT APEX + RIPPER COIL -- PLUS AND CONS : THE PROS : . excellent on iron trashed areas . very good audio / excellent iron filtering . sensitive to tiny targets as well as bigger ones ( multifrequency ) . fast and reactive/accurate on targets . a light detector , weighting only 2.4lbs (1,1kg ) with the Ripper coil . the thin control box . the lithium/ion battery . easy to use even by beginners . the excellent MS3 wireless headphones THE CONS : . VDIs a little unstable . the rod outdated compared to other brands . the coil cable too short for tall persons ( above 6 feet/ 1,85m ) . no dedicated backlight button . the running freq info ( 5k,10k ... , MF..) NOT displayed on the main detection screen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few pics of todays outing below ... 1) First coin with the Apex/Ripper : 2) A bigger one ... : 3) Total 6 coins : 4) Back home , after cleaning , a nice roman coin : Constantinus , AD 360 , 1660 years old ! : legend : CONSTANTINUS PF AUG reverse legend : GLORIA EXERCITUS 5) The Viper 6X11 and the Ripper 5X8 :

This release brings your Apex up to date with all improvements made since its introduction. Some of these enhancements include: Improved overall stability Faster and more accurate ground balance in saltwater More accurate pinpointing More distinctive tones to better differentiate good targets from iron Backlight powers on temporarily while making Menu changes https://garrett.com/apex-update-instructions

I figured I needed a smaller coil for the Apex, so ordered and it just showed up. Ground is thawing so should be able to use very soon. I like this detector and this coil makes it a real featherweight. 2 lbs 7.7 oz or 2.48 lbs with scuff cover. I like small coils and this is a sweetie, well made, and nice to buy a coil and a cover for reasonable price for once, $119 plus $10 for scuff cover. Garrett part# 2223800 Garrett 5" x 8" Ripper coil for Ace Apex Ace Apex with Ripper coil

Jan 25, 2021 NQExplorers - In this video we explore the advanced features of the Garrett Apex metal detector in more depth and give some insights into how the machine works and ways you can use these features to maximise your success. Thanks for watching! Warren and Colleen.

I know. But with three inches of ice on the ground and a request so be it. Zero mode at max depth. I'm now the "Big Pimp" of the Relic Fields. Oh my!

How would you rate it's performance for the places and way you like to hunt so far at a scale of 0-10 ? 10 being the highest.