Garrett Apex Testing Video #1

[Chase Goldman]

1 hour ago, jmaryt said:

i was wondering this same thing.the eq 800 sells for $899.00
you can get the apex for $400.00  less than half compared
to the minelab..makes perfect "marketing sense" to me, with such a large disparity
in price, i doubt the garrett will be the "sleeper" that matches the 800's performance over all.
doubt they will make a "ringer" for $400.00..just sayin'


(h.h.!)

j.t.

Better to compare the Apex ($425) to the Equinox 600 ($650). 

I put together a table here to better show the comparison of Apex to Simplex, Vanquish, and to the Equinox 600.  Even with that comparison the Apex is a pretty good deal.  However, your focus is on using it on trashed parks and the fact is that the Apex will have a fixed recovery speed and you get what you are going to get.  Garrett detectors seem to be just OK on recovery speed in general.  The 600 allows you to adjust recovery speed up and down to suit the site conditions.  So you can set it high for trashed parks and lower if you want to eek a little more depth for less trashy situations or split the difference.  No such adjustment on the Apex.  Apex is stuck at 5 tones vs. 2, 5, or 50 for the Equinox 600.  Finally, the Equinox has basically 6 different multifrequency modes whereas the Apex has only 2.  I think Apex will be pretty good for what it is and a good value even compared to Equinox, the big question mark is how will it actually perform in the real world, especially in trashy conditions with a fixed recovery speed.  On paper the Equinox 600 beats the Apex.  But is the 600 $225 better than the Apex.  Hopefully, we will find out soon.

[Jeff McClendon]

43 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Better to compare the Apex ($425) to the Equinox 600 ($650). 

I put together a table here to better show the comparison of Apex to Simplex, Vanquish, and to the Equinox 600.  Even with that comparison the Apex is a pretty good deal.  However, your focus is on using it on trashed parks and the fact is that the Apex will have a fixed recovery speed and you get what you are going to get.  Garrett detectors seem to be just OK on recovery speed in general.  The 600 allows you to adjust recovery speed up and down to suit the site conditions.  So you can set it high for trashed parks and lower if you want to eek a little more depth for less trashy situations or split the difference.  No such adjustment on the Apex.  Apex is stuck at 5 tones vs. 2, 5, or 50 for the Equinox 600.  Finally, the Equinox has basically 6 different multifrequency modes whereas the Apex has only 2.  I think Apex will be pretty good for what it is and a good value even compared to Equinox, the big question mark is how will it actually perform in the real world, especially in trashy conditions with a fixed recovery speed.  On paper the Equinox 600 beats the Apex.  But is the 600 $225 better than the Apex.  Hopefully, we will find out soon.

Metal detectors..............I have seen this scenario so often lately. A person that has used a certain model/ brand for years switches to an Equinox 800 thinking that magic will happen immediately. Probably not, unless they put in some major hours, turn off their "I like this and I hate that" part of their brain and just be patient and start out in easier detecting environments. They probably should have bought the Vanquish. For me, the beauty of the Vanquish models is that they just work really well right out of the box for basic detecting. Yep, they have been dumbed down quite a bit BUT, they work really well. The Simplex is a really good detector too on paper and I have seen them make some decent finds in the field. I personally was not impressed with the one I tried out here in admittedly bad mineralization. For a waterproof detector that works okay in salt water which I will only use occasionally as an inexpensive detector for general hunting, the Simplex does just fine as a backup or as a " I'm not sure about this hobby yet" detector.

Is the new APEX going to be something extraordinary or is it really still just a Garrett ACE with a big display, wireless, more modes and settings, multi and selectable frequencies, etc? Can anybody use it easily as in is it still going to be dumbed down like the Vanquish/Simplex/ACE type detectors that are just meant for the casual hunter who just wants to go out and have fun without spending a ton of money. Or, will it drive beginners and people who can't change crazy, and really perform like the ORX and the Nox 600 which can seriously hunt just as well as their more expensive brothers and sisters except for the lack of some features and settings?

?????

[jmaryt]

i agree! i know about the eq 600's additional features i guess you could say, i am hoping the garrett
does well in junked spots, because i really don't care for the minelab's build quality. i have never owned a garrett either,
but one can tell it has a more robust build quality, at least to me it does. hopefully, garrett has made it fast enough to 
satisfactorily "hunt the junk!"..guys who will pay hard money are the ones i will pay attention to when they get it, and report on
the performance.

(h.h.!)

j.t.

[Chase Goldman]

3 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Metal detectors..............I have seen this scenario so often lately. A person that has used a certain model/ brand for years switches to an Equinox 800 thinking that magic will happen immediately. Probably not, unless they put in some major hours, turn off their "I like this and I hate that" part of their brain and just be patient and start out in easier detecting environments. They probably should have bought the Vanquish.

I agree with you.  Right now my go to detector is the Deus but I have proven with some awesome finds that the Orx can hold its own.  And I will also pull the Equinox out as I see fit.  The differences in performance are really slim.  It comes down to feature preferences vice performance.  Things like weight, tone customizations, and ability to perform slightly better in hot dirt, thick iron, or salt water and subjective factors such as what detector "performed best" on the last hunt weigh in the decision of what detector gets pulled out of the truck on any given outing.  A detecting friend of mine who had been doing excellent research on some CW sites and who is pretty proficient with Equinox but has been coming up with slim pickings of late asked whether he should purchase and switch to the Deus, noting that I seemed to be preferentially hunting with the Deus instead of the Equinox and was having great success.  Other friends had made similar switches.  As much as I love the Deus, I told him flat out that he shouldn't bother.  If the targets are there, then the Equinox will find them.  The Deus wouldn't be creating a step change in success.

Similarly, unless the Apex is a recovery speed slug, I doubt it's performance will be significantly below that of the $200 more expensive 600.

BTW - I was only comparing the Apex to the 600 in response to j.t.'s comparison to the 800 (that's why I quoted j.t.).  As far as performance is concerned on paper the 600 appears to have an edge over Apex, Vanquish, and Simplex overall.  Looking at features on paper I give a slight nod to Apex over Vanquish and Simplex because Apex has both multiple single frequency options absent on Vanquish and simultaneous multifrequency absent on Simplex, but all three detectors are basically in the same ballpark.

[jmaryt]

for what it's worth, i am seriously hoping the apex performance matches,
or exceeds the 600's performance in the field, because if it does, then "all bets are off"
and the garrett will be the better detector,and the better value.

(h.h.!)

j.t.

[bigtim1973]

Man I was so excited that Garrett came out with a new unit in  a multi frequency option. I used to use Garrett machines often and have owned several different ones.

I got on youtube the other night and have noticed a few unboxing videos and first time out with an Apex video. SO I thought they were already on the market.

I was shocked to see that it is still on pre order this morning!! How is that?? I guess because maybe they have somewhat of a following that they are given special permission or privileges from the manufacturers of trying them out first.

However, I see a lot of b.s. over reacting sometimes in these videos that it makes me want to scream. Too much drama......finding silver halves in a hunted out lot......give me a break.

I am looking forward to guys comparing them to other machines in the field though. The Apex machine may be somewhat competitive to the equinox but it is not water proof.....Kind of a step up from a simplex in my opinion with the multi freq option.....but the simplex is still water proof and cheaper.

Anyways........there is a ton of videos on the Apex machine that has not even hit the scene for the public yet. At least when Makro Nokta discusses releasing a unit, they may mention a new unit but it is all kept hush hush until the release.

[Jeff McClendon]

Covid 19, continued field testing and some rumored software updates are holding up the public rollout. Since there has been no mention of user friendly, at home software/firmware update abilities for the APEX, Garrett needs to get the software as "right" as possible. Speed up the recovery speed some more too Garrett. The tones in the videos I've seen still sound fairly elongated to me.

 

[bigtim1973]

Did not know that they had something in the works!!

[Chase Goldman]

16 hours ago, phrunt said:

I'm bored waiting for the Apex to be released already, hopefully someone else comes out with something in the meantime and beats them to it, they've opened themselves up to that by announcing it and showing it off long before it comes to market...  Nokta have had theirs in the works for a long time now, they may just slip it out and shock us all.

Simon - 

I would not slog Garrett too harshly on this...

Apex announced in May probably released NLT September ~4 months during a Pandemic.

Equinox announced with much fanfare at Detectival (remember the skydiver?) in October and released late January ~ 4 months.  With all the Doctor Tones video hype during the wait.

Vanquish teased in May and did not show up for sale until mid-to-late November ~ 6 months after all those ridiculous teaser videos with targets popping out of the ground and detectors stuck in rocks like Excalibur.

Simplex announced later than Vanquish but released before Vanquish (still a 4 to 5 month period from announcement to release) [Nokta just gets it done]

I sure remember a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth associated with the wait for the Equinox.  A little more subdued impatience with the Vanquish delay.

Let's not talk about certain PI detectors and the Mars detector was announced in April and still not out yet...

So far, Apex pretty much seems par for the course.