Testing The Garrett Apex + Ripper 5x8 Coil In A Thick Iron Trashed Area

[palzynski]

Yes I noticed that the Apex stability is area dependant . Sometimes it is quiet and sometimes it is a little more tricky . Weird ...

On the other hand my Deus is very stable almost everywhere using the factory modes , this without changing any settings .  I hunt on moderately mineralized soils but often very trashy (irons ).

Perhaps that Garrett will improve this stability in a future update as it looks like they already did with the 1.28.1 May update. I say "it looks like" because when I installed this 1.28.1 version in May I was not experienced enough with the Apex to distinguish a stability difference vs the prev. version.

Again it is not dramatic, the Apex works very well for me and has a lot of interesting features that compensate for this little downside ...?

[kac]

Definately leaning towards emi as the cause of knock sensitivity and chattiness and knocking. Changing channels made a significant difference but not always possible. I had one spot I had to use single frequency to dodge the emi but that spot effects all my machines badly so wasn't out of the ordinary. Many places I can run it 2 bars own on sensitivity but some I drop down 3.

I figure the slight loss of depth won't make any difference if you can't here the target with the chatter anyways and working well on picking through the iron.

When I got mine the first thing I did was update it so I never ran it with the original firmware.

[Monte]

• If I may, let me add my thoughts about both the Garrett Apex and Garrett 'Ripper' coil.  I've had and used my first Apex since  they were first released.  It was  version 1.23 and I used it a fair amount with the Viper' standard coil.  Then I bought a 2nd Apex, which was version 1.25, shortly after once I heard they were coming out with the 'Ripper' and 'Raider' coils, both of which I quickly acquired.  Soon, after putting time in with the Apex, I invested in a 4th new Apex.  It was also version 1.25.

•  Of the search coils, I especially favored the 5X8 DD 'Ripper' coil as a 'general purpose' search coil.  Since acquired, except  when I sent my first Apex into Garrett to address a noisy behavior, the 'Ripper' coil has stayed mounted full-time.  I like th 'Raider' coil for the plowed fields that were near where I lived as well as the low-target, wide-open areas, of big grassy parks.  The 'Viper' coil was put in my Accessory Coil Tote should I want it in the future.  The 3rd Apex is still awaiting a smaller-size coil from Garrett.  Until then, I have had a NEL 5" DD coil attached.  In March, before my move to Texas, I made a trade with a dealer fiend and got a 4th Apex, and that one keeps the 'Viper' coil mounted and is assigned as my loaner-unit for family and friends. When the Apex update came out, I updated all four Apex devices to version 1.28.

• All four units have my 'Custom' settings saved.  That means they start-up in MF, Sensitivity maxed at '8' bars, Volume at '8' bars, Iron Volume at '2', and the Discrimination accepts everything from '20' on up.  Coin Hunting in town I can sometimes encounter EMI and I fist reduce the Sensitivity 1 or 2 bars, and when really bad I reduce it 3 bars to a setting of '5'.  But that doesn't happen often.  Only once have I used the Frequency Off-Set to help deal with noise.  The Apex works quite well in most applications, in-town or out.

•  Along with my 3 Apex/coil selection I also have a Nokta FORS CoRe and FORS Relic, an XP ORX, and my Tesoro Bandido II microMAX and Silver Sabre microMAX.  I spend the bulk of my detecting time hunting sites with an abundance of  Iron Nails and other ferrous debris, to include an assortment of sizes of rusty tin fragments or shards.  ANY detector that I own and use has to match or come close to my Tesoro's performance on my Nail Board Test, and the Tesoro's produce 8-out-of-8 possible hits.  I will only keep a detector and coil combo for Iron trash hunting that provide me at least 7-out-of-8 hits ..... and all of my units do.

• As for their Depth-of-Detection, that is based on a combination of the search coil size & type used as well as the particular detector circuitry.  I can vouch for the fact that the Apex devices with their assigned search coils get very decent depth.  Easily achieving all of the functional depth needed for the wide-range of sites I hunt, regardless of the ground mineral levels I encounter - - - - and most of the places I go have a higher-level iron mineralization read-out to deal with.

• Do I really like the Garrett Apex?  Yes, indeed, and Yes, I especially like the 'Ripper' DD coil for general-purpose, day-to-day hunting.  I like the 'simplicity' nd I like the easy of quick, on-the-fly adjustment functions it offers.  Is it 'perfect'?  No, and I don't believe there is such a thing as a 'prefect' detector, but the Apex is very 'functional' for most people and for most search applications, including hunting in tough Iron littered sites.

• That said, I do wish the Apex had:

 →→ Manual Ground Balance

→→ A variable Threshold control to go with

→→ A  traditional threshold-based All Metal mode

We just need to remember that the Apex is a mid-priced SMF detector so it's possible some of these desired functions and features will be found on an up-scale SMF model that Garrett might introduce in the future to complement the Apex.  The Apex is also rather forgiving on the search coil sweep speed, but I do try to work them and all my detectors at a more methodical sweep with ample search coil overlap.  I feel the Apex is a detector with a very good audio response that can be learned and appreciated if a user will hunt often enough to put in the time to learn of it's strengths and weaknesses.

Just my thought's,

Monte

[palzynski]

Now the fields are plowed over here ( North of France ) and one of my favorite testing area is available. It is a very old place ,dating from the Roman times and infested with thousands of nails. This field that has been detected since 20 years by dozens of searchers and now only  few tiny targets are remaining. The field is quite large , around 800 X 300 yards. The soil is moderately mineralized .

I must say that this area is very specific because of its ultra high iron trash that probably can be found only in Europe due to its old and dense history.

I decided to do a comparative tests between my 3 detectors ; a Deus HF round 9, an Apex Ripper and a Vanquish 540 V8.  Actually I already wanted to do this test last year but could not do it due to lack of time , covid lockdown etc ..

I have done 3 outings there with the 3 machines , for a total of around 6 hours detecting. The conditions were exactly the same for the 3 detectors , dry ground . The rule was to determine the ratio : number of coins found per hour , this for each machine.  

Long story short , here are the figures :

1 - Gold medal  XP Deus Lite WS4 HF , 7 coins found during 1h20 ---> 5 coins per hour

   The XP is the most stable of the 3 machines . No false signals , almost silent between the targets . Very accurate and reactive  on targets. Icing on the cake it is the lightest machine . A detector designed in Europe for European conditions ... ?
Settings : Deus fast mode , 30khz

2 - Silver medal Garrett Apex Ripper , 6 coins found during 2h     ---> 3 coins per hour

   The Garrett is fast and reactive on targets ?, but a little unstable with a few false signals , which means that you have to come back on these "false" signals to recheck them which is time consuming. Apart from this it is a light machine, fun to use especially with this Ripper coil ....   Probably the results would have been better if the Apex ran an higher freq like 25 or 30khz so that it could pick up tiny targets more easily. Unfortunately once again I had to disconnect/reconnect the coil connector to fix an EMI? pb.  The Apex is a good detector but its reliability is sometimes disappointing .... ?
Settings : relics mode , freq MF
   
3 - Bronze medal Minelab Vanquish 540 V8  , 3 coins during 2h  --->  1,5 coin per hour

   The Vanquish is a robust and very reliable detector , but clearly has not been designed to work in the high iron trash. It has been very noisy here with continuous high pitched signals and honestly it is difficult to use in such areas ?. However for some reason I have always been lucky with my Vanquish and I found with it the nicest artefact of this testing session  , a fibula ( brooch ) dating from between the 1st and 4th century ? , see pic below.  
Settings : JEWELRY mode

CONCLUSION :

At least I have learnt one thing during these tests ; it takes time to correctly assess a detector , especially when it has a new audio. This has been the case for the Apex. Now after 30 hours I think that I have a good idea of its strengths and weaknesses for my local conditions.  

Anyway I had fun with each of the 3 detectors in this field even if some are more efficient than the others ... Again these conditions are very specific and the results may be different in other areas/countries with less iron trash or more mineralized soil etc ...  

A few pics of the 3 outings below ...