IBMe Posted December 28, 2024 Share Posted December 28, 2024 I an not aware that performance is behind. It’s an AT replacement, not an Equinox replacement, you have to treat it as such. You can take any of the candidates and adapt to what they offer and find the same targets. It you are capable of separating yourself from the mob consensus, a whole lot of people aren’t, and treat it for what it is, it will hold its own. (A recent test on another forum proved that few dare go against the mob consensus.) Other than on this forum, I haven’t seen an “expert” who knows what iron audio on means. Kind of important to learn the machine. Similar, but not the same, to horseshoe button. If you look around, a Dues 1 is in the price range. But there you go again, a quirky detector that you have to use as designed or you will be disappointed. Does still have lumpy ID issue in MF. Other than that, I don’t know any. No reason to buy. No reason not to buy. One big difference is audio. It has very reactive audio, others have embellished. Some might consider a pro, others a con. 3 Link to comment https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/27336-vortex-vx9-should-be-garretts-flagship-but-its-sunk-unless-drastic-improvements-are-made-quickly/page/2/#findComment-287301 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Jeff McClendon Posted December 28, 2024 Popular Post Share Posted December 28, 2024 16 hours ago, detectorist said: A perspective from a seasoned UK detectorist(12 years experience). I have used many machines over the years stating with Rutus then Minelab, XP, Nokta and loads more in between. My latest was the Nokta Legend ( with a back up of a XP ADX which in my opinion is very hard to beat). Anyway I have never had a Garrett but always heard marvellous things about the AT pro / max machines. I was quite happy with the Nokta Legend which is a very capable metal detector. However, when the the Vortex was announced I thought hey, this must be the Bees Knees if its performance beats the AT series. I paid £600 to get my hands on one of the first available in the UK. GARRETT it is an utter disappointment. Performance is behind the mid price mid range Nokta, Quest, Minelab and Rutus machines. No way can it compete with Deus 2 or manticore. You need to improve it fast to prevent it becoming a detecting lemon. You had the chance to show that XP and Minelab machines are overpriced and you can do better. YOU FAILED. Fix it fast or mine and many others will be on eBay and Vortex with go down the plughole. The Vortex was never meant to beat out the Manticore, Deus 2, Equinox or Legend. According to Garrett, the VX9 is not even meant to be their flagship VLF detector contrary to what your topic title proclaims. The Vortex series is meant to be an alternative to the AT series. One AT model has already been discontinued. Garrett has never produced a VLF detector with as many features as the VX9. Does it have some glaring flaws even after the first update, definitely. Before I join the “mob” I am going to give Garrett some more time like I did with the Equinox 800, Deus 2, the Legend and even the Manticore which were all improved by one or several software updates. 10 Link to comment https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/27336-vortex-vx9-should-be-garretts-flagship-but-its-sunk-unless-drastic-improvements-are-made-quickly/page/2/#findComment-287307 Share on other sites More sharing options...
EL NINO77 Posted December 28, 2024 Share Posted December 28, 2024 4 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said: The Vortex was never meant to beat out the Manticore, Deus 2, Equinox or Legend. According to Garrett, the VX9 is not even meant to be their flagship VLF detector contrary to what your topic title proclaims. The Vortex series is meant to be an alternative to the AT series. One AT model has already been discontinued. Garrett has never produced a VLF detector with as many features as the VX9. Does it have some glaring flaws even after the first update, definitely. Before I join the “mob” I am going to give Garrett some more time like I did with the Equinox 800, Deus 2, the Legend and even the Manticore which were all improved by one or several software updates. Really well explained,,,Jeff... Give Garrett ....time to optimize the Vortex software... 4 Link to comment https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/27336-vortex-vx9-should-be-garretts-flagship-but-its-sunk-unless-drastic-improvements-are-made-quickly/page/2/#findComment-287313 Share on other sites More sharing options...
detectorist Posted December 28, 2024 Author Share Posted December 28, 2024 1 hour ago, EL NINO77 said: Really well explained,,,Jeff... Give Garrett ....time to optimize the Vortex software... My point really was I expected the Vortex would out perform the AT Series or at least be better than the Apex. It appears to be neither. To be a success in the UK the Vortex on needs to be able unmask to the gold and hammered coins on iron contaminated fields. This it seems to struggle with. It seems I am not the only person who thinks we have purchased prototypes of what may become a decent machine one day. Sorry if I am being over critical on my first post. Regards Brian 5 Link to comment https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/27336-vortex-vx9-should-be-garretts-flagship-but-its-sunk-unless-drastic-improvements-are-made-quickly/page/2/#findComment-287318 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Steve Herschbach Posted December 28, 2024 Popular Post Share Posted December 28, 2024 On 12/28/2024 at 4:44 AM, detectorist said: My point really was I expected the Vortex would out perform the AT Series or at least be better than the Apex. It appears to be neither. To be a success in the UK the Vortex on needs to be able unmask to the gold and hammered coins on iron contaminated fields. This it seems to struggle with. It seems I am not the only person who thinks we have purchased prototypes of what may become a decent machine one day. Sorry if I am being over critical on my first post. Regards Brian I don’t think anyone is arguing with that. Garrett could have and should have done better with the Vortex after all the over the top hype leading up to its release. Garrett certainly was saying they had something really amazing in the works. Reality has been a letdown and they are much to blame for setting the bar so high. The cake is only half baked at this point. While it will likely be a better detector a year from now, the all important chance to make a great first impression has been lost. 15 1 2 Link to comment https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/27336-vortex-vx9-should-be-garretts-flagship-but-its-sunk-unless-drastic-improvements-are-made-quickly/page/2/#findComment-287322 Share on other sites More sharing options...
skywatcher Posted December 28, 2024 Share Posted December 28, 2024 In that price range you had many other machines to pick from. If you are a seasoned detectorist then make the best out of the machine until they fix it. If i just paid attention to the vdi on my deus 2 i woud miss so many things Link to comment https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/27336-vortex-vx9-should-be-garretts-flagship-but-its-sunk-unless-drastic-improvements-are-made-quickly/page/2/#findComment-287328 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff McClendon Posted December 28, 2024 Share Posted December 28, 2024 5 hours ago, detectorist said: My point really was I expected the Vortex would out perform the AT Series or at least be better than the Apex. It appears to be neither. I can really understand your frustration especially if you are experienced with the AT Series and the Apex. Right now after a week of borrowing a VX9, I would rather use the VX9 instead of the AT Series or the Apex. However, the actual performance improvements of the VX9 over the AT Series and Apex are way too small at this point. Had I ditched a good mid level detector that I was really familiar with even if it was just single frequency and bought a VX9 as an upgrade, I would likely be disappointed. Even though the VX9 selectable single frequency and Multi Salt work well and offer slight improvements over the AT series and Apex, the Multi Frequency target ID system on the VX9 is just too weird and far afield from the "normal" Garrett target ID system for me to take it seriously. After working with it, the Multi Frequency tech is an improvement in the soil conditions where I detect. But, the target ID system employed in Multi Frequency, just my opinion from using it, is an abomination. Had Garrett prepared or even alerted potential VX9 buyers about that odd target ID system used in Multi Frequency and actually put details about it in the Quick Start Guide and Manual.........OK. Potential buyers could have made a choice. They said nothing. 5 Link to comment https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/27336-vortex-vx9-should-be-garretts-flagship-but-its-sunk-unless-drastic-improvements-are-made-quickly/page/2/#findComment-287329 Share on other sites More sharing options...
phrunt Posted December 28, 2024 Share Posted December 28, 2024 I remember when the Legend came out it was a bit of a rushed release as the Deus 2 just surprised the market and was ready to ship straight after announcement, Nokta then pushed forward the Legend release and immediately people were picking at its problems, some of the same Youtubers going hard on Garrett were going after Nokta, the detector gradually became what it is today after many updates and even some hardware changes like speakers, potentially the USB firmware updating circuitry or firmware tool due to a bricking problem and the shaft was upgraded from memory, and that is it, we have a short memory for the most part. I remember trying to push Nokta to include iron bias on the Legend and was told it's not necessary and the Legend doesn't need it. It's now got it. Not to just point out Noktas issues the Deus 2 also required a number of fixes, even had corroding antenna wires which is there for and designed for underwater detecting. In a year from now the Vortex will be much improved, and will have settled into its place in the market. I personally think they didn't take the right path with marketing in the long lead up to its release and their social media person said things they shouldn't have, it was likely released too soon but initial marketing made it hard to delay further. If you truly want your Vortex to be better rather than just complaining on forums or social media gather up information on issues and some video and pass that information onto Garrett, you'll get better results, they also want the Vortex to be the best it can be and have happy customers. 8 Link to comment https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/27336-vortex-vx9-should-be-garretts-flagship-but-its-sunk-unless-drastic-improvements-are-made-quickly/page/2/#findComment-287336 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chase Goldman Posted December 28, 2024 Share Posted December 28, 2024 2 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said: I can really understand your frustration especially if you are experienced with the AT Series and the Apex. Actually, he's not so is not really qualified to make that statement. As he stated in his introductory post, Vortex is his first Garrett detector. 6 hours ago, detectorist said: My point really was I expected the Vortex would out perform the AT Series or at least be better than the Apex. It appears to be neither. I'm not really qualified to make that judgment either as I have only owned an AT Pro - but I do trust people here who have operated AT and Apex detectors as well as Vortex, and the latest update appears to have elevated the Vortex above those detectors in many respects apart from the TID issues. Although, as Jeff mentioned, there is not a lot of separation between Vortex and the AT series and Apex. It still has multi selectable single frequencies (which the AT series lacks) and performs well in single, appears to have decent Multi frequency salt beach performance (also beats the AT series) which is also the Apex strong suit but the Vortex also has the advantage of being able to be submerged unlike Apex. So from a performance and features standpoint, I still say Vortex wins out over it's Garrett cousins, even with it's current limitations. My point is that one has to be careful about throwing around statements in the course of a rant that you are not in any position to support. With statements like that in your first couple of posts on the forum, any credibility you think you built by stating your experience level and vast ownership track record can be severely eroded. Anyway, that all being said, as a Vortex owner, I did expect more from Garrett than was delivered with the VX9 out of the box. I was tracking with actual Garrett testers (not Garrett You Tube personalities) as they suffered through update setbacks and serious performance issues that were partially resolved upon release. So I was not under any delusions that Vortex was going to be a stunner and I certainly did not expect it to hold it's own over the likes of Deus 2/Manticore or even the Legend or Nox series. I was, however, expecting it to at least hold it's own with the similarly priced/featured Nokta Score series (of which I own the Triple Score), but this was not really the case either. In some respects, multi-dimensional iron boundary is innovative at this price point as it has some capability in common with Manticore but it appears that Garrett focused on this capability at the expense of the basics such as the head-scratching TID implementation in Multi, clunky Notch selection implementation, few audio options (would like to eventually see AM audio or VFO-like pitch tones), limited ability to save custom notch/disc profiles (including no ability to save custom disc/notch profiles for Thin Coins and Fast Modes). As far as non-basics are concerned - eventually it would be nice to see more options as far as Multi F profiles are concerned beyond the two that are provided (Multi and Multi Salt). The strategy to initially release only the VX9 was also a mistake IMO. With that approach, VX9 had to impress beyond expectations to be able to get people to buy into the innovative Vortex virtual upgrade eco-system. But the VX9 misfire may have irreparably damaged folks from even taking a chance on a VX5 or VX7 because the perception would be (fair or not) that they would be "even worse" in performance compared to the VX9 since they lack several VX9 features. I don't personally buy into that logic, but I know that mind set exists and that is detrimental for Garrett. So with regards to "detectorist's" basic complaint about the Vortex not living up to the expectations built up by Garrett at release and how poorly this effort reflects on Garrett - I am in agreement. It is an improvement over Garrett's other detectors in many respects (with some notable exceptions) but does not compete well with it's direct detector competition in price and features (primarily the Nokta Score series and Xterra Elite). We will see what the future holds. Garrett can repair some of the damage by continuing to be responsive and timely with subsequent fixes/updates and perhaps a "good will gesture" non-charge VX9 feature upgrade down the road but they have dug themselves a sizable hole. Cheers, Chase 5 Link to comment https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/27336-vortex-vx9-should-be-garretts-flagship-but-its-sunk-unless-drastic-improvements-are-made-quickly/page/2/#findComment-287339 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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