My thoughts on the Minelab Vanquish 540 pro pack

jmaryt Wrote:
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> i agree in principal with what you are saying, but
> i have hunted for over 35 years,and i don't
> do water,or the beaches the vanquish just the way
> it is is fine for me.never been interested hunting
> in the rain.i shower every day, that's enough.as t
> om mentioned, making it waterproof would add consi
> derable
> expense, and have a tendency to defeat minelab's m
> arketing purpose.as stated, i agree with your pers
> pective,
> however, they already have those features in the 8
> 00/600 with enough price disparity to appeal to mo
> st buyers.
> yes! i agree!..detector manufacturers appear to b
> e ''probing" with price points and features to "d
> raw" buyers to
> different detectors. this is the "nature of the be
> ast" (if you will) .the objective is to make the p
> roduct desirable
> so it can be sold successfully..been around since
> christ was an altar boy. nothing changes!
>
> (h.h.!)
> j.t.

Agreed. Nicely said...

I'd like to know where can I get a Nox for only $150 more than the Vanquish with 2 coils and a pinpointer?

Abenson Wrote:
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> For the extra $160 in the pro pack you're getting
> headphones and an extra coil. So really for $360 i
> t's not a bad machine for a beginner. I really did
> n't expect it to perform like the Equinox and if i
> t did why would anybody buy an Equinox. The Equino
> x is just the bench mark for comparison purposes.
> It's kind of like comparing the Simplex to the Mul
> ti Kruzer which I've done. I don't want a Simplex
> after seeing them side by side., the Simplex IMO i
> s just not adjustable enough to perform in my grou
> nd. But for a beginner the Simplex at $255 is a da
> ng nice machine and easy to use.
>
> Now everything I've said could go out the window i
> n mild ground, the Vanquish and Equinox may be clo
> ser in performance. So I'm talking my ground only,
> it not the worst but it's by no means mild.


they are practically "dead nuts" even in "mild" ground! i have "low mineralized" ground,
and the performance of the 540 is exceptional.

(h.h.!)
j.t.

goodmore Wrote:
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> The inability to adjust iron bias at all on the lo
> wer models disqualifies them easily in my opinion.
> 50 tones on the Nox also offers audio info that is
> just too valuable to dismiss. I hear targets in 50
> tones that the other tone options just miss. A us
> ed 600 that is waterproof for beach hunting is a b
> etter buy for me if I was looking for a backup. T
> hanks for an honest review and opinion. Yeah for a
> beginner or young hunter sure. Why not. A good val
> ue. But if you had a Nox and a Vanquish would you
> ever grab the Vanquish?


never used a 600,but i can tell ya with absolute certainty, would "never"
even consider purchaseing one after using the 540 extensively. $650.00
compared to $426.15 for the "pro pack" 540! vanquish is "killer" value!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

Well..as I said I have never even seen a Vanquish so I'll have to take your word for it.

I don't dirt hunt much at all. Maybe twice a year. The things I learned about the Equinox...

The small coil is a waste of money. The stock coil does it all and is better at doing it. Sure you might need a small coil to get around obstructions, but for unmasking and iron ID the large coil performed better than the smaller coil.

I have found coins with F2-0 iron bias that I never detected with other detectors including the Deus, ETrac, CTX, Explorer, or the Turk detectors that I used.

When I do detect during non pandemic years I hunt the beaches. The detector needs to be able to take a wave. I have a Sovereign that I use during the cold months because no other detector can tell bottle caps as well as it can. I basically turn it on and hunt. Simplicity at its finest. I also chest mount it and I can swing it all day.

Enjoy your Vanquish. If it ever becomes waterproof I'll check it out

Having used both the Equinox 800 and the Vanquish 540 for over a year now. Many times side by side and having both the large and small coils for both. In my 4-5 bar dirt the Equinox is clearly deeper and separates better with either coil. Separation isn't even close with the Vanquish compared to the Equinox. The Equinox with the 6 inch coil has become my favorite bottle cap and flat tin infested ghost town detector. With the right iron bias and recovery speed settings it is hard to beat. The reason the Equinox is deeper in my 4-5 bar dirt is it's ability to adjust the ground balance, recovery speed and iron bias. When I use them both on mild beach sand I see virtually no difference in depth. The Vanquish is a very capable
machine for the price and in mild ground does quite well. If you need waterproof or hunt trashy sites, then the Equinox is the clear choice.

goodmore Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well..as I said I have never even seen a Vanquish
> so I'll have to take your word for it.
>
> I don't dirt hunt much at all. Maybe twice a year.
> The things I learned about the Equinox...
>
> The small coil is a waste of money. The stock coil
> does it all and is better at doing it. Sure you mi
> ght need a small coil to get around obstructions,
> but for unmasking and iron ID the large coil perfo
> rmed better than the smaller coil.
>
> I have found coins with F2-0 iron bias that I neve
> r detected with other detectors including the Deus
> , ETrac, CTX, Explorer, or the Turk detectors that
> I used.
>
> When I do detect during non pandemic years I hunt
> the beaches. The detector needs to be able to take
> a wave. I have a Sovereign that I use during the c
> old months because no other detector can tell bott
> le caps as well as it can. I basically turn it on
> and hunt. Simplicity at its finest. I also chest m
> ount it and I can swing it all day.
>
> Enjoy your Vanquish. If it ever becomes waterproof
> I'll check it out

I've found the small coil to be useful in certain situations. It goes almost as deep as the stock coil, but it handles EMI really well. I was hunting a park scrape at an old mid 1800's park in San Francisco a few years ago with the Equinox right in the middle of the city and with the stock coil I couldn't get the EQX800 to settle down, it was unusable with the stock coil. I switched to the small coil and it was fine, and I was digging coins down to 8" deep, I dug nine or ten silver dimes that hunt, along with an assortment of other coins. So it has a place in my took kit, but generally I do tend to hunt with the stock coil, but it's nice to have the 6" and 15" coils when you need them.

I believe you 100% on the EMI issue. It happened to me and two friends under a pier in Atlantic City years ago. My buddy with a 10 inch coil on his Sovereign could manage the situation. Myself and the other guy had large beach coils. We ran from the pier.

Just to be clear I would never suggest one detector is better than the other having never even seen one of them. I am just looking for that detector that was designed for salt water beach hunting made a priority. Not since the Excal a quarter century ago has it been done.

goodmore Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well..as I said I have never even seen a Vanquish
> so I'll have to take your word for it.
>
> I don't dirt hunt much at all. Maybe twice a year.
> The things I learned about the Equinox...
>
> The small coil is a waste of money. The stock coil
> does it all and is better at doing it. Sure you mi
> ght need a small coil to get around obstructions,
> but for unmasking and iron ID the large coil perfo
> rmed better than the smaller coil.
>
> I have found coins with F2-0 iron bias that I neve
> r detected with other detectors including the Deus
> , ETrac, CTX, Explorer, or the Turk detectors that
> I used.
>
> When I do detect during non pandemic years I hunt
> the beaches. The detector needs to be able to take
> a wave. I have a Sovereign that I use during the c
> old months because no other detector can tell bott
> le caps as well as it can. I basically turn it on
> and hunt. Simplicity at its finest. I also chest m
> ount it and I can swing it all day.
>
> Enjoy your Vanquish. If it ever becomes waterproof
> I'll check it out


from what i understand, the 11 coil does in deed do it all. the vanquish has the 8' coils and the 12 " coil
in the pro-pack! 'both" of these coils are really good at separation, with the "nod" going to the 8. yes! i believe
and also, from what i have read, and heard, the 600 set at f2-0 iron bias 'does' give a tremendous advantage in iron.
as mentioned, the vanquish "does" find 'deep" ,"big" iron, but it does a good job at separating "small" iron too!..iam thrilled when i can
take it into a huge old park that has been "beat to death" by every detector known to man and still pull old stuff at very respectable depths.
in my 35 years of hunting old 'butchered" parks i have never had any where near the success with single frequency detectors, that i have had,and continue to have
with the multi-iq "simple" vanquish in old parks and other public areas. really! just an outrageously good coin and jewelry detector at any price!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

(((( I call it the EQX-340, EQX-440 & EQX-540 ))).

goodmore........ if you don't want to use the Sov for the beaches ....... and would rather still use the EQX.....,,,,,,,, you could try F2 on 8 or 9 (or Fe 8 or 9) to rid the steel bottlecaps. That's what it's for! And........ the EQX is quite a bit more waterproof over the Sov.

I've been using the Vanquish 540 with 12x9" coil around my 1914 era house full of iron/nails and it, as reported, suffers some from masking and high-tone chirps on most bent nails. But it is useable and in average soil, it gets the depth of all but the most elite detectors. Best yet, a win, paying $313 new, plus with pinpointer and other extras thrown in, it was a deal. But comparing the 540 ($369) to the Simplex ($338) at similar price points, I'd say the 540 can at times run about 20% deeper than the Simplex+. The Simplex+ with its 11" coil seems to also suffer masking more from co-located iron and struggles more on thin low-conductors than the 540.

Looking around at other detectors that I have data on in the Vanquish 540 price range, there are few detectors available that can compete with it. The Garrett Apex ($425) with the 6x11" coil is very close in iron masking ability to the 540 but costs an additional $100. The Apex has less depth than the Simplex (and thus less depth than the 540), especially on small low-conductors. Other possibilities like the Fisher F44 ($349) or F22 ($239) are worse yet in iron, with less depth capability, and are mostly blind to small low-conductors. The F44 with the larger 13" coil gets depth similar to the Simplex with its 11" coil but still, the 13" coil is stopped by iron and is mostly unaware of thin/small low conductors.

The Quest Q20 at $259 with the 5x9.5" coil does better in iron than the F44/F22 but loses a couple of inches of depth as compared to the Simplex, so not really a decent contender against the 540.

Worse yet than the F44/F22, is the Garrett Ace 300 ($380) with the 7x10" coil. The Ace 300 has even less depth capability than the F22/F44. The Ace 300 has about half the depth of the Vanquish 540 and suffers from fierce iron masking and has vanishingly poor sensitivity to small/thin low conductors. I thought about the Teknetics Patriot ($399) with the 11" coil as a competitor to the F44/F22 at a similar price point, but it has only slightly better depth while also worse performance in iron with less sensitivity to low conductors than the F44/F22 with its 11" coil, so it is not a contender.

The Garrett Ace 250 ($212) replaced with the larger $120 11x8.5" coil (instead of the 6.5x9" coil), matches the Garrett Apex with the 6x11" coil in depth. The 250 with the 11x8.5" coil has a bit less sensitivity to thin low-conductors but is otherwise very similar to the Apex, and at about $330 it is about $100 cheaper (but the Vanquish is the better performer of either the Apex or 250/300 at a similar price point, and there is no bell tone).

The only detector that I have test data on, that exceeds the Simplex and challenges the Vanquish is the Nokta Makro Racer2 with the 11x7" coil ($424). It is about $100 more expensive but its depth capability is near to or exceeds the Vanquish 540. The Racer2 as compared to the Simplex has better performance in iron and better sensitivity to small/thin conductors, so it beats the Simplex. The Racer2's performance is somewhat akin to the 540 in most regards, though it'll cost a bit more. I'd say, the Racer2 appears to be a true challenger to the 540. Comparing between the Racer2 and the Garrett Apex, though both have similar price points and their coil sizes are similar, it is the Racer2 that wins. The Racer2 is deeper by several inches and has better sensitivity to small low conductors with the ability to detect tiny non-ferrous targets several inches deeper than the Apex.

So, this is the long route to saying at the low-end price point, that the Minelab Vanquish 540, Nokta-Makro Racer2, and perhaps even the Nokta-Makro Simplex are arguably setting the standard in the under $450 category.

Note: Coil selection makes a difference. If you get the Racer2 ($424) and replace the 11x7" coil with the NEL Tornado 12x13" coil (extra $176) then there are indications that the Racer2 performance will easily exceed the Vanquish 540 and should equal the performance of the Nokta-Makro Anfibio Multi with its 11" coil ($764) while saving about $164 ($600 vs. $764). In this configuration, the Racer2 might also be a bit deeper than the Equinox 800 with its 11" coil ($899) and may do better on some types of small/thin low conductors while costing $300 less than the Minelab Equinox.

Of course, just my opinion, YMMV.

--Johnnyanglo



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2021 03:51AM by Johnnyanglo.

John........ very interesting 'take'. Thanks for your data/experiences/resultants.

Nice write-up John The Racer 2 is really an under rated detector, it far exceeded my tests with the F75 LTD2. The Multi Kruzer took it to the next level with more modes and the ability to change frequencies, plus waterproof and whatnot, it's really a nice package.

I'm personally looking forward to see the SMF Nokta machine and the next generation Equinox, as well as the continued development of the MDT, although I have not personally used one (yet).