just received my 540 today April 17 - Christmas and Birthday rolled into one.

pulltabfelix

Bronze Member
Jan 29, 2018
1,011
1,630
North Atlanta
Detector(s) used
Currently have CTX3030 and Vanquish 440.
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
fired it up and ran it over my test garden.

nice clear sounds with my wireless Trond headphones. A lot less chatter than my 800. So simple to use. Will be almost no learning curve for newbies. It is zero learning curve for prior minelab users.
Very stable TID's compared to the 800. Was using the 8" coil. Love that coil. Reminds me of my AT Pro with the 5x8" coil.

But the way I see it the 800 is really processing every tiny spec of metal under the coil. The 540 seems to only concentrate on what you are looking for. You can pretty much count on what is under the 540 coil to be what the TID says it is. Of course there will be screw caps that will fool any detector. The 540 appears to bring some of the fun back into detecting compared to the 800. At least for me that is the way it is. The 800 is a complicated and accurate instrument but some times it just drives me crazy.

Switched to 15" coil and took it for a spin in the back yard. Found a 1941 wheat penny about 8" down. Had to take a brass wire dremel attachment to get through the crud to get the date. Was hunting the backyard because I was babysitting our 4 year old grandson. Surprising the 15" coil does not seem too heavy or top heavy on the Vanquish. In my soil I can run the sensitivity wide open.

Another thing I noticed that when changing from the 8" to 15" coil, it seems simpler than the 800 coil change. (on my 800 I have 3 lower shafts and change the coil that way). The nut on the Vanquish coils are built into the mounting ear of the coil. Seems easier since you just unscrew one coil and mount the other one with single bolt.
 

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jmc24

Full Member
Feb 24, 2020
123
195
Colorado
Detector(s) used
Garrett Axiom, Minelab Equinox 800, Nokta Legend, XP Deus 2, FTP Tek Point, Garrott Carrot, Gold Hog River Sluices and Flow Pan, Royal Mini High Banker.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The Vanquish has excellent target ID accuracy for sure. I love the lightweight coils and the adjustable shaft. After using mine along with my Equinox I still believe the Vanquish is running in something similar to the Equinox Beach 1 mode which has the lowest frequency weighting of all of the modes on the Equinox and which makes it less sparky and really good for the dry and wet sand beach and even for really mineralized dirt. The Vanquish is using the same program (whatever it really is) for all of the different modes but the recovery speeds and of course, the preset discrimination settings are different for Jewelry, Coin, and Relic. So, your observation that the 540 is not hitting on every tiny piece of metal in the ground is a good one and I think it is one thing that makes the Vanquish so much fun. You get great target ID, good ergonomics, depth, just enough features to keep you occupied and you don't have to dig stuff you can't even see.

Jeff
 

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