New 540 owner

[Bruce R]

I haven’t taken the machine out yet since there’s a foot of snow out there, but I’m sitting here trying to decipher the user manual. I’ve just upgraded from a coinmaster prism and I’m hoping to get away from some of the problems I’ve had with it. I detect a site where an airliner crashed in 1948, so there’s lots of trash, with the prism I’ll get a strong hit showing 50 cent on the screen but I just end up digging up a scrap of aluminum, once in a great while I’ll get something good but I’d say 95 percent of the time it’s just aluminum plane parts. Can the 540 work through this problem ? Also, the 540 came with 2 coils, one small and one big but the manual doesn’t say anything about them. Any advice out there

 

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[NC Digger]

I don't own a 540 but I do know that your small coil is good for searching in very trashy areas. It might take a little longer but is worth the time.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Small coil is best in trash, and can really separate well. Big coil gives better depth, and is just a touch slower in recovery speed. Pay attention to Notching, and the different modes (Artifact is deepest but requires a slower swing than Coin).

 

[67GTA]

Once you learn the target ID numbers it will help you guess what is under the coil. That alone will be miles above the older Prism screen. The multi IQ tech usually will consistently be within 1 or 2 numbers every time with coins. For example, unless a coin is on it's side, a dime will consistently ring up as 24/25/26. The TDI numbers are virtually the same between the Equinox and Vanquish. There are tons of TDI charts and videos of the Equinox numbers. The TDI numbers aren't fool proof, but more of a suggestion. The pinpoint function can also tell you how big an object is. Try pinpointing a dime versus an aluminum can. The stock coil will be deeper, but will not separate between targets in a trashy environment as well as the smaller coil. The smaller coil will separate better, but get an inch or 2 less depth. The coils are also DD instead of the concentric on the Prism. Then there is also recovery speed to consider. Relic is the slowest and coin is the fastest. Ideally in a trashy environment, I would try the small coil in coin mode. I would suggest watching some videos to get a better understanding of it because the difference between the Vanquish and the older Prism is huge in terms of technology.

 

[67GTA]

Started writing mine earlier and walked away from the computer. Didn't realize Terry had posted. Look like he's got you covered on the TDI #'s.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Started writing mine earlier and walked away from the computer. Didn't realize Terry had posted. Look like he's got you covered on the TDI #'s.

The more info the better Brother!

 

[HighPlainsHunter]

What the heck does TDI stand for? I know TID = Target ID, but not sure about TDI...

 

[67GTA]

Target display indicator. I picked that up from an old detector manual and still use it sometimes and confuse everybody. Sometimes it was also TND (target numeric display). Most people call it VDI since they stopped making analog machines with needle indicators.

 

[Rad1sh]

I bought the 8 inch coil and it does awesome in trashy areas! Learn the tones and numbers in your down time!

 

[Bruce R]

What does recovery speed mean ?

 

[Terry Soloman]

What does recovery speed mean ?

https://www.minelab.com/community/t...eed defines how quickly,coil at the same time.

"...Imagine you have three different coins in a row, three inches apart, nine inches total. All three coins can be under the coil at the same time. For this example assume it takes exactly one second to swing the coil nine inches over all the coins. Our imaginary detector has a recovery speed control calibrated from 1 to 3 with each setting representing faster recovery speeds. The setting of 1 means the detector can take one snapshot per second. A setting of 2 is two snapshots per second and 3 means three snapshots per second."

 

[JohnnyRox]

With that much scattered aluminum from the crash, you'll still be digging up lots of aluminum scraps. I would concentrate on TID numbers no higher than 19 to try and weed out the aluminum.

 

[Xraywolf]

TDI more commonly referred to as VDI nowadays [Visual Display Identification]

 

[Bruce R]

Well, I took the 540 out this morning, it was a disaster. I thought I had a handle on what the manual was telling me, but I guess not. I set up targets so I could write down the individual signal numbers, pennies , nickels, dimes, quarters, halves, and a silver dollar, and for each of the coins I used a contemporary coin and it’s old counterpart. One curious thing I noticed was that a quarter reads 29 like the manual says, but 2 or 3 quarters grouped together still only registered 29. Anyway, I took it out into a park that my house borders on and after an hour I had nothing, I had all sorts of chirps and squeaks and squealing, but no repeatable signals,. I went out in coin mode and tried all the other modes as well, up and down with the sensitivity, iron bias, etc. I went back to the house, got my Prism and started going over the same ground and found $1.23 in about 15 minutes. I’m a little pissed about it, I’m thinking maybe I wasted $400 on the 540 ??

 

[Rad1sh]

New detectors take time to learn. You have probably many hours in the prism. Even if you bought a thousand dollar machine it takes time to learn it.

 

[Bruce R]

You’re probably right, I’m used to my Prism being pretty much silent until it hits something, this 540 never shuts up, I’m gonna switch to the small coil and go back out.

 

[Rad1sh]

The small coil is very good in trashy spots. If it’s chattering to much back off sensitivity a little. I kind of hated my vanquish at first as well. But I am starting to live it more each day.

 

[Iggy_AZ]

Check out this Vanquish Tutorial video.
Outstanding if you need help understanding what the termonolgy means and does.

 

[Tony-Ok]

The 540 will be a sparky machine, just reduce the sensitivity a notch or two. It will take some time to learn how to work through the noise !! That’s normal going from one detector to another.

 

[Iggy_AZ]

Just some more facts about the Vanquish 540

Multi-IQ technology is one of Minelab’s most impressive technological advancements. This technology allows the detector to function on multiple frequencies at once. Rather than having adjustable frequencies, this line of detectors can operate on all 5 of the frequencies simultaneously. The Vanquish line canoe operate on single frequencies, unlike some of Minelab’s other multiple frequency detectors. Operating frequencies are: 5 kHz, 10 kHz, 15 kHz, 20 kHz, and 40 kHz. The lower frequencies are best for highly conductive metals like silver, while the higher frequencies are best for lower conductivity metals like gold.

Multi-IQ allows uses to search areas that have already been hunted because of the different frequencies. This is one of the only entry-level metal detectors I have seen that can find gold because of the higher frequencies. Vanquish 540, and the others in the line, also maintain accurate Target ID at maximum depth compared to most single frequency detectors. As more than one frequency is transmitted, received, and processed simultaneously, the detector can maintain target sensitivity across all target types and sizes while keeping ground noise to a minimum