eman1000
Hero Member
- Feb 24, 2016
- 728
- 1,105
- Detector(s) used
- XP Deus ORX, Etrac, F75, Simplex, MX5, V3i, Equinox, Tesoro Vaq, F22
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
So for my 41st Birthday my wife got me a Quest X10 to add to the growing collection.
I'm not exactly sure about Quest they appear to be out of California / Manufactured in China (?) (I'm aware of the backstory but my impression is they have righted the ship so to speak)
I will say for $199 dollars I don't know of a machine that can top what you get with this. In fact I was more impressed with the initial performance than I was the Simplex (IMO)
Good Points -
-WeatherProof (hunt in the rain - which is all I really need)
-Manual & Auto Ground Balance (Easy to operate need further testing of course),
- Target Separation seems to be very good (more on that later though - weird quirk),
- Depth (This was the real surprise for the 9"x5" coil which is really small in comparison to an 11" Simplex Coil) No it won't hit a Dime @ 9" in my test garden but the Simplex couldn't either and both of them missed a Quarter @ 11", but I found the depth on Silver coins to be very good 6-8". I would rather the machine come with a appropriate sized stock coil that over performs than a larger coil that under performs. There are no shortage of aftermarket coils so I may order a larger one and test in the field. *** I need to do further testing in the field to see how the VDI performs on the deeper targets but so far seems adequate for a $200 dollar machine certainly on par with what I experienced with the Simplex
Bad Points and Odd Quirks*
- Assembly (I've assembled dozens of machines and never once had to stop and look at the instructions but this one fooled me) The machine first of all ships in the smallest box I have ever seen for a metal detector the handle has to first be disassembled and then the control box separates from the handle. You then put the handle in holes on the aluminum shaft while at the same time realigning the control box whole with the handle. Which is then secured by 4 tiny screws (no screwdriver included?) The whole thing takes less than 5 minutes but had me jammed up for a minute. This little plastic handle although cheap actually feels very nice (There is no grip to speak of which might be an issue if the machine was wet)
- Assembly Part 2 - This machine still uses the aluminum shafts anyone who has been metal detecting for 10 years is familiar with. For a $200 dollar machine this is perfectly fine but you do get some shaft movement from the alignment holes. (Could be secured with included Velcro) This actually feels less cheap to me then the flexible lower shaft on the Simplex (That really bothered me - had I kept that machine I would have wanted an upgrade on that piece)
- Depth Meter (upside down ..maybe) The Sensitivity meter is on the right and goes top to bottom (bottom lowest to top highest sensitivity) the Depth Meter is on the right and is the exact opposite. I suppose you could look at this as the bottom being deeper in the ground, but I can't recall if I have seen it done that way before?
- Audio Tones - There are five choices of Audio Tones. I will attach a picture but what I experienced at least in testing was when I used the 1st three Q1 - Q3 the machine was slow to react to a dime target and would pass over it unless you went really slow. Q4/Q5 had no problem. This was just my initial testing and I need to do more to confirm this but I found it very odd. So much so that I actually thought something was wrong with the machine.
Overall I think this is a real competitor to the Simplex at $50 dollars cheaper (unless you need the underwater and/or wireless headphones) in which case you could get the Q20/Q40 model for about the same price as the Simplex with the headphones.
This machine felt like a good upgrade of the Fishers F22 I had 5 years ago and for a lower price!
I will want to put a lot more hours of use on it before I tell people to consider buying one but so far I think it is worthy of discussion in a world where the Simplex is king of the entry level detectors.
I'm not exactly sure about Quest they appear to be out of California / Manufactured in China (?) (I'm aware of the backstory but my impression is they have righted the ship so to speak)
I will say for $199 dollars I don't know of a machine that can top what you get with this. In fact I was more impressed with the initial performance than I was the Simplex (IMO)
Good Points -
-WeatherProof (hunt in the rain - which is all I really need)
-Manual & Auto Ground Balance (Easy to operate need further testing of course),
- Target Separation seems to be very good (more on that later though - weird quirk),
- Depth (This was the real surprise for the 9"x5" coil which is really small in comparison to an 11" Simplex Coil) No it won't hit a Dime @ 9" in my test garden but the Simplex couldn't either and both of them missed a Quarter @ 11", but I found the depth on Silver coins to be very good 6-8". I would rather the machine come with a appropriate sized stock coil that over performs than a larger coil that under performs. There are no shortage of aftermarket coils so I may order a larger one and test in the field. *** I need to do further testing in the field to see how the VDI performs on the deeper targets but so far seems adequate for a $200 dollar machine certainly on par with what I experienced with the Simplex
Bad Points and Odd Quirks*
- Assembly (I've assembled dozens of machines and never once had to stop and look at the instructions but this one fooled me) The machine first of all ships in the smallest box I have ever seen for a metal detector the handle has to first be disassembled and then the control box separates from the handle. You then put the handle in holes on the aluminum shaft while at the same time realigning the control box whole with the handle. Which is then secured by 4 tiny screws (no screwdriver included?) The whole thing takes less than 5 minutes but had me jammed up for a minute. This little plastic handle although cheap actually feels very nice (There is no grip to speak of which might be an issue if the machine was wet)
- Assembly Part 2 - This machine still uses the aluminum shafts anyone who has been metal detecting for 10 years is familiar with. For a $200 dollar machine this is perfectly fine but you do get some shaft movement from the alignment holes. (Could be secured with included Velcro) This actually feels less cheap to me then the flexible lower shaft on the Simplex (That really bothered me - had I kept that machine I would have wanted an upgrade on that piece)
- Depth Meter (upside down ..maybe) The Sensitivity meter is on the right and goes top to bottom (bottom lowest to top highest sensitivity) the Depth Meter is on the right and is the exact opposite. I suppose you could look at this as the bottom being deeper in the ground, but I can't recall if I have seen it done that way before?
- Audio Tones - There are five choices of Audio Tones. I will attach a picture but what I experienced at least in testing was when I used the 1st three Q1 - Q3 the machine was slow to react to a dime target and would pass over it unless you went really slow. Q4/Q5 had no problem. This was just my initial testing and I need to do more to confirm this but I found it very odd. So much so that I actually thought something was wrong with the machine.
Overall I think this is a real competitor to the Simplex at $50 dollars cheaper (unless you need the underwater and/or wireless headphones) in which case you could get the Q20/Q40 model for about the same price as the Simplex with the headphones.
This machine felt like a good upgrade of the Fishers F22 I had 5 years ago and for a lower price!
I will want to put a lot more hours of use on it before I tell people to consider buying one but so far I think it is worthy of discussion in a world where the Simplex is king of the entry level detectors.
