Thinking of buying...anyone seen any specials?

[A7thson]

So I've been looking around for a beach detector and I've kind of settled on the Vanquish 540. Mostly they are going for $369 for the 12" coil and $499 for the pro pack with the 2 coils. I was going to just get the 12" at the base price as the difference of $130 is actually a bit more than just buying the 8" coil separately. Mostly I see them for $99. Does anyone know of anyone running any specials on them, or a spring deal that I might have missed? I would prefer the 8" coil over the 12", I think, as I don't really need the extra weight or depth to dig. And from the videos it seems the 8" gets good depth as well. I also don't really need all the add-ons like glove or diggers or bags or anything like that as I have all of that. But I'm not opposed to it if the price is right and it's something useful. Let me know, we're heading to the beach the first week of may but I would like a little time to play with it before we go. Thanks.

 

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[diamonddave]

Most places I have seen are selling the V8 for $99. Seems Minelab has the dealers all locked in at that same pricing. You may find a sale price or coupon code somewhere or better yet, maybe find one on e-bay or marketplace. Yes the 8" will go deep and will be great on the beach. I just bought the V10 from Bart at Big Boy Hobbies. No worries buying from him.

My personal opinion would be to spend the extra $130 and get the 540 Pro Pack. You will get the V8, V12 and the wireless headphones are great. You will be very happy with the Vanquish.

DD

 

[67GTA]

Another possibility is to go with the 440 if you don't need the extra settings for the beach. I've heard the V10 is the best of both worlds.

 

[HighPlainsHunter]

The V12 coil will give you better coverage at the beach besides slightly more depth. The 540 Pro Pack is your best bet like diamonddave suggested. Another advantage of the 540 over the 440 is that the discrimination segments only include two ID numbers instead of four on the 440 therefor giving better target resolution. The 540 also has an iron bias setting that is not found on the 340 or 440 models. If you feel the need, you can always add a V10 coil later. If you have a DD-214 from military service you can get a 15% discount. I would suggest checking with any of the listed dealers here on TNet, and not worry about the so-called junk freebies that some dealers include. Hope this is helpful. Also check out some of the posts from Terry Solomon as he has written an excellent review on the Vanquish 540 a few posts down the page...

 

[A7thson]

Sorry I should have specified the 540 (that's been fixed)

So I checked out Big Boys. He does actually seem to have a decent deal on the base package with the normal 12". It's $369, same price as most places, and he's throwing in a free bag. Something semi useful. and obviously a much better deal than this guy:



The bag sells retail for about $60 this guy upped the base price by $56 so it's a whopping $4 savings over buying them separately. Basically his shipping costs if he sent 2 packages.

Something like Big Boys was what I was asking about.

The discount for the military is nice, (and deserved) it doesn't apply to me however. Senior citizen's...well that's a different story

If i can get the detector with a 12" coil and buy a 8" coil for $469 why would I buy the pro pack for $499? what makes it worth the extra $30. If they sold me the pro pack at $469 then I would consider that a deal because I was getting the upgraded headphones free for buying the bundle.

There are a bunch of places that sell detectors. Search only brings up the ones that get the traffic, the ones that pay Google, or the ones that have stored cookies on your machine. Mainly Amazon and Ebay anymore. With all the places people have bought from, maybe somebody got an email flyer or something that showed "hey we're selling a vanquish 540 package at the normal price and throwing in a free pro-find 35 pinpointer" to up big boy's deal

That I would jump on.

 

[DizzyDigger]

If i can get the detector with a 12' coil and buy a 8" coil for $469 why would I buy the pro pack for $499? what makes it worth the extra $30. If they sold me the pro pack at $469 then I would consider that a deal because I was getting the upgraded headphones free for buying the bundle.
There area bunch of places that sell detectors. Search only brings up the ones that get the traffic, the ones that pay Google, or the ones that have stored cookies on your machine. Mainly Amazon and Ebay anymore. With all the places people have bought from, maybe somebody got an email flyer or something that showed "hey we're selling a vanquish package at the normal price and throwing in a free pro-find 35 pinpointer" to up big boy's deal That I would jump on.

With respect, Bart is a straight shooter, and if he offered you his
best deal, then that's likely consistent with what other dealers
could offer.

While price is important, what's more important to me is the dealer's
knowledge of the units they carry, and the after sale service.

The site sponsors are reputable dealers; you can read the feedback
on their sales.

 

[A7thson]

With respect, Bart is a straight shooter

I'm not saying he isn't, I haven't even talked to him yet, but from his web site he has my business already. He's giving a better deal than any I have seen so far.

And why can't you get both? A deal and good service. I know it's rare these days but one can always hope.

As you see I don't post much, but I've been a lurker on the site for a couple of years now. But when I am in the market for something, who better to ask about it than the people who are interested in it? Maybe they know a reputable dealer having a good sale? And lo and behold I got pointed to Bart. No dis to Bart but maybe someone else knows of another sale that's even better with the same great service. If they are site sponsors even better. I enjoy reading about peoples finds and new technology and would be happy to support those that support the site.

I have a Teknetics Delta 4000 Metal Detector. It is a good entry level detector, but it doesn't work well at the beach. So I'm heading to the beach on a vacation and want to get something that's an upgrade over the Teknetics and will work well at the beach. There are a couple of used Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II's on Ebay that I am watching, but you never know what you are getting when you buy used. (especially on Ebay) So I'm looking for a moderately priced mid level detector and have decided on the 540. Add in that I'm a grumpy old man that prefers to dig up money rather than spend it and you get where I'm coming from

 

[67GTA]

I buy all of mine from Bart, but you have to call and talk to him to see what kind of deals he can offer. The online stores generally all capitulate to the same retail price.

 

[A7thson]

Yeah it was later on Friday when I was looking and I just figured I'd give him a call on Monday since the site said call for best price M-F

 

[A7thson]

So I ended up getting a 540 base package from Bart at Big Boy Hobbies. Thanks HighPlainsHunter on the offer, but I couldn't pass up the deal he made on a new one. I figured I'd just go with the base and see how I like it before I put more money into coils etc. If it works well in the soil around here, and at the beach, then I can figure out what I want to do about coils. I did see a nice battery pack for it that has some appeal:



Does anybody have any experience with it? If so how is the run time, weight, charging time, fit, etc on it?

 

[HighPlainsHunter]

Welcome to the Vanquish club...

 

[angelito1]

Great choice

 

[A7thson]

Well I received it from Bart. It arrived safe and sound with excellent turn around time. I checked and it came updated with the latest firmware. I'd have to knock off a couple points for their placement of the mini usb plug. That thing is buried in the housing and you can barely see the plug in order to line up the cable. It doesn't even sit flush. basically it's soldered onto the board and has an opening in the plastic to get to it. They also cheap out and only send you a power cable vs a data cable so if you don't have a data cable laying around you can't update the machine. I guess that's part of how they keep the price lower. Other than that it seems to work well. The weather hasn't been very cooperative here so I haven't gone out with it other than in my yard where it picked up an old pipe fitting and a file that my other detector must have missed. The sounds and setup is going to take some getting used to, but it seems fairly easy. The pin pointer function is a little strange. It would be nice if there was some marking on the coil to show where it was centered but that's a minor thing. I'm assuming its centered under the arm. The headphones in the base package are the wired, which is what I am used to. I haven't tried any bluetooth ones yet but probably will soon. I can't believe Minelab is racking you for $130 for a pair of bluetooth headphones. I have a couple of sets (yes low latency) that I'll probably just pair and use. I'm looking forward to a break in the weather so I can get out in a couple of the tot fields and try it out.