Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Apex Reveal thoughts

ToySoldier said:
Without a manual available online yet, it seems like the Apex has the option of a simpler binary audio mode (but now with proportional audio) as well as a new five tone audio (also with proportional) that sounds a bit like the At Max. They could have explained those features better.
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As you noted, without a manual to peruse, we’re all just grasping at hints. But I didn’t get the impression from the videos that there were two different audio options. I understood the audio to be set as binary like the Ace 400 I used to own (as opposed to Roll Tone Audio of the AT Pro/AT Max), divided into 5 tones instead of 3, and with proportional audio from the AT Pro/AT Max added.

As a minor knock, it also appears that the iron audio volume control is either high or low (or off) - no other intermediate volume levels available. (Edit: I specifically asked about iron audio volume control during the Relics Radio podcast on May 21, 2020 and got a great answer directly from Steve Moore of Garrett. Iron volume has 8 selectable volume levels just like the overall machine volume on the Apex. The full podcast can be heard here: YouTube: Relics Radio Podcast interview with Steve Moore introducing the Apex)

Overall, I would expect some sort of AT version of the Apex relatively soon, adding waterproofing, roll tone & proportional audio, additional higher frequency (40 kHz?) in the mix, and maybe more user selectable features such as finer adjustment of iron volume, customizable tone breaks, etc. Maybe a lower frequency, too? 2.5 kHz?
 
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AirmetTango said:
As you noted, without a manual to peruse, we’re all just grasping at hints. But I didn’t get the impression from the videos that there were two different audio options. I understood the audio to be set as binary like the Ace 400 I used to own (as opposed to Roll Tone Audio of the AT Pro/AT Max), divided into 5 tones instead of 3, and with proportional audio from the AT Pro/AT Max added......
Click to expand...

Ahhhh...I see. I couldn't get my head around it not having their Pro Audio (tone roll), so I was trying to figure out why they were going on about binary audio. OK, then.
 
Dflan83 said:
This is so disappointing to me, I was hoping garrett had a new flagship on their hands or at least something to compete with the equinox. My warranty finally ran out on my ctx and I need another multifreqency machine I can take in the water, guess that is the equinox.
I wanted to support a us company but not making the machine waterproof is like buying a new corvette with crappy tires... Don't understand this decision unless its to make a new future model that is waterproof and add cost
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Minelab went in reverse from the Nox to the Vanquish. Garrett will move forward from the ACE Apex to the AT Apex of whatever they want to call it. Not a bad strategy. The feedback from the current Apex will allow Garrett to address concerns and wants. Two things about the Nox that I wish were different are, it doesn't have the overload feature like my other detectors. It's not deep and I have good soil down here. It' not particularly balanced all that well either. Sure you can buy different rods and counter weights but that only adds to the cost of the detector.
 
I'm looking forward to the first reviews of how the Multi-flex operates. Will it be just as good as Minelab's Multi-IQ or even better? And I would like to know the lifetime of the built-in battery. Sooner or later it will need a replacement, just like any other electronic device such as a phone, laptop, etc. How many charge cycles will the battery last before it needs to get replaced, and when it needs replacement what will be the cost.
 
JHM said:
I'm looking forward to the first reviews of how the Multi-flex operates. Will it be just as good as Minelab's Multi-IQ or even better? And I would like to know the lifetime of the built-in battery. Sooner or later it will need a replacement, just like any other electronic device such as a phone, laptop, etc. How many charge cycles will the battery last before it needs to get replaced, and when it needs replacement what will be the cost.
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I'm wondering that too, but I have a feeling we won't hear much about the battery for a while.

Hopefully, it will be user replaceable with not much more effort than what it takes to replace the Equinox's battery.

I worry about the fact that the Apex may require a non-standard battery, though.
 
kajunman said:
Minelab went in reverse from the Nox to the Vanquish. Garrett will move forward from the ACE Apex to the AT Apex of whatever they want to call it. Not a bad strategy. The feedback from the current Apex will allow Garrett to address concerns and wants. Two things about the Nox that I wish were different are, it doesn't have the overload feature like my other detectors. It's not deep and I have good soil down here. It' not particularly balanced all that well either. Sure you can buy different rods and counter weights but that only adds to the cost of the detector.
Click to expand...

You might want to read the manual again on the Nox regarding the overload feature.
 
The thing that impressed me the most was the modulated audio as it had a analog type tone to it. I never owned a ACE or AT-PRO, is the audio like this as sounds different on videos I have seen?
 
Harold said:
The thing that impressed me the most was the modulated audio as it had a analog type tone to it. I never owned a ACE or AT-PRO, is the audio like this as sounds different on videos I have seen?
Click to expand...
The Apex appears to do signal processing to determine the type of target it thinks it has found, then produces a "beep" of the appropriate tone (out of a choice of 5 tones based on the conductivity of the target). Then the detector decides how loud to play that beep based on the strength of the signal. This is what they are calling hybrid audio.

The pro audio on the AT Pro (and the audio on many other detectors) does less signal processing for you, and instead converts more of the characteristics of the signal directly to analog audio for you to interpret instead. This means a larger learning curve, but once you get good you can really start to tell what is in the ground just from the sound.

The lack of analog audio is one of my main issues with the Apex (although I understand why they did it, ease of use for beginners, and to leave a feature for the AT version they are no doubt working on). I like a more symbiotic relationship between the detector and the operator. Take the signal, do a certain amount of processing, but then let me in on what's going on too. Human brains are really good at pattern recognition. If you give us some practice and a detector that feeds a good amount of information to our ears we can do some amazing things.
 
barnett25 said:
The Apex appears to do signal processing to determine the type of target it thinks it has found, then produces a "beep" of the appropriate tone (out of a choice of 5 tones based on the conductivity of the target). Then the detector decides how loud to play that beep based on the strength of the signal. This is what they are calling hybrid audio.

The pro audio on the AT Pro (and the audio on many other detectors) does less signal processing for you, and instead converts more of the characteristics of the signal directly to analog audio for you to interpret instead. This means a larger learning curve, but once you get good you can really start to tell what is in the ground just from the sound.

The lack of analog audio is one of my main issues with the Apex (although I understand why they did it, ease of use for beginners, and to leave a feature for the AT version they are no doubt working on). I like a more symbiotic relationship between the detector and the operator. Take the signal, do a certain amount of processing, but then let me in on what's going on too. Human brains are really good at pattern recognition. If you give us some practice and a detector that feeds a good amount of information to our ears we can do some amazing things.
Click to expand...

Interesting enough that seems logical. Thanks!
 
Harold said:
The thing that impressed me the most was the modulated audio as it had a analog type tone to it. I never owned a ACE or AT-PRO, is the audio like this as sounds different on videos I have seen?
Click to expand...

The response above explained it very well. The AT Pro audio has a very analog-ish quality.

It's one of its best features aside from being waterproof and rugged. If you're open to relics and old deeper coins, then you shouldn't even need to look at the screen much because the most important info is coming from the quality and depth (volume) of the tones rather than specific numbers.
That's not to say you can't coin shoot with it, but you'll rely more on the audio AND numbers, especially with nickels.
 
To me the at pro has the best audio going,,even with all these new releases I still think the at pro audio tops them all. I have never heard anyone complain of a learning curve either with the at pro,that thing could be turned on and given to someone who never detected and they’d make great finds. Not sure what to make of what I’m reading?
 
So it is not a modulated type audio where a deeper coin at say 8" will be softer sounding than a coin at 3"? In the video it sounds softer like it was a deeper target but was it just showing it as a smaller target at same depth then?
 
kajunman said:
Minelab went in reverse from the Nox to the Vanquish. Garrett will move forward from the ACE Apex to the AT Apex of whatever they want to call it. Not a bad strategy. The feedback from the current Apex will allow Garrett to address concerns and wants. Two things about the Nox that I wish were different are, it doesn't have the overload feature like my other detectors. It's not deep and I have good soil down here. It' not particularly balanced all that well either. Sure you can buy different rods and counter weights but that only adds to the cost of the detector.
Click to expand...
The Nox is not deep??? Either your soil is terrible or you are doing something wrong. My 800 is just as deep or maybe even deeper than my CTX was in my soil. I have not seen a machine yet that could go deeper in my soil.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
detectorben said:
The Nox is not deep??? Either your soil is terrible or you are doing something wrong. My 800 is just as deep or maybe even deeper than my CTX was in my soil. I have not seen a machine yet that could go deeper in my soil.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I have great soil. Either no bar or 1 bar on my F75. The 75 beats the Nox. I'm not doing anything wrong. It's just not all that deep. Works well on the beach though looking for gold. It gets a little deeper in the wet sand.
 
woodbutcher said:
To me the at pro has the best audio going,,even with all these new releases I still think the at pro audio tops them all. I have never heard anyone complain of a learning curve either with the at pro,that thing could be turned on and given to someone who never detected and they’d make great finds. Not sure what to make of what I’m reading?
Click to expand...

I agree.

Not much of a learning curve.

I rely on the audio more so than the target ID.

Turning on iron audio over a target can be a game changer as well.
 
woodbutcher said:
To me the at pro has the best audio going,,even with all these new releases I still think the at pro audio tops them all. I have never heard anyone complain of a learning curve either with the at pro,that thing could be turned on and given to someone who never detected and they’d make great finds. Not sure what to make of what I’m reading?
Click to expand...


I do like the iron audio in the at pro.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Harold said:
So it is not a modulated type audio where a deeper coin at say 8" will be softer sounding than a coin at 3"? In the video it sounds softer like it was a deeper target but was it just showing it as a smaller target at same depth then?
Click to expand...

Both of the examples you gave are true. A penny at 8" will sound softer than a penny on the surface. A small earring at 6" will sound softer than a quarter at 6". The detector has very few hints about the actual depth of the target (which is why most detector's depth readings are not very accurate unless the target is something it was tuned for by the manufacturer). Mostly the detector just knows the signal is weak. It could be weak because it's small, or because it's deep.
 
woodbutcher said:
To me the at pro has the best audio going,,even with all these new releases I still think the at pro audio tops them all. I have never heard anyone complain of a learning curve either with the at pro,that thing could be turned on and given to someone who never detected and they’d make great finds. Not sure what to make of what I’m reading?
Click to expand...
I didn't mean to imply that the AT Pro wouldn't work fine for beginners. But if you look at the ACE series Garrett simplified the audio so much that the "ding" from a coin target sounds like money while lower conductors just "beep". The audio tells you nothing other than what discrimination category the target falls in. Nothing about depth, nothing about the nuance of the conductivity and reactance as the coil passes over. Compared with that, the pro audio setting on the AT Pro is very advanced.
 
Yes to me the Apex audio is nothing like the Ace. It really has me wanting to hear more as I love a good modulated audio detector. And adjustable is even better like CZs and Explorer/Etracs. I know that would be asking a bit much from a mid range priced detector though.
 
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