Minelab Vanquish or Nokta Simplex??

sissylala69s said:

Hi all
I want to give a little background to give you an idea of what might work for me
I'm starting to think maybe I'm just not patient enough to learn a detector before I decide I don't like it
I've only owned 3 detectors
My 1st was a cheap impulse buy at Harbor Freight
I replaced that with a Bounty Hunter (I don't remember which model) then bought a Garrett ACE 200
My issue with all of them was that the depth was 4-6" max and they either seemed to find everything from trash to coins, or didn't find anything
I've spent hours researching online trying to decide what's next and came across info on the Minelab Vanquish and Nokta
Simplex
I'm curious which y'all think are better and why
Thank you in advance

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Hello, not sure if you read this thread yet, but we just had a pretty good discussion over this exact comparison a couple of days ago. Some great info.

https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=284804

I own both of these machines and I like them both. Your decision might come down to your budget and what types of hunting you do (or need the machine to do) Both of these will certainly find you stuff (trash included) and both can reach 6 inches of depth no problem. Good luck!

sissylala69s said:

...I'm starting to think maybe I'm just not patient enough to learn a detector before I decide I don't like it...

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First, welcome to the forum! I’m afraid I can’t offer an opinion whether a you would mesh better with a Simplex or a Vanquish - I’m just not familiar with either machine, among other reasons.

But I can offer this food for thought before you spend any more money: Yes, patience is huge in this hobby. Every detector, especially machines from different manufacturers, have their own language, idiosyncrasies, and strengths. It takes time and patience to truly learn any machine and get the most out of it. Patience might be the single most important trait for any detectorist to have!

sissylala69s said:

... My issue with all of them was that the depth was 4-6" max and they either seemed to find everything from trash to coins, or didn't find anything...

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Keep in mind that any machine, whether from Harbor Freight or a top of the line Minelab or Garrett, will “find” everything from trash to coins. Remember, no machine will be a magic wand that only finds “good” targets no matter how much you spend. Especially as a newcomer to the hobby, you must spend time learning how to interpret your machine’s signals through practice. With time and patience you can drastically increase your good target to trash ratio just by listening carefully to what the machine is telling you. A rough rule of thumb that’s often recommended even for more experienced detectorists is that you should spend at least 100 total hours operating a new machine to truly get a feel for it’s language.

Good luck on your choice!

Both are great machines / detectors ..

I think a Newbee needs a detector that has the big range of VDI numbers.. 0 - 99.. Not the 0 - 44 VDI numbers.. Easier to learn
I picked up a the first series of F75 . Just a simple detector to use .. Like they say all detectors should have that trigger pinpointer.. Another sleeper detector is the Makro Racer 2

Vanquish 540 is what I would get. Best bang for the buck out there.

If you got the cash and can swing it I would go for the XP ORX.


If you cannot afford the ORX then stick with the Vanquish 540.

If you have normal to high mineralization dirt or regularly want to detect at a salt water beach, the Vanquish 440 or 540 is a great option. Unlike what was said earlier, the Vanquish has a -9 to +40 target ID range which actually works out to be 9 iron segments and 40 non-ferrous segments. It has extremely stable tone and numerical target IDs.

The Simplex has beach capabilities that in one way exceed the Vanquish which is you can submerge the entire detector. You can only submerge the coil and lower stem on the Vanquish safely since the control box is not waterproof. The Simplex being a single frequency VLF detector with salt beach internal settings can detect fairly well at some salt water beaches but the Vanquish being simultaneous multi frequency will have very few problems detecting high salt content wet sand and shallow surf. In higher mineralization, the Simplex will not detect as well as the Vanquish and will have unstable tone and target ID on some targets. In milder dirt it will go a bit deeper than the Vanquish 440 with the 10" coil and about the same as the Vanquish 540 with the 12" coil. As targets get deeper the Simplex becomes mostly a tone only detector while the Vanquish will have good numbers and tones to the edge of detection. The Simplex has faster target recovery speed than the Vanquish in its fastest mode but not by much.

The Simplex and Vanquish 540 (not the 440) have built in wireless audio systems. The Simplex has a proprietary system that will only work with their wireless audio products. The Vanquish 540 will work with the supplied ML80 wireless headphones or any compatible Bluetooth 4.0 or higher ATPX low latency wireless audio headphones or earbuds. They are both outstanding entry level priced detectors that detect much better than their price.

The currently being released Garrett APEX is also a strong possibility for the best entry level detector along with the Vanquish and Simplex detectors. It has a nice mix of features that compete well with the Vanquish and Simplex. I am getting one in the near future unless there are some unhappy new customers.