Sorry to hear the Apex didn't work out for you. I'm not close to a beach (coastal) and use my Apex devices for all sort of land-based hunting. I have three of them and keep the 'Raider' coil mounted on one should I hunt a plowed field, rangeland, pasture, etc. Currently I have a NEL 5" DD on another for working in very dense trash. My full-time use Apex keeps the 'Ripper' coil mounted.Trashfinder: said:I am really glad it turned out to be a decent beach machine, I am stuck in the middle of the dry land mass and had hoped it would be a great land machine too, but just could not compete with my dry dirt machines. I look forward to a more elite land model in the future. Great job on the beach!
Princess: I feel Garrett erred in grouping the Apex with the Ace series. It is not an Ace in deign or function. The Apex is a wonderful detector I have been using mine since it first was released, and I now own 3 Apex units. I keep a different coil mounted on each one, but my primary-use unit has the 'Ripper' coil mounted.
I can use it in urban Coin Hunting applications but also for some of my Relic Hunting tasks where I am working in a lot of Iron debris. I bought all of mine with the wireless MS-3 headphones so they are all paired, and the audio is great. I paid $400 for one of them and $425 for the others.
Monte
Thanks for the informative responses! I've noted that the Apex hasn't received much acclamation on this forum, and so it's nice to hear from Apex users about your experience with it. Yes, I am indeed mainly a park hunter, though in the Midwest, not the Central Valley. As I said, I'm very content with my Ace 250, so I'm not in the market for the Apex, but I hope Garrett does well with the sales of this detector.Hi Princess.and no Raider 5 i'm not talking to you ,regarding the apex i really like it.The performance on ocean beaches is phenomenal especially on the black sand so much so that i've only used my next favorite ocean detector a couple of times in the last year and half and it cost 3 times the cost of an apex.The other benefit is it's pretty good as a nugget hunter. we tested it at the shop i bought it at and the owner is a prospector.I think i recall you being a park hunter from the central valley in which case your ace is fine ,i think there's very few gold rings in California parks that ultra expensive detectors will hit that the ace 250 would miss.The thing detector snobs don't like about the 250 is the little delay when you sweep over a target but that doesn't bother me at all you get used to it in about 15 minutes so keep at it.
Apex settings zero disc multi salt even on dry sand wide open sens except heavy black sand with wave action i drop sens to factory default but once solidly in the ocean back to wide open sens
I love my three Apex devices, but you are not going to do well trying MS (Multi-Salt) on dry ground because it will not Ground Balance to the more challenging iron mineralized ground. It is best suited for wet alkaline environments or a wet saltwater beach.
Gold chains, if small and thin, can be as difficult as "micro jewelry' in many environments. SMF can do certain things for us, but it is not 'perfect' for all applications. It also might not provide the best depth or other performance depending upon the environment while a Selectable Single-Frequency can have an advantage. Quite often, based on the site I am hunting, I will opt for 10 kHz or 15 kHz. I might get a little better performance, and if there's EMI, selecting a Single Frequency will often eliminate the issue.
Don't hesitate using a Single Frequency instead of MF from time to time and find out what or when it works to your advantage. The Apex was engineered the way it is for good reason.
Monte
Most of the time I'm on relatively flat or or smooth range land or pasture land, and I am fortunate that I do not encounter encounter too many fields with deep furrows.Rock Jock: said:This is a little off topic, but since you mentioned plowed fields and I am also using a Garrett (ATMax), I thought I would ask you and any others with such experience, how you detect in deeply plowed furrows. Any thoughts to share?