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diggindeep
Let me first state that this is in Utah soil which for the most part is mineralized and has a high alkaline content.

I know Utah, and I know a lot of the other places in Nevada, Oregon and Idaho where mineralization is a bit tougher than some nice places in the 'mid-west' or 'back-east.' That raised a flag as I read your post .....

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diggindeep
Horse shoe was on with both machines.

And that's where I was concerned with regard to the mineralized ground you're hunting, mainly with the Vanquish.

Why? Because of the design glitch due to the preset Ground Balance in the three default Discriminate modes with the Vanquish series. Two of the modes, Coin and Jewelry, have a reaction opposite to the Relic mode's GB design where they have either a Positive GB or a Negative GB audio reaction as if being too Negative or too Positive. Unfortunately, this is caused by not being able to Ground Balance the Vanquish. The Equinox 800 can also reflect this audio glitch or misbehavior, IF it is left in '0' GB setting and not properly Ground Balanced. To me, that is the one major advantage to the Equinox .... being able to Ground Balance..

What it means is you can not make use of the 'Horseshoe' button to accept All of the Disc. range segments, because searching over mounds or 'humps' or dips, depressions or voids, or lifting or lowering the coil over very mineralized ground will cause a lot of annoying Iron Audio low-tone behavior simply caused by the ground and an improper GB. However, it can be worked around quite handily.

How is that? Simple. Step 1 ... Do not use the Horseshoe button on the 540 unless it is to adjust the Iron Audio Volume or to activate / de-activate the Low Iron-Bias setting. On the 440 do not use the Horseshoe button, period.

Step 2... Select the default factory mode that provides the recovery speed you prefer, then Accept ALL of the Discrimination segments except the first two, with the 540, or the first one, with the 440, and save that setting in the Custom slot. That way you can still search and hear almost all of the ferrous debris, BUT eliminate the very low ground mineral response from the off-adjusted preset GB.

For example, on my main-use V-540 I keep the 5X8 DD mounted, and used the default Jewelry mode, Accepted all but the first 2 Disc. notches, then Saved that in the Custom program slot. On my other V-540 with the 9X12 DD mounted, I did the same thing using the Relic mode,and only rejecting the first two Disc. segments and Saved it to my Custom program for that coil. Then I can go detecting and use any of the three factory default modes, and any settings I like, but if I want to check an area, instead of using the Horseshoe for All Metal accept, I simply opt for my Custom program. That eliminated the falsing in rough terrain or highly mineralized ground

Most of the time I prefer to just leave my Vanquish devices in the Custom program and hunt any locations, and that is also helped by having the Low-Tone Iron Audio Volume on the 540 that I keep at '2'.

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diggindeep
The Equinox and Vanquish give rock solid ID down to about the 6" level on small low conductors like small pewter buttons. After that the Vanquish target ID and signal get choppy and/or you get a lot of negative numbers, which makes it hard to tell deep iron from a good target.

Another observation in iron. I got into an area that had quite a bit of iron. The Equinox got 2 good signals close together in this iron patch. One read at 9 the other at 12. With the Vanquish I couldn't separate the targets from the iron, it was just a jumble of positive and negative numbers. The targets both turned out to be small pieces of camp lead.

So anyway I'm really impressed with the Vanquish, It's a great backup detector or loaner for friends and family. I fell like I could take it on all but my most challenging sites and do pretty good with it.

I took both the Equinox and Vanquish 540 to a couple of old sites and hunted with both to compare responses from located targets. Because the sites I was working seldom produce anything deeper than 4", if that, and are too littered to let things work deeper and still be found, I noticed the V-540 gave me all the performance I needed compared with the Equinox w/6" DD coil Vs the 5X8 DD on the Vanquish. IF I was working a private yard or some place where i could take advantage of 'fine-tuning' the EQ-800, fine. But in most places I hunt where I would be using either of these two models, I found, as you suggested, the V-540 is a very capable detector as it comes. For me and my wants and needs, that's what I preferred and am outfitted with two of them ... each with their own different coil size ready-to-go.

I would suggest selecting the better mode for the coil you want to use, saving it to the Custom slot, and eliminate only the first two Disc. segments. Accept all the rest and then use the 540. I think you'll find it to work a bit quieter without having to hear the falsing from ground / coil variations during the search. I know it helped eliminate a lot of the noisy behavior I was dealing with, and in the end that made the 540 a much more enjoyable detector to use.

Monte

"Your EYES ... the only 100% accurate form of Discrimination!"
Stinkwater Wells Trading Post
Metal Detector Evaluations and Product ReviewsI'm now 'back home' in Farr West Utah monte@ahrps.org ... or ... monte@stinkwaterwells.com 503-481-8147Detector Outfit: A selection of my chosen makes and models, with the best coils mounted for the tasks I'll take on.F-19 * F-5 * Racer * Racer 2 * V-540 * Relic * Silver Sabre µMAX * Bandido II µMAX * XLTPinpointers: Garrett AT Pro-Pointers .. Headphones: 'Hornet' .. MS-3 Z-Lynk .. ML-80 *** All working well today to make memories for tomorrow. ***