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Decisions decisions

Teapotthomas

New Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2020
Messages
6
Hey all, hope you're all ok.

I'm in the market for a "new" detector and don't want to part with too much money.

I've seen the new vanquish and simplex and although quite a decent price range I'm looking at getting something second hand so I get a bit more for my money.

I've got my eye on two minelab machines, the sovereign elite and the quattro. After lots of searching I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on the sovereign as I'll mostly be using it on the beach when I go on my jolly hols.

I'm looking for opinions on whether this is a good or bad decision!

My logic is that the price of the elite should pretty much stay the same over the length of time I own it (if it doesn't break) and when I come to upgrade in the future I can sell for pretty much what I paid for it. Although a warranty on a new detector is nice to have and repair costs on sovereigns aren't cheap.

Any advice is welcome and appreciated!

Thanks
 
Hi, welcome.

Do the Sovereign or Quattro offer advantages over the Vanquish for the type of hunting you'll be doing, or is it more about holding value? What would you say the basic req's are for where you want to go?

The Explorer 2 and SE Pro would seem to be newer and/or better FBS units with FE/CO displays as compared to the Quattro and Sovereign BBS, and (from what I've seen) they're in a similar price range used, with the SE Pro often being more expensive.

Perhaps others will have better advice on these.

Good luck out there!
 
If you go to the want ad section of this forum, someone is selling their Sovereign. Can't speak for the Minelab machines you are looking at (I own an E-Trac), but the Simplex is an outstanding machine! It will handle the dry sand beaches, and if you don't mind a little chatter will do surprisingly well in the wet stuff too (waterproof too)...good luck and happy hunting!
 
I’m not versed in freshwater hunting, “wet sand” hunting or saltwater hunting, but I would agree that going to the next generation of Minelab like the Explorer2 or SEPro is what I would do, knowing what I DO know. I don’t know what you budget is or where you do most of your hunting, so that would be a start to get more ideas put forth.
 
Not sure what the advantage would be. Both are older units although good from their time period. Depending on how much that sovereign will cost you.....400 to 450 range I am guessing.... I would hold out for a used equinox.

The elite is not very well balanced and the quattro is heavy. Matter of fact both are heavy.....compared to the newer units.

Not saying they would not serve your purpose well but battery life is not All that great with either of those machines as well.

These are my own thoughts and I do not know if you have considered any of that


Plus both are a lot slower on recovery speed compared to the equinox too.

Anyways.....food for thought.

You will enjoy an equinox much more than either of those 2 units your considering.
 
I'll mainly be hunting beaches with the rare occasion of pasture.
As for budget, I'm looking at 300 max, with the sovereign being 290 with the possibility of haggling it down, the quattro is a smidge more.
Since I'll be on the beach I would like to be able to find jewellery, which is why I am leaning towards BBS as I've read that the FBS units arent too good at that.

I like the idea of the vanquish, with it being foldable, cheap and with warranty but I end up looking at what it doesn't have and then slowly move up in price to the equinox 600 and then it's too expensive. Also worried about buying a used eq 600 incase the water proofing isn't up to scratch

Hopefully this has provided some more info, appreciate the replies, thanks again!
 
Hey all, hope you're all ok.

I'm in the market for a "new" detector and don't want to part with too much money.

I've seen the new vanquish and simplex and although quite a decent price range I'm looking at getting something second hand so I get a bit more for my money.

I've got my eye on two minelab machines, the sovereign elite and the quattro. After lots of searching I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on the sovereign as I'll mostly be using it on the beach when I go on my jolly hols.

I'm looking for opinions on whether this is a good or bad decision!

My logic is that the price of the elite should pretty much stay the same over the length of time I own it (if it doesn't break) and when I come to upgrade in the future I can sell for pretty much what I paid for it. Although a warranty on a new detector is nice to have and repair costs on sovereigns aren't cheap.

Any advice is welcome and appreciated!

Thanks
I owned the elite and ran it in no discrimination except iron. Great detector for the beach! I also had the digital readout to help me.
Love the tones it makes
I still have my black widow headphones for it.
Now that I have an Equinox 800 I didn't use my elite so I sold it.
 
Not sure what the advantage would be. Both are older units although good from their time period. Depending on how much that sovereign will cost you.....400 to 450 range I am guessing.... I would hold out for a used equinox.

The elite is not very well balanced and the quattro is heavy. Matter of fact both are heavy.....compared to the newer units.

Not saying they would not serve your purpose well but battery life is not All that great with either of those machines as well.

These are my own thoughts and I do not know if you have considered any of that


Plus both are a lot slower on recovery speed compared to the equinox too.

Anyways.....food for thought.

You will enjoy an equinox much more than either of those 2 units your considering.

I hip mounted my sovereign, it was light then.
Equinox is better but more cash, maybe a used Equinox 600 would be best on ones wallet.
 
Don't let the few Equinox water issues scare you away from them. There are MANY more that have no issues when fully submerged. I have the 800 and have submerged it many times...last night being the most recent without issues.
 
I've not really looked at the 600 just because of the price and the fact I won't be using it too much until I can find a club to join. But after looking at it in more detail it does seem like it would suit me for my needs perfectly, apart from the price...
 
Sovereigns are great machines for the wet sand and lots of coil options out there, but they are slower tech than the latest things out there. Good solid machines though...
 
Not to further complicate, but Makro Multi Kruzers can be had fairly inexpensively ~400 or less second hand. They're apparently a lot of detector, especially for beach use. There's one on ebay I've had my eye on that they may just take 400 for.

Quite a few Kruzer vs Equinox threads out there. If there are negatives, I may have missed... it looked like build quality was outstanding and performance as well. They aren't simultaneous multi-freq like 600/800 but adjustable. And they come with wireless headphones like the 800 (although 800 uses BT aptX LL). Perhaps there is some reason they aren't more popular?

https://md-hunter.com/comparison-makro-multi-kruzer-vs-minelab-equinox-800-ground-test/
https://md-hunter.com/makro-multi-kruzer-salt-water-beach-test/
 
Another philosophy is to choose what you'll least likely regret or feel wanting. The Nox 600/800 has rather good resale value in good shape and it's worth calling or emailing around vendors as new prices are different than listed. 3 year warranty can offer peace of mind as well.

Vanquish 340 is a good way to give the ML multi-iq technology a whirl at $199. Seems a lot of value for the tech, it of course doesn't have all the settings as the 600 and 800 but that can be a good thing too. Lever lock shafts, and I like the elliptical coils more (V10 coil seems perfect), which aren't available yet for the 600/800. Didn't jive with the optional Nox 6" coil, it was just too small.

All that said, the Sovereign Elite sounds like a good deal.
 
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I think as much as I like the sovereign, I'm worried about being stung by repair costs down the line. If I can find a good deal on a 600 then I'd go for it. I guess I'll just wait and see what comes up and have a think about how much I really want the sovereign (quite a lot!)

Thanks for all the replies everyone, definitely food for thought.
 
You can't beat FBS technology imo. Having had the safari ( same as Quattro) ,,,I'd say get a explorer SE. Explorer SE is just so much better imo.
 
The sovereign elite is a capable machine. I swing the GT. Keep in mind that Minelab quits manufacturing parts for machines that have been discontinued for more than five years. As time passes it becomes more and more difficult to find repair parts.
 
I did contact the repair centre in the UK to get a general idea and he said that they have all the spare parts, and he tries to fix the problem before replacing. Also the sovereign I'm looking at has been repaired in 2018 with a depth modification too as well as a NEL hunter coil being added in 2019. So that's a bit of a reassurance that it might be ok for a while.
 
Just an update,

I bought the elite, tested it out at home and noticed that the alkaline battery pack wasn't working. Machine would power on for a second and the sound fizzled out in a low grumble. NiMH batteries worked fine and the machine was running smoothly. Air tested a small silver ring at around 32cm's which was crazy to me as my first detector (cscope 1220xd) couldn't get anywhere near that. I noticed that noise cancel band 1 wouldn't allow the machine to detect anything, it just had a threshold sound. Contacted the repair centre in the UK and was quoted at £95 - £125 for repairs. Contacted the seller and asked for a refund. Was offered a refund of £125 to keep it and pay for repairs. Declined as I needed the detector by the 2nd of August and the repairs wouldn't even get looked at until the 1st.

Just got a reply and refund this morning. The seller had smashed the machjne to pieces and said that it wouldn't cause any more problems... Absolute shame and a waste of what could have been an amazing detector if circumstances were right.

Back to the drawing board...

Vanquish is looking more and more likely now!
 
He did that???? Well if he did that to the machine that had some small issues....I can only imagine how he really took care of the unit. If I were you and I guess you are in the UK......I would really try to get into contact with a local club near you to see if any of those guys have any detectors used for sale. You might be surprised at what you may be able to get your hands on. Good luck!!
 
Also I know your looking at minelab multi frequency machines.....however....why not walk before you run.....why don't you try out the nokta simplex?? It should be in your price range.....it is well made and would be brand new with a warranty....then you can get a chance to detect and maybe in the future you can trade the simplex in towards a new unit for down payment for you next better machine......just a thought. I know the simplex is not ideal for wet sand but when you get into the water itself it will calm down and also in dry sand it would work just fine. Plus it would be good as a land unit as well.....just some options for you to consider.
 
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