Minelab Vanquish (340 440 540) tips and questions

[2020Jed]

I'm not familiar with the details of the V540's notch discrimination system, but the upper limit of your discrimination setting is almost certainly causing a problem. I'm assuming you set this at 40 to avoid the copper and aluminium trash? Small ferrous trash (iron/steel) is relatively easy to discriminate out and small aluminium foil shreds can usually be blocked too, but discrimination settings higher than this risk blocking desirable targets. You probably cannot search for a medium/high conductivity target such as 22 karat gold AND eliminate high conductivity copper and aluminium at the same time, as the target ID numbers will likely overlap.

Incidentally, neither a natural gold nugget nor a $1/$2 coin will give you clear guidance as to the likely target ID for a 22 karat Krugerrand. I'd guess that a Krugerrand would produce a higher ID number than a $1.

Yes I now see my problem when using the V540 discrimination system settings - in the absence of a Krugerrand target ID number it looks like I might change the range from current 30-40 segments on to 20-40 segments on. FYI I tried to attach the V450 manual in PDF format to this post but no luck so far. It can be downloaded from https://www.minelab.com/__files/f/414493/4901-0305-2 Inst. Manual, VANQUISH 440 540 EN_WEB.pdf

 

[Ded Driver]

Its worth noting that the Au $1 & $2 coins are, quoted, 'made from 92 per cent copper, six per cent aluminium and two per cent nickel'.

 

[Goldtarget]

It has a large metal jar lid in close proximity.

Thats going to be the real challenge.

Odds are the id youll actually get will be a hybrid at best.

Stack nails near coins or stack bottle tops in coins or stack differing denominations in flat overlapping piles and youll see what I mean.

If the jar is upright youd be quicker trying to locate the lid.

If on its side its anyones guess. You need something with realky good iron descrim and recovery speed me thinks to catch a good coin signal.

 

[2020Jed]

It has a large metal jar lid in close proximity.

Thats going to be the real challenge.

Odds are the id youll actually get will be a hybrid at best.

Stack nails near coins or stack bottle tops in coins or stack differing denominations in flat overlapping piles and youll see what I mean.

If the jar is upright youd be quicker trying to locate the lid.

If on its side its anyones guess. You need something with realky good iron descrim and recovery speed me thinks to catch a good coin signal.

Good points OldGT - I suspect the glass jar might have been buried upside down so the ferrous lid would be below the 10 Krugerrand's. My reason for thinking this is my mate's (now deceased) father was known for his practical-common sense - so if the metal lid (on an upside down jar) corroded the coins (presumably also wrapped in canvas/cloth/hessian) would not become immersed in or collect any water/moisture present in the ground (note this is just my speculation).
Why would someone bury the Krugerrand's ? - he apparently didn't trust banks & had lived thru the Great Depression so this was his way of having emergency funds readily on hand should the family ever need it. Not a bad idea given the current pandemic.

 

[naildigger]

hey jed, an 18ct gold ring comes in at 18-20 on my vanquish 440, and will pick up a 0.2g picker at 1 1/2inches at a 3 on the scale. i would suggest running the machine with only -9 to 0 iron discrimination, and only dig strong repeatable signals above that. scratchy signals will be iron, and to check that, turn the discrimination off and run over the target again and the number on the screen should be -9 to 0. all signals higher than that, i would dig. those krugerrands will be worth the extra digging through a bit of trash. cheers, stu

 

[JoseyPark62]

Thinking about the Vanquish 540 pro pack to go over trashy rock bars and camp sites in the FNQ gold areas. Having come across a few of these areas with the SDC or ATX , enthusiasm wanes when 99% of targets are bits or rusty tin , even though using a magnet does help. Have many members had experience with the Vanquish yet ? Some good advice there from naildigger.

 

[excelpest2002]

just bought 54o pro pack am taking into sunny corner a pretty hot area will post results i think the multi will be a breakthrough not just on the beach watch n see guys,...

 

[excelpest2002]

well i gave the vanquish a run on the beach today, it is as i expected after its trial in the bush, very good. in jewellery mode again, full sensitivity, it performed flawlessly on dry and wet sand. even the muddy sand in the intertidal zone, it gave no falsing signals and and discriminated excellently, weeding out about 90% of the iron rubbish. bottle caps came through at a solid 14, the same as a 9ct gold ring, but had a slightly scratchy signal, giving them away as trash. ring pulls and foil gave a 4-5 , so no avoiding them as a small gold earing comes in at the same signal. i dug some bottle caps at over 1 foot in depth and a ring pull at 14 inches, so depth is good in wet sand. $1 coins gave super clear signals at 22-23, 5c pieces a solid 10, and i dug some big iron pieces at over a foot just for interests sake. the switch on and go aspect of this detector and its performance on the beach make it a worthwhile addition my prospecting gear, and very good all rounder for the price. i havent found any gold rings or a big fat gold necklace( hope hope), but im happy with it, ps: i put aldis brand alkaline batteries in this time, 2 hours and still reading full, so il see how the battery life pans out. cheers, naildigger :Y:

can you tell me more about your run in the bush please mate and settings used ?? thanhk you kindly, jw

 

[excelpest2002]

Soooooo has anyone one here got one yet?

i reckon most of us are a bit too smart for that

i think will surprise you its game changer not just on a beach

 

[Евгений]

Hello everyone. I tried a 33g nugget. The scale showed 14-16.
540

 

[Dave79]

Get a dick Smith detector, anything released in the llast 40 years would have deteced that!

 

[Capp]

Taking my 540 out for the first time this weekend and will start the learning curve of how to use it, and will give feedback on how it went.

 

[JoseyPark62]

Thinking about the Vanquish 540 pro pack to go over trashy rock bars and camp sites in the FNQ gold areas. Having come across a few of these areas with the SDC or ATX , enthusiasm wanes when 99% of targets are bits or rusty tin , even though using a magnet does help. Have many members had experience with the Vanquish yet ? Some good advice there from naildigger.

Bought the Vanquish 540 pro pack back in July and took it out to Georgetown to check out 2 areas where old timers had camps. Running in all metal mode was the only option. The other modes all gave false readings (all between 0 to 19 ) on very old rusty pieces of tobacco or matchbox tins ,where as all metal gave readings below 0. This learning curve took several hours from digging every signal which were no deeper than 50mm - thankful for that. From then on (running in all metal mode ) I only dug readings above 0. The machine was 100% correct every time - brass buttons , stainless tweasers , pieces of lead 150mm long. My deduction is that the mineralised ground must cause these false readings in coin , jewellery or relic mode. Has anyone got thoughts on this ?

 

[Muk]

Nice am looking to get one for relic hunting cheers Muk.

 

[Eldorado]

Nice am looking to get one for relic hunting cheers Muk.

Vanquish models are $100 -$140 off at the moment at Anaconda.

 

[Capp]

Ended up going near Dunnolly (Vic) and found a few relics. unfortunately didnt find any gold.

 

[Upside]

Upside,

How's the 540 going? Thinking of getting one.

Cheers

Been a while since I've been on here, apologies for the late reply but if you haven't got one already, go for it! I like it. I paid about $480 by memory, they've gone up a chunk.

 

[Upside]

Quick update. The vanquish isn't as good as the xterra 705. It doesn't have the same discrimination power as the xterra does. It finds targets very well, as good as the xterra,but lacks the power to decide what it is. Perhaps it's the user=myself?

Another comparison between the 2 is the xterra deletes target ID by numbers which is clear and precise, where the vanquish deletes by showing lines that sit not clearly marked on the top of the case. It's kinda hit and miss it seems. So if I've deleted say 19, it seems to delete 20 also. Its just not clear enough.

Yep I know they aren't the same detector, or same price, I'm just comparing the 2 because I have both. I'd say get the xterra. erfect:

 

[Upside]

 

[Upside]

Took me 1 and a half hours to find $39.20 with the vanquish. Usually I'd have found close to double that with the xterra at 1 of my spots. Still not bad really. I'm going jewellery hunting with the vanquish tomorrow, see how it goes! :Y: