I have been trying to like the Vortex VX series since it was first released. I like to support the local North American brands as much as I can. I really appreciate John B. for keeping the Vortex talk going when he can.
First, I am not a Garrett FANBOY at all. I have been a long-time user of their pulse induction Axiom for gold prospecting here in Colorado. I also really like how they overhauled the higher frequency VLF, Garrett/Whites Goldmaster 24K after they bought Whites. Both of those gold prospecting specific detectors are world class detectors and are used effectively everywhere. Are they the absolute best in their class. No. I owned all of the AT series detectors at one time but I never had good results with them here in my area of Colorado and I didn't own them for very long.
So, I was as interested as anyone else when Garrett announced their next level simultaneous multi frequency detector line called the Vortex.
I absolutely hated their first attempt at SMF, the Apex. I actually liked the detector but it just worked really poorly here in multi and its SMF tech was no better than just using single frequency. It did okay in multi salt when I tested it.
The other latest simultaneous multi frequency detectors from the leading brands all work way better here using their simultaneous multi frequency tech than they work just using their selectable single frequency tech.
However, I like most people, was shocked at how weird the Vortex release was and how amateurish the software seemed. Just way too many self inflicted mistakes that anyone with the Vortex in their hands could easily experience.
I and many others tried to help Garrett get the VX9 straightened out in good faith, instead of just lambasting them at every chance.
It has taken 18 months, but Garrett's Vortex software team seem to be on the right track with their software updates from back in February 2026.
So, my previous biggest issues with the Vortex Series after they got the weird stuff fixed were its handling of magnetite infested ground when using it in Multi, its iron filter being too aggressive which makes even 4" deep, coin sized non-ferrous targets sound mostly like iron even on the lowest iron filter setting and its resulting unstable target IDs from trying to work in moderate to high magnetite and volcanic rock infested soil.
Today, I finally just decided to give the Vortex another chance.
I picked up a VX5 locally from a guy that was cutting his losses and giving up on it, for $250. It did not have the latest software update so I did the free online software update for it. The VX5 just does not have enough iron filter and recovery speed features to work well here and I kind of wanted to try it later on at some saltwater beach locations, so I used my 20% off Garrett discount code and upgraded it to a VX7 for $55 on Garrett's site. The VX7 actually has enough features and settings adjustments to work here as long as ground conditions allow.
I tried it recently at another site and ran it and a Deus 2 WS6 Master over the same ground. I was not very impressed with the VX7. It was super hot that day and that whole month and the ground was baked and really dry.
I tried it again to day, but just by itself at a location I and a friend of mine have absolutely pounded with our Equinox 800s, Manticore, Legend 2 and Deus 2. using 11" coils.
I wasn't expecting much from this VX7 and this was its last chance before I sold it.
Anyway, I did something with the VX7 that I absolutely could not do until today. It successfully completed a very select target dig hunt at a local public park.
All I can say is I actually liked using it today. The ground was fairly moist. Vortex VX7 ground balanced at 95.25. I was running Multi/Zero with recovery speed 2, bottle caps 1, iron filter 1, 5 tones. Nothing notched and I could hear absolutely everything including iron responses from the magnetite in the soil and from some manmade iron targets in the ground. I had iron volume on level 1 so the iron responses were not overwhelming. This VX7 has the 8.5X11" Raider coil so that coil is really a stretched out 8.5" coil. Maximum depth for most roughly 9" coils on deeper coin sized targets here is about 8" due to the moderate to high mineralization no matter what SMF VLF detector is being used.
I was specifically listening for two types of targets. Shallower possible recent USA coin and jewelry drops and deeper, fainter possible much older coin and jewelry over 100 years old that were lost in this public park in the early 1900s.
I am familiar enough with the standard USA coin target IDs and tone breaks on the VX7 in 5 tones to know what I'm doing and listening for. I also wanted to find as many different pull tab varieties as I could and compare target IDs to see how they differed. This old park has machine gun level aluminum and iron targets infestation from surface to about 10" deep. Even today, almost all of the targets shown in the photo below had other targets in the plug with them. However, even with these co-located targets, I was able to get enough accurate information from the VX7 to proceed with recovery of these targets. Most targets were in the 4" to 7" deep range.
View attachment IMG_6618.jpg
Most of the time, the VX7 game me enough information to predict what I was about to dig as far as US coin type and as far as conductivity. The two nickels were 6" deep and had steady 52/53 target IDs. A couple of the pull tabs had similar target IDs but there were some higher numbers to and the audio was slightly different. The zinc pennies were all 74 to 76 no matter how deep they were. I dug one that was 6" deep....... The clad dimes and copper Memorial pennies all had consistent and repeatable target IDs and tones. So did the quarters.
The 1942 Mercury dime sounded really nice at 5" depth and had a steady 94 target ID. The wheat pennies were at 5 to 7" and their target IDs were more jumpy, But they consistently had the highest of the 5 tones and had only a few iron responses.
So, very impressive for a short hunt. I regularly use Deus 2, Manticore and Legend 2 on similar sites for similar 2 hour or so hunts and usually have similar results with one or more wheat pennies and one silver item along with $2 to $5 dollars US in clad.
I still am not totally happy with the iron filtering and I could use even more target ID stability. I don't care much for the audio sound quality on the Vortex series either. It just sounds kind of harsh to me. I also don't care much for the flimsy and hard to adjust shaft system. The blue paint doens't matter to me, but I would rather it was black, gray or an earth color but it's a Vortex. At least it isn't yellow or bright green!!!! Most of all, I do not like Garrett's proprietary EZ-Lynk audio. I used Aukey B80 wireless APTX low latency earbuds with a 1Mii Bluetooth transmitter plugged into the VX7's audio port. Great sound quality unlike the MS and CS-3s from Garrett which sound really muffled to me, no lag or audio dropouts and no sweat dripping all over me from hot ear cups .
I will be keeping this VX7 for a while longer and maybe permanently especially if Garrett continue to improve the software.
First, I am not a Garrett FANBOY at all. I have been a long-time user of their pulse induction Axiom for gold prospecting here in Colorado. I also really like how they overhauled the higher frequency VLF, Garrett/Whites Goldmaster 24K after they bought Whites. Both of those gold prospecting specific detectors are world class detectors and are used effectively everywhere. Are they the absolute best in their class. No. I owned all of the AT series detectors at one time but I never had good results with them here in my area of Colorado and I didn't own them for very long.
So, I was as interested as anyone else when Garrett announced their next level simultaneous multi frequency detector line called the Vortex.
I absolutely hated their first attempt at SMF, the Apex. I actually liked the detector but it just worked really poorly here in multi and its SMF tech was no better than just using single frequency. It did okay in multi salt when I tested it.
The other latest simultaneous multi frequency detectors from the leading brands all work way better here using their simultaneous multi frequency tech than they work just using their selectable single frequency tech.
However, I like most people, was shocked at how weird the Vortex release was and how amateurish the software seemed. Just way too many self inflicted mistakes that anyone with the Vortex in their hands could easily experience.
I and many others tried to help Garrett get the VX9 straightened out in good faith, instead of just lambasting them at every chance.
It has taken 18 months, but Garrett's Vortex software team seem to be on the right track with their software updates from back in February 2026.
So, my previous biggest issues with the Vortex Series after they got the weird stuff fixed were its handling of magnetite infested ground when using it in Multi, its iron filter being too aggressive which makes even 4" deep, coin sized non-ferrous targets sound mostly like iron even on the lowest iron filter setting and its resulting unstable target IDs from trying to work in moderate to high magnetite and volcanic rock infested soil.
Today, I finally just decided to give the Vortex another chance.
I picked up a VX5 locally from a guy that was cutting his losses and giving up on it, for $250. It did not have the latest software update so I did the free online software update for it. The VX5 just does not have enough iron filter and recovery speed features to work well here and I kind of wanted to try it later on at some saltwater beach locations, so I used my 20% off Garrett discount code and upgraded it to a VX7 for $55 on Garrett's site. The VX7 actually has enough features and settings adjustments to work here as long as ground conditions allow.
I tried it recently at another site and ran it and a Deus 2 WS6 Master over the same ground. I was not very impressed with the VX7. It was super hot that day and that whole month and the ground was baked and really dry.
I tried it again to day, but just by itself at a location I and a friend of mine have absolutely pounded with our Equinox 800s, Manticore, Legend 2 and Deus 2. using 11" coils.
I wasn't expecting much from this VX7 and this was its last chance before I sold it.
Anyway, I did something with the VX7 that I absolutely could not do until today. It successfully completed a very select target dig hunt at a local public park.
All I can say is I actually liked using it today. The ground was fairly moist. Vortex VX7 ground balanced at 95.25. I was running Multi/Zero with recovery speed 2, bottle caps 1, iron filter 1, 5 tones. Nothing notched and I could hear absolutely everything including iron responses from the magnetite in the soil and from some manmade iron targets in the ground. I had iron volume on level 1 so the iron responses were not overwhelming. This VX7 has the 8.5X11" Raider coil so that coil is really a stretched out 8.5" coil. Maximum depth for most roughly 9" coils on deeper coin sized targets here is about 8" due to the moderate to high mineralization no matter what SMF VLF detector is being used.
I was specifically listening for two types of targets. Shallower possible recent USA coin and jewelry drops and deeper, fainter possible much older coin and jewelry over 100 years old that were lost in this public park in the early 1900s.
I am familiar enough with the standard USA coin target IDs and tone breaks on the VX7 in 5 tones to know what I'm doing and listening for. I also wanted to find as many different pull tab varieties as I could and compare target IDs to see how they differed. This old park has machine gun level aluminum and iron targets infestation from surface to about 10" deep. Even today, almost all of the targets shown in the photo below had other targets in the plug with them. However, even with these co-located targets, I was able to get enough accurate information from the VX7 to proceed with recovery of these targets. Most targets were in the 4" to 7" deep range.
View attachment IMG_6618.jpg
Most of the time, the VX7 game me enough information to predict what I was about to dig as far as US coin type and as far as conductivity. The two nickels were 6" deep and had steady 52/53 target IDs. A couple of the pull tabs had similar target IDs but there were some higher numbers to and the audio was slightly different. The zinc pennies were all 74 to 76 no matter how deep they were. I dug one that was 6" deep....... The clad dimes and copper Memorial pennies all had consistent and repeatable target IDs and tones. So did the quarters.
The 1942 Mercury dime sounded really nice at 5" depth and had a steady 94 target ID. The wheat pennies were at 5 to 7" and their target IDs were more jumpy, But they consistently had the highest of the 5 tones and had only a few iron responses.
So, very impressive for a short hunt. I regularly use Deus 2, Manticore and Legend 2 on similar sites for similar 2 hour or so hunts and usually have similar results with one or more wheat pennies and one silver item along with $2 to $5 dollars US in clad.
I still am not totally happy with the iron filtering and I could use even more target ID stability. I don't care much for the audio sound quality on the Vortex series either. It just sounds kind of harsh to me. I also don't care much for the flimsy and hard to adjust shaft system. The blue paint doens't matter to me, but I would rather it was black, gray or an earth color but it's a Vortex. At least it isn't yellow or bright green!!!! Most of all, I do not like Garrett's proprietary EZ-Lynk audio. I used Aukey B80 wireless APTX low latency earbuds with a 1Mii Bluetooth transmitter plugged into the VX7's audio port. Great sound quality unlike the MS and CS-3s from Garrett which sound really muffled to me, no lag or audio dropouts and no sweat dripping all over me from hot ear cups .
I will be keeping this VX7 for a while longer and maybe permanently especially if Garrett continue to improve the software.