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At £699 in the UK, the Quest V80 on paper at least, looks like a good deal. But at the moment the "percieved" performance is not up to the same standard as its competitors from Nokta, Minelab, Rutus and XP. And this is a real shame because if you look at the specifications below, the V80 should be a market leading machine. And the reality is, that it actually performs really well in most circumstances. Certainly on par with the Nokta Legend and Minelab Equinox/Elite, which are its main competitors at this price point.
Quest V80 Specifications:
- Frequency - 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, 60 and HYPERQ Simultaneois Multi-Frequency.
- Programs - Park, Field, Beach, Gold, Cache (deep) + 20 User Slots.
- Tones - 2,3,5,99.
- Gold Mode - Special Gold Mode.
- Iron Volume - 9 levels.
- FE/NonFe Bias: Yes (also knownas iron filter or iron bias in other machines).
- Recovery Speed - 1-9.
- Noise Reduction - Manual and Auto.
- Ground Balance - Auto + Manual.
- Power Level - 1-5.
- Display - 2.7" B/W LCD. 400 x240 pixels.
- Battery - Built in rechargeable 5600 mAh.
- Wireless Headphones - WireFree Pro 2.4 GHz. (not bluetooth compatible).
- Coil - 11" x 10" amd 9" x 5" Blizzard II.
- Telescopic Stem - Carbon Fibre Round.
- Waterproof Loudspeaker - Detachable.
- Haptic Feedback - Vibration.
- Fully Submersible - To 5 Meters.
- Flashlight - Built In.
- Firmware Upgradeable - Yes.
- Weight - 1.40 kg (3lb 1 oz) with Blizzard 11 Coil.
So what are the reported problems with the Quest V80? Stability and chatter. It is said that the machine is not able to effectively mitigate the effects of EMI (Electromagentic Interference). In other words, it is affected by power lines, radio transmissions and industrial machinery. The V80 does have an auto noise cancellation feature but for some it does not seem to be very effective. Again this is not my experience with the V60.
Reports have also come in that the machine also struggles on mineralized ground and can be quite chattery until the sensitivity is backed off considerably, thereby reducing detection depth. My experience with the V60 was the complete opposite. It was perfectly silent on the wet sand without the need to back of from the default 75 sensitivity.
It is worth bearing in mind that all beaches are different. People have reported the same problems with the Minelab Equinox and Deus II. It is specific to certain ground conditions at the time of use and also how the user has the machine set up. It is the same with EMI. Different machines handle EMI in different ways. Just because a machine can mitigate extranious electrical interference in one location or even several locations, it does not follow that same machine will be able to do it everywhere.
The Quest V60 sports a lot of the same features as the V80.
Differences between the Quest V60 and V80:
- No 60 kHz selectable single frequency.
- No Cache mode.
- Only 9 user slots vs 20 on the V80.
- Less tones, just 2, 3 and 5 tone options
- Only 5 levels of iron volume vs 9 for the V80
- Less recovery speed options, 1 to 5 where the V80 as 1 to 9.
- Less power output options, up to 3 levels vs the V80's 5 levels.
- It comes with the lighter WireFree Lite headphones instead of the over ear Pro version.
- There is just the one 11" x 10" Blizzard coil supplied instead of two coils that come with the V80.
- The Stem is aluminium instead of carbon fibre.
The Quest V80 and V60 do have promise. There is a lot in the specifications to like but when there are so few testers reporting on how the machines work it is very easy to draw the wrong conclusions based on little evidence.
The price of the V60 definitely needs to drop significantly or there is no point having is as an option.
More info from:
Quest Facebook Group
Quest Metal Detectors
Spin A Disc (UK Distributor)
Quest Europe