Minelab Vanquish 560 Pro – Real life metal detecting
That’s why the Minelab Vanquish 560 Pro needs to be tested in these difficult conditions, will the Multi-Frequency have the ability to uncover small low conductive items in wet sand. This is where a lot of metal detectors fail to impress.
In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into what makes the Vanquish 560 Pro such a capable beach hunter, how it behaves in real‑world conditions, and why it will possibly be a smart choice for detectorist who want simplicity, stability, and surprising depth on the wet sand.
Beach hunting in general
Most metal detectors will work on dry sand, the wet sand poses more of an issue.
Wet sand is known as Conductive, as the salt combined with moisture make one huge target, and this is why single frequency metal detectors struggle to work on wet sand.
How do we combat the conductive ground?
In a word – Multifrequency and this is where Minelab are the market leaders, probably because they have had more years in the field, carrying out the much-needed research and development in order to perfect their craft.
Is it only Minelab metal detectors that use Multi-Frequency technology?
No – Many others use multi frequency, but only Minelab use Multi IQ, even on their entry level machines like the Minelab Vanquish 360
What am I expecting from the Minelab Vanquish 560?
I am not a beach hunter, and very rarely have significant finds, this is no reflection on any machine I test on the wet sand, my aim is to judge performance, stability and the ability to find low conductive targets.
Many beach machines are stable, but in order to be stable, they have been de-tuned, and in turn will not be responsive to low conductivity targets, such as small Gold rings and chains.
Does the Minelab Vanquish 560 have a beach detecting mode?
Absolutely! Just the press of a button and you can switch from land to beach. And in beach mode most adjustments are taken care of behind the scenes. All you need to do is adjust the sensitivity and make sure you have a smooth level sweep.
So how did the Vanquish 560 perform?
Needless to say the Minelab Vanquish 560 Pro did exactly what was asked from it, good targets sounded clean, the interface was easy to read and understand, with a confident target identification.
During my beach test I used the V12x search coil, although it is reasonably large, it is way lighter than I expected along with an accurate pinpoint, right in the centre.
Iron identification – Be aware!
Not just the Minelab Vanquish 560, but most other metal detectors have a slight bias towards round iron. This can be a washer or a round headed nail, the detector sees the roundness of the target and sometimes calls it wrong.
Iron identification tips
Sometimes round iron just does not sound right, it sounds good one way, but have an audible jump when turning 90 degrees, also look at the target numbers, iron very often gives sparse numbers with a wide range, coins and good targets tend to group the numbers within 5.
The Iron tone
The Minelab Vanquish 560 has a Ferrous tone feature, this is a very low tone that indicates Ferrous, sometimes it is mixed in with the good tone and this is where your Minelab skills will pay off dividends.
Dig Iron!
I always say to my students, if you don’t dig some iron, you will never find your metal detectors limits, there is no shame in investigating a suspicious target.
Where to search
Most will gravitate towards the pleasant wet sand in search of peace and tranquility, and thats fine.
But also keep a look-out for beach movement, as this can unearth targets that are hundreds of years old.
This is when regularly monitoring the beach conditions pays off.
Watch out for Black Sand!
Sudden unstable operation can be an indication of you walking over Black Sand, this has a high Ferrous content and can contain some ancient treasures.
Note in the picture, the target ID constantly reads -2 when walking over the Black Sand patch.
Minelab Vanquish 560 Pro summary
It’s a machine that punches well above its weight, especially when paired with the Pro Pack’s extra search coil and accessories.
I think it’s a great metal detector and a very capable companion, in future videos I will be comparing the Minelab Vanquish 560 to its younger brothers the 460 and 360, also we will be testing the small V8x search coil on a Roman site.
Below are 2 of my most recent Minelab Vanquish Skill School tuition videos.
