Back with a few more questions.
How “bad” are the coil ears to break on the 600/800 series?
I‘ve seen reviews say the 600/800 biggest flaw is the coil ears.
Also, comparatively, Is the 600 a better machine than the Vanquish?
The vanquish runs 5hz, 10hz, 15hz, 20hz & 40hz
The 600/700 don’t have 20hz or 40hz.
Would I loosing anything by buying a 600/700 over the Vanquish?
I have to be honest, the Legend seems like a steal for the price.
But I’ve been bitten by the “You get what you pay for“ so many times I am a bit skeptical.
The videos I watched on each, the Legend seemed a bit more “unstable“ with the ID jumping around more on good targets.
The biggest thing keeping me from buy a 540 is the 5 tone breaks are not adjust.
Some have broken the ears on multiple coils. Others (me, for example) have never had a coil ear break. It does seem as though frequent water-hunters experience more coil-ear breakages.
The 600 has more features, more adjustability, and is waterproof (some claim that last part is questionable).
The 600 has the same frequencies and can operate all but 40hz as a single frequency.
The Vanquish (the 440 anyway) cannot operate in a single frequency. (Not sure about the 540)
You'd lose the ability to buy batteries from the local convenience store (choosing the Nox over the Vanquish).
The Legend is worth every penny and a lot more. I own a Nox 800 and a Legend (and a Vanquish 440, and 5 other detectors) and my favorite is the Legend. I think it outperforms the Nox 800 and the build quality is clearly superior to the Nox 800. I do like the 800; it's a very capable machine, I just think the Legend is more capable.
For me, if the Legend was the same price as the Nox 900, I'd still buy the Legend.
I never used the MXT but I did own a number of Whites machines (and loved them). I think you'll find that any of the detectors mentioned will be much lighter in weight, much easier to swing, and probably have a much faster recovery speed. I think you'd find that multi-frequency detectors offer a fairly big advantage when hunting in mineralized environments. There are times when single frequencies offer an advantage too - which (to me) is a strike against the Vanquish.
Call Richard (Backwoods Detectors). He is a sponsor here and he's in TN. He has used all of the detectors mentioned and likely knows a good bit about the soil conditions where you plan to hunt. He can tell you how well each detector will work in the conditions you'll encounter. He'll also treat you more than fair.