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Minelab Quattro MP

Price: $900
Avg. Score: 5 stars! 4.53
Based on 40 reviews

Avg. Durability: 5 stars!5.00
Avg. Ease of use: 5 stars!4.86
Maximum detection depth
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Another Home Run From Minelab!

July 26, 2006
After alot of research on the latest metal detectors, I had decided on the Minelab Quattro MP, and I am very glad that I did. This is a completely diferent detector that what you may be familiar with. First, the Quattro is VERY sensitive & goes DEEPER than it's competitor's machines especially the DFX. Until you get used to the Quattro and it's musical language, it's best to run in a preset mode in auto sensitivity.

Yes, I can see why some people may get frustrated with pinpointing with a DD coil, and the multiple tones, but I feel that they just do not want to take the time to really learn the nuances of this great machine. And you can truly believe the depth reports on the Quattro. In a local "Hunted Out" park, I was able to pull a nice 1913 Wheatie at 9".

If you are looking for simplicity & power combined, you can't go wrong with the Quattro MP.

Way To Go Minelab!

Overall Rating 5 stars!

322

Not bad, but its not an Explorer.

May 06, 2006
I assumed the Quattro and Explorer would be exactly the same when identifying metal. I was wrong. They are the same in most respects. The Quattro is a darn good detector, but it locks onto a target and holds the ID straight through the next target if they're too close. Its just noticably slower. Would work fine for open fields or woods where targets can be few and far between, but in trashy areas it might be a nightmare. Overall the detector is better than many. After trying many, I don't have the patience for this one.

Overall Rating 3 stars

2718

Minelab Quattro A great Detector ????

February 17, 2006
Well, I got my Minelab Quattro about a week ago and have put about 10 or so hours on it. This is my first venture into the Minelab line of detectors. When I put the Quattro together and turned it on for the first time and passed a few targets under the coil, I thought what the hell is up with this flute music. Sounded like a very bad high school band practice. I started having regrets about the Quattro.

BUT, once I dug my first couple of targets in a heavily hunted area and recovered a couple of wheat pennies and a gold ear ring and saw the depth capability of this machine, I started feeling more assured of my decision on the Quattro.

Pro's = well so far I've only logged about 10 hours on it, but the depth is awsome and I feel is deeper then the Fisher CZ's. I love the noise cancel feature. The display & graphic are excellent and easy to read. It truely is a turn on and go machine even down to the sensitivity, which can be set at auto for the detector to decide. Easily ajustable armcuff. I love the bar graph pinpoint feature, this is very unique.

Con's = Weight, it's a might heavy at about 4lbs and it's not hip mountable. The standard DD coil, which is great for ground coverage, is a little tough to use in trashy areas + it's a little difficult to pinpoint with. I opted to get the 8" concentric coil, which is better in trash and easier to pinpoint with. I heard that the Qauttro has a slow target recovery time, which I noticed right off. To me, It's not that big of a problem because I'm used to swingin a detector very slow since I've mainly used CZ's and if you want those deep targets, you have to go low & slow. The battery life is only about 15 ours on 8 AA's, which isn't a lot of hunt time for that amount of batteries, but I guess with all the electronics, it needs the juice to operate.

But so far, I think the Quattro is a very good machine.



Overall Rating 4 stars

486

QUATTRO - Highly recommended!!!

February 08, 2006
I recently became interested in metal detecting again after many years away from the hobby and hours of researching what machines are available these days, I decided on purchasing a Quattro. In Minnesota right now, most places to detect are frozen, however I was able to do some beach hunting with my new Quattro.
There is a learning curve to the Quattro. You have probably heard it already but if you are in the market for a Quattro be sure to get Andy Sabisch's book and read it a couple times. It should be included with the manual. My only "complaint" is that the Quattro is a little heavy for me but I will still rate it 5 stars because if I did not have chronic pain conditions, the weight would not be an issue for me.
This machine has outstanding depth on the beach and I cannot wait til spring to try the "hunted out" sites to see how it does.
The Quattro has given me a new confidence that I never had before. Love the accept/reject feature to notch out certain trash items.
I would recommend the Quattro to any of my friends or family. It is as good as they say!

Overall Rating 5 stars!

381

Quattro and the goldfields

January 17, 2006
I bought the quattro back in April 2005 after some consideration as to what relic/coin detector to purchase. I haven't looked back since. This machine is dynamite in trashy ground. Using All Metal mode, I've found a lot of fantastic relics and old coins on the goldfields where I live. The detector is truly amazing on the beaches also. It copes very well with sand and sea water. I've pulled out sinkers at 2 1/2 feet depth! With regular use, it's fairly easy to pick up. But get Andy Sabisch's book, it's better than the manual. If I haven't convinced you, take a look at the albums link in Aussie Treasure Hunters forum under my album. Everything in it was found with my quattro!
Cheers Angela

Overall Rating 5 stars!

470

Quattro loves old coins

November 19, 2005
First let me say that I was a little skeptic about buying it. People were always saying that they were finding coins at 9-11 inches. But this is the same thing they said about the mxt which is why I bought it. I have had it for two years and decided to purchase the quattro because all the sites around here are hunted out and I couldn't seem to find anything past five-seven inches.

The quattro was easy to assemble and isn't as heavy as some people might lead you to believe. Took it to an old one room school house were I have never found any coins in the past (It has been hit so hard in the last few years). Boy was I suprised with its performance. I kept it slow and came out with three silvers from the late 1800's. I was suprised when I got a fairly good hit at ten inches. I thought oh probably a pipe or something because I never find anything good here, but I was wrong, it was my first of the three silver coins and to add icing to the cake it was a barber quarter(no visible date)but still exciting. If you want a good machine get the quattro. It is such an amazing detector. If you by it I guaranty a big boost in finds!!
HH
Derek

Overall Rating 5 stars!

512

Quattro vs Garrett 1500

November 14, 2005
Bottom line: Garrett's target imaging (sizing) proved more useful than Quattro's ferrous content/conductivity (target ID) system in areas with any significant trash.
Comparison was made in coin hunting in non-mineralized central Minnesota soil. The eight different search sites included trashy local parks, beaches, graveyard, edges of soccer field, abandoned farm homes and two old one room school houses.

The Quattro generally had 5X as many non-productive holes as the Garrett. In trashy environments it almost became unusable, even with the "high trash" setting activated. Custom menus using the cross save feature documented in Andy Sabisch's book were created in an attempt to discriminate out the trash and get an audio ferrous content to assist in the discrimination, with limited success. It is not that the Quattro didn't hint at the possibility of trash, it did; but it also suggested it could be a coin. The Minelab Explorer may be more useful because it gives an actual ferrous content number and conductivity number. On the Quattro there is no easy way to learn the ferrous content tones (no number is given) other than memorizing them from a test plot.

Pinpointing with the Quattro wasn't difficult, actually the graphic display isn't necessary, the audio works fine. But you can't beat a Garrett with GTI for pinpointing and getting an accurate depth. One Garrett tip suggested elsewhere that works: after removing the plug, if the target size is bigger, and it is still in the hole: its trash. If it bigger but still in the plug it could still be a coin. Both units would misidentify small pieces of highly corroded metal, particularly if deep.

In terms of depth, in this environment, the Garrett actually proved more sensitive to deep coins in the "coin" mode. The all metal mode on the Quattro would pick these 10 inch deep coins on the test plot but the "coin" mode missed them all. The Garret was somewhat erratic at detecting them, not giving a strong consistent hit, but it did generally give a signal with seveal sweeps. We don't have salt water beaches here so the reverse may well be true near the ocean.

This was an interesting and fun comparison to run. On the test plot the Quattro showed real promise. The Quattro target ID made multiple suggestions for each target, one of which was usually right on (with one or two exceptions), but it didn't exclude the others. It was these other possibilities suggested (pull tab but it could be a ring or coin) that proved its undoing in the real world and had you digging lots of holes. The Garrett seemed more vague (possible coin) but when you sized it and it was bigger or smaller than a coin you moved on. You have to dig a lot of "C" sized targets for a while to believe the imaging but in the real world it works with few exceptions.

Conclusions: On the high end, the machines try to give you something extra to help eliminate trash targets. In the real world, Garrett's target imaging (sizing) proves more useful than the Quattro's combination of enhanced conductivity with ferrous content.

Overall Rating 5 stars!

5412

A great beach machine...

September 24, 2005
Purchased this machine approximately 2 months ago and haven't put it down since. The thing that tickles me about this machine is finding targets that others have walked over. I am finding more nickels than ever, nickels equates to gold as well. In one stretch found 8 rings in 8 days. I found another one today that I know was missed by others. I hunt in all-metal mode and use the accept/reject button to notch out unwanted targets. For instance, the ferrous numbers are minus numbers and I reject those. Pull tabs come in around 16 but so does nickels and gold so that one I dig. So my settings are mainly 13 14 15 16 and 33 to 40, all others are rejected.

Mind you this is on the beach only, I've yet to relic hunt with the Quattro but will be heading to England in November and hope to do as well over there. I had a weight issue in the beginning, however I've over come that. Getting a lot better with pinpointing but it does take some getting used to. The battery compartment is easy to unload and load. The cable is hidden in the shaft and adjusting the shaft is a snap, literally. One note to point out: While detecting I received a 37 (dime), and intermittenly 16 (pull tab). Well it dug it and sure enough inside my scoop was a dime and a pull-tab. Since I dig 16s and 37s, in this instance the machine was right on. Think I'll be using this machine for a long time to come. Thanks for reading.

Overall Rating 5 stars!

862

Wow, what a machine!!!

June 12, 2005
I've only had this detector for about 2 weeks now, but I've used it enough, I think, to write an honest review.
My only fear that I had, after doing quit a bit of research, was; Do I buy the Quatro or the Explorer? I kept thinkin that I "just have" to have the two numerical readouts like the Explorer has, but even though the Quatro only has one numerical readout, it combines the ferrous with the conductivity using either positive or negative numbers to indicate ferrous or conductive. After using the Quatro for the last couple of weeks, I think I can probably "suffer" with the Quatro. I'M JUST KIDDING. I love this machine. As far as the numbers go, the Quatro still deals with the ferrous content along with the conductivity, it just does it with one number instead of two. I also noticed that even though the number may indicate a conductive target, (and pretty accuratly by the way) you can also set the audio to read in ferrous mode which will give you different tones for different targets. Sounds like it's almost mimicking the Explorer in that way.
All I know is that this baby rocks, especially on the beach in wet or dry sand, and it seems to pick things up at very good depth, 8 to 10in. easily. The other thing I love is that I had no problems with ground mineralization or salt water. It seems to ignore that problem completely, and what a joy that is if you've ever had to rebalance an old detector 17 times an hour to deal with that kind of stuff.
The pin point is a little tricky because it is a Double D coil instead of the other kinds, but the double D has better coverage on the ground per sweep than standard coils, and if you work with it a while you can make the pinpoint work ok. Don't let that stop you.
If you want a great machine that kicks butt, and has excellent notchable descrimination along with "no problems with ground mineralization", this is it. Go get one, you won't be sorry.

Overall Rating 5 stars!

1225

Beginner

May 24, 2005
I purchased a Quattro metal detector in March and took it to the Bahamas. With no experience at all in metal detecting I found an 1811 Liberty coin, a silver/mother-of-pearl ring, an out-of-circulation "Bahama Island" coin and a 1940 King George shilling. I'm still learning and will be using it in the Massachusetts/Rhode Island area.

Overall Rating 4 stars

264

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