First One In The Wild - Fisher Impulse AQ

[Rick K - First Member]

1 hour ago, LowTide said:

So Fisher is going to sell a new release beach specific detector to a user who cannot get to a beach?   Maybe the V.P. can ask Dilek to borrow their Mermaid to send to Arizona, along with a kiddie pool, so Rick can at least pretend he's at the beach.🤣

Thanks, LT, but we have lots of pools here - heated in the winter.

I didn’t get picked because I am the worlds best or most successful beach hunter. It was probably because I have been keenly interested in PI detector development for 15 years or so, following Eric Foster’s machines, sold in the US by Mr. Bill, the Whites DF PI, the TDI from the earliest rumors that Whites had acquired the Foster design and that Carl Moreland had gone there as Chief Engineer - I owed a DFPI and owned several TDI’s, ML Gp2100, SDS, Garret ATX. Two and a half years ago I was told that Fisher had acquired the Manta project and it’s development team. I had been following the Manta for a year or two before that one Carl Moreland’s Geotec forum. Interestingly, this is where Carl first became aware of Alexandre Tartar and the Manta and that is what led to Fisher acquiring/hiring the project.

So, my plan is to wring out this PI as a detector. Sensitivity, threshold stability, depth on standardized targets in different soil conditions. Likely a trip to San Diego or higher up the SoCal coast after New Years. I am reasonably sure I can find some folks who want to play with my new machine.

Dilek is a very talented and effective marketing executive and I’m sure she has better things to do than to send me mermaids - or whatever.

I had prototype AQ machines at the beach in San Diego in October 2018 and in Norway in June this year. I know what it can do in salt water and black sand in San Diego 17-18” on a nickel when my Equinox could mange 7 - 8”.

 

 

[Steve Herschbach]

23 minutes ago, Rick Kempf said:

I will take that as my first assignment - being in an unusual position - only AQ “in the wild” and no restrictions talking about it - as a device. There is no NDA attached. I do have some information based on 2.5 years or so of communicating with FTP about the program and I leave it to them to decide how and what of their proprietary info to share - but having said all that, my own interaction, experience and conclusions from handling a device which I own outright are mine to share as I see fit.

As far as differences from prototypes, I have handled two - both for short periods - a couple of days. One in October 2018 which I took to San Diego and used a bit here in Gold Canyon and one in June this year which I had for a couple of days in Norway.

The production machine, as far as I am informed is somewhat further developed, but I am not sure how relevant what I remember from the protos will be by comparison.

I'm not asking you to go by memory so much as by this photo. It's the last best look we had at an Impulse, so any differences between it and what you get would be a great first report. And one that does not require a beach! 

Besides weight, another easy one is run time. Charge that baby up, give it a medium threshold setting to act as a drain, and let it sit until it runs dead.

 

[Rick K - First Member]

Will do. the faceplate “look” is changed, I am told. Also there is a new Volcanic Sand mode which I know little about. The battery question is very important. To make world-wide shipment simpler, they have (I am told) for a Nimh pack instead of a lithium. It will be interesting to see what the run time is.

[2Valen]

Congrats on the new unit, I will be looking forward to reading your review on it.

 

[Mark Gillespie]

10 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

Rick - that is exciting stuff.  Congrats.  So the AQ is adaptable for land hunting but the AU (or whatever it will actually be called) will be the preferred "gold" hunting variant.  What are the AQ limitations if used for land relic hunting in highly mineralized soil, like Culpeper, VA?

Interesting you should mention Culpeper, VA.  Red/orange clay dirt, highly mineralized and limits depth of a VLF but a PI way out performs, hands down.  I too have this same type soil in southeastern VA.  My TDI has managed to find  many, extremely old silvers and relics where my VLF can't quite get to.

 

[Chase Goldman]

2 hours ago, Mark Gillespie said:

Interesting you should mention Culpeper, VA.  Red/orange clay dirt, highly mineralized and limits depth of a VLF but a PI way out performs, hands down.  I too have this same type soil in southeastern VA.  My TDI has managed to find  many, extremely old silvers and relics where my VLF can't quite get to.

 

Rick mentioned Culpeper in another Impulse AQ thread and as a VA relic hunter myself, I am interested in a lighter weight alternative to the GPX I use specifically for relic hunting in hot soil that also incorporates robust iron rejection (somewhat absent from the TDI, so I am not interested in going back to that unit) and some level of foul weather protection that the GPX's lack.  The GPX settings revolve primarily around gold prospecting with beach hunting and MILD ground relic detecting presets incorporated somewhat as secondary use afterthoughts.  They work well for hot ground relic detecting when set up properly, but when it is all said and done, the GPX is a nugget machine first and foremost, doesn't work as well as a VLF in very high density iron trash conditions, cannot differentiate modern non-ferrouse trash from non-ferrous relics as well as a VLF,  and it is also ergonomically challenged in both weight and with it's external battery/audio amplifier pack design with several cables and connectors to deal with that are constantly being strained and subject repeated abuse in the field.

I am looking for a compact yet powerful relic centric PI design that incorporates iron rejection and since FT appears to be developing a beach centric (gold rings) as well as gold field centric (gold nugget) variant, I suspect there are feature or tuning setup limitations or perhaps unneeded or suboptimal beach features (e.g., this volcanic sand setting - is it useful in hot soil too?) on the AQ that make it a less than an ideal (but perhaps workable) terrestrial relic machine.   I am interested in learning specifically about those limitations so I can decide whether to wait for the terra variant or if this detector line is worth the trip altogether.  Prospecting is not of primary concern for me, but there is obviously a lot of overlap between these three PI applications.

Put another way, I don't use a PI at all my relic sites because the soil conditions are not as limiting as they are at the sites where I primarily use my GPX or they may be contamnated with thick iron junk.  But since the PI is always going to be deeper than my primary VLF machines regardless of soil condition, why not use them when high ferrous or not ferros trash conditions are not an issue?  Well the answer is simple,  the GPX ergonomic disadvantages generally outweigh the performance advantages over vlf, so I am going to generally reach for that VLF machine when soil conditions are tolerable.  I would like that equation reversed.  I would like a grab and go, ergonomically convenient PI with decent iron reject that would be my preferred relic machine under most conditions with the VLF reserved for the most challenging trash conditions where separation through recovery speed and discrimination (versus ferrous rejection or blanking which exacerbates ferrous masking) are preferred feature attributes.

Looking forward to Rick's reports.

[Rick K - First Member]

Mark,

I replied to Chase’s post you quoted, but re-reading my reply, I see I didn’t really answer his question.

“What are the AQ limitations if used for relic hinting in highly mineralized soil like Culpepper VA?”

Mark, you added your experience with the TDI.

I’ll try agin - and address both of the posts at once

The AQ penetrates mineralized soils containing high degrees of magnetite - beyond the top levels in a readout like on the F75. So it’s depth performance in Culpepper dirt should be excellent - exceeding the TDI by virtue of its greater power and far greater sensitivity due to extremely quiet circuitry. 

Where it differs from the TDI is that the GB system in the TDI divides high and low signal persistence targets (I didn’t say conductors for a reason) on either side of the “balance point” set via the GB control. The reason I didn’t say conductors is that it is not only conductivity of the target, but its mass, ratio of surface area to mass, and I believe shape which influence where the target return falls on either side of the balance point. Having gone to some pains to not say high and low conductors in the above sentences, we’ll just say high and low conductors in the rest of this piece - it’s a simpler term.

The TDI’s Gb system established a kind of “Hole” in the response at the balance point so that the ground is not heard. 

The major result of this GB system is that, along with the production of two tones (one above and one below the GB point) the TDI allows you to switch off one of the tones or hear both. This can be valuable allowing the unmasking of, for example silver coins under nails, etc.

The Impulse is a two channel machine, and the GB system works differently. There are no “holes” around an established GB setting and no way to hear only high conductors. The only GB adjustment is marked “Iron Mask” and the use of it ID’s (either by tone or by muting) high conductors when the mode knob is in the “tone” or “mute” positions. Because of some clever stuff Alexandre Tartar and his team have done to avoid a hole around a GB point, iron as well as targets more “conductive” than let’s say brass (or so) are then muted or give a low tone. The cool part of this system is that a low conductor - gold jewelry in the best case is heard as if the iron isn’t there.

The bad part is that the silver coins and probably “plates” (because of their size) are gone too! All of this has no effect in the all metal position of the mode knob.

So, it remains to be seen how useful the AQ will be for relic hunters. All metal performance will quite possibly exceed the GPX series of PI and the fact that many ferrous objects are valuable historical relics may make it a very useful tool at places like Culpepper.

P.S. The details of Exactly how the AQ’s GB system works are still a mystery to me and if Alexandre explained it in detail, I’m not sure I would be allowed to share the “secret formula”!

 

 

 

[Chase Goldman]

Thanks, Rick, you nailed the explanation I was looking for.

1 hour ago, Rick Kempf said:

The bad part is that the silver coins and probably “plates” (because of their size) are gone too!

 

I suppose also, that just like any PI, even under this scheme, you will be digging the pull tabs and foil freshness tops as well but avoiding the bobby pins and ferrous/steel tent stakes, bottlecaps, and even the large aluminium tent stakes and perhaps even high mass lead sinkers other PI's will sound off on at the beach.  Besides the belt plates, this might be of concern for relic hunters who also recover minie balls and other large lead projectiles.

[Rick K - First Member]

Chase you are correct, but I added a bit to the post just now.

”All of this has no effect in the all metal position of the mode knob.

So, it remains to be seen how useful the AQ will be for relic hunters. All metal performance will quite possibly exceed the GPX series of PI and the fact that many ferrous objects are valuable historical relics may make it a very useful tool at places like Culpepper.

P.S. The details of Exactly how the AQ’s GB system works are still a mystery to me and if Alexandre explained it in detail, I’m not sure I would be allowed to share the “secret formula”!

[Chase Goldman]

45 minutes ago, Rick Kempf said:

Chase you are correct, but I added a bit to the post just now.

”All of this has no effect in the all metal position of the mode knob.

So, it remains to be seen how useful the AQ will be for relic hunters. All metal performance will quite possibly exceed the GPX series of PI and the fact that many ferrous objects are valuable historical relics may make it a very useful tool at places like Culpepper.

P.S. The details of Exactly how the AQ’s GB system works are still a mystery to me and if Alexandre explained it in detail, I’m not sure I would be allowed to share the “secret formula”!

Thanks, Rick.  Would give you a reaction like on your previous post but I hit my daily quota limit  Can't wait to see what your early production model looks like vs. the posted prototype pics.  One thing of interest is whether that headphone jack is still embedded in the armrest stem tube and a detaiked explanation of the settings/controls.