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10 hours ago, tvr said:

Glad you added "most"!

I shy away from absolutes in life, including detecting. :smile: I personally advocate for having both a VLF and a PI, for both land and water hunting. Personally I use PI detectors for almost all my detecting, whether for gold nuggets or on the beach, but I would never be caught not owning a great VLF. Owning one detector is like having a toolbox with only one tool in it!

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Well, this morning's hunt was at a lot less junky beach. Pretty quiet actually. This beach gets hunted a lot, and today was no different. We had our club hunt there today. Just 6 members showed up at 3am, but, there were 2-3 other independents there too. The club hunt is just 2 hours long, but, I stayed after and hunted until the battery went dead.....2 hours and 55 minutes this time. No hunting with a low battery with the AQ, When you get the low battery warning, it's over. Without all the iron and other trash in the wet sand, I went ahead and hunted in all metal and dug everything again. I did switch over to Tone on every target to see how the sound would or wouldn't change depending on what I dug up. It worked in  some cases where I would get a mixed high and low signal and those were all junk. Good signals though were still had with junk as well as good targets. So far, the good targets I've found (including today), I could have found with my other machines, except maybe the necklace. It was down about a foot. At that depth on a necklace most machines have difficulty. The AQ banged out a nice signal on it though, so, it would probably see that at even greater depths. Too bad the necklace is plated junk however! Same with the ring. It gave a nice smooth stable signal, but, it wasn't deep (one scoop) and would have been found with any good salt water machine. It's not marked, so, I don't know what it's made of yet. It has a gold tint to it, but, doesn't have the weight to be gold. Probably stainless. I'm glad to at least get some sort of jewelry at this point. The more I use it, the more I think you would be able to find coins and silver with it too. Those targets give the same low tone that foil, and iron will give, but, it's a much smoother and more even tone than the other junk targets I've run across. As you can see, I did find one quarter. It didn't have any high tone mixed in like the junk targets usually do. I expect silver rings might react the same way, but, I confess, I haven't test those yet since that wasn't what I was expecting to find with this machine. I don't know what others have experienced with the AQ, but, I find it the worst pin pointing detector I've ever used. Most targets seem huge, especially when the target is out of the hole and you're trying to find it in the pile. The edge of the coil seems more sensitive than the center, and the target will sound off even several inches off the edge. Normally, I center the target in my sweep and back off until the signal disappears. The target should then be right in front of the leading edge of the coil. Not consistently with this machine. Like other detectors, shallow targets are worse than deeper targets in that respect. I hope it's something I can just get used to, as that is kind of frustrating and time consuming to be chasing the target with the scoop. Here's today's take.

July2020clubhunt.jpg

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8 hours ago, cudamark said:

I don't know what others have experienced with the AQ, but, I find it the worst pin pointing detector I've ever used.

I have no problem at all pinpointing with the AQ, way easier to get used to than my GPZ 7000 was. Targets in ground you have to work the signal with the coil. The threshold autotune will make the target get smaller and more defined with every sweep, until you get a good sharp, centered beep. If it will not do this the odds are you have a complex target or multiple targets under the coil.

Once out of hole and into a pile, coil goes on edge, about a 45 degree angle, and hit from a couple different directions. I can almost put my finger on the target doing this.

In general I also am digging targets that start off being well defined and centered, “round sounding”, more than it appears that you are, so they by nature are easier to pinpoint. Then they get more defined and sharper as I work them with the coil. It’s one of the characteristics of a ring type target, not just the sound but the shape of the sound. Bottom line is it sounds like I’m cherry picking my targets more than you are, which in turn is making them easier to pinpoint.

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  I probably have read every post and thread on the Aq, since joining the forum! And from what i have constantly distilled (or has been drilled into my head) is the same strong message!  It's a Gold Ring Machine!!   Yes, it will find "other stuff"! But why waste that valuable time digging anything else, when there are many other machines geared so much better for that "other stuff"!  I'm all for the value of a multi-use detector! That's why i sprung for the 800!  But for now, where i live, in SF! The Aq would probably not add much in my mild sand beach hunts! I could be way off base here!! But not having owned a PI yet (other than 2 of my pinpointers!) I figured i would just rather watch the more experienced of you all, get the "well deserved" 99 units, and see the results, as the technology, and the unit offerings, evolve!!👍👍

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1 hour ago, Joe D. said:

It's a Gold Ring Machine!!   Yes, it will find "other stuff"! But why waste that valuable time digging anything else,

I’m pretty sure we would all be ecstatic if we could do just that, dig gold rings only, and no “other stuff.” :smile:

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There are some who will work diligently to learn the AQ’s ways. They will then think clearly about what it does and doesn’t do. They will further review all of their experiences on their various hunting grounds - then they will methodically proceed to uncover items previously not recoverable.

This is Alexandre’s intention with the design of the AQ. Will it be something which lots of serious beach hunters will be able to achieve? We will see. 8 machines in the wild ......just a drop in the “ocean”.

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I'm with you Steve. Took me one hunt to nail the Pinpointing thing which was rather exciting since Dew and I had felt the big coil would be a issue, then add hunting in the water and not being able to see the bottom...But all was easy, I thought. Now I do have to remember on the shallow targets to raise the coil or use the edge for they do blast. Also I have found If I am missing a deep target ........I just scrape the side of the coil thru the hole to locate it...Very easy.

Hunting is so site dependent that I think not to torturer oneself best to go slow and use the best machine for the job. I'm still using the Excalibur almost as much as I do the AQ... ......Hate to say but with things not going the right way it can quickly lead to a hate affair..😬

Good Luck! 

 

 

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    I didn't mean thay so "literally" Steve! I know that Gold rings are the main, but not the only targets! It's still, after all, a PI! And it's still in the learning curve phase for the few that have them so far! I was just getting some mixed messages from some of the many posts, that maybe others may think that it can be used to find other "desirable" targets, other than Gold rings! And maybe it will; by accident, or intention! I guess time will tell!

Just an observation from an uninitiated PI user ; no judgement here!👍👍

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28 minutes ago, Joe D. said:

Just an observation from an uninitiated PI user ; no judgment here!

Well, for me I’m a bit past worrying much about finding stuff. I’ve been detecting long enough to know if I put in the hours, that’s just going to happen. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later, but it will happen.

I’m jaded these days and it takes some new intriguing machine to get me fired up. Frankly, since Equinox I’ve been bored waiting for something else to get my interest going. AQ is doing the trick. I’m having a ball with it. I really can’t ask anything more of a detector than that. :smile:

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    Maybe an underwater Mars type "Aq Rover"; and an Xbox remote to operate it with!   From a "socially distanced" lawnchair, on a shady  beach; with a cold beer! Does that peak your interest??

  So far, i have the Xbox remote, the lawn chair, a shady beach, and the cold beer! The rest should be a snap!! I'll keep you posted!!🤣🤣👍👍

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