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AQ Owners, How Stable Is Your Machine In Salt Water?


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I have been following this machine for a couple of years now and seem to be getting some good information on the "Limited" machines from the current owners, however some of the information is somewhat vague. Joe Beachnut has given good info and videos of his hunting and I'm grateful for those videos, however he is in the bay. I have seen one owner's post that has had problems with stability with the machine in saltwater. There was also one reply saying there were two machines elsewhere with the same stability issues in the water.

So, how many users/owners are using the AQ in the saltwater and have stability issues OR is this an issue with only those few machines?

Is it a salinity problem?

I know this machine will be great on the wet sand but in the summer, I'm in the water nearly 100% due to the heat....I need a machine I can use in the water!

Cliff

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1 hour ago, cdv said:

I know this machine will be great on the wet sand but in the summer, I'm in the water nearly 100% due to the heat....I need a machine I can use in the water!

Cliff

I don't want to hijack anything. But not only "Salt water" but MOVING Salt Water! Wave wash. 

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I’ve heard of some people experiencing issues, but nobody seems to want to say anything publicly about it. So it goes on via email or PM. I don’t understand that myself. Are we concerned about hurting the engineers feelings by being honest? It is what it is... just spit it out. Not having had the machine in salt water, I’m as curious as anyone.

In theory if you reduce the sensitivity or increase the pulse delay enough the machine will run stable under any conditions. Yet there is resistance to doing this due to fear of lost depth. Or because “machine xyz ran good set like that, this machine should also.”

So are we talking machines that are unstable no matter what? A genuine issue that no amount of control setting can eliminate? Or are we talking insistence at running the machine hot, which leads to false signals? Which leads to circular discussions:

”My detector is making false signals”

“Reduce this setting, or increase this setting, or both, until the machine settles down”

“I would, but if I do I lose depth”

”Depth is no good if you are chasing false signals. Reduce this setting, or increase this setting, or both, until the machine settles down”

“I did, but the machine lost depth, so I went back to the original settings. Now it’s making false signals again.”

“Reduce this setting, or increase this setting, or both, until the machine settles down”

“I would, but if I do I lose depth”

“sigh”

I swear I’ve had that discussion hundreds of times over the years.

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I fully agree with all of the above!!

We are not doing the engineers; whom i think we all very much appreciate their interaction with us; any favors, by not being honest with the good and bad, for the limited!! 

   I know i have been following it's introduction closely, as i would very much like the next generation model! But it must preform in moving salt water in S.Florida, to excel over other salt water preformers, for me!

I think Rick and Alexandre respect the opinions and issues brought to their attention by the "testers"! And i believe everyone on this forum has been respectful of them! 

    I look forward to both sides, in this exchange, and want to see the AQ as a steller example of how to develop a great detector, with the honest and respectful feedback from the users! 

Thank's to all, working on making this a great machine!👍👍

  

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2 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

In theory if you reduce the sensitivity or increase the pulse delay enough the machine will run stable under any conditions. Yet there is resistance to doing this due to fear of lost depth.

Trade offs! Sand Shark is pretty much unaffected by salt water movement. HHPulse could be set by lowering the FREQ setting to be fairly quiet, but at that setting, it wasn't seeing unhooked hoop earrings well at all and depth was not great. Run it hot, adjust how the coil is presented as the water moves and listen between the false caused by the water moving and it produced. Over wet salt sand it was much more verbal and better ID'ing iron than the Sand Shark.

Hoping to hear more on the AQ in the moving salt water environment vs settings. Looking forward to getting one.

Picture is of 14K earrings recovered with the HHPulse a few years back on a soft sand drop-off at the beach edge with lots of moving salt water (wave wash). 

SanibelEarrings.php.jpg

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Alexandre said it best - our newest user in FL has posted her issues and they are discussing it.

One thing worth mentioning is that there WILL be an 8” coil for the AQ. I expect to have concrete information on availability and price within a couple of weeks (I hope). Not sure it it will be an “alternate” or just an accessory.

It will definitely react less to the salinity, but note Steve’s comments above - no free lunch

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No doubt it is the saltwater and current, my Excaliburs are not stock and I run both Hot and they make all the same noise with the 10 inch coil as the AQ....... The AQ acts just like my excalibur but at a much stronger audio. I go out for a hunt with the excaliburs and I know I am going to be fighting the surf........ I'll take the little 8...And it calms the effects of saltwater...........I am sure the same will be with the AQ...just needs a smaller coil for rushing/rough salt water. If you look at all of the Eric Foster water machines they run small coils ....Barracuda is the same....

I'm very happy with the 12.5 but will welcome the 8 inch for sure....

I guess the loss in depth due to the small coil can be made up by being able to run the AQ Hotter...going to be interesting for I run my AQ in the water between 8 and 11 delay ..Come on 8 Inch!!

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4 hours ago, Rick Kempf said:

One thing worth mentioning is that there WILL be an 8” coil for the AQ. I expect to have concrete information on availability and price within a couple of weeks (I hope)

8" coil is just too small for the beach. Thoughts should be put to toward a 9 1/2" 

Thanks Dave

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21 minutes ago, midalake said:

8" coil is just too small for the beach. Thoughts should be put to toward a 9 1/2" 

Thanks Dave

I would like to see a 9 inch but for the purpose of making the machine useible in adverse conditions I think the 8 would be safer. 

I don't think it is to small for I remember years ago when I did hunt the ocean..... the Excalibur 800 with the 7.5 inch coil did as well as the stock 10 on finding gold. But one thing for sure,..... in my head I always wanted to grab the 10 first thinking it would be better..

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