Impulse AQ Has Now Landed In Oregon (long Post)

[GaryC/Oregon Coast]

Sorry for the delay in putting my experiences on paper, I received my AQ 8-7-20.  I have lived in Oregon now for the last three years.  Coming from California I was use to un-ending tourists, vacationers, locals streaming to the beaches all year long.  Here in Oregon I now have to live with the fact that many of my close, local beaches are just not popular with "In the water" type of beach goers.  These beaches do not have the throngs of people lying a towel out and sunning themselves all day long.  Most are lucky to get a few hours of towel sitting and then start looking for a wind break to hide behind.  That being said, if I drive 50 to 250 miles north the populace does have access to a few more popular sunning beaches.

My first outing was right down to my local beach, three miles away.  Just wanted to see how the AQ acted on my black sand beach and to my water.  I'll have to say it took me awhile to get it calmed down in and near water, even on wet sand.  Ended up with the Frequency at 10.5, ATS at 9, Sensitivity at 6.  This allowed me to run it with some faultsing during my swings.  I just have to slow down my swings and it was more quiet.  

Second outing was to an inland fresh water reservoir (120 mile round trip) where they have been draining it for only four days.  This is a huge reservoir and takes over a month to drain it down before storms hit.  The beach areas had only about ten yards exposed to the mud bottom and no where near to the end of where people jump off the end of the dock.  The mud was un-digable  with a scoop.  Like working in modeling clay.  I'll have to wait until it gets a little more dried out and use a shovel.  Will try and hit it next month.  Anyway the AQ worked very well in freshwater at the presets.  

Third outing was to a beach south of me (80 mile round trip).  Actually hit two beaches here same settings were needed to keep the AQ stable while swinging.  These beaches were very clean of trash so I got a good three hours in with the AQ.  I had the exact same experiences other owners reported with hair pins, bottle caps, wire bits, etc.  Like every new owner, especially me, I dug all signals using the All Metal and Tone settings, switching back and forth before digging.  Learning this machine will take me awhile but I like the sound of it.  It reminds me of using my old Mine Lab 4000 gold machine.  Similar in sound and especially reactions to hot rocks.  

Fourth outing was yesterday, a beach north of me (400 mile round trip).  Actually I hit three beaches but stayed at the first one for a long time.  Nice clean beach.  I usually take my Nox 800 out on it first to test for trash and if it looks good go and get the Impulse.  I got a lot of practice in yesterday.  Digging almost everything and comparing sounds and switching between All Metal and Tone.  I did not take any pictures of my trash or coins or toys found.  Every body has enough pictures of the bad stuff.  I will be staying with my settings for a while as they seem to be good for my beaches.  

I waited a long time to get this machine and I am not sorry I have it.  You have to realize, and it's been written before.  The AQ will not be for every beach hunter.  It has to be used in conjunction with other machines.  It's not a coin machine and will drive you crazy if you are wanting it for coins.  My trips did not score any jewelry or gold.  Not that I wasn't trying but because (I believe) my beaches are not in use as So. Cal. beaches are throughout the year.  Lower numbers of people on the beach at shorter summer type weather will just not have the abundance of what I was used to finding in California.  You will see a report when I do score gold!!

Bottom line, I hope the AQ (re-worked model) is a monetary success for Fisher.  I do see however people buying this machine and being very un-happy with it in the short term.  Many new detectorists or seasoned ones either don't have the time to put in on the learning curve or just get frustrated with the limits this water machine has.  Limits being it's not a coin machine (many detectorists will not remember this when purchasing the AQ).  So I predict you will see lots of them for re-sale, maybe six months after the final version has been released.  GaryC/Oregon Coast

[Rick K - First Member]

Thanks for your frank and thoughtful report. A nice blend of expectations vs. experience. Actually getting this kind of data was the assignment Fisher gave me - a sort of “Public Beta” - with the difference that you have to buy your “ticket”.

I’m pretty sure that on this forum anyway, the fact that this thing was designed narrowly to find gold jewelry at the beach was clearly explained. If your beaches hold no gold, then a VLF IB machine is the tool you need for coin recovery and whatever else you might come across.

For example. my own air tests showed better depth on a man’s gold wedding band than a silver dollar.

Hopefully you will find a use for it that fits your circumstances or “jobs to be done” - If not, I expect that there are lots of folks who would be happy to purchase it for what you paid (or if they are in a hurry) a bit more.

[Joe Beechnut OBN]

50 minutes ago, GaryC/Oregon Coast said:

 It has to be used in conjunction with other machines. 

Amen to that!

Nice report and some very true words..Thanks for sharing...

[schoolofhardNox]

This machine grows on you. I guess people's expectations are that you are going to find gold right away. It doesn't work that way. You still have to think where would it be most effective? Those that stick with the machine will find a place and time to use it. This would be a killer dive unit if they made it into one. Short shaft and waterproof to at least 30 ft and I bet you would see some great videos (or maybe people would just keep their mouth shut) 😄

[Rick K - First Member]

Gary - looks like a lot of us have patience and sympathy for your initial progress.

Keep on and if you are not a happy - give me “first refusal” on the resale - I hav nearly 50 folks waiting.

Good luck and keep working on it.

[GaryC/Oregon Coast]

Sorry to the next 50 on the waiting list( I know the pain), will not be letting this one go too soon.

Gary/C Oregon Coast

[dewcon4414]

Many of us are not coin hunting.......it turns into SOMETHING TO DIG if there just aint nothing out there.   We chase a lot of recent drops here in Fl, but during the winter things slow down and with the greater tide swings targets gather and get moved around...... you just have to work to find them.   Theres a LOT of water to cover...... and in the Gulf we dont have nearly the wet sand area so it get hammered.   However, its also where more black sand and deep targets are.   Patience really is a virtue.   Depth and coverage becomes an asset.   Many of the beaches have been renurished......with the ones farther North of me just now opening to better pay days again.  Can slaw, bottle caps and hair pins will be our greatest challenge.   In all honesty...... 2 tones can be a really good thing......it just needs to be able to ID IRON.  Thats a huge part of the game especially with a PI.   Theres obviously a learning curve to the guys around me with the machine.......most have not used a PI in some time if at all.   The machine is just unique enough most wont be selling them used very soon.   I mean who dont want a machine available as deep as an Eric Foster machine?   Many of the water machines had the popular 8" coil....... with the extra power use i assume that also equates to greater depth .....and i also assume that equals the larger coil making it easier to work areas you just cant with the large coil AND you can get the coil in the hole.   Lets see how that changes the game.

[icurabeachguy]

On 10/24/2020 at 10:09 AM, schoolofhardNox said:

This machine grows on you. I guess people's expectations are that you are going to find gold right away. It doesn't work that way. You still have to think where would it be most effective? Those that stick with the machine will find a place and time to use it. This would be a killer dive unit if they made it into one. Short shaft and waterproof to at least 30 ft and I bet you would see some great videos (or maybe people would just keep their mouth shut) 😄

A short shaft for underwater work would be nice.  As configured from Fisher, the stock shaft is longer than I like for my type of detecting.