Steve Herschbach

There are several brands selling what appears to be the same hardware.

You don’t need luck when you’ve been trained by Gerry! 👍🏼

Very, VERY NICE!

Well for gosh sake you are taking time you could be using to go metal detecting to shoot videos! As if you need them... you are doing them strictly so others can see what you see. And people don’t have to pay a dime to watch them. If there was ever a thing where if you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all, it’s free videos. It was not long ago you had all of a dozen detecting VHS tapes to choose from in the world, for $25 - $40 a pop. Now there are thousands of detecting videos, and they are free. People really have gotten spoiled I guess, and at times seem to demand that others spend time and money to provide them with a video... and nary a thank you. Anyway, I sure appreciate anyone taking the time to do videos. I‘ve considered it many times, but once I hit the ground I lose all interest in doing anything but detecting. It’s all I can do to make the time to take photos... that at least I can manage most of the time. So thanks Joe, you are a good man!

Whites was my first detector in 1972 and my first detector dealership in 1976. Yeah, a lot of history there so I know how you feel Gerry. We told people Ganes was a once in a lifetime opportunity and would not last forever. I don’t think there will ever be anything quite like Ganes Creek ever again unfortunately, or even Moore Creek for that matter. It was great having a hand in both. I talked Doug into giving a “pay to detect” operation a try and sent his first customers his way. Getting Moore Creek up and running will go down as the greatest adventure in my life, and I’ve had a few.

Steve Houston and I ran a prototype MXT at Ganes Creek of all places, but it was not until the next year that I figured out how good it was there. I sold a ton of MXTs off of what happened at Ganes Creek. Over 1000 ounces of gold found there with the MXT alone. White’s representative Steve Houston with 3.25 ounce gold nugget he found at Ganes Creek, Alaska in 2002...

Well, they were a great old machine, but old is the key word here. Here is the Minelab discontinued detector listing. Minelab will service detectors for at least 5 years after they are discontinued. The SD 2200v2, the last version of the 2200, was discontinued in 2009 with service running out in 2014. Welcome to the forum!

OK, mystery solved. The Internet Archive has snapshots of this site going back to, you guessed it, 2013. So it is like a online store that never really went live for some reason? How strange.

I think it is 2013 prices. Like I said, many of the models listed are discontinued.

I sent a note to FT and they modified the post in recognition of Des passing. I just thought it looked a little clueless not to mention it. Plus "join Des Dunne".... no thanks, I'd not like to join him quite yet!

I don't know, but I would guess since they have used the same rod for decades on the CZ-20/CZ-21 and 1280X I know where I would place my bets. It's hard to say the rod is "too short" when they sold many thousands of them over the years. But it's also why they are doing things this way - to get feedback. So you never know. Fisher CZ-21 metal detector Fisher 1280X metal detector

I do think it is an old effort. Like I said, I seem to have a vague memory of it from years ago. But why is it still up, and linked to from the Fisher page? I wonder what happens if you order from it? The cart seems to work. Very odd.

It's Friday where Simon is! But the last modified date may not mean much since it's php

Hmmm, not so sure. I have a vague memory of somebody posting about this many years ago.... like back in 2013. If you go to http://www.fisherlab.com/ And click on the FT as marked below, it comes up. Not very secret. I was looking for First Texas mailing address and clicked here, and up it pops.

This is odd. I just tripped over this clicking on the FT logo at the bottom of the Fisher Labs website. It looks new, but has a 2013 copyright date on it, and has models listed for sale that are now longer current. https://detecting.com/store/index.php/ It is basically a First Texas online store, with all three brands listed - Bounty Hunter, Fisher, and Teknetics

I guess nobody at First Texas got the message. https://www.facebook.com/FisherResearchLabs/

Great review Mark! Your observations mirror many of mine so we are in agreement on a lot. Good catch on the arm strap being too short. I did not mention that in my report, but it was the first thing I replaced on my AQ. I have to admit I found tones to be rather useless at first, but really liked it at a different location, so it seems to depend on the location as to how useful it is. It’s pretty busy also in dense targets. I like full tones on my VLF so I’m guessing people who do not like full tones may find the AQ Tone setting to be a lot to handle in thick targets. Not saying you... just an observation based on my last hunt. You mentioned mostly using presets, just wanted to confirm your ATS was at the preset of 8. In all metal it is tempting to run lower ATS for more depth, but running it too low will cause the tones mode to read all items as high tone. Yeah, the battery. Several of us have confirmed the battery runs about 2.5 hours on the first go, and takes a couple complete discharge and charge cycles to get to the full 3.5 hour running time. Rigging a support so the detector hangs by your side is a very good idea. Setting it on the ground, leaning against you side, all put the power cable at risk. I simply ran a rope to my wader suspenders for now. If you take the armrest off there are three preset drilled positions. It is set for the middle. Be careful running the bolt back in - the power and headphone wires run through the tube. Extending the Impulse AQ Rod

The top secret part is funny. Apparently people copying and making their own. Hard to sell something sight unseen however.

I made my post less snarky and added another link. You have motivated me Dave to create a better way for people to find critical past threads on issues relating to the AQ - thanks!

Better yet, I am going to create a new pinned topic at the top of this forum that references critical prior threads on the AQ for easy future reference.

I practically wrote the book on discrimination with ground balancing PI Dave, and have discussed it for years starting with the Garrett Infinium, then Minelab’s and the TDI. The AQ is just the latest and I already wrote it up also. I included references to the past threads on the other machines. There is lots of information in prior threads on this forum about it. Honestly, I have been going out of my way to try and educate people on this for the last year, so I’m kind of surprised you have not seen it. I knew this would confuse people so have been trying to alleviate that confusion well in advance of the machine appearing. I will start including the links in all my future threads. Long story short the AQ performs very much as I have anticipated all along, no real surprises, and no disappointments at all outside of the battery system. Fisher Impulse AQ Discrimination Explanation More here

All I can do is report real world results. I am not unhappy with the result and I am not going to try and be that aggressive trying to reject targets. I’d rather be more conservative than overly aggressive in that regard. I think you are discounting the effects of orientation in the ground being such that not everything signals as if it is laying flat on the surface. Not all targets give perfect textbook example signals when buried in the ground. The hair pins I dug did not give a double blip due to their orientation and depth. I would expect no different from tabs. As far as the ratio, I was digging what I believe to be deeper, older targets. Only one nickel is a clean, recent drop. VLF operators have probably skimmed off the shallower, more recent items to some degree. I would caution against reading too much into any one single report by any one person. It takes time and many reports from many people under a wide range of conditions for a fuller picture to develop.

Hmmm, raises the question of how they are going to warranty something like a bad coil if they are not making any more?

The original test calls for an Indian head penny. https://www.ahrps.org/_tipsAndTechniques/Nail_Board_Performance_Test.pdf

Great review with solid, useful information. Thank you!