Steve Herschbach

I have used the TDI Pro on volcanic sand and the statement "does not work" is not accurate. Its performance is severely impeded, as you have to engage the ground balance, lower the sensitivity, and increase the pulse delay to compensate. There is a difference between "does not work" and being tuned appropriate for the conditions and attendant performance loss. So is AQ performance also impeded - try it and see. The video... well, as I say get rid of the nice nails nobody finds on beaches and replace with actual found heavily corroded nails, steel wire, and bottle caps. Sounds like you've bought the hype already Barry - good luck!

I'll dig silver all day long - good finds!

Well yes and no. Reality is jewelry is not magically shallow while everything else gets depth. Lawn clippings bury and sink jewelry just like everything else. It is more the nature of the hunt... a numbers game. You are going to recover WAY MORE ALUMINUM than jewelry. So plugging and holes is a time waster and will destroy a park. I prefer using a Bigfoot and a pinpointer plus screwdriver. Acquire target, down on knee, stab with pinpointer, no signal, move on. Pinpointer sees it, pop out with screwdriver. The key is dig all gold range targets, but make it easy as it is a volume game. Gotta be quick and easy. What I do is go aluminum detecting, and I accidentally find gold stuff sometimes! In theory you can hunt deep jewelry, but plugging for pull tabs in my opinion is too slow and too destructive in all but select circumstances. Lets say the first method found an area that for some reason was a jewelry hot spot. OK, not going deep based on acquired evidence makes sense.

I always thought a detector with an expanded aluminum/gold range and sold with a Bigfoot/Cleansweep coil, specifically targeting jewelry hunters, would be a neat niche machine. Nobody has ever really made a machine 100% targeting the jewelry hunter. Interesting, when so many gold nugget or beach detectors are made. Jewelry in and of itself is an overlooked niche.

I already have the replacement. I’m not unduly worried over what I am pretty sure was just a fluke. Joe has had no issues. I feel as bad for everyone looking for AQ reports as anything else. I’ve got the machine and am confident in what it can do so for me it’s just getting the time to get out and do it. I don’t bother with weekends at public locations, and have been planning a desert outing for this week, so losing Friday means you guys hear less from me than you might have. But tomorrow is another day, and I will be up bright and early to give the beach another go tomorrow. Maybe again Tuesday... I’ve not yet decided whether to head out to the desert Tuesday or Wednesday. Main job will be trying Impulse and Tarsacci for gold nuggets on a patch of alkali ground out there where I have taken several ounces of gold. Been throughly GPS gridded with the GPZ 7000 but I’m not perfect and miss bits here and there. I’ll take a couple test nuggets also. The ground is modestly mineralized, some hot rocks that trouble the GPZ but they are sparse. But the GPZ really struggled with the alkali conditions and so both the Impulse and a Tarsacci actually have a decent shot at doing well in those conditions. There is actually gold in salt flat areas in Australia where beach detectors might be very effective. Anyway, just me doing weird stuff that few other people would try. I should have a better handle on Tarsacci vs Impulse in a week.

You too George! You in Alaska or Tennessee?

TDI and ATX versus AQ... well, people always focus on depth, while I’m looking at other factors. I’ll give the nod to AQ for sheer depth. The AQ adds some discrimination tools the others lack, but the difference there is not huge. A skilled TDI operator should be able to pass trash nearly as well as a AQ operator, but with more depth loss while doing so. The AQ has a far more efficient system with less attendant depth loss, which the TDI is well known to have in ground balance mode. The only way to get the real power out of the TDI is to shut off the ground balance and go straight PI. The problem is hot rocks. The AQ ground balance has been hijacked to created a discrimination control. It therefore has no adjustable ground balance, unlike both the ATX and TDI. They had to toss in Volcanic Mode on the AQ to help compensate for this missing capability. The main defining factor on the upcoming Impulse Gold is that it will have the adjustable ground balance the AQ lacks. And also therefore probably lose the discrimination settings. The reasoning for this is that gold prospectors will encounter bad ground and hot rocks the AQ cannot handle well, and so a separate detector is required. We are being to,d specifically the AQ will not be good for gold prospecting due to this lack of capability. So that tells you where the weakness is with AQ vs TDI and ATX, both of which are used by gold prospectors. There are hot rocks and ground the AQ has problems with. If I wanted to show the TDI or ATX in their best light, I would seek out hot rocks and beach conditions the AQ cannot eliminate. Whatever it is the AQ lacks that the Impulse Gold is going to fix. Then highlight the TDI and ATX adjustable ground balance systems and the benefit they offer. So my favorite battleground, Hawaii. How does the AQ handle those nasty basalt hot rocks buried in tan beach sands? Hawaii is reason why I liked the Infinium and ATX and I am sure TDI Beachhunter if Whites had ever made one before I gave up on them. My TDI prototype was a dream unit in Hawaii and I advocated for a waterproof version before the TDI even hit the streets as a new detector model. But I digress. It’s those kinds of situations where I would question the AQ. It may be that the Volcanic Mode does the trick, but if so, at what depth loss compared to the ATX and TDI? Personally, I am sold on the AQ. But as my posts above indicate I also know the technology well enough to know what it can and can’t do versus the competition, so for me the questions that trouble others are of little or no concern. But I’m more than happy to lift a pointy finger for those who want to delve into and attempt to illustrate those issues for others. My strength is telling people about stuff. Whether they want to listen or not, well, I can’t do anything about that.

Since we posted near same time Barry, I’m not sure if you saw my other post. I was not thinking of all the people who think this is a replacement for their VLF, so serious discrimination tests using various items like steel wire, hairpins, and bottle caps would be very helpful for that crowd. Not depth tests so much as discrimination tests. That’s the ticket! So back to plan A, Equinox and Excalibur, plus Tarsacci if you can lay your hands on one. Test AQ versus VLF on stuff in left of photo...

Well, I can see due to the early promotional material put out, why lots of people are thinking the AQ is possibly a super discriminating PI that will somehow replace their VLF. In that case tests of the AQ in Tone Mode or Mute Mode versus VLF detectors would be of great interest to them, and certainly something Barry could focus on with great intent from his viewers. I think the AQ is a step up from the discrimination on the Beachhunter TDI and ATX, both of which are tone based, the TDI adjustable, the ATX less so. In my case though VLF and PI remain different tools for different jobs, and I advocate having both. My Equinox is sure not going anywhere. The AQ complements the Equinox, it does not replace it, as both have strengths where the other is weakest. The AQ plus Excalibur or Equinox or possibly a Tarsacci is a near perfect pairing in my opinion.

Last mention I saw from Rick is that eight have been sold, and half delivered. FT only seems to be shipping one or two a week.

So you want to bring a gun to a knife fight? Testing a high power PI against a VLF can be informative, but testing against other competitive PI detectors would be more apples to apples. I’d suggest the TDI Beachhunter and ATX as the two main competitors. Looking forward to your tests. 👍🏼 Waterproof Pulse Induction (PI) Detectors Compared

No, this thing is tiny and dainty. I’d certainly not mess with trying something like that. Best to replace. I could maybe use it as a pigtail to create a splitter for the power and audio but not something I want to mess with at the moment.

This went out to dealers. It will be interesting to see if there is an official public statement at some point, or just lights out, nobody home, like Tesoro pulled.

It would seem to me the plastic should be more pliable than it obviously is.

The dog bark is a cute way of covering up profanity.

Looks like blocky decomposed siltstone bedrock. There are plenty of places in Alaska like that where if it beeps, it’s gold. They said they had already found lots of nuggets in the bank, so may have decided to set up and film one. Yeah, it could be fake, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. The bank caving was definitely real!

The White’s GMT came out in 2000. Two decades ago! Twenty years ago!!! Some new detectorists were not even born yet when it came out. This is technology. Electronics. Who still makes anything electronic just like it was made 20 years ago? Almost nobody. You may as well sign up for the “take your time to copy me, you have all the time you need” counterfeit volunteer list. There are many reasons for innovating, and not being a sitting duck is one of them.

They are mostly state parks at Tahoe, both Nevada and California. Remember, it is a lake, not an ocean. http://parks.nv.gov/parks/lake-tahoe-nevada-state-park https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=511 https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=506

Maybe Monday. Tahoe is so busy now the beach entry closes an hour after opening on weekends. They are trying to keep things from getting too packed. Even on weekdays I need to be there right at opening.

Maybe if you buy it with American Express. No, I’m not kidding. https://www.americanexpress.com/content/dam/amex/us/credit-cards/features-benefits/policies/pdf/EW_Benefit_Guide_Tier_1_Rev_9-17.pdf Other cards offer similar plans, read your card agreement. Minelab is sold at Cabelas, and I think they offer extended warranty on electronics for an extra charge.

I was detecting nuggets with the Equinox before anyone in the U.S. and wrote it up as a nugget machine way before others even thought of giving it a try. Nice to see others eventually see the light. https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/7468-my-tips-on-nugget-detecting-with-the-minelab-equinox/ But I’d still recommend a dedicated unit unless you perceive value in the other functionality the Equinox offers. Sometimes excess capability gets in people’s way. The Gold Monster is a far better choice for people who just want to get the job done. If you read my link above, you will see you just don’t grab and go detect nuggets with an Equinox. You have to master the skill. I’m Equinox fan number 1, but it’s not for everyone when it comes to nugget detecting. However, if you are willing to take the time and seriously apply yourself to mastering it, it is an amazing machine. The 24K is now kind of off the list with White’s going by the wayside.

Yup, the buck stops at the top. If a family was to put somebody in place that runs something based in their own agenda... that’s on the family. I was and am still a business owner, and every horrible thing done by any employee I ever had ultimately was my fault, because I hired them. If they did stuff I did not know about, that’s on me for not looking. Never give business owners and managers a pass. Never. When I hear business owners making excuses and passing the buck to others under them, I just gag. What drivel. But hey, dodging responsibility is a national sport these days. The big box, big meter, went all the way back to Ken White Sr. He took a circuit board and put it in a big box with a big meter. Then put the same board in a bigger box with a bigger meter and sold it for more money. And then he would put it in a bigger box still, and I’m not kidding... add another huge meter! And sell it for even more money. Size equating to perceived value is in the White’s DNA. https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/3688-whites-electronics-visit-and-a-new-v3i/

Our conversation perfectly illustrates the difference in thinking between engineers and sales/marketing types! Ken’s mistake would be in thinking anything is worth more than it can be sold for. Things are only worth what they can get on the open market, nothing more. What he has invested or emotional value is meaningless to anyone but him.

Like I said, some Chinese outfit. Buy the name, move manufacturing to China. But Ken may want too much money, and then he just gets liquidation value. His choices are a very low price, or a super low price. All I can tell you as a business owner/entrepreneur there is value here I could sell, and something is better than nothing. But Ken may be a “by God, I’ll take nothing before I’ll sell to the Chinese” type. Whatever, it’s all just blah blah blah anyway. Time will tell.