The Seeker

17 hours ago, N7XW said:

I'll vote for an internal speaker also.  The area I poke around in is infested with bears, probably cougar too, although I haven't seen a cat yet.  Big bears almost every time!

 

At one of the beaches I go to I come across some cougars from time to time.  Maybe with a nice loud speaker I can attract one 🤔

Those are some nice battery setups OBN. I can’t wait to see the finished product and run time with them.

On 7/13/2020 at 7:40 AM, Steve Herschbach said:

That nails it, and only time will tell if the components used are up to the long term task. So far, hand built, carefully tested detectors, and a roughly 10% failure rate.

I hope nobody accidentally goes into the water after running the machine for a while or it might end up like the Equinox.

Looks like my machine will make it to Fisher by tomorrow morning.

15 hours ago, Compass said:

Wow Seeker what a shame!- I mean congrats on the silver but it looks like you were in the zone with a good possibility of finding some gold. I usually have a backup detector with me for such a situation, especially, since I don't live that close to the beach but I know some hunters aren't comfortable having extra equipment in their vehicles.

Thanks Compass. Unfortunately that day I didn’t take a back up. The first two times I hunted with the AQ I did take a back up but not this time. Once I get it back I will have to start carrying a second detector for a couple of hunts.

15 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I guess you have the distinction of being the first failure serious enough to warrant a return to HQ. That sucks, as it looks like you are doing well.

I have never had any problems with any other detector. This one that I have babied so much putting it on the back seat on something soft and then covering repays me this way 🥴 I really hope it’s an easy fix so I can get back out there and try to find my first gold.

10 hours ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

Sorry to see for it looks like you were getting ready for the big one!  I like the quick response from Rick and Fisher..If you still have the machine check the power cable. I noticed twice now it had like a static electricity  build up?  A disconnect then reconnect it clears up...

Also check the volume, I had a few moments I though something had went...turned out I accidentally hit the volume...After me going thru all I seen the volume was low..So it was a false alarm..

And the AQ does run Hot! Some of the first test I ran when I was doing the battery testing...I did a temp test. Best to get to know every little detail for the AQ is like no other Animal.

Different areas of the control head..

During the hunts I have the habit of always checking my settings to see where I’m at. I did replace my battery with the fully charged back up so that should have taken care of the static build up. I sort of figured the running hot part was due to it being a high power unit that likes to a consume a lot of volts/amps.  Thanks for all the great info you provide us OBN.

This was my 3rd and last hunt. I went out for a low tide hunt and I was the only one at the beach. I think it’s mostly because people are going at night and leaving when the sun goes up.

Things were looking good, I was pulling the correct targets that should lead to some gold. Within 1.5 hrs I had pulled the 5 rings and ear ring. I continued hunting but the next half hour I wasn’t getting any targets anymore so I decided to throw a nickel on the ground. I was running all metal and max sensitivity. I ran the coil about an inch from the nickel and I could hear it but not that strong.  I decided to start raising the coil and kept swinging until I couldn’t hear it anymore. At about 8-9 inches I couldn’t hear the nickel anymore. The battery was still good but I decided to try my backup that was fully charged.  I got the same results on the wet and dry with the fully charged battery. I have no idea what happened with the AQ after only 3 hunts but I did noticed the back of the control pod was rather warm.  I don’t know if it was warm because this is a high powered detector or some other reason.

P I shot an email to Rick which he forwarded to Fisher and I got a call back within two hours. I spoke to Felix and he sent me a shipping label so the detector is heading back to FT. I am bummed that this happened specially when I was on a roll but sh*t happens.  I hope they are able to figured out what happened quickly so that I can get back to swinging and learning it some more. Good luck out there, HH. The 3 rings and ear ring are silver. The other two rings, one is tungsten and the other is junk. When I was about to dig the junk ring in my head I was like this is a big ring, pulled it out and I’m like 🤯 The pictures show all the targets I dug this hunt.

13 hours ago, Dances With Doves said:

What machine  did you use?That is good hunting getting that tough gold and old silver.

Thanks, I was using the Tarsacci for both these hunts.

12 hours ago, kac said:

Those beach finds? Nice job.

Thanks, these are dry sand beach finds. The tide had already came up and I didn’t want to go home somewhat empty handed.

13 hours ago, Compass said:

What awesome coins and beautiful gold cross Seeker- Well done and congrats!

Thanks Compass.  My area didn’t get any sand moment during the last high tide so I didn’t get much gold.  I also couldn’t make another trip to your area to try and get a piece of the pie.

11 hours ago, 2Valen said:

Nice finds, but if you think that is junk just send it to me.

Good luck on your next hunt!

Besides the cross the other two jewelry pieces are junk, you can have those 👍🏼

I got out for two fun hunts and didn’t go home empty handed this time.  The first hunt yielded all the older coins and the junk ring.  My hunt today yielded a couple clad coins and a 3.2 gram 14k cross. Good luck and stay safe.

That’s a very nice bracelet. Great haul of keepers.

23 hours ago, Rivers rat said:

Well done the gold ring looks old i had a similar one Cartier!

 

Bravo

 

 

RR

Unfortunately it’s not gold but maybe the next one will be. HH

21 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I usually toss the junk also, but have been saving everything to be able to show people "the full picture" at least initially.

My plan was to post everything so people see what’s in store for them if they get the AQ or any other PI for that matter.

16 hours ago, Sting Ray said:

Thank you for saving all dug up targets.  It gives us without an idea of what to expect.  Of course All Metal will produce just that!  I read earlier it will not pick up very small items.  ...say a ear ring stud.   Yes or no?

 

Unfortunately I don’t have an earring stud so I can do any test. I don’t know if it will pick it up in all metal but for sure it won’t on the other modes.

I think you took the correct detector. A VLF could have suffered from masking because of all the iron. Also we as detectorist sometimes reject targets because we’re not happy with the visual or audible info we get. It was a beautiful day out there and I took the wife for breakfast after the hunt. 

12 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Is that everything you dug? If so, great results for a very focused target mix! 👍🏻

Hi Steve,

Everything in the picture is what I dug on my second hunt. I usually just throw all the junk away but I will posting everything I get with the AQ for the next few hunts. HH

Wow Compass, that’s a lot of iron. I guess it’s true what they say, “if you want treasure you need to dig the trash”. That was a labor intensive hunt but sure paid off with that honker. Looks like in your case it was a blessing not being able to access the beach you wanted to. I hope we don’t get anymore closures because I need lots of time to up my swinging skill. Good luck on the next one and stay safe.

3 hours ago, Compass said:

Hey Seeker, That's  good hunt, especially, with a new detector. Are those smaller rings gold? Maybe 10K? Your experience driving all the way down to the beach because of misleading news exactly mirrors my experience yesterday!

It’s my 3rd PI and I’m hoping I can get as good with it as my previous. I needed a PI since the others in my arsenal are Excalibur II, Equinox 800 and Tarsacci. Unfortunately none of my items are gold.  The silver one with the stones is 925 at least. Even though we live in a time where information is easy to access, it’s still hard to get the correct info.  I went to the beach I told you about. There were a lot of iron targets, deep and shallow but I managed to skip a few. I think I found something interesting about the AQ and iron but I need to do some more testing to make sure I’m not hearing things. See out there Compass.

I have no idea where to start since most of the things I saw have been said already. I have done only two hunts so far.  My first hunt was 2.5 hrs and my second one (today) was about 3.5hrs.

Every new detector I get I start from scratch like a new detectorist and just learn it as I go. My first hunt was not good at all since I dug a lot of iron and less than a dollar in coinage. My settings were all metal, ats 0 , sensitivity 8-9, volume/threshold 4. With these settings I was digging anything I heard in the wet and the holes I was making were just too deep so when the 1st battery died I followed suit and called it quits. While swinging I noticed I was getting quite a bit of noise/falsing and I don’t know if it was because I was running it hot.

My hunt today was a little better and I managed to pull some decent targets. Setting this time were all metal, ats 2, sensitivity 7, volume/threshold 4. The AQ ran way better, no falsing unless I was running parallel to the water on a slope. Even with the falsing running parallel I managed to hear the small yellow ring and the big gray tungsten.  The yellow ring was quite deep too. 

Today’s hunt I wasn’t 100% into it due to the beach closures going on in Socal.  I read online that the beach I went to was supposed to be open today but when I got there it said it was closed. I drove a long way to get there so I wasn’t going to drive back without giving it a try. Luckily during my time there nobody came by to kick me out.  There were a handful of people at the beach so that helped some I guess. I am very pleased with the performance/outcome and I’m sure with a little practice things will only get better. 

The pictures below are from all the targets I recovered today. The fishing lure was an eyeball find. HH

12 hours ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

That 14k Half Moon is beautiful.I love the back...Very cool ..

Although I do love finding gold and it does make for a happier trip home. I see the exercise and mental side of detecting as the most important..I think the time we were locked in place sure did not help most of us...I gained 10 pounds, but getting back down..5 more to loose..

Detecting sure does make you forget everything else in life for those few hours. The way it works for me is if I find gold the boost kicks in and I keep going for a little longer 👍 If I don’t find anything good I quit after 5hrs or so. If it wasn’t for detecting some of us would be in much rounder shape 🥴 HH

1 hour ago, Aaron said:

That’s a beautiful ring! Are you running in all metal, 9khz?

Congrats!

Aaron

Yes, all metal 9khz , 0 threshold and sensitivity 9.

20 hours ago, 2Valen said:

The half moon is 14 kt. the first letters and numbers are the style number. They were quite common a few years ago, but today still worth some money. I have seen them on Ebay around $150 in the past few months.

Great finds and good luck on your next trip out.

I really appreciate the info.  I thought it might be a code that meant plated. I did file a section today with a coarse file and than I rubbed it on my stone and it held 14k acid.

19 hours ago, Compass said:

You've been doing great- congrats on another fine hunt!

I’m trying hard to get my gold count up since I lost so many good days during the shutdown. 

Awesome recovery as always Joe. I love seeing those honkers you pull. Good luck on your next hunt.

I got out once again today to try and build up my pain tolerance so when I get a deep machine. I hunted a few hours and managed about a dollar in clad plus two wheats and buffalo. I also found a silver ring and this moon brooch/earring. I don’t know if it’s plated or what since I have never seen these markings.  Thanks for looking and happy hunting.

4 hours ago, South Padre Treasure said:

Congratulations, Joe is right, my wife would have confiscated that in a heart beat.

Exercise that pays with interest, what else can you find that does that?

My wife doesn’t like yellow gold too much but she did confiscate my last yellow ring because it had a little blue diamond. HH

4 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

I think we can get mesmerized by gold content (purity X weight) and lose site of beauty.  IMO that's one good looking ring!
 

You are so right. Only when we find a well known brand is when we really pay closer attention. 

3 hours ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

That is very nice! Surprised the lady of the house has not grabbed it...Congratulations!!

The wife said it’s not her style so who am I to argue 😏

I got out today for a low tide hunt and some needed exercise.  Conditions weren’t good but I was eager to give it a whirl. After an hour I got a 7-8 on the MDT8000 and this 10k ring popped out.  I haven’t tested the diamond chips yet. The rest of the hunt was uneventful but I had already achieved my goal so I was good to go. Thanks for reading and happy hunting.

My plan is to befriend some one with an AQ near me to share info. Also to hunt as many heavy mineralized beaches and try to pull as much gold as possible 👍🏼

Good info to know.  I wonder if the problem would be more pronounced with a phablet.

1 hour ago, Carolina said:

I was told that a Chinese company in California bought them out. I have no first hand knowledge but I shall dig deeper. My information came from a you tuber well known from Virginia Beach. I also have a friend that sent his scoop in for repair and it went to California. Anyone else hear anything?

The company is located in Orange County CA.  There’s a new member here that goes by the name KOB and he’s been to the facility to buy a scoop from them.