Tony

It’s a powerful beast for sure…..give me an AQ “Lite” in a tough clear case you can open…..rated to 200 feet. Max of three controls is all I need 👍 Happy days…..

I’ve got a local beach that is rarely hunted by anyone but I know there is a lot of gold deep down……targets are likely to be buried 2 to 3 feet under the sand. The only way to get to the gold is hunt where breakers “break”….. not for the faint hearted. Position yourself just behind the breakers and then dash in and sweep the impact zone on the sea floor……you gotta be in and out and before the next wave rolls in. Very hard work on the body and gear but can be great hunting with targets everywhere. XL500 does well here……detector strapped tight to the body and often with a bonephone tucked under a dive hood….regular headphones are destroyed in no time. All the gold gets buried when it’s calm…..gotta have unbroken water hit that sea floor and then work the white water. Two foot waves is all you need……and a good breakfast. Looking at the AQ design……control pod and those rear cables would be severely tested in these conditions. Cuda would do well for sure. is it just me but have the toughest and arguably best performing water detectors disappeared forever…..Aquastar, Barracuda, XL500…..tough Ikelite cases and connectors….beefy cables and pots.

And I have visited it many times…..damn if I had the money back then I would have bought 2 Cudas and 2 Aquastars. Having said that, Eric has “souped” up the XL500 with more TX and RX power and in his words “is comparable to the Aquastar on all but the lowest conductors”……which is because of the 20uS starting delay on the XL500. Gotta love that 20uS in churning white salt water with some black sand thrown in 👍

I wonder if Alexandre can “up” the pulse width on the AQ. Better potential to capture not only 22K but bigger gold in general. I believe the AQ is running a pulse width less than 100uS. I think designers focus on pulse delay too much. The other part of the PI equation is the pulse width…….up around 250-300uS will help light up those bigger and higher grade gold rings. My modded XL500 runs a pulse width of 350uS (Eric was adamant this was needed)…..and I agree completely. This was also attainable as the detector runs on 3 x 18650 Lithium cells so can still run 10 hours with the increased pulse width. I hope the AQ didn’t go the wrong way with the limitations of the stock battery pack (as an increased pulse width will naturally draw more juice from the battery). Damn that AQ…..it’s a rough diamond that could easily be a polished Bobby Dazzler.

Alexandre……thank you for adding these great photo’s. This one above on West Bay Beach is a great one of Eric after modding his Vallon detector. Also…..wishing you the very best on your own pulse detector journey and development. Tony

All good….straight from Minelab’s engineers as well 👍

Minelab Australia just got back to me regarding coil cable length. Shortening the cable is fine and has no adverse effects on the Excalibur.

Joe…..I’ve been meaning to ask is coil cable length critical to the functionality of the Excal? The stock cables on the Excal are crazy long for me because I always shaft mount and don’t need the extra mile or so of cable length ! Thanks Tony

The most resilient cables seem to have the PVC outer jacket unlike other cables that have a soft rubber outer jacket which are vulnerable to dry-rot. I have three (new old stock) 8” Tornado coils that I got cheap. The cables look fine but I plan to cut and replace them all with decent PVC cables. Knowing what I know, my current Excalibur coil cable is treated with 303 Protectant spray and silicone grease after every outing. A bit of research on cable jackets tells me that TPE jacketed cables are the gold standard for all round durability.

OBN has extensive posts on what you need. I don’t recall bonding issues with epoxy if the surface is lightly sanded and prepped.

I have added the Zoom details on one of the other detecting forums. That was where Eric posted quite a lot from about 20 years ago when he first introduced some of his first detectors…..Beachscan, Aquastar and Deepstar. I used to drool over those machines back then……never had the money at the time. I did purchase the Goldquest SS around 2004 and found plenty of gold with it too.

Photo 1: Eric in fine form with an early Aquasport PI detector ( early 1980’s I’m guessing) Photo 2: Eric in his mad scientist laboratory making something awesome Photo 3: Eric in Australia testing something (about 10 years ago) Photo 4: Eric down at West Bay beach in Dorset UK. I think he was using his modified Vallon VMH3CS Feel free to add more photos if you have them. I have one more to find in my archives which is Eric enjoying a pint of beer at an English pub. Tony

Thank you…..I kind of assumed things weren’t going well and I didn’t want to intrude too much. It really saddens me that his final weeks and months weren’t comfortable for him. He has peace now.

If I get time, I’ll make the drive to Bridport, Dorset in the UK in December. I’ve got the name of the pub where he enjoyed a nice pint of beer and Fish & Chips. If the weather is good, I’ll head on down to the beach at West Bay (where that photo is)……..missed that opportunity to do that with him in 2018 😞

I’m glad Lillie provided this. I’ve been in contact with her and she gave me the Zoom details but I’m glad she’s made it public as I wasn’t sure if that was the case or not.