bklein

No replies so I’ll add some content… I tried the AQ with my bucket of “black sand” from upper Newport. It detects my gold ring no problem, really strong with the Bigfoot coil and any run mode. The volcanic mode seems worse depth of all. Then I tried some gold nuggets I had found at a Havasu Goldseekers dig. It only sees them if they are on the surface. No superior mode here either - just doesn’t work. Here’s a photo of the gold and my bucket. All of this seems to contradict what Alexandre was suggesting in his comments here. I wonder if they just gave up on volcanic mode and focused on the others.

Just curious if anyone has been using the Volcanic mode on the AQ. To even have it had to be worth it to someone…

I do. On my right shoulder with earbuds. Haven’t tried a real long hunt yet though.

Used to be if you found coins in the surf that’s where the gold is. Now no coins in the surf (with any detector).

What is it that is masking out some coins? Do you guys have a setup that seems to eliminate the problem - maybe at the cost of some other behavior? I’ve never spent time on looking at this. I just know it happens and the design team thinks it’s a normal consequence of trying to have a gold sweet spot that no other detector has (???).

Have a link? eBay is just saying one AQ sold, by serious detecting, $1999.

I wonder how it would be if we could assign a modulation to an ID bin. Like if that gold range is unmistakeable. I have been playing with my Manticore and discovered the default tones for coins/gold/silver 5 tone bins were really really wrong. Even so, for me the gold ring or nickel bin did not have enough uniqueness for me. I suspect my mind would treat it as a target but not a special one. Hearing a frequency rarely heard is not enough.

I was thinking the same thing as I always wanted to go there. But I suspect the weather may be bad for both activities.

I have a few CTX batteries that fail to work with new cells, so I’m thinking the protection board is bad. I have two varieties of protection boards purchased from China but how do they interface to the charger/flex circuit. Their diagram just shows a P+ and -. Perhaps you have found a better replacement board for sale? edit: found good info from SUBE on find forum

Strick, the way my Manticore is set up, the small targets are very significant. No weakness present. It’s a unique experience having such a strong signal but I can’t see it. Usually wire or nails eroded to the size of a pin, or pop can rivets… And the thing is a silver plated ring didn’t blow my ears off. There is a voltage gain/limit setting on the CTX that does the same thing. I’m too new on the Manticore to know what I should do to improve things.

In my practice sessions at home with a bucket of black sand, Rich mode should help, but afterwards at the beach not really. I guess I’ll just spread the sand with my shoe and if no target seen I’m done and move on. But… I was hearing very weak signals in the wet and digging them and they were coins. Didn’t try setting back to Simple to see if they were louder unfortunately.

The one thing that is bugging me with the Manticore is the audio is not telling me the size of the target. So few good targets that I lose memory of what they sound like and I’m digging small pop can rivets, needle like iron, wires… I’m wondering if the M15 coil is less sensitive to foil and small targets but still good on good targets and might solve my problem.

The metal enclosure serves a purpose - you probably should try and maintain the concept somehow. Your coil connectors aren’t waterproof and would quickly corrode. I had used a GP Extreme at the beach with a plastic bag over it but I avoided getting into the water over a foot or so. It did not seem to pick up the foil - which was nice. The AQ is my replacement now. I don’t think the work you would have to do would result in something with benefits over what the alternatives are. It’s too heavy.

All in good condition. Also have NIMH rechargeable battery. Would be interested in trade for something recent from Minelab, working or not. I may be willing to add $$. I like to fix things if it’s worth fixing. Also like Nikon equipment or Ricoh GMIII. Reason for selling is I use a Beach hog with my Impulse AQ so don’t need the Bigfoot. I mainly hunt beaches and the XLT is not a beach machine. Barry 949-324-0167 $500

How does gold sound for you? To me all the sounds are pretty bland. The CTX makes gold and nickels sound sweet! Need that, maybe a tone waveform option per region?

I am not questioning the ability - I am questioning having the complexity of two modes of operation per #tones when one of the modes can do it all. In fact, in 5 tone mode you should be able to duplicate the lesser tone modes as well by bringing end points together. Minelab is making things more complex than they need to be. I’m a long time CTX user too and am constantly annoyed by the unfortunate menu design for volume and sensitivity. Wish they would come out with a firmware upgrade to clean that up. Menu design is not rocket science to implement but pretty important.

There are two ways to set region tones: one is one tone per ID region, the other - the ability to have lower and upper frequency points that allow an increasing, a fixed, or decreasing frequency ID response. Maybe I’m missing something - if you fix end points to the same tone aren’t the two tone modes identical? If so, why not just have one option with the variable endpoints and that’s it?

I tried to contact the guy but he wanted me to contact him in messenger or instagram and I never got a reply. I removed the board from two bad coils for use for this but haven’t done anything cause I traded off all my coils! Need mainly a lighter coil as I don’t think a cf shaft will make much difference. I use a harness but the coil mass is still an issue as I walk and swing fast.

I managed to break the connect clip of the Minelab Pro Harness bungee and acquired Doc's Qwipple as a replacement for it. The complete kit comes with the velcro strap attachment for the detector shaft, the bungee, and a metal O ring for your harness. I've seen some questions/comments on this and want to toss in my 2 cents. The Minelab solution is fine. I don't really have any issues with it. I just wanted to get a new clip and continue on but that didn't seem an option. Well, it really isn't fine - I had to make a modification. Both the Minelab and Doc's kit have a plastic and velcro strap piece that you are supposed to attach to your detector shaft. The designs of each are similar. Both don't attach well to my detectors' shafts. They slide up and down. I could probably solve that by adding some double-sided tape. But there is another "feature" of them I don't like - the quick disconnect. It is intended for when you want to get free of your detector quickly - you just pull the bungee from the clip in the thing. But it is too easy for the bungee to come free of the thing. If you keep the bungee with the detector you'll probably eventually lose it because it is so easy to come free of the clip. _________ EDIT: the photo below and commentary above relate most to the Minelab version. Doc's version has a synch connection for the bungee, Minelab's has the quick disconnect as shown. Also Doc's comes with a velcro square that adheres to the shaft - so it should stay in place. _________ So what I did was I use a bungie thing that has a plastic ball on it to attach to the shaft, then the ball is pressed into the loop at the end of the kit's bungee. If the ball is fully round you can probably pull it free from the bungee. I prefer a ball with a flat surface though. I am attaching photos of both. The kits bungie length needs to be adjusted for your location - whether you are on flat land or a hill for example. Doc's video shows setting the attach on the shaft so it is at the center of gravity - but I don't like that, I like it coil heavy because I kneel down to find targets with my pinpointer often and just want the coil down and control unit off the sand. This and the weight off my shoulders are the two big plusses of the harness/bungee combination. My right arm is pretty trashed from swinging for several years without this aid. (mainly CTX) The one issue I have with Doc's bungee is that it has metal bands at the loops to hold the loop in place. The bungee gets in the hole when I'm trying to pinpoint the target and the pinpointer senses it and sounds off. I really like the O ring that comes with Doc's kit. I also think his clip for this is an improvement over the Minelab's. I could still see it breaking like Minelab's if you do what I did (didn't pay attention and got frustrated it wasn't coming off).

Trade for my whites spectrum xlt, 2 coils, and $50? I have it for sale here but I want to keep the Bigfoot coil on the trade. Barry

Curious to see how they compare.

No, in the 60’s.

How does battery life compare? Just had my ml105 run out on a hunt yesterday at 5-6 hours. MC had lots left. Need to check if it’s fw is latest.

Well the AQ and Beach Hog were ready, but there wasn’t any action… The coil works great - good depth in the black sand - again 7-8” at least. I didn’t get technical and run tests. If you sweep it too fast you’ll get a tone with the sweep but a normal sweep rate is fine. I went to north Newport, the Wedge, and Corona Del Mar with it and really found nothing. Had my nickel on a string to verify it was working. Went finally to Laguna Main and used the Manticore and just found a iPhone. Probably over 7 miles walking. King tides plus offshore wind - should have been awesome but wasn’t. I worked both wet and dry. Dry areas had been over-run by rain and tide overshoots. If this hobby now demands hunting when the weather and waves is hazardous to succeed I may have to give it up until summer and fresh drops. The Manticore was finding mostly all sizes of can slaw, the AQ would find BB’s and slaw as well. At least no tent stakes this time out. Maybe that is a sign the heavy stuff is too deep.

After yesterday, I think my efforts would best be put to making an earbud set. The wind noise on the stock phones was pretty bad.