dewcon4414

We have somewhat the same issue with the Xcals batteries.   If a cell dies the NOT SO SMART chargers keep trying to charge them..... often leading to cracked tubes.   Then with Lith..... some smart chargers if they battery gets depleted they wont recognize the battery..... we have to slow charge them with a NOT SO SMART charger.

Gary i assume you are talking about on his battery.   It should since the CTX connection uses 3 wires.  The Xcal ones we did we added the 3rd wire so our phones would work either machine.

Ive actually gotten a couple of these now Steve.   Just drive ya nuts to know that chains out there and not a peep id bet even if you put the coil on it.   But, its those really BIG necklace parts you find and you KNOW theres a hugh chain SOMEWHERE out there.   Chain movement is still something that i cant figure out.   Most of those i do find are recent drops...... or ya know those humps not many hunt because of the trash.....

Thought id throw up a couple more finds from the month.   Things have kept me out of the water the past 3 months...... then we had the storm.   Seems everyone went home now as well so we are just getting locals and a handful of tourists now.   Still busy with hunters with our warm water.....so its getting picked clean.   Got more young guys getting into it with the local FB page now as well who are doing pretty well. 

I think we are still on the same page about wanting a 9 or 10" coil out there.   Not that the 8" wont sale......if thats whats offered.   The 8" makes a good dive coil.......but remember the Xcal had an 8"...... and now we dont.   They just didnt sell well for salt water hunting.....but this is a PI and you may not loose very much depth like you do on a VLF.  Let me know how it goes Joe when ya get one.

It will be interesting to see how the Fl hunters use this machine Joe.   We have more of a recent drop situation........ which with the AQ could change to be much like winter hunting here.   Those users will have to change how they hunt to cherry pick like you do.   Skipping shallower targets for the deeper/weaker ones would be like asking a dirt digger to just listen to med. tones for gold hunting in a park..... many will still want to dig it all which is time consuming except in the winter.  Thats when you take the time to work an area.   Very few PIs being used here so VLFs leave us a lot of junk that gets buried not to mention those who "CATCH AND RELEASE" targets........specifically bottle caps at these party beaches like say Ft Meyer where you have the river mud mixed with sand or even CWB.   BUT.... IMO, most hunting doing a lot of time out there will want to have this machine to hit beaches that appear cleaned out.

Joe.... that big battery sounds like the ticket.  I know you may not know...........but do you think the large one fit the production model?  Even the 6 hours really is pretty good run time for a PI making those headphones beep a lot.   You charging them thru that M12, M8 or having to open the tube? 

This should be interesting to see how it does and what you think Chase.   Hard sell machines for some reason and I’m not sure why.... especially for salt water beach hunting.  Maybe price... yet they buy an Xcal or CTX....  repair concerns.... yet I’ve not heard of any and anyone who has one has to agree they are pretty well made.  So I have to assume it’s the Nox option.   In the salt water thou IMO there’s no contest.

Alexandre.... I was simply pointing  out Tom is here where the ... alleged problem is.  Yes he did do the testing with Carl.... but my understanding is this is a far better machine.  He’s an worked with Fisher for years.  I was attempting to be constructive since several would like to have this machine her.  I’m sure you will work it out. I apologize for stepping on you toes.

Or simply send Dankowski one.  I’ll leave it at that.  I can tell you there is a difference waist to chest deep here in the Gulf.  It appears to be more the hard pan.

We get a very strong tone..... but the information is somewhat missing.  What i mean from that is with tones on machines like the Xcal the tone is long enough that we get a very distinct roundness from say a ring..... especially a gold ring.   I only use disc mode when i cant see the screen in the water.  Its can be a little challenging hitting that small button....... especially in the winter if you wear gloves.... not once but twice to go back to AM.  Disc modes tone are a lot more modulated.  Any one thats used say an Explorer SE can tell you there is a difference in modulation from using 10........ to use 6 gain.   I use AM ...... simply to find a target.... which is easier.  In disc those POPs i get from minerals turn into weak pings or pongs.  So its much simpler to locate a target THEN switch to Disc if you have to.  To me those 4 tones are pretty distinguishable.   I run the machine HOT just like my Xcal in PP mode....... so you know what you get when you switch there to disc with full sensitivity.

Seeker....... are you going to try the smaller coil when it comes out next month?   If the larger coil does end up making it difficult to use there and here in the Gulf.....that may be our only recourse.   I dont mind working in the water with a small coil as long as im not loosing a ton of depth.... especially on the big gold.   I appreciate your honest evaluation of the machine Seeker.  Good, bad, and ugly so it can get looked at and resolved and give us the info we need if we want to buy one.  You arent a tester.... so we like hearing from those who have the machines.

Thanks....... good info.

Will the connector for the headphones be a standard M8, which seems to work well on both the Nox and the MDT?   Im looking at availability to make my own phones or just adding the connector to a pair i already have.

Do you know if the production machine will give us an option to order the machine with either the 8" or 12.5"" coil?

Good news on the battery and location..... how many batteries and are you saying they may get near the 6 hour? 

Ive got my fingers crossed this isnt an issue unique to Fl.  With our low mineralization i was hoping to get a couple of inches over what Joe was getting in the Bay.   Has the small coil been tested enough to give us a SWAG on the depth loss in various modes?  This still could be a GOOD THING for small gold especially in the wet sand where it can be moved and pushed up.  Like Joe, id like to have had a 9 or 10" coil for a bit more coverage plus the ease of movement in the water..... i wouldnt have needed both coils at that point.  8" coils are great for working an area for smaller gold.....but as you said the tread off can be depth.

Do you believe the small coil will resolve the salt water issue that you mentioned?   I assume the small coil that will come out next month has been tested here in Florida where the problem occurred?   Did it work..... and what kind of depth will we loose in each mode on say a 5 gram gold ring?

Cable connector.... which connector are we talking about....... headphone, battery, coil?   If its the headphone one will it be so unique it wont be available to us to make our own phones?

Are you saying you are going with a tube style for the batteries that isnt going to be enclosed and allows us to use Lith batteries......if so will be get 6 hours run time?

Thanks for addressing these concerns some of us have Alexandre.

Jim..... you got it.  Pick your days.   Some days just aint worth the effort.  Even with the best of machines you just lack coil control and with a PI... a sensitivity PI.... you have to have some consistency with your movement.    Nothing beats a calm day when you can get that coil on the bottom and keep it there and hear those DEEP targets.   To much noise and you get brain dead fast and loose concentration and you end up listening to just those booming targets...... which a lot of times tend to be high conductors not gold unless its a recent drop or floaters like pull tabs and can slaw.

Rick... would that happen with most connectors?  I know say on the Nox and Aqua Sound when charging it allows current to go only one way... is it possible to do that on the connector in question and eliminate the back flow?

Im with Joe......i like a 9" or even a 10 for water hunting.  With this machine im not sure we arent still ring hunting...... not micro gold hunting so the sensitivity and even the separation from that small of a coil isnt as important as a bit more depth and coverage.   Depth.....and a bit of disc, thats what we are all wanting this machine for.   Ive seen it with the MDT..... when there were fewer out there..... just wasnt getting any info out there to help the designer or those who were considering purchase.    Long shore drift and the wave line can make some machines loose targets and pushing a large coil can get tuff and is really hard on equipment like cuff and shaft.   Cliff....im not sure there isnt going on with that coil...... but could be the GB since the Aqua Star im told had some issues as well.   I agree with Steve ..... id sure like to know sooner than later about  issues that could affect my hunting with the machine and what i can do about it ..... especially if its ME lol.

Nice spattering of targets...... really did well on the rings.   Those dug id likely dug ... even the small iron because i like to dig a few piece every hunt that have an interesting sound.   Those Coronas.....ugh we dig those.  You make it look easy. 

the tones was the first thing i suggest to Tom to change.   They are SOLID... but a little to quick and i dont like the modulation.  I rarely hunt in anything by AM.......if i cant see the screen then i may switch to disc just to see what ive got.  But a lot of times i can tell round or something unusual .... even if its iron.   Constantly testing weak iron targets..... havent gotten a piece of gold doing that yet.   I do like the way the digital reads iron.  It helps a lot in AM having disc at -30 when i flip over as well ..... keep a lot of it from wrapping around.  In AM you can tell large from small targets...... but the volume of those targets are more like running a high gain machine where all targets sound louder.

Jim, im seeing a lot of movable targets .... not that pull tabs and bottle caps dont get deep.  In fact some of the beaches i hunt i can almost gauge how the sand is moving by the caps.  If they are GONE.... things are really deep.   Thanks for posting the finds it really can help if someones watching a new machine.   Was there no heavy targets like lead......or much iron.... or was it just the beach?   At this point i think a lot of us would like to see ALL the target you guys dig up.   On the bobbie pins, i did a lot of them as well because on many machines the metal puts them barely into the iron range.   Great find on that ring.  Im wondering how marine epoxy if used on the bottom would affect the weight..... as well as protect the coil.

I know it’s warranted for the IP industry standard .... but she’s pretty water proof.  IF anything would be an issue it maybe the speaker not the connectors. I also have a vynal sticker over that speaker area.  Face place can really take a beating... I have a short video of Dimitar hitting it on the concrete several times with a hammer.    I sent Tony the pin out for the M8 so those water hunting would have these available over the phones that come with the machine.  Those phones just aren’t suited to be in the salt water even with the spray since the speakers aren’t sealed.  

Thanks Chase .....Ive didnt jumped on the band wagon right off on most machines that i may buy for in the water use.  That a tuff environment out there and if its going to flood, break .... or just not be the best tool for the job i try to know before i drop a lot of money as well.   If no GURU electronically.....  im an operator and base most of my thoughts on how well it works.  I had a lot of conversations and a couple of visits with Ton Dankowski before i bought the machine.  He will tell you as will i its not a machine for everyone or every condition.   Its a lot of money..... but so is the Xcal with mods, repairs, and 1 year warranty as is the CTX.  Ive answered questions from people in PMs....... just ask Clive.  I didnt recommend it to him..... because it may not be waterproof enough for what he needs.... nor is it a PI like the AQ.  Same thing Tom said to me when i was making my decision.   Im no longer a dirt hunter so i try not to respond to those posts much.   However, i used to put in just as many hours doing dirt hunting....... i just love this hobby.  The drama...... not so much.  I dont have the years many do...... only about 25, but i do have a lot of hours.... and because we traveled full time in an RV for many years i got to hunt some interesting spots and conditions...... with some very good hunters.   Things are a changing..... from the beep and dig detectors.......lol, or are they?  I like all this new tech over my head stuff that others have to explain to me ........ glad there are people who can lay it out simply.

I dont believe ive tried to hype the machine.  Maybe im not great at giving the good, bad and ugly.   Im also not a part of any marketing.... i bought my machine..... no. 28 it took me some time to finally buy in fact.  Anything i say is based on hours of water hunting..... now 18 mos.  Steves been straight forward on his reviews about every machine he posts about....... yes i like that too.  Right now ... this machine will find anything any other water machine will IN THE SALT WATER.  So its not about it not finding micro gold there...... like Steve points out most wont .  Its about the machine dont have that ability..... not even the 7uS AQ thus far.  The high point of this machine is.....it retains a lot of that depth you get on the wet sand in the water as well..... couple of inches of sensitivity down here at least puts it in PI depth range with some advantages of having more tones and a TID screen.   Takes some time to learn how to use it to if the screen is under water.   All and all thou..... i still have other machines for a reason like the Nox.

What you can do is tune out the salt entirely without affecting gold or aluminum in any way.

Is this what you ment to say?   As a filter.....anything near that small gold/salt level can be filtered out.   Me and Demitar spoke about small.... which some call micro gold that may not be picked up by the MDT.   He said it wasnt designed for micro gold hunting because speaking to hunters that wasnt what they wanted.  However, i can tell you air testing a lot of tiny gold there was only a couple items the MDT didnt get the Nox did......tiny tiny cross and a small hollow earring ..... but neither did the Xcal or CTX.  So .....like any machine we are working with acceptable loss.   But i believe the depth of this machine .... in the water surely makes up for that loss. 

To answer that Chase......ill say it depends on whats and acceptable loss gold wise.  The machine wasnt designed to hit micro gold..... but does well on fairly small gold and excellent on gold rings.   Id have to agree with Cliff.....if your salt balance is correct.... raising it much like over GBing for raw gold hunting you are going to loose some gold that just makes sense.  Ive had to run a high salt balance when playing around with 12khz in the salt water..... that balance being around 44.   It may well balance out very small foil but it does seem to affect the target response.   I tested a good many found targets using both 9 and 12khz.   Over a deep pull tab you get a pretty clear obvious target tone.  When using 12khz with the high SB.....it sounds weaker and shorter something you might miss especially a near target.   Keep in mind im in AM running a very hot machine.   But ..... fresh water just like park hunting is a different beast.   Not enough dissolving of targets or water movement to move a lot of that small foil out of the water.  I assume Aaron is hunting in disc..... and his disc is -30 which keeps targets like iron from wrapping around to high digits in the 28 range.   Hes looking for gold rings and silver to include coins..... and thats a lot of trash......... thus there is an acceptable loss of some targets that may not have a lot of value. 

I guess not hunting fresh water currently im surprised more arent hunting in REVERSE disc.   Those using the Xcal in PP mode know the advantage depth wise and the simplisity of just finding a target.   You can run this thing HOT..... any falsing will sound like pops rather than like a target which hits hard.... or a false tone.   Running in disc with a notch anywhere in the + digit can cause iron to wrap around also.  Once that coil is underwater you shouldnt be getting any EMI to speak of.   Everyone seems to be trying to run a smooth machine with the black sand on and high SB setting and low power.   Something you tend to do also running the Xcal in disc........ not so much using the Xcal in PP mode.   You might be able to wring out a little more depth in AM..... but it will be a learning experience if you depend on the TID screen and not the tones to figure out what iron is doing.   There is just a lot of untapped raw power to this machine.