CCadrin

Just read on my 8" post that Rick is a dealer so I would contact him first.

It was thru Fisher, $299 with a new lower rod. Not sure what the shipping since the price was for a AQ and optionally the 8".

I got the email yesterday. They said they tried to call but I had no missed messages.

Fisher contacted me for a purchase of an AQ and was offering the 8" coil. I passed on the AQ since I already have two. Anyone purchased the 8" and what is your opinion?

Sweet finds. Big congratulations.

He has only been out a hand full of times dealing with his issues. I'll definitely put it aside and have his opinion and he always have a strong opinion...lol I think I heard that story about you breaking his ring. A lot of pollution in our waters.

I needed to know so I did the electrolysis and cleanup the ring by brushing and wiping clean. I also did the acid test on the metal that is the thinnest part of the band where it looks like the ring could have been plated. It appears to be gold under the plate. That result is still 14k. The pic was taken 5 minutes after applying the acid.

Will do. I'll try it tomorrow.

This is how I tested it. I scratched the stone with bigger marks than normal. My guess the scratch was 3/4" long, 1/8 wide. Three of them. I put 10k, 14k, and 18k acid. The 18 acid ate it up immediately. I left the acid on the lines for over 10 minutes as I took a shower. The 10 and 14 lines were still present. Also, the density of the ring feels heavy for its size. Without destroying the ring, if there is a better way to test, please help me out.

I guess I should not fly with those batteries. TSA would think they are a bomb....lol

Occasionally, we'll get a ring that is so delicate that if you drop it on a hard surface they will break into multiple pieces. This one tested as a 14k so I was a little surprised that there was so much tarnish and erosion of the filler metal.

I have an older Iphone so my closeups are only so-so. There are two dots which could be a makers mark but I never seen one with two dots. I did a 10k, 14k, and 18k acid test. The '18' ate it up right away. I went for a shower and the '10' and '14' was still intact when I came out.

The outside of the ring was blackish due to the mud. The inside had a gold tone but the pic above didn't really show it.

Ring # 5 with the AQ. This ring was at least 12" in the packed mud and it has been down there for a very long time. It was barely auditable. The ring did not have any gold markings but tested as 14k. I would NOT have hit this with the NOX. I was running the machine hot. Settings were: Sensitivity=7, Delay=8, ATS=5, ALL METAL. I went slower than usual to keep the chatter down for the setting above. The location is where I have found rings in the past

I am still learning my machine. I can't wait to hear how others do it. I usually start at the defaults except for the sensitivity. Lately, I have it at 5 (one past the default). If there is no falsing, I'll leave it at that. In most cases I do not change sensitivity. I'll start with a delay of 8 or 10 and adjust the ATS to quiet the machine down. If get falsing upon my swings so I slow my swing down and/or adjust the ATS to 9 and/or adjust the delay to 10 or better.

In order to learn the AQ, I have taken to some beaches where the Nox performs great. You don't want to do dry sand or even the slope at the beaches with the AQ. You will spend to much time digging everything and even smaller pieces of metal than what the Nox can hit and a deeper depth. I have used the discrimination mode on the AQ to avoid some targets but there are to many bits of aluminum pull tabs or can slaw that cannot be discriminated out. As a test, I put a gold ring and rusty nail over each other and you can hear the gold ring and not the nail. This was a controlled test. In general in discrimination mode, if it doesn't discriminate it will provide the high tone. I do need to test it more to confirm my findings and also adjust the REJECT control. 95 percent of the 50 hours has been in ALL METAL.

Actually I have two. I bought a new one and a used one ( Steve's Herschbach unit ). If you go back on my post, I scored 4 gold rings and a gold chain. Two of the rings my Nox would not have hit. The other two any detector would have hit them. I can say my deepest in the water penny, nickel, dime and quarter were found with the AQ. I have not been out once with the AQ in the past month due to back problems. I'll be taken one of the units to FL to use along with my Nox in the soft fluffy sand on Atlantic side in a few weeks. I report back on how it behaves. I don't do videos so we are out of luck. I don't have anything to prove to anyone. The AQ does have some ideoscrincries such as falsing when a wave hits within 6 inches of the connector to the control box. I either have to go shallower or deeper in the water. My beach is difficult to run a Tarsacci and the AQ. Both require adjustments as you move from location to location. For the AQ the adjustment is the change the delay from the current setting and sometimes lowering the sensitivity. The Tarsacci, I had to adjust the salt water, tracking, and sensitivity. I sold the Tarsacci because of the adjustments I had to make, my Nox was just as deep. In the water I was able to quiet down the falsing on the Tarsacci but my Excal in all metal mode was just as deep. So it made no sense to keep the Tarsacci. Of all my detectors, the Nox handles the best without any adjustments due to the sand/clay/rocks. I customized by tones, break points, and volumes for each segment and basically run it as a 4 tone machine. I can run it at a sensitivity of 24 out the water and 21 in the water. Once set, I am good the entire hunt. Each machine has their own purpose. I am not always looking for the deepest signal. I want something that is repeatable tone.

On my beach, the AQ is at least 2" deeper than the Tarsacci. The Tarsacci was very difficult to balance and quiet down and to have the proper swing speed, you can easily walk over a target. The AQ is not as difficult to balance and is very reactivity to a target. That is my experience on my beach in Long Island Sound.

Where can you buy that cam lock?

After discussions about Joe with my other water hunters, it was suggested to carry a whistle just in case there is an emergency. I went to amazon and bought 2, one for me and another for one of my hunting partners.

Prayers are being sent your way Joe.

I was so close in buying the TDI Beach Hunter and decided to wait. And I am glad I did. As for small chains, I have no issues skipping over. I rather find rings. Here is my first chain I found with the AQ but it had a charm when I found it. I took the charm off just to weigh it. Nice $450 melt value.

I am a believer...lol

Yes, many of the targets that I dug can be found with nearly any good detector but I can say that i had dug my deepest penny, dime and nickel this past week with the AQ. They were whisper signals that I am sure a CTX, Nox, and Dual Field would not hit. Maybe an Excal in all metal mode. So my conclusion is that there are targets waiting to be found that others cannot hear. My experience level is over 13 years beach and water detecting. I don't want to give inches since most of the beaches I hunt are not the soft fluffy or powdery beaches you find in FL, Virginia Beach, OC Maryland, shore of Rhode Island. The beaches are pack dense clay, black/silver sand/sediment and easily I lose 2 to 5 inches in depth.

Love the ring! Congrats.