schoolofhardNox

My plan is to go over my favorite places and try tone mode first and then all metal, to see if there actually are any targets that tone mode misses. But generally it's all metal in the iron deficient areas and mute or tone mode in the wet iron areas. Of course it may change if I get onto the beach and it seems not to be the best approach. .

I sort and store all junk non ferrous in 5 gallon pails. The brass, copper and lead can get you a tank of gas or lunch if you bring them to a scrap yard. I just score the metal on a grinding wheel to tell if it's brass or copper. My yard takes it that way. The junk ferrous stuff goes with my light iron or #1 iron to the yard

Rick, Just so you know, many of us really appreciate you taking this on. Whenever you have to deal with the general public, especially when they are behind a keyboard and not standing in front of you, it can turn ugly fast. Today's society has made it ok to tell everyone what to do. If someone does not like the fact that this release happened, then they should boycott it (Please do, more gold for us LOL). People should be thanking Alexandre, you and Fisher for releasing it in the first place. And what about future versions?? What else can this technology develop into? Who knows where this may go? I for one am happy you got involved and grateful for you putting my name on that list. The hell with them. They will either buy one later or go without. I see the potential in this machine and I can't wait to try it out on a beach.

True. And I love the last line 😄

Looks like they made a paper weight out of it. Popular in the 70's / 80's to seal coins in cubes, rectangles, etc... Nice time capsule.

Multiple ring days do not happen very often, but they do happen. It's always a surprise when it happens though 😄 Makes you want to hunt all day. That is why I always just hunt for the relaxation of it and when I find the first good target I relax even more.... but I get more serious as well 😉 Congrats on some really nice rings!

It's amazing what is still hiding there, just waiting for a rough waters to remove some sand. Just 4 days and you went right back to silence. That is the fun part of detecting. You get to a beach and expect a so-so day, but instead you get a bonanza!

I was figuring that it would take longer for Fisher to make one since they already had their hands full. If the AQ takes off in full production, someone will make that longer rod or maybe at least the adapter I talked about. Either way I hope you can get the extra length since it sucks hunting hunched over, even if it's a little.

Welcome aboard. Can't wait to see how you like the AQ. I remember those BFO days well LOL

I wonder if someone who does 3D printing can print just the bottom "spur" design that can be bolted to another manufacturers rod? That way you can find the longest other brand rod and print the lower coil mount section?

I had my best time detecting when I was able to punch down to the level that recent beach activity exposed. Exposed for me a lot, but only slightly for others that did not have that depth with their VLF's. Even though the AQ is not really intended for silver or copper coin hunting, it still will find them in all metal at great depth. On my beaches, I will hunt gold first, then hunt some silver and copper (and iron of course). It will be very interesting to learn the maximum we can squeeze out of the AQ.

There are some beaches I do that have nicer silver coins. If they are deep enough and are away from a lot of high tides, they will preserve nicely like The Seeker's were. Great finds, nothing like a bit of silver to brighten one's day

Yep, remember this was supposed to be a nice, relaxing, detecting session. We can all wait until it happens. I know for me, if I'm rushed or pressed to do a hunt, it usually ends up stressing me out and greatly affects the outcome. You are under no obligation to get this to us. We appreciate all the videos, pictures and exchange of information from everyone so far, and I'm envisioning this as a group effort. I still feel this is going to be a great adventure figuring this machine out. The only stress we need to feel is butterflies in our stomach as the gold comes out of our old hunting grounds

I'm just hoping that there can be some form of factory update to the connector. I know it can't be converted to the next design, but I'm hoping some modification can be made so we are not buying power cords one after another. On a coincidence note, I used the GPX on a project hunt today and the power cord failed. It was making weird noises like it was turned on (partially) when it was off. Lucky I had a new cable in the car.

Again another sad day. My first dealings with Whites was the Coinmaster V Supreme. I, like many others, followed them right up to the DFX. For me, the only machines I really felt were groundbreaking in the way I hunted, was that Coinmaster V (NO more hot rocks YEAHHHH!) and the Eagle Spectrum. After they went too digital sounding, so I left for Minelab. It's sad to see them go, but in this day and age, you have to reinvent yourself and listen and address your customers needs. Detecting is so competitive today that we search for the newest technology to give us a better chance of finding what we are looking for. The good old days of hitting a park and having a fist full of silver and Indians are over. New technology might have saved them though. Good luck to all of them.

This sounds like a trivial thing, but I've always wanted a digital readout tied to each potentiometer, so I know exactly where each control is set at. Not really important for the Volume setting , but for discrimination, or pulse delay, I would love to line them up exactly.

Steve, What did you set your sensitivity at? Did you use the preset on that one too, or did you crank it up

Nice score on the Walker. Unfortunately, sometimes silver does not do so well. Usually the culprit is Chlorine and/or Sulfur. Both are bad for coins and are found just about everywhere in the water. Really bad in the ocean environment. Lakes are susceptible too. But it's still a big piece of silver and a great find. 👍

Thanks Steve, I appreciate that. I'm a relic hunter at heart, but the beaches have bit me hard 😄 I don't dare try nugget hunting or I may never come out of the hills. Technology really helps these days. Without PI's, beach hunting would never return silver and gold like this on dry sand. Time will tell how things work out, but we are in a different era of technology now. It's nothing like 1970 🤩

Thanks for all the replies on the GPX. Some really good points Steve, many of which I share and have observed the last two beach seasons. Thank you Tony for filling in some of my hopes for the AQ, especially with EMI and wet sand. I always use the GPX 5000 with a 12.5" DD coil and can get coins at 15" consistently in dry sand. The limit is about 18". After that the coins stop and the buried beer cans take over😄. Here is a picture of the silver and gold found on this one beach, for two seasons of beach hunting - Off season only. I call this my silver beach since the silver outranks the gold, at depth. I'm hoping the AQ brings out the gold I know is still hiding deep down. This is the beach I will be hunting when I get an AQ, since I know it well enough to compare it to the GPX and not have to bring both machines out (which is impossible really). I have a good feeling about this.

Thanks Steve for taking the time to post your first impressions. I'm glad it has solid performance even maxed out. Were you in a location that had any noticeable EMI when you used your other machines previously there? How did it handle the EMI? Also how does it compare with the GPX? Sounds like it would be smoother and a bit deeper than the GPX.

That's the kind of sand that used to kill my CTX 3030. Different layers of black sand exposed by the wind. Sometimes I could barely pick up a quarter at 4" Other clean areas I was hitting them well at 12".

Congrats Joe on getting your AQ. You should never feel guilty or worried about getting your machine first. You are a dedicated water hunter with lots of experience. You deserve to get one, as Steve does as well. We appreciate seeing your results and sharing your first impressions of it. So far I'm seeing the learning curve is rather small. It seems like a few trips out and it becomes a very predictable machine. It seems very stable considering the wave action. How did it handle the local EMI?

Glad to hear that the unit is well designed. Have some fun with it for a bit Steve. Everyone is glued to hearing how it performs.....no pressure 😄 Also nice to know that batteries are available, even if it's a limited supply at first (I'm assuming).

Welcome aboard from you southern neighbor. What type of hunting do you prefer. I usually do beaches and cellar holes. I'm in western MA