Rick K - First Member

Patience is a virtue and virtue is sometimes rewarded.

Mytreasurespot was a good place to look for used PI machines - folks would buy them for the "Digging in Virginia" paid hunts and then after a hunt or two either upgrade or exit. I bought a TDI will all of Reg Smith's mid there. Sweet steady threshold let all of the TDI's power work. Paul in CA has it now and I think he's happy with it.

Some staff are working in the plant - others remotely. 

When the workforce in the plant in El Paso returns, AQ assembly will resume. Launch isn’t far off - we hope!

I have been checking the local El Paso news and the Mayor is a bit pissed that the Governor has made it difficult or impossible for the Mayor’s proclamation to stand. I have no hard news from FTP, but I suspect that they will be able to resume a significant part of their operations as early as next week.

Again, my conclusions only.

P.S. It is possible that they could open “with a bang”.

As far a I know, there were issues with  the CE rating - they hadn’t been  careful  enough with material selection for the mechanical package. In addition, the initial testing for the US FCC spurious emissions testing from the control box was  not successful.

The other  change was tha the “bought in” headphones were dropped and replaced with an in-house design.

With the current imposed delay, they are taking a hard look at  various bits  and  pieces. The initial production  batch is “kitted” but not  assembled as far as I can tell - so they have  the opportunity to have a look. One big  advantage of “”in-house”  production,  Contracting  out to - for example Plexus or some other Far  East “fab” might make last minute changes very difficult.

Yes, it was replaced with one which meets all the CE (European) requirements.

Sadly,  no beach tests possible with this plague on. I am using it to familiarize myself with  all  the modes and controls. I have been asked to comment on the draft user manual and am working on that.

I doubt that large scale production will be an issue - hand labor isn’t terribly expensive in El Paso. The issue is to ensure that the production process is well defined, documented and executed. I suspect that they have spent a good part of the last 18 months or so sorting that out.

We’ll see.

If it lives up to its promise, they will be happy to build container loads of them.

In the meantime, lots for folks to speculate about ...plots, stratagems, etc.

Daniel, the design team is in Europe - the origin of the device is there. I am reasonably confident that Fisher will figure out that this thing sells fast in Europe - where beach detecting can find gold jewelry back to Ancient times!

Patience - they are having a hard time figuring out if they just blew a couple of million dollars on a niche machine or whether they have “a tiger by the tail”.

FTP isn’t a major business - it is closely held - no stockholders to satisfy - but they are “playing with their own money”. They are VERY careful.

Of course I am sensitive on the subject. I have ambitions to be the premier seller of the Impulse line in North America. I hope ambition is not unfashionable.

I disclosed some time ago on this forum that my “cheerleader” status was undergoing a further evolution - to hopefully a commercial interest in the success of the Impulse line of PI machines which FTP is now developing.

I was “hooked’ after I had contact with Alexandre, the designer. I believe that the has made a useful contribution to the art - I look forward to further developments.

None of this is “cast in bronze” I wasn’t kidding when I said that I did not know what FTP’s eventual plans for the release and marketing of the AQ and later Impulse products are in any detail. I do, however have reasonable hopes of being able to play a part - in a commercial way.

P.S. - no puppies or flowers - too hard to ship!

Think what you want of Fisher, there may be some dealer with folks bugging them about the AQ -  perhaps he will start a list - perhaps even take deposits - it’s a reality - the thing exists. At some point it will hit the market. Folks will do what they can to put food on the table by running something as unfashionable as a detector dealership - a rapidly diminishing trade.

Recent actions by other manufacturers were carefully planned official pre-release publicity and information releases - well in advance of availability to the general public of hardware. Is this bad? I certainly read a lot of online complaints about the delay and difficulty of getting some recently released - but in very short supply - hardware.

Is Fisher somehow guilty of something because they are officially saying nothing until they have something to sell?

I know it sucks that all of us got fired up THREE YEARS AGO because the Manta existed - worked fine - and had been acquired by first Texas Products. Hell, I was (and perhaps am still) the head cheerleader. 

Sorry everybody (including me) is frustrated and complaining about a bad case of “innovation interruptus” - but that’s just the way it went down. No malice, no sleight of hand, not even any official hype.

When it’s ready. It will be released - how many - by what means of distribution and marketing - nobody except FTP management knows (and I’m not sure that they have decided yet)>

Fisher is not accepting pre-orders. If some European dealer is doing so, it is without  their cooperation.

The plant in El Paso is under a shut down order from the El  Paso mayor.

No US dealer  has been notified  of any specific plans for launch of the AQ and I would be very surprised if any of them  are soliciting pre-orders without knowing when it will be  launched, how it will be marketed and what it will sell  for.

There is credible information that the initial batch will be limited and it may  well be that the production rate is kept low until the real size of the market is known.

I know for a fact that none of this is being done to create “hype”  or to maximize the sales price of the AQ. How do I know? Recent  conversations with senior leadership at First  Texas  Products.

Just a comment  on Carolina’’s post about the AQ.

There is no “new” control housing. The prototypes from 2018 used  the same control housing as the current production configuration - the rod assembly is changed to one like the CZ21.

Secondly, Fisher has long experience with totally waterproof machines going back to the 1270 and the CZ20/21. Each AQ will be pressure tested in the same manner (but not to the same limits) as the CZ21.

I posted this on Dankowski as well, and a couple of bright folks suggested maybe FTP could use capacity to produce ventilators.  While that is a far reach - they are complicated and need clean rooms for assembly, I sent the posts to Tom Walsh in case there is any critical item that they could make.

The Mayor of El Paso issued a shutdown order of all “non-essential” businesses. First Texas Products - “FTP” (Fisher, Teknetics, Bounty Hunter) is in El Paso. A letter issued by the President of FTP, Tom Walsh. 

So it looks like the factory will continue activities for industrial and security products, but the Treasere/Hobby lines will not be open. Working from home, administrative and customer service functions will continue. Interestingly enough FTP has a lot of experience with working remotely. Their two most senior marketing folks as well as their chief engineer work primarialy from their respective homes in Colorado, Wisconsin and Oregon.

Regarding the depth of targets in the video,I took some stills from the video. They show

1. An overview of the beach - if you click it to blow it up you can see another guy detecting

2.The beach surface when LE.JAG made the video - notice the marks on the pilings - I think the upper part is what was previously exposed and the lower part shows how much sand was shifted, 

3.The original installation by the Nazis

4. One of the Teller mines - the bronze disc on the top is the fuse mechanism that LE.JAG found so many of. With the eagle and swastika, I suspect collectors who are into that sort of thing would eagerly buy these!

Paul, I was looking for data on US army pay rates in the 1850’s and ran out of time. I did find this however and I think it’s pretty splendid!

https://history.army.mil/html/books/075/75-1/CMH_Pub_75-1.pdf

Closer than you may think. The mounds of issues which caused a cascade of delays have been - bit by bit - at times painfully - knocked down.

At the extreme risk of being “the little boy who cried wolf” - I am modestly optimistic for a launch in the not distant future. Of course corona virus is a completely new issue and whether it is supply lines or the practicalities of keeping a factory full of hard-working assembly and administrative folks working the rough whatever comes out way - totally external factors may disrupt not only metal detector production and marketing but our lives in dramatic ways.

I read the previous post....

Brevity is the soul of wit.

the AQ will be launched - sooner or later;

It will do exactly what it is supposed to do - recover more gold jewelry at salt water beaches than any previous detector ....

Or it won’t.

As far as whatever FTP will will not introduce - I have mo knowledge.

Till then, more words don’t add more knowledge.

When I had a Nox 800 with me for a month or so on gulf and Atlantic beaches, I compared it extensively with a CZ 6 i also had with me.  The Nox was deeper on small fluff and the CZ was deeper on big stuff, but the the differences were not major. This was on salt beaches with the Nox in beach 1 or 2.

I have no information on exactly when AQ’s will be available and in what quantities. 

Things are progressing. Can’t say more, but it is a fact.

 New webpage is being designed.