The_Stalker

I have only been able to use the AQ on the beach for about an hour.  With the original headphones I struggled to hear the differences that the Masters of the AQ talk about.  I could hear the double beep on the rusty steel, but the ramp up and ramp down and the soft edges vs the defined edges, I just could not hear it.  Then when I went home I tested targets for hours.  Pennies, nickels, quarters, screws, bolts, tent stakes, copper rings, silver rings, platinum rings, gold class rings, tiny engagement rings.........etc, but I could not hear much difference.  I assumed that I was going deaf and scheduled an appointment with the Audiologist for January.

Today for the first time, I put a set of custom homemade headphones onto the AQ and let me tell you what a difference it makes.  The ramp up ramp down was all there.  The sound chop off when the coil was leaving a ring was so distinct you could tell with your eyes closed if the object was a ring or a nickel.  It was my wax on wax off moment.  Really excited to take it next week to the beach and see if the backyard transfers onto the beach.

I want to sincerely thank the forum members who have been so generous with their knowledge, experience and recommendations.  Merry Christmas to all and a safe and Healthy 2024.

A lot of nice silver from the 40's and 50's.  Another great hunt.  When does the AQ join the hunting stable?

Why would you not buy or make a custom set of headphones?  Then you know there is no problem.

Magic,

I can not answer your question.  My soil is really mild and mineralization is not a factor for me.  Hopefully someone else who owns both machines can answer.

Some people have already written the obituary of the Tarsacci.  I use the Tarsacci as my go to tool on Atlantic coast beaches.  I use the Deus 2 for coin and relic hunting in Pennsylvania and the GPX 5000 for PI work.  BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!  The Tarsacci can loudly declare, "I'm not dead yet."  Here is a 3 day hunt on a South Carolina beach last week.

Is there a way to set up tones mode that will eliminate tent stakes, coins, iron, but not eliminate large gold ring, like class rings?

Sorry for the false alarm earlier in the week, but suddenly I discover that Kellyco has an unlimited number of Impulse AQ Limited detectors for sale.  Apparently they ship out from Fisher in Texas.  Get them while they're hot!

Sold out at Kellyco.

On a North Carolina, South Carolina or Florida beach in the water, what is the best program and the best coil to use for the Deus 2?  Can you get away with using Beach Sensitive with a small coil or are you better off with a large coil in the Dive Program?  I would like to compare the Deus 2 and the Tarsacci in the water and would greatly appreciate any tips or settings on the Deus 2.  Thank you in advance for sharing.  

My super secret mixture is 1 cap full of Shine Bride Burnishing Compound, 2 cups of #7 or #8 steel shot and enough water to get everything wet.  Run it for an hour and spendable coins appear.  It does not work on toasted beach pennies.  

Here is what the coins look like after 1 hour in the rock tumbler with steel shot.

Final day and it is raining cats and dogs so I think I am done for the week.  Final totals:

Pennies:68                               Fishing weights: 18                Bullets: 4

Nickels: 12                                Rings: 12                                 Shell casing: 1

Dimes: 46                                 Earrings: 5

Quarters: 34                            Pendants: 8

Foreign coins: 7                       Toe Ring: 1

Two day s in on a new South Carolina beach.  Totals so far

Pennies: 42

Nickels: 9

Dimes: 29

Quarters: 24

Foreign: 6

Sinkers: 9

Rings: 7

Earring: 4

Pendants: 3

Weird Stuff: A lot

I will post a final tally.

Bill

Looks like 4 machines sold in 5 days.  Only 12 more to go.  Maybe the Unlimited is finally next after 6 years of waiting.

Kellyco has a small number of Fisher AQ Limited available for the price of $1999.  No additonal batteries available at this time and yes that is a $500 price increase from the original price for the AQ Limited.  My question is does this mean that this is it for the AQ or will the Fisher AQ  Unlimited finally be offered for sale?  Interesting, very interesting.

Strick I can not argue with you.  My point is the original Equinox was the must have detector that was impossible to buy in the beginning, the Manticore is selling like it is just another detector.  Cabela's had 14 in stock when I went to bed last night and now they have 13 in stock.  Not exactly flying off the shelf.  I wish you all the luck in the world with your Manticore, but I think you can find anything with whatever machine you use.  It's like anything else, skill of the craftsman is more important than the tool used. 

With all the demands of life currently between children, elderly struggling parents and work, time detecting is hard to find.  When I get a chance to detect the things that end my hunt are hypothermia, starvation and/or wetting myself.  Anything other than that I can usually push through and keep hunting.

They are not exactly flying off the shelves at that Big Box Hunting and Fishing store.  You could have purchased one over the weekend and still in stock today.  This is nothing like to original Equinox 800 sales.  Maybe the Manticore is better, but is it $1600 better?  Time will tell.

The silence is deafening.

Since XP decided to use salt balance, could Dimitar's next detector incorporate the best of Deus 2, such as a lighter MDT, multiple coils, different tone configurations and deeper water ability?  I love mixed mode on the Tarsacci and the way it performs on the beach.    Looking forward to Tarsacci 2.

This thread has been such a source for knowledge for dirt hunters, hot dirt hunters, water hunter and beach hunters.  Thank you to everyone who unselfishly shared their knowledge and hard earned skills to make this thread what it is.

The Stalker

Go up and down the beach from high tide line to splash zone.  Look for quarters, sinkers and chunks of iron.  Once you find heavy targets, concentrate on that area.  If you are digging bottle tops and pop tops, you are in the wrong area and wasting your time usually.  If it's sanded in in one area, chances are it's sanded out in another area.  Find that other area.  Are the heavy targets high or are they low on your beach?  Do you have the equipment to find deep and do you have the equipment to recover deep before it sinks out of recovery range?  Is your beach sand as far as you can dig or is there a layer of clay, shells, rocks.....etc that will capture the targets at a certain level?  What is that level?  There are many great suggestions on this thread, but the only way you learn is to hunt your beach, learn your equipment and pay your dues by spending many hours hunting.  I wish you the best of luck Gary.

Broken original post - content moved to first post in this thread.

That is an awesome 3.5 hour hunt.  Very well done.

Here in rural Pennsylvania if you trout fish you fish one of two ways.  You either wait for the trout stocking truck to arrive and fish or you hike into the wilderness to find the native trout that no one else fishes for.  Everyone follows the stocking truck, very few hike into the wilderness.  I have discovered that metal detecting is very similar.  If you dirt hunt you either hunt in public parks or public lands or hunt on permissions.  Public lands require the newest and best equipment.  Permissions require skill and knowledge of the equipment that you own. On the beach you either wait for the stocking truck or summer tourist to arrive or you hunt on beaches that are sort of like permission hunts.  On tourist beach you are competing with anyone who walks on the beach with a detector.  On the South Carolina islands beaches of Daufuski, kaiwah, Tybee, Fripp Island, Isle of Palms...etc, you have to rent a property on the beach to be able to metal detect.  This makes it a permission.  You can not just drive to the beach and detect, you have to pay to play, but this payment usually gives you exclusive detecting of the island since no one else does this.  No one can just drive to Daufuski Island and hunt for the day and drive home.  It doesn't work.  You have to rent if you want to hunt Daufuski.  VRBO is your permission on exclusive islands.  I find it amazing that the youtube hunters on Atlantic public beaches have no content to post currently.  The stocking truck of summer has run it's course.  But I can go to a permission beach and find gold any week of the winter.  Permission beaches never run out of finds.  Metal detecting requires many skills.  Research, equipment and knowledge can give you a huge advantage.  Happy hunting and I hope this post helps you to become a better hunter.