GaryC/Oregon Coast

Sorry for the delay in putting my experiences on paper, I received my AQ 8-7-20.  I have lived in Oregon now for the last three years.  Coming from California I was use to un-ending tourists, vacationers, locals streaming to the beaches all year long.  Here in Oregon I now have to live with the fact that many of my close, local beaches are just not popular with "In the water" type of beach goers.  These beaches do not have the throngs of people lying a towel out and sunning themselves all day long.  Most are lucky to get a few hours of towel sitting and then start looking for a wind break to hide behind.  That being said, if I drive 50 to 250 miles north the populace does have access to a few more popular sunning beaches.

My first outing was right down to my local beach, three miles away.  Just wanted to see how the AQ acted on my black sand beach and to my water.  I'll have to say it took me awhile to get it calmed down in and near water, even on wet sand.  Ended up with the Frequency at 10.5, ATS at 9, Sensitivity at 6.  This allowed me to run it with some faultsing during my swings.  I just have to slow down my swings and it was more quiet.  

Second outing was to an inland fresh water reservoir (120 mile round trip) where they have been draining it for only four days.  This is a huge reservoir and takes over a month to drain it down before storms hit.  The beach areas had only about ten yards exposed to the mud bottom and no where near to the end of where people jump off the end of the dock.  The mud was un-digable  with a scoop.  Like working in modeling clay.  I'll have to wait until it gets a little more dried out and use a shovel.  Will try and hit it next month.  Anyway the AQ worked very well in freshwater at the presets.  

Third outing was to a beach south of me (80 mile round trip).  Actually hit two beaches here same settings were needed to keep the AQ stable while swinging.  These beaches were very clean of trash so I got a good three hours in with the AQ.  I had the exact same experiences other owners reported with hair pins, bottle caps, wire bits, etc.  Like every new owner, especially me, I dug all signals using the All Metal and Tone settings, switching back and forth before digging.  Learning this machine will take me awhile but I like the sound of it.  It reminds me of using my old Mine Lab 4000 gold machine.  Similar in sound and especially reactions to hot rocks.  

Fourth outing was yesterday, a beach north of me (400 mile round trip).  Actually I hit three beaches but stayed at the first one for a long time.  Nice clean beach.  I usually take my Nox 800 out on it first to test for trash and if it looks good go and get the Impulse.  I got a lot of practice in yesterday.  Digging almost everything and comparing sounds and switching between All Metal and Tone.  I did not take any pictures of my trash or coins or toys found.  Every body has enough pictures of the bad stuff.  I will be staying with my settings for a while as they seem to be good for my beaches.  

I waited a long time to get this machine and I am not sorry I have it.  You have to realize, and it's been written before.  The AQ will not be for every beach hunter.  It has to be used in conjunction with other machines.  It's not a coin machine and will drive you crazy if you are wanting it for coins.  My trips did not score any jewelry or gold.  Not that I wasn't trying but because (I believe) my beaches are not in use as So. Cal. beaches are throughout the year.  Lower numbers of people on the beach at shorter summer type weather will just not have the abundance of what I was used to finding in California.  You will see a report when I do score gold!!

Bottom line, I hope the AQ (re-worked model) is a monetary success for Fisher.  I do see however people buying this machine and being very un-happy with it in the short term.  Many new detectorists or seasoned ones either don't have the time to put in on the learning curve or just get frustrated with the limits this water machine has.  Limits being it's not a coin machine (many detectorists will not remember this when purchasing the AQ).  So I predict you will see lots of them for re-sale, maybe six months after the final version has been released.  GaryC/Oregon Coast