cudamark

A bit too staged and over the top, like their TV show, for my taste. Nothing looked very deep, but, it would have a lot more helpful to do a side by side comparison with their other machines instead of just being a back slapper for Garrett and Apex.

I'm still waiting for an Excalibur 3 where you can easily change coils and headphones, and one with a pin point switch already built into the handle. Having to pay $1500 for a detector and then another $5-800 to modify it so it is more efficient is ridiculous.

Sure, a short length of thin pipe cut in half should do the trick if the overall diameter doesn't get so big that the u-bolts won't slip over everything and the holes in bracket still line up. Wait until you get  a few more years behind you. Then you will appreciate the weight saving that the carbon fiber gives you. 😀

I'm just using the stock headphones with the volume and threshold set at 5. I haven't noticed any particular blast that I feel is uncomfortable.

I'm not sure you could use a carbon fiber handle with your Scoopal without some sort of adaptor. Carbon fiber and u-bolts don't fair well. If you're into titanium, Extreme scoops has a version in that too. They're not cheap, and I haven't heard a lot of feedback on how well they're holding up. Anyone have one they've put some miles on?

Same here. I haven't used the Patriot ones, but, the TE headphones are working great. They fit tight, but, to me they are comfortable and the tightness keeps the surf noise down.

If you use a sand scoop often, getting a good quality stainless (or titanium) one is a must. I've tried a bunch of them and find the Stealth scoops and the Extreme scoops are the best of the bunch. Stavr is not too bad either as an import. If you can afford it, I also recommend the carbon fiber handles. Real strong and light. If all you do is occasional dry sand, just about anything will suffice. For most applications, I like the widest scoop available. More likely to get the target on the first scoop and the least likely to damage the target.

51 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Not at all, and it does not matter what I think anyway. 90% of what I tell manufacturers gets disregarded as “you are right, but it’s too late.” It’s just that one reason given for this limited release was to collect user feedback. The reality is the pressure is on to get the final version to market as soon as possible, and that is a good thing I think. In the process though decisions about the design have pretty much been made at FT once again, without regard for user feedback, and that means irreversible decisions have already been made that could have benefitted from listening more to people like Joe and others. It’s kind of a shame that after so much time things get rushed at the end. But that is the way things get done, and why, when all is said and done, people are going to ask “why did they do it that way instead of this better way.”

I’d vote for Joes design in a heartbeat, but that’s not what we are going to get. Still, four drop in 18650 batteries is a huge improvement over the current design. If FT keeps up putting out no more than a couple Limited units out per week, I also doubt we will ever see 99 Limiteds made. For me, if I had not been able to get one by October of this year, I’d end up passing, as winter does tend to shut me down here, and by the time spring rolled around..... well, long story short it seems to me that anyone that would rather have the new battery system and better depth rating are just going to be better off waiting, and that indirectly impacts Limited sales. It’s already getting to the point where the only reason to get the Limited is if you just don’t care about anything but saving a few bucks and want one ASAP. But wait, you can’t get one ASAP anyway. It’s in danger of fizzling out at this rate.

This is one thing we're trying to do with the Cygnus. Doc asked all of us on his advisory list to come up with ideas on what we'd like to see on a detector in the way of features. We discussed just about every aspect of the machine from the coil, to the shaft, to control head, to ergonomics, batteries, weight, etc. That being said, only Doc will make the final decision based on his power requirements, cost, availability, etc. All of us are still pretty much in the dark about final specs or even what it's going to look like. Why he didn't ask for some of you to also add your input is beyond me. Some of you would be much better on the technical end of it than I am. My input was more in the ease of use, ergonomic and structural design, and required features end of things rather than understanding the math and electronics side. That is Doc's purview. Hopefully some of my ideas will end up in the final product, but, that's up to Doc. I'm still like Sgt. Schultz from Hogan's Heroes.... "I know nothing"!

2 hours ago, phrunt said:

Kids also have very little patience, they get bored easily from what I've seen.  They won't put up with digging 50 bits of junk to find a coin.  I've found target ID numbers are more important for kids than they are for me.

It's not just kids that get bored digging junk. I find many adults taking up the hobby will buy an inexpensive beep and dig machine, try it a time or two, find lots of junk, and it ends up in the closet. Early success is something everyone wants and a better machine will help achieve that. Even though many advise newbies to not invest much money until they decide if they like detecting or not, IMO that is bad advice. I'm not saying to buy the latest and greatest cutting edge machine, but, a higher end machine will make the experience a more pleasant time. If they decide that detecting is not for them,. a popular model won't lose all that much on resale and will have more interest to potential buyers. 

My 4th hunt with the AQ was at a very popular beach......both with bathers and surfers, and with other detectorists. Probably gets hunted more than any other beach in San Diego county. Still did not get full battery life. About 3 hours today. I am starting to figure out some settings to help ferret out some of the iron. Like Steve, I'm still waiting for my first gold with this machine. I also haven't recovered any non-ferrous target deeper than 1 foot. The more I use it, the more I think you could find coins and other high conductors if you chose to do so. Today it was search in all metal, and then switch to Tone to analyze. With my current settings, I was identifying about 75% of the iron targets. I have yet to find a setting for bottle caps or bobby pins though. Fish hooks sound good too. Here's the good and bad of my hunt. You will notice that the amount of iron targets recovered has dropped dramatically since my second hunt. Some sounded good, some gave the reject tone, but, I dug most anyway to see if my settings were reliable. After a couple of hours, I relied on the tone to determine whether to dig or not. That helped keep the iron target recoveries down.  I rarely find a pair of earrings, so, that was a welcome surprise. Just junk though, but, in good condition. I actually predicted the dime due to it's sound. Same with the needlenose pliers. You can tell it's not just a big nail. You get what I would call an overload sound on those heavy iron hits.

There's a few beaches here that are loaded with trash too. At least I can attack those with a scoop and not have to get on my hands and knees with a Lesche to spend 5 minutes getting a Zincoln.

Fresh water isn't the problem. It's the salt that is.

I found those lower sensitivity settings greatly reduced the depth capabilities. I tried it on several targets that I found in all metal and sensitivity maxed. I then lowered the sensitivity and found many signals disappeared when set at 5 or lower.

At the beach, I agree. I just can't bring myself to do it at an urban park......especially if I have to dig for it in the turf.

If you ever plan to use it on a salt water beach, don't get any of the Ace series. Single frequency detectors don't do well there.

Well, this morning's hunt was at a lot less junky beach. Pretty quiet actually. This beach gets hunted a lot, and today was no different. We had our club hunt there today. Just 6 members showed up at 3am, but, there were 2-3 other independents there too. The club hunt is just 2 hours long, but, I stayed after and hunted until the battery went dead.....2 hours and 55 minutes this time. No hunting with a low battery with the AQ, When you get the low battery warning, it's over. Without all the iron and other trash in the wet sand, I went ahead and hunted in all metal and dug everything again. I did switch over to Tone on every target to see how the sound would or wouldn't change depending on what I dug up. It worked in  some cases where I would get a mixed high and low signal and those were all junk. Good signals though were still had with junk as well as good targets. So far, the good targets I've found (including today), I could have found with my other machines, except maybe the necklace. It was down about a foot. At that depth on a necklace most machines have difficulty. The AQ banged out a nice signal on it though, so, it would probably see that at even greater depths. Too bad the necklace is plated junk however! Same with the ring. It gave a nice smooth stable signal, but, it wasn't deep (one scoop) and would have been found with any good salt water machine. It's not marked, so, I don't know what it's made of yet. It has a gold tint to it, but, doesn't have the weight to be gold. Probably stainless. I'm glad to at least get some sort of jewelry at this point. The more I use it, the more I think you would be able to find coins and silver with it too. Those targets give the same low tone that foil, and iron will give, but, it's a much smoother and more even tone than the other junk targets I've run across. As you can see, I did find one quarter. It didn't have any high tone mixed in like the junk targets usually do. I expect silver rings might react the same way, but, I confess, I haven't test those yet since that wasn't what I was expecting to find with this machine. I don't know what others have experienced with the AQ, but, I find it the worst pin pointing detector I've ever used. Most targets seem huge, especially when the target is out of the hole and you're trying to find it in the pile. The edge of the coil seems more sensitive than the center, and the target will sound off even several inches off the edge. Normally, I center the target in my sweep and back off until the signal disappears. The target should then be right in front of the leading edge of the coil. Not consistently with this machine. Like other detectors, shallow targets are worse than deeper targets in that respect. I hope it's something I can just get used to, as that is kind of frustrating and time consuming to be chasing the target with the scoop. Here's today's take.

On 7/1/2020 at 7:51 PM, UtahRich said:

 

What ?   Joe isn't your real name ?    Thanks like sayin' John Wayne ISN'T John Wayne.  

 

Rich -   

He isn't.......his real name is Marion Morrison. 😀

I just noticed that Joe's looks a bit different than mine. Mine seems to have more of a strain relief on it, and the coiled part seems to start sooner on his. From the connector to the first coil on mine is about 17". I don't think there is any strain the way I have it, in fact, I kind of like it this way. Less likely to get a sharp bend or strain it it if it can move a bit when needed.

If I had a Deus, I probably would too.

On 6/25/2020 at 12:17 PM, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

• Thanks for the Report Mark and Glad to see another that will post on the subject. 

On the ATS, between 7.5 and 8.5 seems like the most effective area of the dial for fine tuning the reject mode...

The arm rest can be adjust forwards or back  one inch. 

Good Luck and Thanks for sharing! 

 

 

And this would be the very first thing I would do to any of the "AQ"s stress relief the HP cable........I've also got into the habit of disconnecting the main power cord that goes into the back of the shaft during transporting ...less to get hit.

 

Another tip is keep the red silicon o-rings in place, not only do the serve as o-rings but as spacers to keep from over tightening. Something I went thru years ago with the 3m M-12 fittings...over tightening.......... the lip of the fitting would snap off. 

Yes, that was the first thing I noticed about the headphone cable....and the power cable for that matter. they really stick out like a sore thumb. What I did until I find a better method, is to run the cable back under the arm rest between it and and the battery pod. That way the stress (if it gets any) will be on the cable almost a foot from the connector. I may tape it similar to what you have done though, so, it at least points in the right direction! 

I had one go bad a few months ago. White's gave me a new one, but, it's not exactly like the one I bought. I liked that lime green case on my original, but, the replacement was the standard black with the orange end cap. The first one had some sort of internal electrical problem. You'd turn it on and it would just keep beeping uncontrollably. If this one eventually does the same thing (or dies some other death), I'll just get a new one in a different brand.

On 7/1/2020 at 4:35 PM, schoolofhardNox said:

If I get one right across from the beach though......Hmmmm. Then I can detect all night long and sleep during the day. 🥰

Unless you bought several batteries (at $200 a pop) you're not going to be hunting all night with the AQ limited. I got just 2 1/2 hours on my first charge, and Fisher says it only good for 3 1/2 when broken in.

On 7/1/2020 at 6:16 PM, Whitbey said:

I have a girlfriend who has a beach house in Ventura California, only one major problem

We don't have an AQ ! Life just isn't perfect.

 

I just drove through Ventura yesterday! If I had had the time, and had the AQ with me,, I would have stopped in and played a while!