cudamark

In the case of the Equinox system, you can carry as many extra USB battery packs as you like to supplement the internal one. With car chargers and solar chargers, there's no excuse for dead batteries......and no need to buy throw-away ones either.

Does anyone actually have the Coiltek coils in stock? Seems everywhere I check it's pre-order only and you have to get on a list.

It hasn't been underwater yet, so, I doubt that it's a leak, but, who knows, I do rinse it off after every use.

My Impulse needs to go back to Fisher for repair, so, that may delay the release of "new and improved version" depending on what they find. I went to use it yesterday, and it was totally dead.....wouldn't turn on or make one peep. Tried with both fully charged batteries so that wasn't the problem. It's been a rather disappointing machine for me too. I'll keep you posted as to what they find.....if they will disclose that to me.

Sounds to me that if you want to get the latest from Minelab, simple, just move to Africa.....😃

It's a bit surprising to me that the Netherlands and Iran are ranked that high. I would have thought Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia,and South Africa would be higher.

Just about every detector company had their day in the sun at one time or another. Some were one-hit wonders, Like Compass, Barracuda, etc, but, not all. There was a time in the not too distant past when Whites was the top dog. They had a run with the 6000, Eagle II, Spectrum, and XLT where just about everyone I knew had and used one. Too bad they rested on their laurels a bit too much and didn't continue their innovative ways.

I'd be tempted to remove about a foot or two of sand in a 10' X 10' hot zone area to see what gold or other heavies might be down deep. Are you allowed to use a dredge on the beach? 🤔

15 hours ago, calabash digger said:

Sorry to disappoint you ... Yes, I want a machine to test to up my views and subscribers no doubt about it. I put a lot of effort into my channel and want it to grow. I did not want to start a forum because I feel like there are some great ones out there ( Steves is one of the best) and I did not want to compete with them. The more machines  I show on my channel helps it to grow.

I also want to know what the deal is on the Impulse . I have guys in my area asking about the Fisher for beach hunting and there are probably 30 in the club down there. I know a couple of the top local beach hunting guys and they were asking about it..

Like Steve said above the people on this forum probably could care less about my test on a beach here in North Carolina. 

BTW A deep PI that is light could have a application for relic sites here in my soil...I know there are  deep relics here that other detectors can not reach. So I am very interested in the Discrim capabilities of the Impulse.

If you're looking for reliable discrimination relic hunting, the Impulse is not for you. It's pretty much a beep and dig machine. In my detecting with it, surface discrimination works reasonably well, but, targets that have been there a while or are down deep don't react the same, so, all bets are off. Deep, YES! I've never dug so many 18" (and deeper) bobby pins and other iron trash. As mentioned, it's a very specialize machine that I will only use under specific circumstances.

I've been detecting for over 50 years now too. Can't give you an exact count of all the detectors I've had in that period of time. Well over 20, but, probably less than 30. Still own 12-14, but, would have to do some looking to verify.

23 hours ago, schoolofhardNox said:

I was wondering if anyone has ordered anything from this company before. I'm assuming my headphones dies on the AQ, so I wanted to get the cable and have someone build me a new set of headphones. This company has the 5 pin M8 connector needed for the AQ I think.  It also has the ones that are "L" shaped which would look to be a better way to have the cable come out of the battery. The video shown sounds promising and the price seems extremely reasonable. Let me know what you think. Will it work?

https://www.automationdirect.com/videos/video?videoToPlay=gV0yX9qSAds

You might also check with Tony Eisenhower to see what he can do for you. He upgraded my Impulse headphones for me.

I don't own any pre-'85 detectors anymore except for my first machine (a Treasure Probe IV that I bought in 1970), and it doesn't work anymore. The old White's Coin Master, 4900. 6000 Di Pro, Compass 77, Ground Hog, etc were all sold or used as trade ins years ago. My oldest now is my good 'ol Whites Eagle II SL90. Good luck in your hunts guys! 

While your machine is under warranty, I wouldn't worry about it. If it fails, they'll replace it. After the warranty is up, that's when you may want to baby it a bit. Maybe by then they'll have an even better detector so you won't have to worry about it at all.

All the high tech communication and locating devices are great, but, when plan A fails out in the desert or middle of nowhere, I like to have a good old fashion compass with me. In an arid region, I also like to carry a large sheet of plastic and a good knife. Must be my Boy Scout days nagging at me.....

I find the stock bluetooth headphones comfortable and effective. I found no reason to change.

I use the F2 settings because I frankly didn't see much difference in the FE settings. From 0 to 9 didn't seem to have much effect and bottle caps were still a problem. Once I got the F2 upgrade, that made all the difference. I can now run F2 @ 6 and dig virtually no bottle caps. If I'm in an area where the caps and iron aren't much of a problem, I'll lower the F2 setting proportionally. Around a fire ring and sometimes picnic tables, I'll at times peg it at 9. The F2 setting just seem to have a much longer and more effective range than FE. I personally haven't seen much difference in depth at any setting, but, I can see how masking changes are possible. That's the nice thing about it......it's adjustable.

That was my understanding too, that instead of shifting all the I.D. numbers to a new "normal", you just shift the underlying dividing point between ferrous and non-ferrous. Kind of reminds me of the old school yard dare, where you draw a line in the dirt and challenge someone to cross it. If they back down and not cross, you drew it in the right spot. If they step over the line, you back up and draw another line and then dare them to cross that one. If they do, it's either a third line or a fight!

On 1/28/2021 at 10:30 AM, Cal_Cobra said:

Same here (secretly knocks on wood!) but I've seen the reports.  Not only on Minelab though, other vendors have also had their fair share of coil ear woes. 

Going forward, ALL should have learned from the past to better engineer the coil mounts. 

I've been complaining for years that the coil design of almost every manufacturer is backwards. I think the coil should have a solid (with a through hole naturally) hub, and the clevis should have the ears.....like a wishbone. Make those clevises cheap and easy to replace. Even supply an extra with each detector sold. Built properly, those wishbone clevises could be flexible just enough to where you could adjust it to whatever tightness you like. You could even design an adjustable clutch type connection for the perfect amount of resistance. With a solid hub on the coil, no more $$$ replacement costs for broken ears, just a couple of bucks for a new clevis.

On 1/22/2021 at 11:18 AM, Cal_Cobra said:

Joe I'm sure that Minelab has performed a post mortem on these design weaknesses, and is cognizant of improving these design flaws in future releases, provided it makes $$$ sense. 

There certainly has to be a top ten list of opportunities of improvement, like:

1. Better coil ear design
2. Better water proofing
3. Better weight balance (not coil heavy) without increasing weight
4. Better shaft design
5. Better designed button layout
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?
10. ?

 

#6. Programmable default where you can make the "horseshoe on" the standard at start-up.

#7. A pod/handle that is angle adjustable

#8. Internal coil cable

I'd use the Gold modes if you can. If there's too much chatter with those, I'd use Field 2. It seems to be the next best mode for tiny gold and platinum. I'd run it with the horseshoe on so you can hear the negative numbers. That earring will probably be in that -2-+2 range. 6" coil, get the sensitivity stable and then reduce it another couple of numbers, recovery speed at 6, and iron bias at 0. Remove any large targets regardless of number just to help keep the masking problem at a minimum. I've found that most pin pointers will have a problem detecting tiny gold and platinum. You may have to go old school and wave a handful under the coil to find the target. Good Luck!

One of the differences is no longer different. The 600 backlight brightness adjustment is now the same as the 800 through the latest software upgrade. One additional difference however is the recovery speed settings. The 600 is 1-3, the 800 is 1-8. Not a big issue, but, it can help in some junk infested areas to have a bit more adjustment. 

I hope you're up a detecting soon Joe. Knowing you, you'll probably invent a new wet suit with a heater for your next hunt! 

Welcome back......baby steps for now. You'll work your way up to running later!

On 1/13/2021 at 4:13 PM, Ridge Runner said:

Heck I’ll name it myself.

 Just give me to die for Pulse detector are a VLF beyond anything we have ever seen before.

 Please don’t blow smoke like some have in the past but when you get it it’s just short of a joke.

 I do remember the name I’d picked and that’s Lightning.

 Chuck 

I don't know.....with that name, will it strike twice in the same place?😃 I don't remember what I may have entered as a name either.......in fact, it's been so long, I don't remember if I even entered the contest!

If that had been a curled base 1829 dime, you would have really had something there! Still great finds though.👍