cuniagau

8 hours ago, ALEXANDRE TARTAR said:

 

Batteries recharge in less than 2 hours during the lunch (1 hour 30) I speak about the final version.

 

I like your lunch (1 hour 30) break!!! 🙂

15 minutes ago, schoolofhardNox said:

That is the main reason I do not hunt for any long period in AM. I don't want to drain the battery down just as I am getting into the groove of things. Joe's battery has solved that problem. 👍 That leaves me with only the problem of finding the right place to get the gold 😄

Getting the right conditions is the key for So Cal detectorist.  I did get on a spot yesterday for over 4 hours which would have required a battery change if not for the BBB (Beechnut Big Battery).  And I would have spent a couple more hours there but had promised to do a couple of "honey dos". LOL  

When you don't have to charge the battery on this thing every 3 1/2 hours, it opens up your hunting options a lot.  Maybe 3 hours on a morning hunt and 4 or 5 in the afternoon on another sanded out beach.  Again, it opens the options for us.

It took me 4 short hunts to finally run the battery down.  Total run time was approximately 11 hours and 35 minutes.  That sure beat the 3 1/2 from the factory battery.  I ran about 95% of the time in AM and only switched to Tone or Mute to check targets. Running mostly presets on the other settings.  The audio of certain targets is starting to become inbedded in my brain now.  Nickels are easy to recognize now.

As you rotate the ring you see it is "silver" on one side and "gold"(ish) at 180 degrees.  At 90 degree it is a transition from silver to gold.  Kinda cool actually.  I have never seen one like it.  It has a makers mark inside as well as Tungsten and China.  It rang up at 18 on the Equinox. 

4 hours ago, Bryan said:

there has been much debate on the identity of said critters. meerkat's is in the lead ahead of roo's.

On re-examining the pictures, I will throw my vote to meerkats also.  The front legs are to long and the tail not big enough for a roo!  Thanks for the "poll update".  But it is still fuggly! LOL 

Great story.  I think all gold is beautiful BUT I do have to agree, that "roo" is fuggly! LOL

3 hours ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

 

How bad can a little coil be, I've used several over my short time as a water hunter..Never....a issue when they were small And submersed....My only concern is the price.  

15% more power? OOoo..We're going to need a Bigger battery.

Thanks for the report Willy, Good to know things are moving. 

Come on AQ 8 Inch!!

Glad I opted for the 11 hour BBB. (Beachnut Big Battery)  That will still give me 9 1/2 hours of run time!!! 🙂

6 hours ago, LE.JAG said:

the length of the sound / should make the difference
to tie one of his iron loops on a string
do the same with a gold ring
put them in the sand
and listen to the difference
repeat the test at different depth
a gold ring = always gives a very pure sound
(unless the ring is broken / open ...)

I have done some comparison testing and can hear the differences but I think I need to get in a lot more beach time on the AQ and some longer hunts times.  The 11 hour battery ought to keep me out there long enough that the sounds are etched in my thick noggin. LOL  I think that the biggest problem is that each piece of the lobster traps is a different size and in a different stage of decomposition.  There can be no "standard" tone as each piece will give off a slightly different sound.  But I need to focus on the prize-the gold instead.  The trash is just part of the hobby.  That is why we call it "metal detecting".  And the detector is only as good as it's operator.  So my goal is to get more beach time and become more of a "Le Jag" with the AQ. 🙂

Congrats on getting over the dry spell.  We all know how heavy that Monkey can get!  And also congrats on having the knowledge to know when to get yourself out of harms way!!!

Got my BBB (Beachnut Big Battery) 11 hour (est) run time battery today.  Hope to give it a spin tomorrow.   This should help me from having to backpack extra gear around for 3 1/2 hours or until the first battery quits me.   I opted for the standard headphone connector to keep things simpler.   The standard FT hearphones seem to sufficient at this point.  Although I have been reading a lot on some of the threads about adapting other headphone for the AQ.  That may be something I need to address down the road but not for now.  I am just now starting to discern one target from another and don't want to start the learning curve again. LOL

Thanks OBN for such a nice looking addition to my AQ.  11 hours is something FT really needs to think hard about now.  Or at least the 8 hour version.  That would be very do able I would think.  

I will keep you posted on run times.

Joe

Congrats on the collateral digs!  Bag of rice for the phone for a couple of days and then try to charge it.  I have four that I got to powerup that way.  Three had already been turned off from their carrier and the other was an old iPhone 5 with a cracked screen that would power up but not keep much of a charge.  I put up "found" signs on the beaches but didn't get any responses and the signs had been taken down the next time I went to the beaches.  I do have three returns this year though.  So it is always worth the "try".   

Keep working on the Cartier, more collateral to find too!!!

1 minute ago, normmcq said:

 Joe D

 I love that new shaft with the counter balance,  balance is perfect with the 12" coil, I haven't tried it with the small coil and taking some weight out to rebalance.

                                                                                   Norm

Norm,

I have been using Steveg's counterbalance rod on my Equinox for well over a year and a half.  About 99% of the time with the 15 inch coil.  It is a treat to use for sure.

HH,

Joe

23 minutes ago, Joe D. said:

Nice find,

I guess the spur corroded out! But still a great piece!👍👍

While the spur is usually made of brass, the rowel was usually iron and rusted away over the years. 

10 minutes ago, Tmox said:

I found almost the exact same thing. I found the one on the left, my buddy found the one on the right.

Tim

 

Ps, do you know what it is?

Tim

That sure looks a lot like a bull lead.

2 hours ago, jimpugh said:

welcome to 300 Spartans

dig it all

Git Guud

Eat more Spinach Popeye

learn to be proficient  with either hand digging and swinging

Folllow the Yellow Brick Road Dorthy

Remember Scarecrow  “ If I only had a Brain”

know when to snorkel and weight belt ,when to stay close to the Vault

Mark your territory, be come Alpha Alpha....its a statE of Mind ...hmmm..or is it mine?

wear out two scoops a year kick em to death

State of Mind “Be Gold Finger”

learning to Focus your Will on the Right Path 

sometimes staying where youR at is Golden.....

Happy Golden Trails 
jimpugh

Ps you are a modern day prospector Mother Earth is running out of metal conserve wisely 

I hear ya Jim!!!

On 10/6/2020 at 10:18 AM, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

 The older locations in the water here are all off limits.. Historical. London Town is one, 1700..Great stuff in the water slowly being destroyed by the Brackish water.

Disintegrating in the name of saving history.   I have never quite understood that logic.  Keep it off limits until it is gone so nobody can enjoy it.  I guess it makes sense to someone.  The historical community has the political pull to make laws but hasn't the funds to preserve the real history.  At the end of the day, the "spot" where history was made is still just a piece of land and nothing else.  And most of the time the "historical" landmark is in the wrong location anyway as it is someone's best guess location. LOL

Universal language of Metal Detecting! 

2 hours ago, King-Of-Bling said:

This is from my experience on mid to steep slopes : on very low or minus tides the vast flat wet can being barren. Only some deeper pulltabs and caps from being pulled out by the surf. Drives me crazy , waste of time. As I move in to the bottom of the slope I tend to find the heavier iron , sinkers , etc. This is where I pay attention for the bigger HEAVIER gold. But this area of late has not been producing consistently for me. It is then where I focus on the mid to higher slope where I have been doing well. Lots of coins , smaller iron ( lobster trap bits ) and jewelry. The gold rings under 8 grams have been in this zone but have sunk deeper. It is my belief that they are being churned up and tossed back upon the beach to begin the process all over again. Timing is everything. You pretty much got to dig it all. Recently I had a great day , went back the next , it was sanded back and horrible. 2 days later I decided to hit it again and it was good. I would have normally waited a couple weeks to check this spot again. Now , I need to be checking my spots every 3 , 4 days. You never know , beach cams help but are not definitive. GL...

The KoB

KOB,

I think that you and I are experiencing the same thing.  Sounds like it as I may not have articulated it so well as I am relatively new to beach hunting.  I am checking my beaches as you say every couple of days to see which one has had some erosion and which ones are sanded back in.  I have one that the sand seems to move sideway as one end of the beach is sanded in and the sanded out.  I have some theories about the slopes myself and will be working on proving them out and as you say the negative tide area simple suck in my area.  I would find more in dry sand with a VLF most of the time.  I do think that you are correct in that it is a timing thing, at least this year.  I think I will as they say, "suck it up buttercup" and dig all until I find that setting that give me the subtle nuance that tells me "lobster trap piece". LOL

HH,

Joe 

25 minutes ago, King-Of-Bling said:

I can't help with the AQ. But I can say in the last 3 weeks or so I have dug around 60-70 of these things in So.Cal. The majority seem to be 3/4 to an inch long and they sound great. But I have been finding some rings and clad mixed in. Mine are no deeper than 8". I'm resigned to dig them and clear out my area.

KOB,

I am in So Cal also.  Looks like it may be the nature of the beast.  I keep digging and dumping them in the trash.  I can say at least that nobody will step on it and stab their foot.   I have been digging tons of tent pegs too but can tell them from the sound and loooooong tone or double beep.  It's a job keeping these beaches clean but at least we are doing our part!!!

thanks,

Joe.

3 hours ago, kac said:

Got a stupid question as I don't have a lot of hours on beach hunting. If your hitting a lot of heavier iron then would that area lack in the lighter rings and coins?

kac,

That is not a stupid question.  I think that I just have more sand movement here and there are very few constants that you can rely on.  I am trying to finesse in between a lot of extremes in sand movements.  When or if the sand moves out, it takes everything with it.  The Lobster Trap pieces are either new or in a spot that didn't get sanded out for a couple of years. I think that most of these pieces would move more freely than a heavier ring.  Gold is usually (or averagely) 9 times heavier than other metal in the sand.  That's what the smart guys tell me anyway.  So the gold should sink a few more inches under where the coins and this junk metal is.  Or that would be what you would think if you believe that gold in heavier.  It should be in the same stratus with the lead sinkers or at least pretty close.  I may just need to just keep digging everything and get it off the beach and take what AU the beach gives me.  LOL

thanks,

Joe 

8 minutes ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

 

I know this is not going to help...For I use All Metal only when I hunt.....Every beach is so different on it's habits it's really hard to predict what you may encounter...

And I know the frustration of digging a deep target for 10 minutes only to find it is trash.

I have a spot that is loaded with that stuff...but I have reconned the area very well with the excalibur and made a map in my mind on where to hunt and where not to. Also I marked several of the solid nulls by digging two scoops, there won't be a hole there but the hole will fill with a finer grain sand, which I can tell its softer when I go to dig. This will hold good for about 3 weeks..

One thing I have noticed at other beach's and this one ..seems the crab pot pieces collect in some areas. And my guess is because that's where the cage broke down. I do find strays but they are shallow most of the time and on the move. So far that is my fight against digging those babies.. Mapping out the area, then I'll be going in with the AQ...I'll let you know how that goes. It has worked before at one other location.

Good Luck..

 

Joe,

I hunt in AM too but thought that I could switch to Tone (which works on coins) to give me more info on the targets.   My beaches for the most part are steep and the sand movements are sever.   The can loose or gain 8 foot of sand overnight.  Yes, 8 foot is not a typo.   You cannot hunt out in the surf either.  Even if the waves were only a couple of feet tall, when they break, you wind up being thrown up to the wet line. (have had it happen, LOL)  My beaches all have surfers on them so that should tell you something about the waves and the breaks.   Anyway, there has been enough sand movement that I am trying to get to them before the sand and the jewelry is completely washed out.  This is a tough environment in the wet and you have to be an opportunist and catch the conditions just right or they are gone.   It takes major storms to bring stuff back in and we don't get major storms that often.  Every few years I am told.  So I just have to work with what I have.  Ok, enough ranting and raving.   It may take a few more days (or weeks) of using this detector but I will figure it out.  In the mean time, I will have my VLF charged and ready if the wet conditions are not good enough for the AQ. 

thanks,

Joe

7 minutes ago, kac said:

I believe lobster traps are steel with a zinc coating so they do ring in higher than regular steel. If I nudge up my pulse delay I can get them to hit on the edge of the coil a bit but it isn't fool proof.

kac,

I'll give that a looksee next time out.  It may be the tip that I need. :-)

Thanks,

Joe

13 minutes ago, Joe D. said:

    What depths are you finding these pieces at? I wouldn't think that they are settling as deep as the rings your looking for!  So my suggestion is that you may have to clean out the wire with a VLF first! Or along with your AQ! But this would definitely be a lot of extra work! Is the area worth it? You be the judge!! Good luck!👍👍

 

Joe,

Yep, these are in the same stratus as the rings, coins, brass pieces, etc.  The coins that I pulled out were somewhat green which is a good sign.  The sand had move a bit in this area with a 2 foot cut.  I knew going into the AQ purchase that it was going to be just a special site detector that should compliment my Equinox/3030 and take the place of my TDI Pro and Dual Scan.  BTW, I would have the same problem with the TDI.  The coins would discriminate for the most part but not these pesky Lobster traps pieces.  

I guess I just need to go out more often and stay longer and just clean out my beaches.  The downside is that I will be cleaning them out for my competition too. LOL

I was hoping that someone else with an AQ would have recognized something that would tip me off before digging 6-8 scoops of sand. :-(

thanks,

Joe

17 minutes ago, schoolofhardNox said:

Did any of those pieces give a double beep? I would think the long pieces should do that from a certain direction. Maybe circle the target from different angles before you dig? Just a thought.

sohn,

No double beeps.  I assume the longer pieces were oriented up and down instead of flat.  I very seldom ever dig without circling it several times.  If there is a longer tone I am not picking it up either.  I have tried higher volume and lower to see if I can discern something other than beep.  I would love to hear a beeep. LOL  So far I know that coins (other than nickels) will dip into low tone, so I know the detector is discriminating.  I am just not hearing the difference on these vinyl coated pieces.

Thanks,

Joe