okara gold

I too have had problems with leaking / corrosion, but mine has only been on the power cord. Another AQ owner suggested that I look at the o-ring on the battery power side. I couldn't see any on that particular battery but my other battery showed one in place. I told FT about it and the complete machine is now in their hands... again. A couple of times after hunting in the salt water the machine would not turn off by using the on off knob. Only by disconnecting the battery cable was I able to shut it down. Then after drying and reconnecting the cable, the AQ would not respond to any metal target placed by the coil. After it was thoroughly dried and sat for hours was it usable again. I have always cleaned the corrosion from the cable after every use, but the corrosion must have migrated deep into the cable. This is the second cable that FT has given me. Sorry about the blurry pictures.

If I run the 8 inch coil, mine is fairly quiet in the saltwater. I can run 8.5 + or - providing it's not too rough out there. I would send my machine to FT if it failed a pinch test or problematic if it got wet.

Cjc... Earlier this year the 7 and 7.5 delay setting on my machine was hardly reacting to anything and was roughly equivalent to an 11 setting. I could turn to the 7 delay in the salt water and it was very quiet and would hardly pick up a target. It was sent back to Fisher and repaired to work as it should. I have had several problems with the pots going bad. Volume control was another.

Mine is used 90% in the salt water. I am in SW Florida with mainly white to light brown sand. The big coil is noisy even with minimal swells and every time a swell comes in, it emits a long, loud howl sound. I do hunt with a delay around 9.5 -10.5 and an ATS around the mid-way point so this is expected. When a swell comes in, sometimes I will stop the coil movement as it starts to "howl / drift" and it quiets down enough that I can continue the sweep. It is quieter coming from the deep water to the shore. When doing this perpendicular approach I can set the delay as low as 9 (sometimes). It is very hard to keep quiet when walking parallel to the shore and swinging from the shallow water to the deeper without it drifting severely. Every time the coil is raised off the bottom it reacts with the loud howl. It was mentioned a long time ago that to help in discrimination in all metal you can gradually raise the coil as you sweep side to side over the target and if the signal quickly fades it is probably iron. This procedure for me is impossible to do in the salt water due to the severe drift noise. As soon as the coil is raised it howls! On shore it works as it should. I can hunt roughly waist deep to the shallows without too much drift occurring. And this is ONLY if the water is fairly calm with minimal swells. I agree with Steve, that if you have to set the delay and ATS so high as to quiet the machine down you may as well use a VLF. If you strictly use the AQ out of the water, I find it enjoyable and deep if the area isn't too trashy. I have the 8 inch coil that is much quieter in the water but am reluctant to use it much because of its small coverage.

Excellent find on that gold! Hefty too!!

Yea sir. That ring is as shiny and clean as they come. The designs are real nice.

I haven’t had it checked yet. After this weekend I’ll know better.

Found this pretty 10K the other day in the water. There was also a heavy (19 gram) tungsten ring etched with deer foot prints, a buck, a fish and a fish hook.

Nice assortment of rings! The gold is the cream on top.

Nice haul on the rings! I can't remember the last time there were too many targets on our beaches in SW Florida. Been hard to find too much of anything, although I did pull out a nice gold ring the other day.

Congratulations on the gold!

It’s always a pleasure Joe to hear your stories and share the views of your finds. I’m amazed as usual at what is still there to be found. Happy Fall!

No problem with silver for me either. Found these two small silver rings the other day. It hit hard on them. The chain is junk.

I like your picture of the Stealth. Looks like one knob and one button. Nice!

CJC. Exactly what setting are you turning up? I’ve had a couple of instances with the volume knob not responding as it was turned up. It was corrected by FT.

That’s a stellar month for sure! Nice going.

About a year ago I was water hunting and the Nox pod separated completely from the 4 bolts. When it happened all I had was the one main control pod in my hand. Sent it into ML under warranty and they asked if the rod I was using was original or an aftermarket. I knew exactly where this could go and I told them it was aftermarket. They thought that I overtightened it and not being the original shaft warranty was not covered. I explained there was a lot of corrosion on the bolts and the torque on the unit being used 90% of the time in salt water, caused the problem. I think by being honest with them about the shaft, they said OK and replaced the complete pod. Everything has been good.

The underside of the turtle is stamped 925 as well as the clasp on the chain. Such a fun hobby. Every scoop is like a Christmas package. You never know what is in it until you open it up. Lol

Nice finds and great close-up pictures!

First picture is a 9 gram 14K white gold band and a junk ring. Second picture is a cool little .925 turtle with chain and a .925 stud. The turtles back looks like blue opals, probably lab created. Everything was found in the water. These were found on two different hunts. Thanks for looking!

Nice looking ring!

Congratulations on your first platinum. It’s always a thrill to find one.

310 grams! Wow that’s a lot of gold. I’ve had that happen nugget prospecting years ago but never jewelry hunting.

Here are a few pictures of some finds for June. I found other loads of junk rings, coins, etc. and other silver not pictured. These are the nicer ones. The solid chain is .925 and weighs 36.8 grams. A heavily worn signet ring, 14k, 6 grams... A tiny 10k with 3 stones, not diamonds and a hefty 11.8 gram platinum. All found in the water at various depths.

Nice haul! Great picture!