Skull diver

Save Your money for the AQ.... and wait ....Trust me... I'm also thinking twice to modify it to obtain quieter operations. I do water hunting only and I'm not fine with the original coil...ok..... but I'm next to spend the same money the AQ is priced today (even if is only the first prototype) on a machine that is not so good for what I do. Pointless..... Just my 2 cents...

Pay attention to that video...The final advice for more depth is really valuable..But don't forget the 14.8V battery pack He's running! I don't have the technical knowledge to suppose that higher voltage is better or worst than usual 12V original battery, but I can say for sure that with full battery, when I'm approaching the water, the noise is even more than a couple hours after when the battery is going down... Voltage regulated is a thing and voltage driven, is another... So, I mean that a more sensitive machine cannot be only deeper, but also more sensitive to environment induced noise too...(The Impulse is been a project to go over this problem).... In conclusion, I'm now able to say that is better a little "blind"machine in saltwater, which can only sound a certain category of relatively bigger size and conductivity, than a super sensitive one, which force You to elevate to the stars your focus on signals that You can barely understand between noise... If I leave a broken chain of 4 grams, but I dig two 3.9 grams wedding bands in the same time passed looking for the chain, I'm perfectly fine!

Sorry, I was editing my post when You writed back... Thanks to my sore back, I'm doing at the same depth You want to hunt, not wading but snorkeling...This give me the option to go down when I hear a signal and dig it like when I scuba dive...(Useless air consumption looking for targets without clues and terrible weight effort eliminated!) You only need a dry snorkel type and believe me You'll love it! All I can say about the Tdi downthere is....Noisy! There's obviously the way to keep it stable and silent, but is only detuning gain, rising delay and threshold a bit OR turn off GB... If You keep the slightest treshold sound to hear the really faintest deep signals, You'll also increase the waves signals response by the coil...I mean every single movement of water on You, including the shaft swing to the left💀. Deep...for sure...but the price is patience! I can't compare it with a Sea Hunter however due to a couple things... The SH coils are generally blind to really thin targets, unless those really under the coil (seen on Youtube multiple videos)... The smaller inside coil of the dual field is for sure more sensitive, but I repeat...Cost You more noise! The depth is for sure another beast, I'll never found a thin band to sound at 35cm far from the coil...I can shoot the proof on camera, even if an air test is pretty useless...with GB off lowest delay and almost no treshold You can hear it!!!

Seems like a pendant to me...V shaped, probably meaning victory...As a prize medal ...

Are u running in FE or FE2? Just curious😤

If I can Give you an advice, think about the urgency of this machine for You. Also, with my experience since june 2019 with this toy, I can say that is better to avoid saltwater diving with it, unless you take the risk to change coil and void the warranty. Conversely, on the beach is a really stable and for the most, a quiet runner even with GB on. I think there's not so much of a difference between the two machines, only little less "undesired" targets with the AQ(I mean higher conductors), being more oriented to gold range conductivity and without "holes"...Both things can be solved with some experience however. Just forget the GB knob and dig till your arm is next to broke🤣... ############################################### Now, half an hour after, I'm editing this post to add some technical details to better explain my point on that. I state that I don't know if You're a PI user already and I don't want in any way appear to teach You the work...Just my way and reasons to do my job on the field... I generally wait for good conditions to avoid terrible effort in the water (no scoop, just fanning the sand with my free arm)... My "phase one"preferred machine is a VLF as I need to go fast when the bottom is ok to find most valuable targets in relatively short period of time (some hours if You're lucky)... My "phase two" machine is the PI, only if I think that targets depth is really more than a Vlf can tackle. Generally I go in places where I know people recently found stuff already, to "clean" with a PI deeper stuff.. So I leave heavy artillery as a second choice, when there's no hope to hear a signal with my Ctx... Yesterday I was in the right spot, at the right time, with the right machine, but nothing...Already cleaned by someone faster than me! No point to go there again with a pulse... Conversely, on another piece of the same beach, which rarely erodes, there are few chanches to find something with a vlf and can be a painful experience with a PI to dig lot of deep aluminium trash... People think about PI like a life's trouble solution...It is not... For us the magic still is a hurricane. Cheers

Is exactly what I was thinking...I probably have somewhere a 1 kg piece also plastic covered... Just need to remember where I throwed it🤔😁

To fill the upper side of the shaft is an option actually... Unluckily I'm not a big fan of melted stuff😨. I'll try to realize some thin lead bars to suit the shaft under side with an hole and a bolt...or two

Jeez...I was scared only thinking to the closed 8" underwater... I actually believe that White's named wrongly the TDI...The real name for me should be SandHunter! There's no way to keep it down with You. Nothing to say on beach performance, but in the water we seriously need another kind of machine.I still not find a good way to neutralize the buoiancy of control box.Just hope the coil will reduce the problem for an half...

This will be the only option to post an update, as I can't show anything but the sea bottom for today😒... It happen too many times to prepare yourself, to check at least three times by day the wind radar, to follow the moon progress, to timing the tide for hunt in the right area.... When all the factors are aligned and you also find the expected conditions in the place you was avidly following... This can happen.... Nothing...Absolutely nothing......💀 A coin, a fishing weight and silence...so much silence to destroy the patience.... Now, being a so called "pro" (this only mean for me "no gold no bread") this really usual condition creates sorrow.... To be in the only good place to hunt around and find nothing else than a miserable coin can hurt to the soul.. In a way or another after years, all we are used to fill the calendar with more winning days than defeat days... Funny thing is my curse of camera on my shoulders, as everytime I have with me the way to film the session, absolutely nothing relevant appears!💩 Black cross for today....💀 Cheers all of You!

I'm fascinated by the "coilwork art"... But basically there are two parts of the work in my mind. The mechanical work, that I'm sure will not create me any problem and the technical work, to tune the coil to a specific balance of factors....Not to mention the control board where after the steps, further modifications are usually needed... This is like chemistry, more than metal detecting for me... So I decided to opt for a Coiltek Platypus Mono replacing the original coil. I will only change the Minelab/White's type connector and mount a male/female waterproof combination which can give me the option to go back to the 12" original If I need...

I can't add more reactions for today🤣🤣🤣 Thanks Steve! I'll contact Immediately to arrange the deal!

Thanks....immensely...But I need it Mono😭

I'll do the same thing to suit a Minelab coil on the TDI rod.. Usually I prefer to have a lower shaft for each coil I use, rather than change coils on the same shaft...On the Ctx, little modification to use Coiltek stuff costed me a lot, destroyed the carbon original one💀. Now I have another new one and don't cut it to let the cable naturally positioned, but I use it in the opposite sense both rod and coil😉

I'll try to obtain one at a good price here in Italy...And hopefully this will be less noisy than the dual field... I just hope the connector work will not affect too much the right coil operation.

I think on the Ctx, assuming the 11"coil and fast recovery, You easily passed over this beauty with no clue between all the trash... Unluckily this kind of find is really rare due to the unusual weight and higher ID reading...Which I never dig usually🙄

I found gold in the less appetible places you can imagine. Sometimes I really thinked by myself to be crazy. Places where You wonder why and for what reason people used to stay for a minute... So You have a future second choice in your pocket now 😉

I really love the 8"design, but most important thing is that I realized the "magic behind"...If I'm correct, these coils and of course the machine, are usually running at higher delays as maded for some deep diving and generally larger objects. 25uS delay is the data I remember... Apparently this is not our preferred coil's range😭

Thanks for sharing Your pictures.. You're right, will be a really hard work to correctly clean all the housing. I literally consumed my eyes reading three times the amazing Pdf Steve posted some messages ago and...I'm sure this is a deeper world I can only barely imagine up to now... Also, I learned that with so many factors involved realizing a "specific" coil for jewelry and most important for a specific environment is kind of a magic. At the end of the work, something can still go wrong and can be the time to tune the machine, for the new arrived coil...So, I mean even if I ask to a producer a coil, will this coil be exactly like I need?Will this coil react generally better than the original one in all circumstances? Will the simple operation to cut the wire and solder a connector modify the really fragile balance between all the factors? To be clear and less complicated, this operation is an hard attempt to adapt something almost called "universal" to a fine tuned (for another coil) machine... Tricky...To say the least... In conclusion, even buying an aftermarket coil, doesn't give us the warranty of a perfect machine's reaction on the field... I'm beginning a maniac, I Know...Sorry🤣

Thanks for the link...I've seen already something similar on eBay UK If I correctly remember. The old DD Minelab coil is already died, due to the past owner terrible care...In fact I hardwired the 8" to change it immediately when I purchased the machine from him.

Thanks for all of your suggestions 😊... Right now I'm evaluating a number of options. I have a ruined old DD Excal coil to use for the experiment...For this reason is a good and cheap base to try... Second option is a Detech 8" closed mono (most valid until yesterday)... Third option will be to ask Detech for a personal model created (I doubt can be easily done)... Fourth option can be to sell the entire machine to a wetsand hunter and leave the world as it is, cause is a fantastic deep puncher on the beach but in the water, seriously down on the bottom can made You crazy...

I think the machine is fast enough to really separate iron from good stuff... Unluckily for us, in the water 12.5" is not that manouvrable...And in saltwater here in my area, seem to be impossible to hunt without noise...Nuisance is the correct term...As I feel when using the TDI now.

This will be another good option and if they are opened to this kind of requests, I'll be more than happy to suggest how a dive coil need to be (at least for my taste)

Straight from the hands of our future God?🔝😁

I'll check if the coil worked out...My doubt still remain on other stuff probably unnecessary on his board... I always read of resistors and other things I don't even know right now as I'm not a technician...