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10 hours ago, Pulltab said:

Maybe I should buy that used Tesoro Sand Shark that I saw for sale…

Decent detector. Not as deep as AQ and the audio is not as crisp an indicator as the AQ that lets one walk away from several iron targets. The Sand Shark I had paid for itself in finds.

On 4/4/2024 at 9:13 PM, Tony said:

can also allow a longer pulse width which is needed to energise both higher karat gold rings and bigger ones as well.

Yes! Noticed the benefits of longer width when I was using the Sand Shark..  If only we had all the good features in a package that could be taken into the water.

4 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

The original AQ had a maximum pulse delay of 11.5 uS. Later a change was made to increase that to a maximum of 15 uS.

15uS helps in the moving water (waves sweeping over). Wish it were 20. With the two I have I'm pretty sure they are 15uS because there is little change going from 10.5 to 11 but from the 11 to 11.5 switch position is a good change in the right direction when in the salt water with waves. So much potential in need of just a little bit of polishing.

21 hours ago, schoolofhardNox said:

the changing of batteries in a 2-3 hour span, I would imagine, would turn off water hunters.

That was an issue with the AQ LTD that Joe Beechnut (OBN) solved and was gracious enough to build battery packs for many who had the first units. If the current units are not better than the original factory ones, yes that short battery life is a good reason to not buy one.

22 hours ago, schoolofhardNox said:

With the other "new" pulse that just started to be released

Not rated for hunting in water ... for me that stops a purchase of one.

On 3/28/2024 at 1:52 PM, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

My connection has retired so all I know is from the last unit I tested. They did make several changes, but it is not pictured on their web site. Battery, cables and head phones were improved. 

Potentiometers, I'm not sure.

Would be nice to see a picture of what they are currently delivering ... just to see if it is the version with the batteries in the shaft and the cable fixes rather than the LTD version pictured in the ad. Also, seems odd that the ad is still calling it the AQ limited with the original LTD pictured with the max delay on the face plate as 11.5 rather than 15. Odd at best.

E1500 not being waterproof to wading depth is a non-starter for me ... even if it were available in the States.

Thanks. Not bad. With the added coverage, could be a good option in fresh drop season.

Will be looking forward to your beach experience with it!

I can get closer to the storm water drain pipes that empty on the beaches with the 8 inch than with the big coil. Sometimes goodies hide close to the pipes. That said, I can get closer to the pipes with the Excal 10 inch than the AQ 8 inch.

On 10/20/2023 at 5:02 PM, The_Stalker said:

Is there a way to set up tones mode that will eliminate tent stakes, coins, iron, but not eliminate large gold ring, like class rings?

All the large gold class rings I've found have either been returned or sent to the refinery before I got the Impulse AQ LTD. Been a bit of a drought on class rings with any of the detectors over that last couple years. 

I've got a 7 gram 14k ring that comes through clear high tone when tent stakes go low tone and a 51 gram 10k gold chain that is high tone when tent stakes go low tone, but chains act like the individual link more than the aggregate ... perhaps others can chip in on the large gold.

11 hours ago, bklein said:

How does the Excal do with black sand? I have mine for sale but just got some FEO3 or whatever to test it and others in black sand conditions.

Heaviest black sand I've hit with it are Outer Banks in North Carolina and some red and pink sand in the Daytona Beach area. Both cut down detection depth; the red sand was pretty bad. I thought the CZ did better in both. Had a Tesoro Sand Shark along when I hit the red sand and it was much better. Will be interesting to see what your testing finds.

1 hour ago, bklein said:

Here I adjusted the ATS and Reject controls in Mute mode to reject tent stakes. It also rejects everything but the nickel and gold ring.

 

 

Now you are set to dig gold, or at least much of the gold, and not put the effort into digging other stuff.

When I run tone, I listen to the size and shape of the target response and will dig coins other than nickles because of the narrow sharp response they give even thought they are full low tone. I almost never run mute.

One thing that has been an issue in certain areas is interference. All metal seems to be more immune to interference than tone or mute mode. If I go to an area that I am not familiar with I pack an Excal for interference mitigation reasons and because it is always good to have a backup.

12 hours ago, bklein said:

Ahhhhh. Brain fade on my part - I was thinking the Reject had no function in Tone mode. I’m getting stupider.  Due to age I suppose. Does yours do the slow rise or drop in tone when held over the steel plate or similar?

I haven't tested over a similar steel plate. When in tone  mode. If my stainless scoop gets anywhere near the coil it goes hard low tone. If I sweep a foot or so above my scoop it has amplitude modulated edges of tone and a very wide tone. Kind of like a brbrBRbrbrBRRRRRRRRRRbrBRbrbr

Three things:

1) Looks like reject is on zero. That is probably why that steel plate doesn't go full low tone.

2) Using tone or mute modes are primarily for going after gold.

3) Note how much narrower the sound is as you sweep over the silver ring as compared to the tent spike or plate. The narrow target signature is a very important data point too.

If you choose to never use tone mode in hunts; at least listen to the edges and width of the target response. There is a lot of information to be had in that target response.

21 hours ago, bklein said:

Is it really worth messing with though if you will think some good targets are iron?  It doesn’t register fresh tent stakes as iron either. 

I think it is worth it in fresh drop season when I'm not hunting all metal all the time. When set up it registers just about all tent stakes as iron, even very fresh ones that I've picked up as eye finds and tested. Every now and then I hit a thin deep vertical one that kind of fools me. I say kind of because it will be a wide signal that I recognize as wide and probably a bottle cap but dig it anyway.

The ATS and Reject controls set where the tone changes for different targets. Some slight readjustment is needed as delay is changed, but delay is not really an adjustment for where the tone changes on a target. The manual actually covers that on the settings. Manual also has brief statements on trade-offs with respect to the settings.

I like to set where zinc cents kind of warble (not really high and not low) and a small iron screw goes low tone (as well as the dreaded tent stakes). A very slight change to the ATS or a change to the reject setting moves the tone response on the targets, it is a balancing act between the two adjustments to find the sweet spot.

1 hour ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

Nice save buddy!! It is a amazing machine!

That it is!

Couple hour hunt yesterday brought a little surprise. I rarely get chains, let alone this small. Was about knee deep in the wash and the AQ hit on this one. Did not come up on the first scoop but did on the second scoop. ATS at 8 and delay at 10.5 to quiet things in the water movement and the chain hit very well. No good way to know how deep it was but when I got home and did an air test the chain is heard well on the AQ at 4 inches; all metal. In the picture it is next to a dime I dug today. Not sure if I hit on the clasp or the little balls on the chain. I tested it with the Excal and need to be about an inch or closer to the coil to hear the faintest indication in all metal and scraping the coil to get it in disc mode with disc set on minimum ... it nulls at 1/2 an inch and nothing at an inch in disc on the Excal.

22 hours ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

Got some interesting weather coming everyone's way on the east coast.

If it stays close to the coast but just east of the bay, it could suck a lot of water out. Good luck and stay safe!

Glad to hear you are in the water again. Sounds like it was a great summer with the grandson. They grow up so fast; blink and they are all grown.

10 hours ago, bklein said:

i have yet to try my bigfoot type coil on the AQ.

Hmmm ... I've got a 3x18 coil from a Tesoro Sandshark. I'll have to check the impedance. What coil are you talking about with the bigfoot type you have?

On 7/17/2023 at 10:36 AM, Carolina said:

The only false statement I find in this add is about the phones. They are garbage.

What phones are you using?

Oh ... and I'm loving the AQ LTD with Joe's battery upgrade. I too have two.

On 6/26/2023 at 11:55 AM, Bill (S. CA) said:

I really don't have a clue who is buying them

My guess is they are bought when a kid says they want a detector. They get used a couple times then sit in a closet forever.

On 6/24/2023 at 8:46 PM, phrunt said:

It's getting pretty cheap for people to get into the hobby and get a reasonable detector, they don't need to scrape the bottom of the barrel anymore with detectors with no target IDs.

When I think of the education I got from working to understand what a detector without target ID was telling me, all I can say is that it is kind of a shame that most people will not get that education. Kind of like not learning to drive a manual transmission or write and read cursive.