Slimpickuns

Nice chunk of gold there congrats! I get pretty good results cleaning the crust off of 10k by soaking it in a shot glass full of CLR for several hours, dissolves the crust right off with no effort.

Prayers to you Joe, relieved to hear you were rescued and are recovering. May you heal quickly and are able to get back to the hunt soon.

Nice one congrats on the 1st 2021 gold! So you got your AQ back, looks like its working good! 😁

2 minutes ago, Compass said:

Thanks Slim, I suspect that an AQ production model is in my future so I appreciate the feedback from someone like yourself. From what I have read I believe that, performance-wise, the AQ has some similarities to the TDI (Beachhunter) but deeper and perhaps more sensitive to gold with its lower pulse delay. I would like to see some reports on the AQ's ability to find gold chains without pendants- the TDI BH will see gold chains that the Dual Field can't detect but not smaller ones. 

Before the AQ came along, I was keeping an eye out for a TDI SL to purchase, decided to wait for the AQ instead and am pretty happy with my decision. The only serious problem I had was with the threshold knob, but everything's been tip-top since I've gotten back from Fisher repair shop.

I did do a few tests in my backyard with a small thin piece of gold rope chain and a thin gold necklace without the clasp and bale and like my other detectors, it just does not pick it up..

3 hours ago, Compass said:

Slim, No doubt that that was a great hunt and the ring is a beauty- congrats!! However, you are a skilled hunter and I wonder if you would have had the same results with your other detectors? I'm just trying to get a better idea of the AQ's capabilities since it's hard to tell on some posts if it is finding things that other detectors can't.

Thanks George,  With the size of the coil, and the way it screams on the Gold, I personally think that I'm hitting more targets than I usually do with my Sov. GT which Is what I usually use..I don't own another high powered PI to compare it to like the TDI so I cant say that I wouldn't of hit this ring with another detector.

Before New Years I went out on a hunt and when I arrived at the beach I noticed another hunter off in the distance. When I finally made it to the spot where he was hunting (Left all his holes and trash) I decided to challenge myself and went over the area with the AQ. Next to one of his holes, 3 scoops down I pulled out a 7.3 gram Cuban chain ID bracelet. Also pulled a little clad from the area that he missed. I never did get close enough to the other hunter to speak to him, But I did recognize that he was using a PI and he was a skilled local hunter, wont mention his name though..🙂

Almost forgot to mention that the area had a decent amount of black sand that would have hindered depth on my GT...

10 hours ago, PPP said:

Love the battery design by OBN,,but it seems according to the picture that if you drop the unit or put it on the ground ,the battery hits the ground first cause it sticks out of the foot support,or am i wrong?

I'm very careful not to drop or place the unit on a hard surface, or lean the unit on anything that would make contact with the power cable. Hasn't been a problem for me yet. 🙂

17 hours ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

Another "AQ" Lover! And a beauty of a ring to prove it! Two scoops and gold..Love it! 

You cracked me up with the "Another fan of the Big Battery" Heck, I'm a fan of my own on the big battery. I made a small one I used a few times but the big one seems to really gives me peace of mind? 

 

Thanks OBN! Definitely peace of mind with the Big Battery, I went on a couple 8 hour hunts before the new years and the battery held up with no problems, My arms, shoulder and legs on the other hand could use an update though! 😁

Went out last night for a low tide wet sand hunt with the AQ. Got to the beach a little late, tide was already coming in so I was only able to hunt for about 2:30 hrs before the swells took over the slope. Pretty sanded in conditions but still managed a little clad and hit a surprise 2.2 gram 18k white gold diamond half band about 2 scoops down on the upper slope. Also pulled out a 1957D wheatie at some point. Took a pic of the settings I was running, I was in All-Metal for the entire hunt. 

Have I mentioned I'm a big fan of OBN's Big Battery? 😁

Congrats on the gold! I love my AQ too, with OBN's big battery, it is a power house on the beach. It Screams over gold & nickels! The other day I was hunting behind another detectorist using a PI, 10 inches to the side of a hole he left and three scoops down I dug a 7 gram 14k bracelet. I was fricken stoked considering the knucklehead left all his trash behind for me to go over. 

2 hours ago, okara gold said:

My AQ has been working fine since I got the new headphones BUT ... on the last 3 times out hunting, the volume knob is starting to act up.  From the 2 position to about 8, the volume stays about the same. No difference. And when turning it, it makes a static crackling sound. Then when you turn it above the 8 position it goes to full blast loud. I’m living with it for now as I hate to send it in but I think eventually the volume will not be adjustable and it will have to be returned. If I play around with the knob I can get it to a position where it works for me and I won’t touch it. I had it all set today but had to increase the volume a little during the hunt and it would not increase until the full blast position. 

Had the same problem with mine back in October, but it was with my Threshold pot. Was getting intermitted static and the threshold kept going in and out, all the rest of the function still worked though. Eventually the threshold pretty much went out completely and was barely audible even with the nob turned all the way up. Felix @ Fisher took good care of me with the RMA, free shipping all the way around. Took about a month to get back from repair and sure enough the tech confirmed a faulty Threshold pot. I've taken it out to the beach once since I got it back and did an 8 hour hunt with it with no problems and all functions working as they should. I'll add that I never exposed my AQ's control box to water. Looks like there's a high failure rate with the pots they are using....I'm definitely gonna start using this machine more to make sure the rest of the pots are up to par..

On a side note, OBN's Big Boy Battery is a work of art! 👍

Wow George, that's an exciting find right there! I see they sell for around $5k used on Ebay without the key, box, and authentication paperwork. Surprisingly, even the gold plated fakes are going for around $300! Just goes to show how much a high end name brand will pump up the price.

 Has the wifey claimed it yet? 😁

Yowza! That's a nice one, congrats!!

I'm a sand scrubber myself so I like using a coil cover even If it does add a little weight...Here's what I use to keep sand/water from penetrating under the coil cover, just run a small bead of this stuff along the open edges and let it cure...

Just now, Carolina said:

When I run tones I set mine up the way Alexandre does in his video. I think he calls it expert. I use the test nail, not the tent stake so I probably could use it. I run mine with as much depth as possible. ATS 8 1/4 to 8 1/2. Start my reject at 6 and lower it till the grunt and high tone are mixed for most depth. Around 3 reject. Thanks for the info.

Thanks for sharing that info, I'm still learning the machine, this site has been a great resource!

11 hours ago, GaryC/Oregon Coast said:

Slim, Thanks for the report.  Which coast are you on?  Trying to get a handle on where these machines are ending up.

Thanks, GaryC/Oregon Coast

Hey Gary, I'm hunting SoCal beaches..

11 hours ago, Carolina said:

I can’t get my tent stakes to low tone or iron grunt. You are lucky. I’ve dug a ton  of them. Nice hunt and congratulations!!!

Hmmmm,  wish I had some advice to give ya on the tent stakes, You probably know more than me...Have you tried bumping up the ATS? I had my ATS set at around 8.5-9, with the delay set at 7, Reject set at 6, sensitivity maxed out...

12 hours ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

BOOM! WTG Slim!

Thanks Joe!

7 hours ago, GaryC/Oregon Coast said:

What are you AQ guys/gals using to protect your coil bottoms with?, marine epoxy?  By the way what does a new replacement coil cost? GaryC/Oregon Coast

I'm using an AQ coil cover to protect mine, fits like a glove!

Been waiting for fresh drop season to slow down a bit before taking the Fisher AQ out for it's maiden hunt. Some big surf hit a spot and exposed some black sand under decent looking cuts so figured it would be a good time to try it out. Started out in all-metal under suggested stock settings. Unfortunately there was quite a bit of iron bits around. Decided to give the "Tone" mode a try, about 15 mins later I hit a high pitch sound at the lower slope, 2 scoops down and I had my 1st AQ gold, 3.6 grams of 14k! I like the Tone mode a lot, I can foresee how it's going to be a useful setting when trying to cherry pick gold rings out of coin & iron infested areas. Quarters, dimes, pennies, tent stakes, nails do come up as a low tone. Some rotten Felix pennies did come up as a high tone though, but surprising most zincs were weeded out by the machine, a lot of the trash you see in the pic sounded off as a low tone. Nickels and Gold sang out as high tones. The 925 chain came in as a high-tone surprisingly, the silver ring was a low tone. Also another note, this area was already heavily pounded by someone else judging by the grid marks & dig holes left behind. I couldn't be happier with the performance of the AQ and I can tell after I spend more time learning this machine, I'll be able to expedite the gold extraction process on some challenging beaches this fall/winter!!

Here ya go! 

https://kukkadesign.com/gb/17-be-lovriends

Well supposedly I was put on the list of buyers when it was at about 20 people but I cant get a response lately from Rick so who knows? 🤷‍♂️ Hope I haven't been ghosted for some reason...

Congrats to all those that have been able to get their hands on one!