Fisher Impulse AQ Discrimination Explanation

[Steve Herschbach]

On 1/2/2020 at 1:44 PM, vive equinox said:

So what will we do then after the passage of several AQ ?

let's not forget that the beaches are recharged every summer, unfortunately people wear less gold than before...

An honest answer from somebody doing this for going on 50 years now and with some perspective? Somebody not selling detectors? Good finds will deplete to the point where for many people metal detecting will not be worth their time any longer. I am already seeing this in the gold prospecting world. Nobody is dropping new gold nuggets, and the gains from new detectors have largely been realized already. The GPZ 7000 gave things a lift for a few years, but now the gold patches have seen several years activity with the GPZ and large gold is getting quite rare. People are turning to detectors like the Gold Bug 2, Gold Monster, and Goldmaster 24K to chase the more prevalent gold weighed in grains, not grams. This however is more for the fun of it, and I know many older prospectors used to seeing an ounce of gold in a day who are now retiring as getting an ounce a week is now extremely challenging. I have dropped my goal to 1/2 ounce per week average and that is getting hard to hit. It actually is the rising gold prices over the last twenty years that kept things alive more than better detectors. At $300 an ounce all the serious guys would already be long gone.

I always thought jewelry detecting would last forever. However, when I started beach detecting in Hawaii 20 year ago I went straight to pulse induction starting with the White's Surf PI then graduating to various ground balancing PI detectors to deal with the volcanic sand and cobbles. I did very well, but I realize now in retrospect I was already mining those deeper old layers VLF detectors had left behind. The rings all showed evidence of being in the water for decades. As I have gone back to those places in recent years I have found that there are now far more people beach detecting  than 20 years ago, and it really is getting to be more about recent drops. The number of finds per hour for me has dropped dramatically compared to 20 years ago. The older stuff is that took decades to build up is being found and depleted.

So the old layers are already depleting, especially as locals pounce after storms when those layers are near surface. People are dropping new stuff, but it is not what it was as young people prefer a new iPhone over expensive jewelry. I note that many younger people simply do not wear wedding rings these days. Tungsten and titanium and even silicone rings are common. And I think people seeing metal detectors on a beach every day warns people to be more careful with their jewelry.

The honest truth from my perspective is I am the right age to have enjoyed the Golden Age of Metal Detecting. I got to detect when silver coins were common. I got to nugget hunt while large nuggets were common. And I saw some of the best years in beach detecting. I hate to also mention that more areas are off limits every year. I do not think well of the longer term aspects of metal detecting going forward. We are getting one last burst of activity driven by fantastic detectors and bargain prices, but this actually spells the end game for many of us. Way too much competition now. The only saving grace I can see would be if somebody could make a detector that truly could see though trash, because target masking is hiding more good stuff than depth. Something based on sound that used metal density perhaps to see through aluminum and spot gold. A true mini ground radar. But using current electromagnetic based technology we are hitting serious limits for the future of metal detecting.

I think we are already at or slightly past "peak detecting". That may be gloomy thinking for some but not for me. The fact is I am getting old and my days now are numbered. I don't need to worry about detecting 30 years from now. All I need to do is use a high power machine like the Impulse AQ to seek out those few remaining places where deeper older finds still lurk before somebody else gets them. Actually to be honest I was doing just fine with the Garrett ATX, but got tired of it's 7 lb weight and sold it after it failed in the middle of my last Hawaii trip. I've been waiting for something new ever since, and the Impulse looks to be it. After that I will probably be content to be an old guy wandering a beach with a good discrimination detector digging shallow targets simply because that's all I'll physically be able to do, and I will be more in it for the walk than the rare ring I might find. My timing in all this has been near perfect! 

[Rick K - First Member]

Apres moi le deluge.

[LE.JAG]

it's not the end, old man 🤣
it's the beginning

  it looks like the start of an Arnold film lol

after AQ there is the Bipolar
more sensitive deeper

and after
who tells you there won't be a detector
able to see a nugget as big as a fist
two meters deep / specifying that it is gold

of course you will take two days to make the hole
  even so, the nugget will still be there ....

[Rick K - First Member]

LE.JAG took it directly, but I must admit, as I re-read Steve’s piece about how the GPZ found large nuggets which previously excellent machines such as the GPX5000 didn’t find. It may well be that an even more powerful machine could find not only deeper large nuggets but nuggets of all sizes due to it’s ability to see through respectable amounts of ferrous trash. Most of the known alluvial gold deposits were worked intensively in the 1800’s in North America and iron junk is widespread.

We’ll see.

[Steve Herschbach]

5 hours ago, LE.JAG said:

who tells you there won't be a detector
able to see a nugget as big as a fist
two meters deep / specifying that it is gold

There are plenty of people selling those already!  You guys tell yourselves whatever you need to keep the dream alive. You ever hear the term "whistling past the graveyard?"  But we are off topic now so time to put an end to the nonsense and get back to AQ discrimination advantages and caveats.

[Skate]

There is no end to detecting, only an end to us. Keep swinging until you just can't swing anymore. I think in the years ahead the finds will still be there but the amount of detectorist's willing to work for them will actually be fewer than today. Those of north of 50 are not "old" we're just "older". Many younger folks today quit the moment things get tough or hard. Steve there are many glorious days of detecting in front of you.

God bless

[ALEXANDRE TARTAR]

I am nuanced regarding the subject.
There are beaches where you will never touch the subground...
There are beaches which every 10 years lose 7 meters of sand, then we see the subground, and then it takes 5 meters of sand for 20 years ... A good machine must have good use.

I think the next improvements will be on the side of the ground effect.
To succeed in detecting better where others detect less well.

6 best points for improve metal detectors :

1° Best sensitivity on Gold targets
2° Highly reactive system
3° Rock-solid stability
4° Ground effect compensation (magnetic soil)
5° High recovery Speed
6° Iron discrimination

[vive equinox]

One day there will also be a machine that differentiates aluminum from gold, the near future with impulse and future technologies look exciting.

nevertheless steve's observation are cruel but truthful. it’s like with oil you have to go further and further to extract it.

[schoolofhardNox]

8 minutes ago, ALEXANDRE TARTAR said:

6 best points for improve metal detectors :

1° Best sensitivity on Gold targets
2° Highly reactive system
3° Rock-solid stability
4° Ground effect compensation (magnetic soil)
5° High recovery Speed
6° Iron discrimination

#7. Mitigation of all EMI. That would be my dream !!!!

[ALEXANDRE TARTAR]

1 minute ago, schoolofhardNox said:

#7. Mitigation of all EMI. That would be my dream !!!!

Yes, that is all the more true since it will not improve in the years to come!
The number of transmitters of all types and their power are constantly increasing ...