Why Only One Impulse AQ Dealer?

[Rick K - First Member]

There is a thread about this over on Dankowski. After having some muck slung at me by someone over there, who, among other things accused Fisher and me of palming a “Prototype” off on the public.

Quote

Now that I have gotten that off my chest, let me tell you how the AQ is doing. The 8th unit shipped to a buyer yesterday and I expect the production rate to ramp up in the near future. 

The main reason for only having one dealer is to centralize the monitoring of the “voice of the customer”. 

The sharing of experience and learning is proceeding rapidly on a private sub-forum elsewhere. All owners are entered into it upon purchase. 

At Fisher, Tom Walsh, the president as well as his engineering and production leadership are closely involved in evaluating the ongoing feedback. I talk to Tom a couple of times a week and to the Designer Alexandre Tartar about as often. 

The Impulse AQ is the first in a line of innovative and first in class pulse induction detectors focused on very specific “jobs to be done” The AQ is designed for only one thing, finding gold jewelry - especially rings - at depths that exceed the capability of any existing detector. 

Because the majority of detector users have limited or no experience with PI detectors, the learning curve can be steep. The AQ is a tool whose full potential requires skill and experience in order to unlock to the maximum. 

Unlike many modern VLF machines, there are no complex “baked in” combinations of pre-programmed settings which can in turn be modified by changing a large number of internal variables through menus. 

Not counting the threshold, volume, sensitivity and on/off/mode selector controls, the AQ has three knobs, these controls are pulse delay, ATS (Fisher talk for SAT - self adjusting threshold level) and Reject. Learning the optimum use of these in conjunction with one another is the key to extracting maximum performance from the AQ in various hunting conditions. 

The “seeding” of the AQ in the hands of many dozens of the most experienced and active beach hunters in the US and Canada - while ensuring good geographical initial distribution of these units will provide a highly focused and carefully monitored “laboratory” where the “human factors” of AQ usage as well as its mechanical and electronic performance can be studied in a way that (as far as I am aware) has never been done before by any Metal detector manufacturer. 

Are the AQ Limited units “Prototypes” - no they are not. Reaching back to my experience as a pilot in the USAF and later in the aerospace industry with Lockheed, Northrop and Honeywell, I would say that they are “-A Models” Sometimes the “A” model stays in production/service for a very long time, like the KC-135 which I flew, sometimes it appears for a limited run and the lessons learned are incorporated in successive B, C, D, F and G models like the B-52.

Rick Kempf 
Gold Canyon AZ- where there is no gold

 

[ALEXANDRE TARTAR]

The answer is simple: there are only 99 IMPULSE AQ LIMITED....

 *** And that will allow me to find my future testers for the new technologies to come, already developed or under development ... ***

[Skate]

I don't get the angst surrounding so much that is metal detecting today. I can't imagine what a casual or first time user must think of what passes as discussion on some of these threads on these other sites. It's a hobby, a fun distraction from everyday life and all the crap that comes with it. I guess it's where society is at today so no real surprise. I look forward to finding gold rings when I finally get an AQ and if I can help someone else do the same then all the better. I could give a rats A$$ whether the AQ is "limited", a "prototype", or a shovel with headphones attached so long as it works at what it says it's going to do and I can have fun doing it. Sorry for the rant but all my hobbies are getting politicized it seems and I've reached the end of my rope. It's my money and I'll buy whatever my wife allows me to.

[schoolofhardNox]

1 minute ago, Skate said:

I don't get the angst surrounding so much that is metal detecting today. I can't imagine what a casual or first time user must think of what passes as discussion on some of these threads on these other sites. It's a hobby, a fun distraction from everyday life and all the crap that comes with it. I guess it's where society is at today so no real surprise. I look forward to finding gold rings when I finally get an AQ and if I can help someone else do the same then all the better. I could give a rats A$$ whether the AQ is "limited", a "prototype", or a shovel with headphones attached so long as it works at it what it says it's going to do and I can have fun doing it. Sorry for the rant but all my hobbies are getting politicized it seems and I've reached the end of my rope. It's my money and I'll buy whatever my wife allows me to.

True. And I love the last line 😄

[midalake]

45 minutes ago, Skate said:

It's my money and I'll buy whatever my wife allows me to.

 

44 minutes ago, schoolofhardNox said:

True. And I love the last line 😄

 

WHO, tells the wife!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[GB_Amateur]

1 hour ago, Skate said:

I guess it's where society is at today so no real surprise.

 

20 minutes ago, midalake said:

WHO, tells the wife!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, my bad for tying these two statements together.  (WHO = World Health Organization). 

[Rick K - First Member]

OK, normally “cross-posting” is frowned on, but some pushback on another forum and a bit of me protesting that it was a bit “personal” resulted in a more or less graceful withdrawal by the other party. It made me think again about what the heck I am really doing with all this and while waiting for dinner, I wrote this...

Now, XXX with your permission, we’re pals again. 

I ain’t “pushing” nothing. I worked my buns off for three years because I believed that Alexandre Tartar - by virtue of working day and night for MANY years had made some of Eric Fosters ambitions for the utility of a two channel PI detector into a an amazing beach jewelry hunter. I have never wavered in the hope. That hope has turned into a belief and the belief has turned into a conviction. I have probably spent 20 -30 hours on Skype calls with Alexandre. I have use two prototypes, starting in October 2018. I bought (by invitation) the first production unit - which worked great - only to have a request to return it and have it replaced 6 weeks later. 

Meanwhile, Tom Walsh, listening to some small amount of feedback, decided that he really wanted it to be simpler, more robust and have longer lasting on battery. What to do - he had about 100 units kitted out and he could easily afford to scrap them, but he had a better idea. 

Bothered by folks like me and the designer, Alexandre and against the advice of his marketing staff, he decided to launch the thing. It would be the AQ “A” model, which was what it ought to have been called - but none of us were bright enough to see it clearly in the light of normal development in, for example military aerospace development - so he called it the IMPULSE AQ LIMITED. 

Tom ain’t broke. He wrote the “Disclosure” to explain what he was up to. 100 more of less - for sale at roughly half the price of the eventual AQ “B” - sold by one easily persuadable chump - yours truly - and saddle this fool which the entire management of the AQ “A” public facing existence. I make a few bucks per unit - Fisher does direct ship and provides the warranty and I have the responsibility to find the early buyers who will make the most immediate contribution to the collective knowledge of how best to use this thing to extract the maximum gold from beaches. 

I understand why this approach is hard to classify. Is Tom merely trying to make some bucks flogging second-rate hardware? If I believed that I would have withdrawn from this discussion with my tail properly between my legs, 

In fact I am proud and enthused - that Fisher figuring out that this thing that they had ready to launch - could be much easier to use and maintain with some mechanical changes - but that these would take time. And realizing that this thing would IN ANY EVENT require a careful and managed introduction to the niche marketplace represented by hard-core beach hunters - decided to use this early production version as an “AQ-A” model and offer it at a “not to be repeated” low price, to enlist the kind of die-hard beach hunters whose use of it would make or break it. 

I am not embarrassed by my participation. I think that this launch is innovative and probably unique and i am pleased to be involved.
 

[Tony]

At least we can now prepare for the sticker shock of the “B” model......that price has me worried for future AQ (beach/water) sales though. Then again, the market for these might be more than I’m guessing. Could model B morph into something that caters for beach/water and land/nuggets. That would sell big time. Unless priced sharply, having two or three sub models of the AQ could be a problem.

[schoolofhardNox]

Rick, Just so you know, many of us really appreciate you taking this on. Whenever you have to deal with the general public, especially when they are behind a keyboard and not standing in front of you, it can turn ugly fast. Today's society has made it ok to tell everyone what to do. If someone does not like the fact that this release happened, then they should boycott it (Please do, more gold for us LOL). People should be thanking Alexandre, you and Fisher for releasing it in the first place. And what about future versions?? What else can this technology develop into? Who knows where this may go?  I for one am happy you got involved and grateful for you putting my name on that list.  The hell with them. They will either buy one later or go without. I see the potential in this machine and I can't wait to try it out on a beach.

[Steve Herschbach]

I don’t know Rick, maybe you enjoy a little scuffle now and then. The answer is simple.... don’t feed the trolls!