A Peek At The Next Version Of Impulse AQ

[GaryC/Oregon Coast]

Personally for my own situation, as an Old beach walker (over 70) who has been walking the beaches forever, I don't need a battery that lasts for eight-ten hours.  I like the 2-1/2 -3 hour battery pack, where you can buy two and change them out when and if you want to continue to do an extended walk.  I'm one of those lucky guys who live close to a beach.  I don't have to cram everything into a one day eight hour hunt.  I will never get that machine in over three feet deep anyway so the depth limit of the AQ limited is of no concern to me.  I like the price of the AQ limited, ya, I'm cheap.  Who knows how long I have left on this earth anyway, so $1499 sounds better to me than $2,500 $3,000 or whatever Fisher wants.  The AQ limited is just the right machine for what I want it to do for me on my beaches and lakes.  I hope everybody else does wait for the new and improved version and gets off the list.  Just my two cents worth.  GaryC/Oregon Coast

 

[Steve Herschbach]

26 minutes ago, GaryC/Oregon Coast said:

$1499 sounds better to me than $2,500 $3,000 or whatever Fisher wants.

I hear you Gary, and hope you get an AQ in your hands ASAP. I was more than happy to have a wader unit personally and still am. But I also have little doubt I’ll upgrade to the newer version when it comes out.

If this was the ignore all ferrous and dig rings machine some people thought, FT could name their price. But it’s not. It’s basically a highly refined TDI, and if they price it too high it will really hurt sales. The TDI Beachunter is $1199 and ATX $2120. I can’t see this thing selling for more than $2500 and even that is pushing it these days if you want people to consider it instead of a VLF, which keep getting better. If I was running the show $1999 would be the price out the door. Plenty higher than the Limited, but not breaking that magic 2K mark. Seems like early on this was supposed to be about not being Minelab anyway with high priced stuff. Detectors for the masses and all that.

[cudamark]

51 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Not at all, and it does not matter what I think anyway. 90% of what I tell manufacturers gets disregarded as “you are right, but it’s too late.” It’s just that one reason given for this limited release was to collect user feedback. The reality is the pressure is on to get the final version to market as soon as possible, and that is a good thing I think. In the process though decisions about the design have pretty much been made at FT once again, without regard for user feedback, and that means irreversible decisions have already been made that could have benefitted from listening more to people like Joe and others. It’s kind of a shame that after so much time things get rushed at the end. But that is the way things get done, and why, when all is said and done, people are going to ask “why did they do it that way instead of this better way.”

I’d vote for Joes design in a heartbeat, but that’s not what we are going to get. Still, four drop in 18650 batteries is a huge improvement over the current design. If FT keeps up putting out no more than a couple Limited units out per week, I also doubt we will ever see 99 Limiteds made. For me, if I had not been able to get one by October of this year, I’d end up passing, as winter does tend to shut me down here, and by the time spring rolled around..... well, long story short it seems to me that anyone that would rather have the new battery system and better depth rating are just going to be better off waiting, and that indirectly impacts Limited sales. It’s already getting to the point where the only reason to get the Limited is if you just don’t care about anything but saving a few bucks and want one ASAP. But wait, you can’t get one ASAP anyway. It’s in danger of fizzling out at this rate.

This is one thing we're trying to do with the Cygnus. Doc asked all of us on his advisory list to come up with ideas on what we'd like to see on a detector in the way of features. We discussed just about every aspect of the machine from the coil, to the shaft, to control head, to ergonomics, batteries, weight, etc. That being said, only Doc will make the final decision based on his power requirements, cost, availability, etc. All of us are still pretty much in the dark about final specs or even what it's going to look like. Why he didn't ask for some of you to also add your input is beyond me. Some of you would be much better on the technical end of it than I am. My input was more in the ease of use, ergonomic and structural design, and required features end of things rather than understanding the math and electronics side. That is Doc's purview. Hopefully some of my ideas will end up in the final product, but, that's up to Doc. I'm still like Sgt. Schultz from Hogan's Heroes.... "I know nothing"!

[Steve Herschbach]

1 hour ago, cudamark said:

Why he didn't ask for some of you to also add your input is beyond me.

I know why he’d not want to get me involved. I’ve already played Pulse Devil. A fun and exciting game for all involved, but ultimately leaves you wanting. Wishing everyone the best of luck though, and despite my cynicism I hope something actually develops.

[Steve Herschbach]

One thing I would add to Joes design is a built in wireless module. Apparently there are interference issues with locating the wireless module in the pod. OK, so put the wireless module in the rear right where the headphone outlet is under the elbow. This would not only be good for out of water use, but as the highest point on the detector, good in the water all the way up to waist deep wading depths.

[Willy]

15 hours ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

My Opinion...........They better move up with something more modern....more of a Carbon fiber look. ....And I don't think four 18650s are going to do the job, I'm thinking more (4) 26650's inline ..same battery the MDT uses..the new Fisher needs at least 8 hours hunt time to cover these young guys and who have endless energy, and not have to walk back to the car to change the batteries after 5 hours....And for the Old Goats like me have a insert that holds the (4) smaller (less weight) 18650 batteries.....I need to work for these guys....second though I enjoy hunting more.

 

 

 

Designing a new mechanical system is a 'bit' more than tweaking a picture with Photoshop. This indeed looks nice BUT one also has to care about a lot of 'small' details like the costs and complexity of the tools to mold these plastic components and the way to assemble them to be sturdy and waterproof while keeping a light weight.

[Steve Herschbach]

49 minutes ago, Willy said:

sturdy and waterproof

Can't argue with that. So how did this make it off the drawing board....

[Skull diver]

Sorry...Today is the day...?

[cjc]

1 hour ago, Willy said:

Designing a new mechanical system is a 'bit' more than tweaking a picture with Photoshop. This indeed looks nice BUT one also has to care about a lot of 'small' details like the costs and complexity of the tools to mold these plastic components and the way to assemble them to be sturdy and waterproof while keeping a light weight.

Willy I can see that you have a lot of knowledge of detector construction and performance.  Thanks for your ongoing contributions to this discussion--really appreciate the learning.  Good Luck Detecting,

clive