Fisher Aquanaut 1280 x I thought it was made for the sea hence the name.

[DETECTOR GUY]

I thought when I bought this M.D. I was getting some thing I could get in the surf with. Unfortunately it does not perform well in the surf almost to the point, I might as well not waste my time, it permanently false on all settings. Has anyone else experienced this. If the surf is moving the M.D. is falsing can't get a fix on anything. Strong under current even in knee deep water any ideas or help would be appreciated can't afford a Excalibur.

 

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[woof!]

The 1280 is a single-frequency machine designed specifically for use in a salt water environment. In general it will be relatively quiet in the wet sand and also in scuba work; however in the actual surf it's gonna be noisy. If you're getting falsing, try some combination of reducing the sensitivity and/or cranking the discrimination up to foil disc.

It's easy to learn how to use, and built like a tank, that's why it's still selling after about 25 years on the market. Its performance is not in the same league as the more recent multifrequency machines but as you point out, neither is its price tag.

--Dave J.

 

[DETECTOR GUY]

Hello woof thanks for the reply, on the dry sand it's great much better than my previous one which h was a garret bfo which was so old the metal detecting museum here wanted it. Hahahaha kept bugging me to buy it. Got a good price from them so sold it then looked for something to get into the surf with first choice Excalibur no second hand ones here and new to much for my budget new anyway just wish I could get this one to work in the surf, then I would be happy it doesn't like the wet sand much either but I have been playing with the settings maybe just need to get used to it. What do you swing woof just out of interest. Happy hunting

 

[woof!]

I work for FTP-Fisher, and am the guy who designed the 1280. I swing whatever we have under development, and occasionally a competitor's unit or one of our current production units for comparison.

When "swinging" the unit, make sure to keep your sweep pattern level. Don't loft the searchcoil at the ends of the sweep because doing that both causes false signals and loses depth.

--Dave J.