Yep and that was the rapid progression of their demise, just like when K-mart took over Sears same damn thing happened.
It is a sweet little detector. Problem is the iron ID switch wears out, the foam on the hand grip tears, and the coils are subject to shorts where the cable enters the coil (which leads to bump falsing), it takes two expensive 9 volt batteries and it does not use them equally so you have to rotate the batteries. To get max. Life out of them. It not in the least water resistant meaning you have to bag it if your detecting during a spring sprinkle. Many people will say the contrary, but they are not using it heavily.
Those switches are electrical and not mechanical anymore, so there are no moving parts to wear out. The coil wire issue is an easy fix with a short piece of PVC. It's perfect for dredge tailings because the disc is really accurate. I'm still hoping it'll find me a five-pound gold nugget disguised as a river rock.
I agree with Cuda, The AQ does have a few shortcomings, one major issue was the battery life. (3.5 hours run time) I was able to fix that with a battery I designed and made... I made two sizes.. 5.5 and 11 hour runtime. Another issue was the Potentimeters, not the best quality and a several machines had to be return by the owners for repair. Bad was owners lost warranty time on average of 4 to 6 weeks when sent in for repairs. That time should have been added to the warranty.
I've had two now for 6 years come May & Oct. Both have paid for themselves several times over with 45 gold rings in that time, several Honkers that were deep.. Never any issues with mine once I did a few modifications.
Out of the ten beaches I do hunt only 3 spots seem to be perfect for it. The rest not the best machine to use. I see the AQ as the machine that will find deep gold when nothing else will at a few spots... Sadly, I do think the AQ is no longer being made? I've had two friends contact me about getting two in Jan and my dealer friend was unable to get them, then I checked First Texas and the site says sold out. Could be a parts issue or maybe the end.
As far as discrimination, I rarely used that setting for .. from the beginning I was after depth only. It does discriminate and fairly amazing, The disc setting is something that kills the depth and the setting was so on the edge of adjustment ... being off a little... you will dig iron or ferrous metals.
Couple videos on the disc setting ..with coins and iron
Then this one you can see just the tiniest adjustment can make a world of difference in what you dig. It will knock out all clad and silver also.
Notice the depth is only 8 inches in the disc mod! So your loosing about 10 inches depth on everything ...
The machine is not for everyone and for sure only good at a Very limited number of beaches.
Lemon or not, I do love mine and glad I got two when I could.
Only a few mods to the AQ ,,,, a better battery for it............. and improving the head phones with using a set i make. Got a new design I just came up with, see how they do.. they are for all metal hunting only.. Not for sale but I will post the parts list if they are liked, sent a set to a friend who uses the AQ.. .................I tried them and they can be belligerent to the ears they are so loud, just turn down the audio on the detector fixs that...need to do some air testing to see if they do help over the stockers on faints.Making the battery packs sounds like a solid build improvement.
What are the modifications did you make with hardware parts of the detector?
Any other modifications did you make?
The change in depth for the interesting sound tone discrimination could be useful for clad and iron conditions and still pick up on the gold.
Any tips on the use in the all metal mode?
Thanks, as you have an interesting background with this Fisher PI machine.
Take your time getting back as you have already help me and others with this Fisher machine.
