The QED and me

Today I saw the QED for the first time. As they are hand built, there is a queue. I am now in that queue.

At least we will get an honest review. Might save some people money if its no good and on the other hand make the queue longer if it's ok. I hope its the latter as anyone that has a go at going up against the big players deserves a break.

Good on you reg, from what I've read on other forums the QED is nothing to write home about.
What got you interested?


Cheers GG

Hi Reg, well this will be an interesting thread to follow. Did you get a time frame before you have one in your hands?

Well folks I'll post in a few days when I've had time to do some serious testing. At least there is a polite response here, unlike the ***** on the other forum.

Reg Wilson wrote:Well folks I'll post in a few days when I've had time to do some serious testing. At least there is a polite response here, unlike the ***** on the other forum.

What ever you do Reg...............................................................don't do any dreaded "Air tests."  It's seems to be a hang able offence around here.

Slim, no matter how I test this new machine, there will be those with vested interests who will rubbish my methodology, regardless, as you well know from your own experience.

G'day Reg,
Let us know how well the QED ground balances?
That would be good to know.

Yes Reg, we are very interested in hearing bout the ground balance, especially in strongly mineralized ground.

Looking forward to hearing a variety of voices on this detector. Nothing against Reg in any way, just wanting to hear the opinions of multiple experienced operators.

Reg Wilson wrote:Well folks I'll post in a few days when I've had time to do some serious testing. At least there is a polite response here, unlike the ***** on the other forum.

 YES.....and boy....can they be ***** ....It is a much happier camp over here. Look forward to your report Reg.

Good luck out there

JW

Reg Wilson wrote:Well folks I'll post in a few days when I've had time to do some serious testing. At least there is a polite response here, unlike the ferals on the other forum.

It's great to see some local competition for minelab. It's good for everyone including minelab. Credit to the guys who built the QED. At least it's a real detector not a cyber space detector like the "UD".

I realise your not a spokesman for them reg but does this mean they are available?
After all these years they must have something id hope,if it has a couple of tricks up its sleeve for the $$$ id sure like to know,reading between the lines you think it may have something to offer.
First and foremost where all interested in basic performance and depth but id also like to know how stable it is with the manual ground balance in regards to walking the hills in wa,the button or even auto tracking sometimes is just to easy to live with when prospecting.
They must of had someone in wa giving it a run,keen to hear ya thoughts on it and good on ya......
PS: allmost inclined to roll the dice on one,not alot of $$$,nothing ventured nothing gained.....

The ground balance on the QED seems quite effective, and although different to what I am used to, it works really well. Today I had about three hours of in ground testing, using a Commander 11'' mono coil. On one really faint target I finally isolated the cause, which was the tiniest speck of gold I have ever seen under a coil. While trying to recover it, it slipped into the grass , where it could not be heard or retrieved. A number of shotgun pellets were retrieved in totally flogged ground, however no further gold was found. The increasing heat put an end to the days detecting.

So it sounds like the QED has sensitivity like an SDC 2300, the small gold will be getting a flogging in 2017.

GPZ, I suspect it has a better capacity for the bigger and deeper than the SDC, but won't know until further testing.

A few weeks ago I was drilling a hole in a 45degree angle and dropped in a 5 and half oz. lead sinker, the real depth was 22". That was the maximum depth for my 5000 with the 15" Evo coil in fine gold. Then I tried the 19" evo coil and it gave me a real "dig me" signal. B W and I then tried the 19" Evo coil on the QED, and the QED picked it up also.

What's the battery type and how many hours detecting time do you get?

While I have heard mention of the QED now and again I know little or nothing about it really? I am interested to know what its based on and assume because minelab compatible coils can be used on it then its a Pi detector, is it a form of pi technology that is different from what minelab uses or is it based on a similar platform say an earlier model like the sd2200 or whatever?, or is it something completely new?, are there any pictures available of it ?

Anyone care to enlighten me?

au-fever

Found some videos of the QED in action and testing on this chanel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvXnSkIT04g

Reg Wilson wrote:The ground balance on the QED seems quite effective, and although different to what I am used to, it works really well. Today I had about three hours of in ground testing, using a Commander 11'' mono coil. On one really faint target I finally isolated the cause, which was the tiniest speck of gold I have ever seen under a coil. While trying to recover it, it slipped into the grass , where it could not be heard or retrieved. A number of shotgun pellets were retrieved in totally flogged ground, however no further gold was found. The increasing heat put an end to the days detecting.

Wow Reg,
If that's the case with an 11", what will it do with an 8" on it?
At more than double the price this information puts the SDC under serious threat.
Time to flog off my SDC before Gumtree becomes flooded with them???

Thanks for the info Reg

Phil

QED sounds OK Hey!
They were big signals on small bits or was the sig through an ext amp to a speaker. I am pretty sure that the 23 would have found those bits though.
I wonder what it is like on deep big stuff

Spent a few hours today (quit due to heat) testing the QED with 8" coil near Maldon. Only had to change ground balance slightly from yesterdays settings from south of Ballarat. During testing a mate from Maldon dropped by to see how things were going, and had a bit of a play with my machine. We experimented with gain and volume to get the best response we could on some very small bits of gold. We were both pleasantly surprised with the results, and intend to do some field work as the temperature drops this evening. We will head to a spot that yielded 95 bits for an ounce and a quarter with Z's. It should be interesting.
I should mention here that although the QED is a manually ground balanced detector, it is easy to balance , and is very forgiving.
My machine uses rechargeable batteries, but they are not lithium.

Interesting, thanks, keep the info coming, I am sure many are interested in a new player being scrutinised by and old(er) hand , and thanks for sharing those digitised gold pics, some great nuggets/colours there .

Wayne .

Sounds promising on the gold dust Reg Hope someone is taking video of your finds and depths as you go mate,it would be a vid worth watching.

Reg.

Is the Qed your using you own or a test one on loan.

Do you know how many other Qeds have been distributed to buyers.

Or are you the first member of the public to own one.

If you got number 1 of the rank it could turn into a highly sought after collectable device. Chk the serial number.

Also does it have the ability to upgrade the software and if so will you have to pay for upgrades of will they be supplied free for the life of the QED.

You seem fairly positive about it and have listed the good points but are there any issues or negatives you have discovered during your limited learning curve due to restricted testing time.

Some comparison vids against you 7000 with the 14 inch coil would be great to see. I know its early days yet.

Are you the official tester for the QED the reason l ask is because on the other forum Huego posted an extensive shoping list about what you are going to give your opinion of re the QED.

GB, many questions, some I don't feel qualified to a answer.
My QED is mine, and is no.2
The software can be upgraded via a port.
The audio is a little soft using my NC's, but am trying different ones tomorrow.
Working my way up in coil size, and will report.

Cheers.

Just returned from a morning test session where I was accompanied by Nick Soames from Maldon. Nick brought along his Z so we could do some comparisons, and we hit a spot that had yielded small gold for us in the past.
I put my 11" Elite on the QED, and changed the headphones, as the previous day I had found my Bauhn NC phones were too soft in volume. The old Jabra phones brought the sound up, and made a world of difference, but the QED did not seem to like the changes initially, although we were on the same ground as yesterday, and the settings were not changed. Eventually, through mainly trial and error it settled down , and we started work.
After digging a few pellets, and some assorted small targets I headed back toward the car for a tea brake, when a small but very positive signal pulled me up. Lifting and sweeping the coil about an inch and a half above the ground the signal was faint but still sweet and audible. Scraping about an inch at a time of the very hard ground, it came out on the third scrape, and was a tiny color that I would guess would be lucky to be .3 of a gram.
Nick was so impressed that he has decided to go on the waiting list to get a QED himself, and our next step is to put on a larger coil, and go hunt some deeper ground.

There has been some confusion as to why I have a QED when others who ordered one some time ago are still waiting for theirs.

When I decided to come on board as a tester I began testing with prototype no 2, which  layout wise is 18 months old, although component wise is the same as the end product which is now in production. Within a short time I decided to purchase my prototype, and I now own it. Whether or not it may end up a collectable item is irrelevant to me, as it is already a valued part of my prospecting arsenal.

Reg Wilson wrote:Today I saw the QED for the first time. As they are hand built, there is a queue. I am now in that queue.

Hi Reg, from the outside looking in some statements just don't add up? Just saying buddy.