Mastering AKA Signum 7272 MFT – part 1. (Review, tips and secrets+)

Who said that in Russia production is dead and there is nothing innovative? It seems that there are innovations after all, and they are also represented in our treasure hunting hobby. If the neighbors Ukrainians are famous for their coils – as many as two giants, Nel Coils and Mars, the Belarusians are famous for their complete ban on digging (I wonder if you are looking for a pipe on the site?), then Russia has its own and quite large developer and manufacturer of metal detectors – AKA .
I heard so many things about them, both good and bad, jokes, and all sorts of fakes, that their products aroused my interest in it. I thought for a long time about where to start getting acquainted with AKA, with medium-sized devices (Berkut, Sorex) or go straight to the top and feel the full technological power of the AKA company. In the end I settled on Signum.

Why I took AKA Signum?

• Professional class device, on par with XP Deus and E-Trac, with which I already have quite a lot of experience.
• Informativeness. I expected to get a highly informative system that would not make mistakes on dubious signals. (Give coin signals at maximum depth!)
• Depth. (After Asechnikov, I want to get some good finds in knocked out places).
• Possibility to increase the fleet of coils with different frequencies (sniper, 13″ for reconnaissance) at the most budget price.
• Curiosity. (The most important argument, in my case).

So, what came of it?

How I bought AKA Signum 7272 MFT

I decided to buy online. I monitored many stores, looked at prices, and finally settled on one store. I called, it turned out that Signum was not in stock, because in December 2016 a new firmware for Signum was expected to be released, and therefore the guys at the store recommended that I wait a little until the updated Signums began to be shipped to stores. By the way, I called Ded Mitya’s store. Okay, I left a request that I would take the device, let them tell me when the updated ones arrive, and I just had to wait.
A couple of months passed and the store wrote that the first Signums had arrived with new firmware. Naturally, I said that I would buy it, paid the bill, and began to wait for the parcel. What I liked was that the guys suggested several metal detector tricks that were not written in the manual and were based only on their own practical experience — and this is very valuable!

Everyone knows Russian Post? The parcel was insured in case of loss, breakage and other force majeure. Of course, who wants to just lose 50,000 rubles at the post office, so I decided to play it safe, but, fortunately, everything went fine and without any problems. The parcel arrived intact and without damage.

And, as you can see, in Grandfather Mitya’s store they took great care in preparing the parcel for shipment, they wrapped everything in protective films and seals.

Even the reel was rewound from head to toe.

Electronic unit too. Still, parcels should arrive to the recipients safe and sound, especially if it is such an important part as a metal detector unit.

Signum after unwinding all protective wrapping bags. About the box design — This is the maximum of asceticism and minimalism. Okay, of course, but it would be nicer to receive a colorful box with a beautiful design, rather than just a gray piece of cardboard.

With a beautiful box, you can resell the device for more money!

Metal detector design.

I took the option with a folding rod, where the device can be quickly moved to the transport position, but here a problem arises – the position is convenient, but it still takes up a lot of space, you will need a large backpack. In this regard, the most compact options on the market now (May 2017) are XP Deus and Golden Mask 5+. AKA also has an option with a regular S-shaped bar, the weight is the same, but the difference in price is somewhere around 1000 rubles. Here it is already more convenient for someone. 🙂The device is power hungry – 6 AA batteries! Buy batteries right away, my advice to you! This is not a Fisher F44, where there are only 2 AA batteries and if you buy a pack of 8 batteries, it will last you for the entire season of digging!

I would close the hole for the headphone cable with a plug, but this is not included in the kit.

I took a standard round reel, 10″ at 7 kHz. The manual insists that the frequency may vary by +/- 20 Hz, but this does not interfere with the search, and it is unnecessary information for the user.

The bolt looks massive and durable. It seems that it was made with a margin of safety.

The junction of the cable with the coil is also well protected, at least you have to try very hard so that something breaks at the junction.

The plastic seemed very durable to the touch, but when assembling the rod you should pay attention to various little things – it is quite possible that you will have to “finish the file” of your metal detector to avoid backlash and excessive hanging of the rod. Feel free to tighten the clamps, they seemed stronger to me than those from Garrett, for example.

The first thing I started doing was picking up the manual and starting to study the device. The instructions are small, but written in a language that is quite complex for the average person. There are too many different terms there, but I’m glad that everything is explained meticulously and the necessary examples are given.

In general, I strongly recommend memorizing the instructions, because the Signum in its combinations of settings can compete with the Deus itself – both devices are very complicated in settings. Signum still has a lot of “hidden” settings that are shown only in the device menu.

How to insert batteries into the Signum without breaking the battery cassette.

Now a little life hack on how to insert batteries so as not to break the cassette – I recommend ordering an additional one so that you don’t accidentally end up without a device on a cop. I would also recommend taking a spare coil bolt for the cassette, just in case.

Three batteries are inserted into the cassette on each side, for a total of six AA.

It is best to install the batteries on the sides first, and then place one in the center. You should remove the batteries in the reverse order – first pull out the battery in the center, and then those on the sides.

Brief summary of Signum.

So I’m going to dig with a device – Signum, one of those devices that you begin to understand after many many outputs. You need to shovel more than one ton of earth to learn how to make the most of this metal detector at 146%. Make no mistake – you will have to spend a lot of time with any professional device before you comprehend Zen and achieve true mastery. Tips and life hacks, as well as my experience, will be written in the next part of the review, once I gain at least half a season’s worth of experience. The device is surprisingly very informative, accurate, separates targets well and is quite versatile due to the installation of additional coils with different frequencies.

Of the minuses – they got tricky with ground balance, I will tell you about this procedure and the way to balance correctly in the next part. Also a minus or a plus, depending on who you want, but if you switch from another device to AKA devices, you will have to learn many new settings and terms that are not in other devices.

To be continued…
I collect all the information on AKA Signum here. Looking for more reviews — reviews are collected in the appropriate section!