Evo 12x8 First Day Out

Hi Folks,

Picked up the 12x8 Evolution coil this morning and decided to have a play on some mullock heaps to see how it performed on the small stuff. Ive read a few comments lately stating that it may be a coil that closes the gap between GPXs and the SDC in relation to small targets. OK, so I got caught. Its a bit like selling lures to fishermen. This one will catch more fish....... so I took the bait. Hook line and sinker. I was really after something that would compare to the SDC so that I could detect with my daughter when she comes down to visit. The old workings provide some easy detecting where you dont have to bash through dense bush for miles. I currently run a 5000 with a 12 Evo and even though its a great coil, it struggles when you get to the really small gold. The plan was to do a direct comparison to the SDC by running both machines over an area without scratching, confirming or digging any targets. I wanted to run the Evo coil first as it would rule out any potential bias that I might have if I knew that a target had already been identified by the SDC. I set up the gpx so that the detector was running reasonably quiet (fine gold, gain 14, stabeliser 12) and worked a clearly defined area. I was pleasantly surprised to get a signal within this area. I ran the SDC over the same spot and confirmed the initial target and identified one extra faint target. The Evo was placed over this spot again, just in case I missed it the first time. No matter what I did, I couldnt get any movement in the threshold. Anyway, I went back to the first signal and dug out this small bit. It was nice to break in the coil so quickly.


In reality, the 12 Evo would have nailed that one. Went back to the second signal and started to dig it with the SDC. With a strong signal now present on the SDC, I again went back to the GPX. It was just a slight murmur at this stage. Ended up digging out a minute piece of lead. Was really surprised that the Evo didnt think much of it. They usually gobble up lead shot. Went to another mullock heap and got another signal with the Evo. Was pleased at what popped out.

The signal was clear and the piece was small. Maybe the hype about this coil had some merit. Was just about to leave but couldnt help myself. Ran the Evo over a clear area of gravel and got a definite but faint signal.


This was the best piece of the day (as it was the smallest ......If you know what I mean)
First impressions of the 12x8 are positive. Seams quite stable, pinpoints well (although not a good as the SDC on the small bits) is a pleasure to swing and definitely gives a clear, repeatable signal on pieces under .1g. Cant wait to try it on some larger, deeper lumps.

Cheers for now

Les

Thanx heaps for this in-depth comparison and info.

Great review Lesgold :Y: and well done on the finds can you advise depth these targets were.

Yes, great review Lesgold. Very comprehensive and very interesting. Certainly wetting my appetite to get one. Thanks for going to the effort to do the post. Cheers

Very interesting. Would love to compare the Coiltek 9" and 12X8 evo.

Cheers

HH

Hi RM,

All targets were shallow (up to about 3 inches) Sorry, I should have included that info. Looking forward to see what the coil can do at a bit more depth.

Cheers

Les

Great writeup Les, what a coil! :Y:

Thanks Les,
I was getting a bit worried as I started to read down the post.
I gotta get me one of them.

Hi Doug,

So far so good. Just continuing to pull the little bits out of our spot. Dont know why the coil didnt spot that small bit of shot. Just one of those things I guess. The SDC also picked up the smallest bit of foil. The Evo didnt recognise that either. As long as it picks up gold and leaves the rubbish for someone else. Lol. Want to continue the comparison between the two and will do so for a while. Its a pain unhooking from one detector then then turning on the other but I suppose theres got to be someone silly enough to do it and looks like its me at the moment. Ill be looking to see where the cut off is between the two machines but in reality the Evos already shown how sensitive it is. My guess is that the SDC will still shine on porous or prickly gold but I dont have much of that in my area to test it out. Im also guessing that the Evo may pick up a little more at depth but time will tell. May get out for a couple of hours late today. If I find anything of interest itll be posted tonight.

Cheers

Les

Tathradj said:

Thanks Les,
I was getting a bit worried as I started to read down the post.
I gotta get me one of them.

Click to expand...

Remember Doug, as Les said, Hook, Line and Sinker .... youse fishos are all the same

Only managed one small piece this afternoon but it was what I wanted as far as a comparison test was concerned. Picked up the slightest murmur with the SDC. It was a very faint but repeatable change in the threshold. I would normally scrape the surface with my boot to see if there was any improvement but in this case I left the possible target and ran the gpx with the new Evo over the spot. There was nothing there at all. Not even a the mildest of changes to the threshold tone. Scraped the area with my boot and removed about 7 or 8mm of gravel. That was enough for the coil to start talking. Only a quiet signal but definitely something that I would investigate. Looks like the SDC had a slight edge on this particular piece. The SDC was then turned back on and a sweet song came through the speaker. Not a big piece but it was down about 70mm.

I was quite pleased actually. The Evo was reasonably close to the blue Hoover in its performance. Looks like the Nugget Finder might be strapped to the GPX for quite a while yet.

Cheers

Les

Maybe a few settings tweaked might make her sing a little better?
I decided to go buy a 9 elite today to target some small stuff... mainly because the 12*8 was not availiable and Im an impulse spender and didnt want to wait for the 12*8 to get in hahahaha I hope it dont let me down
Well done by the way :Y:

Great reports Les & refreshing to see in situ testing done on the settings being used for actually detecting the area. To many times you read of "testing" done by optimising settings in order to prove/disprove performance but the settings aren't usable or wouldn't normally be used.
Although sometimes setting tweaks may find you some usable settings for the area that will get a response/better response than what you've been used to running so it can have advantages too.
The 12 x 8 is shaping up as an interesting small elliptical option. :Y:

Hi mbasko and Diggingoles

I tried to run the settings that I would normally use in this particular area. Played with a few settings yesterday to see if I could get a bit more out of the Evo but in reality it became a bit too noisy. Im sure that as I get to know the coil a little better, a few subtle changes wil obviously help. I can say that this coil is definitely closing the gap on the SDC in relation to what I have been using. Im not interested in chasing small bits of gold but it will be good to know that if the coil passes over a tiddler, it will end up in my finds container.

Cheers

Les

Great to see how it is comparing, I think you will be answering a lot of peoples questions with your post, thanks for taking the time out to do the tests!
If it is only missing the tiniest of small gold but gives you depth of around a 12" mono it certainly is sounding great

Thanks Filthgrinder,

Not sure on depth capabilities as yet. Most of the small stuff Im finding is quite shallow. Had a bit of a play this morning before the wind got up. Started with the SDC for a short stint and picked up a very small piece. I should have used the gpx but I was a bit slack early on and didnt feel like putting the harness on and going through the whole setup routine. Anyway, the find got me going for the morning and I used the gpx and Evo from that point in time. Each small area was detected with the Evo and then double checked with the SDC after targets were identified. Pinged four pieces with the Evo and the 2300 confirmed each target. The last piece was my smallest yet with the Evo (0.04g) and was recovered from about 3.

(You can see the size of the hole in the background) Recovered one more piece with the SDC in country that the Evo had been over. Double checked to see if it was my error in detecting or if it was going to be a piece that the Evo would not see. Turned out to be the latter. Tried changing settings, and cranked it up but still no response. Turned out to be a 0.03g piece at a depth of about 1 1/2.
Pretty happy with the 12x8. It ran beautifully this morning. Dropped the gain down to 12 and had the stabiliser on 10. This seamed to keep the machine humming nicely as the ground is moderately mineralised.

(The four pieces on the left were found with the Evo)
Cheers

Les

Are you finding any bigger pieces at depth? I'm wondering if it is on par with a Sadie now.

Just working a few old mullock heaps at the moment. The gold is small and shallow. May get out and chase some larger stuff in a week or so.

Cheers

Les

From memory it was 2.9 grams at 6 1/2 inch's on heaps with a test coil regards john :Y:

Very nice John. You would have to be happy with that.

Cheers Les