Coil questions and information

Can't help you personally but hopefully someone on the forum will be able to assist.
Jaros :Y:

I'd check out the Detech DD coils. They are 100% waterproof:
http://www.detech-metaldetectorsaustralia.com.au/detech-sef-dd-coils
http://www.detech-metaldetectorsaustralia.com.au/ultimate-dd-spiral-coils
If you get onto Phasetech (Nenad) whose a member/sponsor of this site he may be able to help on a beach selection better than I.
http://phasetechnical.com.au/product-category/coils/

Coiltek also used to have a range of fully submersible coils. Pretty sure my old 10" x 5" Joey DD Pro was?

Thank you Gentlemen, Yes, I have just found the Detechs, they look the goods. I have just requested a bit more info on them.

Cheers.....

For the beach you need a Sovereign GT or Elite etc or an Explorer or Etrac and the CTX or a PI as a last resort, Single frequency machines are too sensitive and you have to turn them down in wet salt, Even single frequency machines with a salt mode have to be turned down a bit so they can run smooth,

Hope that helps,

John.

CTX 3030 is expensive but probably hands down one of the very best beach detectors, great for parks as well. It's waterproof to 10 feet and handles wet beach sand effortlessly. With the 17" coil on it you can cover a lot of beach in a short amount of time.

I love mine and it has paid for itself a number of times over. :Y:

OK, thank you all very much for the input.
CTX is out of the question although I would love one. I guess I could keep my eye out for a used one.

I think I have made my decision.
Because I already have the 2200 and I know how well it handles the wet sand I will buy a waterproof DD detech for it. I dont actually want to go in the water, just to not be concerned if the coil gets a bit of a splash.
We actually left two targets in the hole when we were last at the beach with the 2200 because they were just too deep. I am almost 70 yo.

Thanks again and Cheers...

ThomasG

No worries Thomas. I've done a bit on the beaches too with my 5000, some targets were too deep for me also mate, the PI's really do punch way down into beach sand. I gave up with the PI on the the beach though as there is just so much tiny junk that it was driving me mad.

Hope it works out well.

Cheers and thank you.

Ive listened to many on here talk about coils....this ones great, that ones fantastic etc etc. But what makes a great coil and WHY?

Ive heard Nenad say the Evos are super sensitive....but what about Coiltek or Commander. What makes then inferior to the Evos for example. (And im up for technical jargon if necessary)

Look forward to the comments.

I tried a 14" Coiltek Elite for a few hours last gold trip and didn't really like it as much as my 15x12 commander. The commander was more stable and in my opinion glides along the ground much better.

The commander found a piece that was down in SDC size nugget territory.

I know the newer coils are more sensitive but I think the 15x12 is very under rated.

Coils are a bit like fishing rods or golf clubs, all have advantages and disadvantages.
The evos ,coiltek elites and new detechs are wound flat, which means they have a wider area and are more sensitive to small gold, but also more sensitive to ground noise.
The evos have a very strong mounting point and a pressure release valve which might help in hot humid climates. Down side is they are xxxy!
The coiltek elites are a little cheaper and a more traditional shape, easier to tape the skid plate. They seem to be a bit bump sensitive at times, but some swear by them and wouldn't use anything else.
The detechs are similar, but have a very good fitting skid plate that dosnt require tape. The evos are lightest of these and are foam filled to stop any internal movement.

The commanders and older style coilteks and NF advantages use litz wire and instead of being flat wound, it is coiled around an internal frame. They are bit less sensitive to really small gold, but less sensitive to ground noise, a bit lighter weight,and in the bigger sizes, probably get a bit more depth. I also think my advantages suffer less emi interference.

So whether flat wound or traditional, they all have their place. In really noisy ground I'll use my 15*12 commander, and 8" commander, or 20" advantage, in all other cases I use a 12" or 15" evo.

I'll throw in my two bob here.
For ~4 years I used my 11" Commander mono that came with my old 4500 and was averaging over 1g per find in the GT and in later years, did quite well. Really got to know that old gal, although she's looking her age (but still works a beaut).
My mates with all their coils often marvelled at how well we (my daughter and I) did with it - generally coming home with a nice haul.
But the hype of the new super sensitive coils infected me. I then bought the 14*9" Evo, which I soon discovered had great sensitivity on smaller stuff, and we soon started finding the tiny stuff - cool. We were encroaching into SDC territory.
For the past nearly 2 years it has been my "go to" coil, but my average weight per nugget dropped down quickly, as did my average total gold weight per outing. Yes, my nuggets per trip increased, but the average gold weight per trip decreased dramatically.
I'm asking myself, is that what I bought my 4500 for, and am now seriously thinking of changing back to the old Minelab 11'Commander mono in the GT (certainly my daughter wants me to and regularly tells me to!!!!).
Why? Less sensitive to hot rocks/ground. The bigger gold stops us with the 11" Commander - not the smaller gold, so by missing the fly shite, we cover way more ground between digs, have a greater chance of digging bigger nuggets (like previously), miss digging every single lousy bird shot and being fresher at the end of a long day, so more hours put in.
In retrospect, I should probably have stuck with the 11" Commander (plus maybe a larger one for the rare times that I get onto deeper ground), and saved a few $k. It's hard to shake the infectious hype that surrounds us like flies/mozzies though.
It seems like I have this amazing ability to realise the obvious a long time after my kids do

A good coil is one you have confidence in, I did buy one of the new camo coils didn't like it and gave it away,but I do love my NFA coils they are bullet proof,the coiltek and the minelab coils I have had have all been or ended up being bump sensitive where as the NFA are still going strong with 10x as much use

Coils have really come along way since they started using Litz wire, The coils have more uniform windings and are a lot more sensitive and very few if any dead spots in them.

John.

Too many variables involved... One size and Brand may perform well on one machine and and yet for another brand detector the same make and size if not as good.

Then location, some appear to be better at blocking RFI, but at what cost or is it one of; you can not swing where you could previously not.

Then add in Weight and shape and YOUR personal preference for a given weight OR the ground conditions and how clean or rough it is.....

For every pro I here about a coil, you can find a con; OTHER than they have improved across the board as to Quality and Consistency.

Thanks fellas. I ssked the question because I too have the 11" standard coils DD and Mono. I also have a Sadie for cramped spaces and early on I bought a 17x13 Coiltek. Nenad tells ive covered nearly all the bases but i just wanted to see what others thought. I see a lot on here about nuggetfinders and i wonder if i am missing out on anything.

Tassie Daz,
Am going to take my NF 14*9" EVO off next time I'm out and try the 11" Commander Mono again (dumb myself down on smaller nuggets and bird shot). Almost feels like I've betrayed the old gal and in turn, am finding mostly fly shite instead of the larger gold that I used to find.
I log all my finds (only 160 to date) and graph statistics (updated after each trip).
Re the graph below, and apart from our recent QLD trip (where I alternated between the Zed and my 4500 with NF 14*9 Evo), I've only added around 2~3 nuggets above 0.8g (and nothing above 2g to my recall) using my 14*9" Evo.
All the rest have been down in that "fly shite" hump, whereas in about twice the time where I was using my 11" Commander mono (and much of that time as a novice), I found many many nice ones up to 8.6g (still to break 10g though) and had an average haul (total grams) per trip significantly larger than I'm getting with the NF (even though finding more nuggets).
I just went way farther between digs with the 11" Commander mono. I think that's the secret for shallower grounds.
Maybe my detection rate (nuggets per trip) is improving with the 14*9, but then again I seem to have been better off with less experience and using the 11" mono.

I guess BW that at some stage the fly specs will disappear too and then therell be nothing on a trip. The answer is new ground but hey, when are the powers and greenies going to entertain that

BW, best one Ive found with my NF 14x9 evo was quite deep, 5.96grams. Apart from that, only 4 over a gram, the rest very small bits from .8 to .1ish.

I've planned to get serious with the 20" advantage, but I think I need to be sure Im on a patch 1st, so atm, am loving the 12" Evo as my go to start up coil.

There's a twist though, pick your coil for the likely ground depth. In shallow ground, a 14*9" will find the small nuggets plus the shot (if that's all there is), whereas in slightly deeper ground (say to 12") the 11" mono will miss much of he shot (at not more than 2"), but will find the loot. In deeper ground, we need to use a 15" plus. What a lot of detectorists fail to realise is ground depth. Match your coil to ground depth.