15" Coil... One immediate caveat...

[Jack Barlow]

I received my 15" coil yesterday and began practicing with it today in the yard. When I went to my test bed I was disappointed. Here is what I found out that may help you out the gate. Before I forget...yes, it is a very big, bulky coil that does add some weight. Your feather weight playful Equinox is no more with this coil. But this coil is still quite a bit lighter for its size, in comparison to the heavy (2 full pounds) Coiltek 14x9" on my CTX 3030. But the heavy rear end body of the 3030 counters all this weight. The Coiltek's are built heavy in Australia as a partner to Minelab. So they build them prospecting tough, to avoid falsing upon impact from the ground, outcroppings, etc. while detecting. I actually like mine very much...always did like ellipticals too!

1. As with any new coil, I did a full factory reset. I "hope" it kept the firmware update? I assume it did.

2. It is surprising to me how high the factory default number is on Recovery Speed. I think the Park 1 starts you off on a whopping 8?

3. An here in lies the problem. As I scanned my existing targets in the ground, the responses were noticeably poorer than the stock coil or even the feisty 6"er. Signals lacked punch, were somewhat scratchy, broken slightly, and definitely downgraded.

4. I found out with some experimentation, that --this coil does NOT AT ALL LIKE ALL THAT RECOVERY SPEED--!. Turning RS down to 5 was much better, and 4 still better yet. So make a note that if you buy this coil, you may want to keep the Recovery Speed 5 or under.

5. I realize this was just preliminary...but I was testing my established test bed of an 8 &10" penny, same nickel, dime, and quarter 8-10-12-14".

6. You wanna slam the whole works with ease??? Put it on Gold2 and 40 kHz... and hang on! The depth is off the charts and I have a GPZ 7000... it tries to keep up with. But the caveat is that this mode is very sensitive to very small targets like a tiny brass rivet off an old pair of jeans...or a drop of solder. But all this at about 5-8". I had a target in my front yard and ended up digging half a coke can at exactly 33" on the level of our original lot from 1987 before the lot was filled. 33" on the stock coil. But between the drive you crazy VCO sound and digging all these many minute targets... one or the other will drive you nuts. But good to know as a trick up your sleeve in a rough patch that requires extreme depth. Good Luck!

 

[sgoss66]

Jack --

Thanks for the info.

Your findings confirm entirely, exactly, what calabash digger (another EQX user who has tested the 15" coil) has noted. He noted exactly the same thing -- that this coil does not seem to like higher recovery speeds, and he said you need to lower it to 5, or even 4, to get those signals clear/proper. Exactly as you noted.

So, once you got the recovery speed dialed in, how did you like its performance on the coins in your test garden, compared to the 11"?

Steve

 

[PryorCreekJoe]

Jack,

I will piggyback off of your thread if you don't mind. I took my 15 inch out on it's maiden voyage yesterday. I normally run my 3030 with the 17 inch coil so this was really delightful to me. I thought that ergonomically it was good. I also run a 13 inch on a Deus so toe heavy on the Equinox was not an issue from the norm.
I have been running the Equinox at 4 recovery so the 15 incher played well at this setting. I run iron bias at 2 and run in AM. GB was running about 45 if memory serves me.
My first spot I dug 4 wheats at 10+ inches. (if you knew the spot you would understand that any coin there will be 10+ inches) The ID was spot on and I was calling my digs. Even the few nails that I dug just because I need to confirm that they were indeed nails. This is something that I usually do with a new detector or coil just to build my confidence that I know what I am hearing.
The next spot I dug 2 wheats at 8 inches each. Again calling my digs. I also dug a 4 inch deep sterling silver ring that I thought was going to be a clad dime. (one miss ID call)
Next was a 6 inch deep 1935D quarter reading 29-30. I couldn't believe that one was still in the ground.
I was impressed that my settings for the 11 inch coil were a good fit and that I didn't have to change any tweaks. And again since I am used to the big toe heavy coils, this one felt pretty good. I only swung it for 5 hours but that is a long hunt for me since two rotator cuff surgeries and a meniscus surgery this summer. (still not to comfortable knelling down)
I think the depth of the 15 inch armed Equinox is on par with the 17 on the 3030. I just don't know if I am ready to give up my target trace, two targets on the screen at the same time, color screen, clock, etc, etc, etc. But I have to say that this is a fun machine and I can't wait to try it in the surf even if I have to back down to the 11 inch as the drag (push and pull) from the waves is an absolute killer on swinging arm.

thanks,
PCJ

 

[brissietex]

I was out at a beach with my Eq 800 15" coil for about 4 hours and found that the lack of punch in some target hits to be a bit disconcerting. Scratchy, broken signals seemed to proliferate with higher recovery speeds. Even Beach 2 which is the most stable with the 11" coil became an odd beast and a bit noisier using the bigger coil. I ended up using Beach 1 with 5 recovery speed for more of the time with the caveat that I would dig repeatable signals even if they were scratchy. I was rewarded with quite a few mouldy coins (and 2 keys) 2-3 scoops down in the wet sand.

Pinpointing (as with most big coils...I had the WOT 15" on my ExpII) was hit or miss and lost signals happened a fair bit too often when re-scanning both the hole and spoil. I found that EMI (bloody mobile phones :-/) maybe kept me from going lower in recovery but it could be the higher sensitivity (I ran 20-21 most of the time) combined with the lower recovery that caused the falsing.

I want to love this coil (I am a big elliptical fan) but the verdict is still out on whether it will stay on my rod at the beach. I am hoping that future software upgrades help. I definitely need to try the gold modes on the dry sand. Right now the 11" coil seems to be the perfect balance for the Equinox for most uses. I am starting to think that one reason that the big coil took so long to come out is that it took a bit of tinkering to make it work with the current software.

btw I am running the latest software but may downgrade to experiment.

 

[dewcon4414]

Im still a fan of a 9" coil..... and based on the depth and sensitivity of the 6 it might be a better choice for beach hunting. But.... that seems to be my dream lol. Has anyone tried both programs with this coil? I guess i learned on the old program and it works well for me. Anytime you go from dry sand where a big coil can REALLY impress to wet sand you will notice ...... the standard coil starts becoming more equal. What it looses in depth it makes up for in sensitivity to smaller targets. Ive not heard a lot of complaints about the shafts YET with the big coil. Ive got several pairs of headphones for water hunting....... each seems to require adjustments to recovery.... which to me is just turning the gain down.

 

[Richard@BackwoodsDetectors]

Thanks Jack, Appreciate the tests and info.. Richard

 

[maxxkatt]

I received my 15" coil yesterday and began practicing with it today in the yard. When I went to my test bed I was disappointed. Here is what I found out that may help you out the gate. Before I forget...yes, it is a very big, bulky coil that does add some weight. Your feather weight playful Equinox is no more with this coil. But this coil is still quite a bit lighter for its size, in comparison to the heavy (2 full pounds) Coiltek 14x9" on my CTX 3030. But the heavy rear end body of the 3030 counters all this weight. The Coiltek's are built heavy in Australia as a partner to Minelab. So they build them prospecting tough, to avoid falsing upon impact from the ground, outcroppings, etc. while detecting. I actually like mine very much...always did like ellipticals too!

1. As with any new coil, I did a full factory reset. I "hope" it kept the firmware update? I assume it did.

2. It is surprising to me how high the factory default number is on Recovery Speed. I think the Park 1 starts you off on a whopping 8?

3. An here in lies the problem. As I scanned my existing targets in the ground, the responses were noticeably poorer than the stock coil or even the feisty 6"er. Signals lacked punch, were somewhat scratchy, broken slightly, and definitely downgraded.

4. I found out with some experimentation, that --this coil does NOT AT ALL LIKE ALL THAT RECOVERY SPEED--!. Turning RS down to 5 was much better, and 4 still better yet. So make a note that if you buy this coil, you may want to keep the Recovery Speed 5 or under.

5. I realize this was just preliminary...but I was testing my established test bed of an 8 &10" penny, same nickel, dime, and quarter 8-10-12-14".

6. You wanna slam the whole works with ease??? Put it on Gold2 and 40 kHz... and hang on! The depth is off the charts and I have a GPZ 7000... it tries to keep up with. But the caveat is that this mode is very sensitive to very small targets like a tiny brass rivet off an old pair of jeans...or a drop of solder. But all this at about 5-8". I had a target in my front yard and ended up digging half a coke can at exactly 33" on the level of our original lot from 1987 before the lot was filled. 33" on the stock coil. But between the drive you crazy VCO sound and digging all these many minute targets... one or the other will drive you nuts. But good to know as a trick up your sleeve in a rough patch that requires extreme depth. Good Luck!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU. Especially for the Recovery speed = 4 for the 15" coil. and the gold2 in 40kh. Things like these you simply don't find in the Minelab 800 manual.