5 inch excellerator coil

[jamesinwesttexas]

Just wondering about the 5 in excellerator coil for small gold. Has anyone used it on the GT for that or nugget hunting? The one on my MXT works great and even gets decent depth. Thanks

 

[Critterhunter]

I tested a bunch of big and small coils on fine gold and did a video on it. I'm still editing that video to see the results but my vague impression is coil size had no bearing on better ability to hit finer gold. PS- A thin gold ring will bang super hard at great depths on a Minelab due to it being an intact loop. It's the odd shaped fine gold like chains or earrings that Minelabs have some issues with, but in terms of even the thinnest of gold rings I'll take the depth ability of the Minelab over any machine known for sensitivity to finer gold.

 

[jamesinwesttexas]

Thanks Critter, that's an interesting observation. I have the 8 inch Tornado and love it and that will probably be the only small coil I'm going to need for the Sov GT. Would have answered you sooner but I only have a solar panel for power and we've just had several days of snow, rain and overcast, but nice and sunny today.

 

[Critterhunter]

Only a solar panel? I see you are in Texas? Living out in the middle of nowhere? Very lucky man in many respects then. I can't stand living in the suburbs myself and if God continues to bless me I plan to buy some cheap land to get away from it all and hunt/fish on down the road here. Only then can I truly unwind and relax.

By the way, check out harbor freight and tool. They've got some pretty high wattage solar panels/convertors at some pretty dirt cheap prices. I've been eying them for a future project.

 

[jamesinwesttexas]

Yes, one 50 watt solar panel and two 6 volt batteries in line [12 v] and a $50 inverter from Radio Shack and that will run my computer nearly all day when the sun is shining and it usually is shining out here.. I have a homemade wind generator but the wind blew it off the pole years ago and broke the blades [made of PVC]. Just never have really needed any more power and have used the same batteries for 10 years [without a charge controller] and bought the panel used 10 years ago for $100. Have replaced the inverter a couple of times. This is my only source of household power and I use it daily and charge my detector batteries with it. I've never bought propane since I've been out here and cook with wood [all gathered within a quarter mile of the house] on a rocket stove made out of a 2 pound coffee can. Now if I can figure out how to give up the truck I'll have it made, but that would be difficult to do right here. If you happen to get out here look me up.

 

[Critterhunter]

That's very cool. I've never been one to travel much, but I'd have to say if I wanted to go somewhere and live, Texas would probably be right at the top in terms of where I'd think I'd be happy. Without going into details (wrong forum for that kind of stuff), let's just say that I think Texas fits my values like a glove. It would be great to live somewhere like that and have a little "buffer zone" around me in terms of culture clash, by letting others do the heavy lifting in that respect so I'm not all alone. Give me wide open spaces and nobody looking over my shoulder telling me how to eat, what kind of car to drive, or that I have to put $3 in a meter to park my stinking car, and I'll gladly wear one of those cowboy hats to fit in.

 

[jamesinwesttexas]

Critter, you would probably love it out here [they either love it or hate it] and there are people from all over the US and other places who have moved here, some staying only in the winter, but I actually like summers here too. It's definately not crowded. Land can be bought very cheap sometimes. Thing to do is get a good roof built first [shade and water catchment] and then start using the rock and adobe which is everywhere to build some thick walls.Problem is I think you have better metal detecting opportunity there than here although there are plenty of those places here if you can get access and I haven't tried too hard to do that.