Anybody use an S-5 or Excelerator 5"?

[Critterhunter]

I've got a used S-5 coil coming for $65 in good shape. I'm anxious to try it out at some really trashy spots that are either iron infested or have tons of other trash.

One spot being a small 1800's school that is so trashed with iron that I've never heard of anybody pulling a coin out of it. The roof was on fire at one time and as a result was ripped off, causing thousands of nails to be spread over the small lot. You can't sweep over the ground without an almost constant iron hit. I'm hopeful iron mask and a small coil might finaly yeild a few old coins from this location. I've also got several other spots loaded with iron where I've pulled a few old coins out of. I'm reasonably sure there sure be more coins at this locations that a small coil on the GT might sniper out.

I've also got a several old parks that of course are very trashy within say 50 yards of the picnic areas. This high traffic areas have packed the soil so most coins should be less than 6", with most probably being in the 1 to 4" range. I have been able to pull a few silvers from these locations despite the trash, but they are so loaded with junk that I'm sure more coins remain than have ever been recovered there.

Final potential uses for this coil would be some of my older locations that have fences or other metal objects on the property, preventing you from getting too close. I can think of one very old large field that we've pulled many old coins from. Most of the field is fairly clean, but there is a large fence running through the middle of it, and as an added bonus it's very trashy around this fence. I have high hopes of popping more than a few silvers from those areas with the S-5. I also plan to ring/clad hunt with it and the numerous small playgrounds in my area, which contain metal playground equipment that gives larger coils problems.

I'm interested in hearing about where you like to use these smaller coils and of any success stories you can relate as to old coins or other items you were able to sniper from previously hard hit areas with other machines/coils.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Critterhunter,I'm sure the S-5 coil will work well in some very trashy areas.My older BBS 800 coil I use in my high trash park has to reach at least 7 inches to get to the silver belt.Once you get some time on this coil your results will be interesting.Good Luck Ron

 

[joecoin]

I use an S5 in an iron infested homesite from the late 1800's. I have yet to find silver , but I have pulled a few Indian Head cents out, along with the usual large iron items.

You have to go slow, slow , slow. And while you are at it, go slow.

I almost forgot to mention, go slow.

 

[jbow]

The 5" coil will help but in a case like that, if you can borry or buy one, a Tejon with the 5.75 DD coil will do the trick. In heavy iron nothing rivals theTejon and maybe some other Tesoro machines. The Sovereign is good and i'm not knocking it. In nails it does fine as long as they aren't bent or broken. I hunt an old site that has a lot of cut square nails about 1/2 or 3/4 inch long and I dig a lot of them with the Sovereign while the Tejon completely ignores them. I usually get a one way signal on them with the Sov but I can't stand it and usually dig them anyway hoping that they are a good target that is mostly masked. I guess if you can pass on those type signals you'll be ok, but I always think I might be passing up the find of the year...

I have my GT charged up and ready to go and I am looking forward to using it as soon as it warms up a bit. I didn't use it much last year but i always go back to it. I'm going to work on the "reverse disc" method some.

J

 

[Heath]

Critterhunter, It's a great coil if you have a trashy area where a bigger coil nulls from iron infested junk. I usually run the Sov in manual and push the coil as deep as the ground will allow. the Excelerator 5 seems to pull out the coins that were missed with the larger coils. Keep in mind that it doesn't have as much ground coverage as a larger coil, so the swinging will be more and the pattern will be tighter.

 

[Critterhunter]

I'm pressed for time so I'm printing out the responses here to read and later respond to. Just a thought, see the "Sweep Speed Waste Of Time" thread as to why I'm even more excited about using this coil. It came Saturday and is like brand new for only $65, with just a few minor scratches on the coil cover. Looks like it was hardly used at all. In addition to some of the sites and situations I posted above, I'm also interested in using it along sidewalks and other cement areas where the steel rebar in the cement causes larger coils to sound off near the edges and block any coin signals. Think about it...along walkways is one of the most common spots to lose a coin or ring, yet most machines can't hunt within a foot of the sides of them without being blasted by the rebar.

I'm going to do some seperation and depth tests on this coil versus the 10" and will post some results when done. I'm also interested to see if I can hear the two holes in a pulltab with this coil as I could when I had the 5.3" for my QXT. I never really used that coil much as that machine is so fast at seperation than I found no advantage to it over the 9.5", though it did offer better sensitivity to smaller items and better audio harmonics to targets. You could amost hear what the object was shaped like as you swept over it. That proves very useful in some situations (such as ring hunting).

 

[Critterhunter]

Thanks for the input. I'm also going to try using this little coil in the woods to see if I like it for that, even if the area isn't loaded with trash. It weighing so much less than the 10" might make me use the GT more when I'm just aimlesly scouting the woods for signals. I normaly use the QXT to do that because you cover a lot of ground up and down hills and such until you find a spot that has some signals. The GT tends to wear me out faster when doing that, but I of course will go back to a spot once found and work it with the GT more. It should be a lot more comfortable to use with the lighter coil for this, and might also offer me some advantages as I'll be able to stick the coil into tighter spots around brush and such than I can with a larger coil. I'm just wondering about how I'll like the less ground coverage because it might be too much work to keep sweeping that little coil all over the place to get the same kind of coverage. If it works out it'll replace my QXT as my scouting machine as well.

Still, I know I'm going to love that little coil for my trashy spots like the parks. I've also got a few wooded locations that have produced some nice coins in the past but are loaded with iron that I look forward to hitting with it.