I have a newer compadre with the 5.75" coil and it pulls coins out of trashy front lawns from houses that are from the 1800's better then most detectors. Why you may ask, well it has a 5.75" coil and its a Tesoro. I have a feeling a compadre with the 8" coil would be a good detector, but not soo good in trashy area's..... I have ran a etrac,whites vx3,at pro,ace 250 and 350, all with stock coils. And the Compadre with the small coil out produced all detectors. This was at my brother inlaws farmhouse from the 1800's that we have hunted for the past 3 years. Now this only worked in front of the house where is was very trashy with iron nails and other ferrous junk. Once we got out in the fields, the other detectors out preformed the compadre with the small coil. I guess the perfect compadre would be being able to change coils to your hunting needs. I think the 8" coil would work great out in the field. the 5.75" coil is just to small to swing in the field.