Golden uMax coils comparison

[jabbo]

Air tested a mans medium weight 14k gold wedding band and a Mercury dime for maximum depth and for max tone ID depth. Audio loudness was good, not whisper signals. Disc at 0, Sens set past 10 (at end of orange strip). Concentric coils except for 8"DD and 3x18". All the coils did better on the gold ring than on the Mercury dime, but the ring is bigger too. MAX DEPTH is a good signal but without the correct tone. MAX ID DEPTH is a good signal with the correct ID tone in about 4 sweeps. The 3 x 18" coil is one I use a lot, especially in tot lots.

 

[dahut]

Anyone ever compare the Troy X2 coil against the stock coil?

 

[Mike Hillis]

So Jabbo,
You have never dug a dime deeper than 3" with the Cleansweep coil? I have dug dimes greater than 3" on a regular basis that gave good high tones. I have had times where my battery was almost dead and I started only finding surface to 2" deep dimes but not as a rule of thumb.
Dahut has post back a year or so where he dug a 9" dime with the stock coil that gave a high tone.
Tinfoil has some good reports floating around in here where he regularly digs deep coins that give correct tones at depth.
My point being that air tests are good for certain things, like getting used to tones, or some audio responses and just getting some idea about how the detector might sound and act at depth. But the ground changes everything. Many detectors rely on the ground signal to work properly. Air tests cannot supply that needed ground signal and thereby give misleading results.

I like your air test because it compares coil to coil. I can see where I might could change a coil for a certain application and what performance changes I might could expect. Like the stock 9x8 and the 7" could be used interchangable and not give up much in performance. However I wouldn't use your air test to tell me how deep the detector will hunt as it will hunt much deeper with all the coils you have tested than what you have displayed in your graphs.

I would be interested in see you graph out the comparison between sensitivity and distance. Is the change linear? Is there really any difference between, say a sens setting of 4, 5 and 6 ?

Another one I would like to see you do is an inground test whereby you map out the shape of the coil foot print in some of your local dirt. You would really like that test as you would then know just what your coil foot print looks like for a particular target at a particular depth in that type of dirt. Real eye opener and it will change the way you hunt.
HH
Mike

 

[jabbo]

Mike, I have all these coils and did the air test to get an idea of depth differences. In the ground the depth for each coil may be different from the air test but I assume the rankings of the coils would stay the same. Some of my coils show almost no advantage.

 

[dahut]

This is further proof that air tests are indicative, but rarely conclusive.

I rarely search with the SENS at max, ditto the zero at DISC. When I reach for the Golden, it is with a purpose in mind - a purpose that usually involves trash. Depth is not often my main concern. I have dug quarters at the limit of my long digger's reach, thanks to the Golden. I measured them at 10" + or -. But the conditions were right... the state of the ground being one of them. The Golden will get surprising depth at times.

It often amuses me, in fact, when we laud the other uMax series of detectors - Bandido, Sidewinder or Silver uMax - but consider the Golden the bastard stepchild of the group. Stories abound about how deep these others go, yet we fail to see that the Golden uMax is the same detector, with only audio filtering added to produce tones and a notch circuit. Given the right circumstances, it will get adequate depth, just like its other siblings.

 

[jabbo]

Mike, something important I forgot to mention here about the tone ID test. In between tests the coil was passed over a rusty nail to bring it back to low tone, then it was passed over the ring or dime. Repeated the procedure several times on each test. Found out that a stronger signal is needed to get the detector to switch to the proper tone. When the detector was already in the proper tone from the previous target then the depth for tone ID was much better, was same as the MAX DEPTH that is shown . I was looking for the depth that was needed to cause the tone to switch. In the field the last signal might have been iron low tone, then if the coil is swung over a deep Barber dime the signal would be too weak to switch tones. Did notice increased sweep speed helped switch tones. Dave

 

[JB(MS)]

Or was, as I recently sold it to a hunting buddy.. It wasn't the deepest Tesoro I've used, but deep enough to get 99+ percent of the coins I've found in almost 40 years of using detectors (got my first one on December 22, 1969). With the 7 inch Shadow X2 coil it would get dimes at 6 inches, or a tad more, and quarters two inches deeper in my mild ground. It would drop a tone, actually I guess I should say a half tone as it would give mixed tones, on coins right at the limit of it's depth. The only thing I didn't like about it was the overload, or lift the coil, signal it gave on large or shallow targets. A kind of funny story about finding bullets with the Golden at a "hunted out" place. There's a park in a town near here where part of a small Civil War battle took place. . We hunted there with several brand and model detectors and found a lot of mostly dropped bullets that were concentrated in one area of the park. Then a friend who lives not too far from the park and another guy hunted it with a Tejon and Nautilus DMC IIb, which are as deep or deeper here than any other detectors, until they stopped finding bullets. The friend told me there was no need to hunt CW stuff there anymore as they had cleaned it out, but not long after I got the Golden I was passing the park and decided to do a little coin hunting. I wandered into the area where the bullets were found and immediately got a rather weak signal that was a minie 7 to 8 inches down, a few steps away another and then a third. All were about the same depth, 7 to 8 inches. Probably would have found more but the "boss" called me on the cellphone and I had to leave.
[attachment 145800 3minies.jpg]

 

[BarberBill]

Have you tried the comparison in all metal? I don't know much about the Golden so I don't know if the tone ID works in all metal, but in theory you should get a bit more depth (all else equal) in all metal. Might be interesting to see if there is much difference.
HH
BB

 

[jabbo]

Bill, no tone ID in all metal. Depth seems a tad more.

 

[HaroldILL.]

I know this was an old post as JB has passed but what a great read on the Golden.
I would have liked to see them air test It with the 8" Brown concentric coil as it adds at least an inch in depth.
I still think the New tone models are at least an inch hotter. I wonder if dahut is still around as remember ready His post's on the Golden? These were the good Ole' days on the Forums.

 

[hihosilver]

I know this was an old post as JB has passed but what a great read on the Golden.
I would have liked to see them air test It with the 8" Brown concentric coil as it adds at least an inch in depth.
I still think the New tone models are at least an inch hotter. I wonder if dahut is still around as remember ready His post's on the Golden? These were the good Ole' days on the Forums.

Harold,

Thanks for resurrecting this post. I too enjoy reading these older threads on the Golden. I was fortunate to still find one new, from a dealer, by calling all the registered Tesoro dealers, state by state, about three years ago. Mine is the old tone configuration with the new style face plate.

I agree that the 8” concentric is the deepest coil. I sent mine in to be serviced and tuned to a new 8” doughnut coil and easily gained an inch in air testing. I am hitting a merc at 8” with the high tone (with it sometimes dropping to the next tone down). I can rarely max out the sensitivity, it just starts to chatter when I do. Nor do I like to crank up the threshold, because I often toggle over to all metal to hear the target.

I really like the analog signal of the Tesoros, but having a little help with target ID, without thumbing the disc all the time is also useful, which is probably why I like the Golden so much. I I owned the Outlaw for a brief time, and it’s a nice machine, but without tones, you had to set the disc high once you got tired of digging zincs, and once you set it that high you lost depth with the Outlaw, and at high disc, I did not find it much deeper than the Golden.

The Golden is a great park detector and although the 8” concentric is probably the deepest coil on it, I really like the 7” DD a little better for the separation it gives, and the tones stay cleaner/less mixed. It is a lot of fun to use, as you say.

My next detector will be a Tesoro, I am looking at the Tejon just because of that duel disc giving you some target ID capability and keeping great depth too.

Here in Ohio, the detecting season will soon be upon us (did go out once last week briefly, in 45 degrees).