Hot shot, does it handle the power?

[thebeatmachine]

I'm interested in that hot shot 12'' coil for the classics or the xlt. Does it allow for the power to be turned up with out it false-ing? Does it behave like the 9.5 concentric coil, or more like a large DD coil? I've had some trouble turning up the preamp gain on large DD coils and wouldn't want to spend the money if it can't handle the power.

 

[Monte]

[quote thebeatmachine]I'm interested in that hot shot 12'' coil for the classics or the xlt. Does it allow for the power to be turned up with out it false-ing? Does it behave like the 9.5 concentric coil, or more like a large DD coil? I've had some trouble turning up the preamp gain on large DD coils and wouldn't want to spend the money if it can't handle the power.[/quote][size=medium]As most know, I hunt a lot with the Classic series, and have for years. I got a 12" Hot Shot coil on a trade deal a couple of years ago and, at the time, I had a modified Classic III SL and modified IDX Pro (same basic circuitry, only a difference of the added TID display and circuitry), an XLT and an XL Pro.


I got the trade deal, the 12" Hot Shot coil arriving with the XL Pro, wondering if it might provide any in-the-field potential to challenge my friends using Explorer's w/stock 10

 

[thebeatmachine]

You confirmed What I was afraid of. there isn't to much straight information about the depth of any metal detector product anywhere. I had the dfx and the 8"x 14" coil at one point and couldn't get it to perform better than the 9.5 coil. It had the larger foot print but that was it. Its common to get the DD to balance on preamp of 2 or something but it would false higher than that and pick up power line interference etc... It was more stable on one frequency or the other but not both. I understand that the other more Australian brand has a circuit that nulls this kind of interference allowing for higher gain. I was afraid that the hot shot would act like the DD1400 as far as performance goes. Have you ever seen "Metal Detecting the Movie"? It's got some real characters in it.
thanks for an ecellent post.

 

[deeponedge]

n/t

 

[UK Brian]

The Hot Shot is a good coil if used with consideration for the drawbacks that apply to most larger coils and is not one of the original 117 ? that had problems.
If Monte's report had been referring to the "Hot Head" coil for the XLT I could have agreed with it but the Hot Shot was specifically designed not to lose sensitivity over the stock coil.
I never managed the 3 inches that's claimed as a performance gain but on low/medium mineralised sites would have a two inch gain plus the increased scanning width.
As mineralisation increases the gain decreases and on 'hot' ground or a busy site I would be looking to dropping down to an 8 inch or even smaller coil.
One thing that they didn't improve, that the stock 9.5 inch also suffers from, is the target masking. Which is why I say don't use on a busy site but if you have a large area with few targets it can pay dividends.

 

[Monte]

[size=medium]offered by Kellyco, I found those to be hit-and-miss. They were made by different manufacturers through the years and while I generally didn't have exciting performance from them, there was a time or two that I would get one on a trade and was impressed.

The little 5

 

[Va Dave]

that I strictly hunt Civil War relics. Like you, I found no advantage with the 8x14dd over the 9.5, after many many hours on worked over sites...good ground or bad. However, I have been putting the 12"HotShot to the test for the last year and the dividends are never ending. Comparing a standard target, for me a CW bullet, I am getting the 3" added depth as advertised, and then some on larger targets. With the same settings I use with the 9.5, and operating in mineralized conditions as well. In one of its first outings I specifically took this coil to small site that produced some rare C.S. buttons, thats been pounded by me and many others, deemed cleaned out. 2 of those rare buttons and many pouched relics later.... I'm still working the site. Oh and by the way this coil has found some deep small silver half dimes and Spanish reals that has been walked over by many. No smoke ... this coil is Hot on the XLT!! MXT will be getting one.

Dave

 

[Skillet]

I've only had two of them. That little "Ferrett" stays on an older GTA machine of mine... it's a beast!

I think that a coil around 6" dia. is arguably the most useful size of coil to have... I love the 5.75" coil on the Tejon and I'm really liking the 6" Blue Max on my IDX Pro. That 5.5" HotHead Ferrett turned my older GTA 1000 PM into a real coin-killer.

Skillet

 

[UK Brian]

Don't know if your agreeing with me or not. The European situation means coins half the size at twice the depth. Very few larger coils do this but the Hot Shot was one of the first that did provide extra depth and sweep width without sacrificing senstivity to small hammered coins. Hot Head coils didn't sell well in their larger than stock coil sizes for most machines though the 12" worked well on the Fisher 1265 and 1266.
Third party "Hot Head" type coils in smaller than standard sizes are a different matter as sensitivity loss doesn't come into the equation like it does with larger than stock.

 

[Monte]

[quote UK Brian]Don't know if your agreeing with me or not.[/quote][size=medium]Yes, for the most part, as noted below.[/size]


[quote UK Brian]The European situation means coins half the size at twice the depth. Very few larger coils do this but the Hot Shot was one of the first that did provide extra depth and sweep width without sacrificing senstivity to small hammered coins. Hot Head coils didn't sell well in their larger than stock coil sizes for most machines though the 12" worked well on the Fisher 1265 and 1266.[/quote][size=medium]Whether in a European "ploughed" field, or a "plowed" field in the USA, we're generally talking about the same thing. That is, most successful hunters over there are hunting in a conventional All Metal mode, or using NO discrimination (accepting all metals, ferrous and non-ferrous), or using just a very minimal amount of discrimination. Most targets that produce a response are recovered, good or bad. Regardless of the geographic location where an avid, devoted detectorist is searching ... doing some "serious relic hunting," ... they want to find all or most targets, wants reasonable depth, and appreciate good coverage because the sites are large.


The stock 950 on an XL Pro or XLT will generally provide more coverage than a 6

 

[UK Brian]

Here we go again.
Why would you think that a 8 X 14 coil would be deeper than a concentric 9.5 inch ?
Concentrics on mild or average mineralised sites are deeper than other coil types of the same size. So in this case the stock 9.5 should beat the 8" coil.
Go on a more mineralised site where the smaller 'live' footprint of an elliptical would help and the 8 X 14 still might not deliver because its 14 inches long.
The Hot Shot has nothing in common with a double D coil. Its also best to compare coils that are up to spec., not second or third hand.
There's also plenty of information around on how the different coil types stack up against each other.

 

[Bowie]

That is so true UK Brian but where does one seperate the fact from fiction. Im not "weighing" in here with my thoughts or questioning results. I believe there are those such as yourself,Monte and several others that have given various detector equipment a thorough in field use with recorded results for your uses in your environment(s). But I dont think others have been as thorough MDers such as yourself, and "sometimes" you can read between the words and pick those out.
Like reading a metal detector review, many seem biased.
I guess in the end, one will have to purchase, the coil, and test drive it for theirselves.
Its always refreshing to read someone that has givien a thorough investigation into a particular piece of equipment and at the same time giving the conditions of the site they are using the equipment.
I recently purchased an XL Pro (used), downloaded the manual, read,and re read before the machine arrived. It came with an extra coil (8 inch) and this coil is what I placed on the machine to begin my education,however, I had problems from the beginning and I think the coil is broken. I had no problem with the 9.5 nor am I having problems with a new 5.3,I recently purchased. But, being new to the machine, I didnt know if it was my ignorance of the machine operation,machine defective or coil. I finally installed the 9.5 and machine seemed to become much more user friendly.
My point from the little story, do you think somtimes coils you may purchase,even new, may not be up to par? Is it possible, they could seem to operate but maybe at not their full potential?
And I have to say, biased can be good, so long as someone states upfront what works for them in their environment. At least you have something to refer to.
Thank you for your time,
John

 

[Canewrap]

Dave, is that the spoked Super 12" for MXT and DFX? And, do you hunt around Culpeper any?

 

[UK Brian]

Hi John
Coils tend to be made for a price not performance. Much of the Nexus advantage was due to the coils being individually made and then a high percentage being scrapped as not up to spec. which is one of the reasons they are in the higher price range for detectors.
Then coils seem to be able to go "off tune". I've had no trouble with this with Whites older solid coils but have lost performance with two of the stock 950 coil's.
Thus I am in favour of both air tests and having an in ground test bed. Anything new is tested and then retested every few months. A non Whites P.I. coil worked perfectly for over a year but then a simple air test revealed that though copper was still being picked up at the original distance sensitivity to cupro-nickel coins was dropping off rapidly. No

Another problem with third party coils is that they may have specific ground balancing instructions that need to be followed to get the best out of them (Bigfoot at 45 degrees for instance), or the normal rules of use do not apply. Or are you ever going to be able to get the best out of a much larger or smaller coil on a detector that doesn't allow recovery speed to be adjusted or worse has a fixed ground balance ?

 

[thebeatmachine]

It looks like I'm going to get a 5.3 coil instead of the hot shot. I hunt New England lake beaches
and in the woods. I want depth, but I need to find the small targets in rocky areas. I sold the Blue max DD shooter it wasn't for me. will move to something small, concentric I want to find V nickels and rings others have missed.