Is the CoilTek worth having?

[Jason in Enid]

Ha!
Sorry for the confusion, my comment was to MarkG, not you.

Ohhhh, OK! That makes more sense!

 

[rluka]

One more thing I have noticed but have never seen anyone mention.
While in Ground Coin, having Blocks FE1/CO49 and 50 Accepted lets me detect coins at the limit of detection in my soil.
By just rejecting those two blocks I lose the deepest signals. Doesn't make sense on paper but that's what happens.
A lot of people block that area to help get rid of falsing.
Bryan
AKA Cabin Fever

Never heard of this before.......sounds like it should be discussed in new topic. ....I would like to hear more about this
Did you find this out in a test garden?

 

[Bryan V]

One more thing I have noticed but have never seen anyone mention.
While in Ground Coin, having Blocks FE1/CO49 and 50 Accepted lets me detect coins at the limit of detection in my soil.
By just rejecting those two blocks I lose the deepest signals. Doesn't make sense on paper but that's what happens.
A lot of people block that area to help get rid of falsing.
Bryan
AKA Cabin Fever

Never heard of this before.......sounds like it should be discussed in new topic. ....I would like to hear more about this
Did you find this out in a test garden?

Yes. Discovered this by accident testing a 12" Silver quarter in my yard with the 13x17 Coil.
I would like to see someone else try this out to see if this is just limited to my detector or soil.
Bryan

 

[rluka]

Could you give a bit more detail about how you set up the screen (maybe a screen shot would be helpful)

 

[Bryan V]

Could you give a bit more detail about how you set up the screen (maybe a screen shot would be helpful)

Here is a shot of my pattern 1 which I run most of the time when Im trying to get maximum depth in tough ground but still shut down a little falsing and some of the iron.
The key for me is the top right corner. Line FE1 Block CO 49 and especially CO50 need to be accepted to squeeze that last little
bit of depth in my ground witch usually runs 9-15 recommended sensitivity.
I try to run Manual sensitivity at 23 or better when I can.
Target Seperation = Ground Coin - Recovery Deep - Combined Tones
You can add more discrimination on the bottom and across most of the top up to around CO 30 or so and it won't affect the depth.
By just Blocking CO50 on FE line 1 I go from a signal to no signal on a 12" quarter.
Bryan
AKA Cabin Fever

 

[mrwilburino]

I'll probably get the coiltek one of these days. There are just too many places where I need something narrower than the stock coil but longer than the 6".

 

[Search and recovery]

Bryan V. Can you show a snapshot of how your combined tones are set up? Interested in how you have your Fe line set up...Stuart

 

[Bryan V]

Bryan V. Can you show a snapshot of how your combined tones are set up? Interested in how you have your Fe line set up...Stuart

The Fe line on that particular program is set at 29. Tone 75 Hz. My Co lines are 9 17 and 30. Co Tones 310 510 660 and 1125.
I move my FE line around depending on location. I like to run it at Fe 32 when I can get away with it.
If you read my post in Oct. about the FE Tone Line you will see what I discovered.
Since moving my FE line Higher on the FE scale my coin finds with iron in the same hole have increased pretty dramatically.
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?86,2325027,2325027#msg-2325027
That was another thing that did not make since on paper but was actually happening.

 

[Bryan V]

Looks like I have hijacked this thread pretty badly so I better say something about the Coiltek 10x5.
I was reluctant to do so because I didn't give it much of a chance.
I was disappointed in its depth which was less than my 6" coil.
Something else didn't feel right about it either but I couldn't really say what it was.
The Seperation didn't feel like a 10x5 to me and it does not work well with the stock CTX Shaft.
You almost have to buy an Anderson Shaft for it because of the coil cable.
If it was a $125.00 coil I would have probably kept it around for occasional use for unique terrain
but I couldn't justify it at its current price so I sold it.
Bryan
AKA Cabin Fever

 

[mrwilburino]

Thanks for posting that Bryan.

 

[ML]

Looks like I have hijacked this thread pretty badly so I better say something about the Coiltek 10x5.
I was reluctant to do so because I didn't give it much of a chance.
I was disappointed in its depth which was less than my 6" coil.
Something else didn't feel right about it either but I couldn't really say what it was.
The Seperation didn't feel like a 10x5 to me and it does not work well with the stock CTX Shaft.
You almost have to buy an Anderson Shaft for it because of the coil cable.
If it was a $125.00 coil I would have probably kept it around for occasional use for unique terrain
but I couldn't justify it at its current price so I sold it.
Bryan
AKA Cabin Fever

Appreciate the honesty. Possibly why no one I know owns one. Maybe some other aftermarket coils options will appear at some point. I'd like to see a nice hot 6" x 8" .....hint hint

 

[Search and recovery]

Thanks Bryan for the information you and Sube brought to life on the Fe line and how it affects good targets mixed with iron. I had read your previous posts and had forgotten who posted on the subject. I only have a couple of months of using the CTX under my belt, but over 28 years detecting experience, so really in a steep learning curve at the moment. Just getting my feet wet so to speak with the new machine. However, I have taken to using it like a duck to water. It just fits my style of detecting very well. Been playing with the Fe line while out beach detecting and have noticed a marked improvement in finding deeper rings and jewelry with the lowered Fe line. As the targets get deeper (9" or more), the Fe/Co numbers really start to skew. The lowered Fe line really helps show a good target and signal reading on the alloys that make up the jewelry using basically an open screen with just the Fe 32 line and down blocked out and the boarders blocked much the same as yours. The coins I have not seen any noticeable improvement on hitting except for the crappy zink pennies and they can read anywhere depending on the saltwater corrosion that has taken place. For my second screen I am using Andy's Gold Program from his CTX manual, and the coins are usually a lock on my beaches. I know this thread is more about dry land and the mineralization problems to be faced in those places, but can be applied to beach hunting as well. Although iron masking is not as prevalent as a relic or old home site, it is still a factor on some of the beaches that I hunt.
My relic hunting does not start until January as the local areas are locked in by hunting clubs until deer season is over. I am sure trying to learn and experiment with as much of the patterns and settings as I can in my yard and test garden to help cut the learning curve come relic hunting time.
Your comparison of the 10"x5" coil verses the 6" coil is most appreciated. It makes me think even more that I will buy the 6" Minelab coil for my type of detecting. Really good and informative thread. Thanks...Stuart

 

[ML]

I see there is a preowned one posted in the classified section if anyone is interested ($275). Still too much $$$ for me.

 

[GKMan]

If I thought there was real benefit to that coil, I would have it. But unfortunately, the people I choose to follow that used it didn't make it sound anything near worth it. A while back ( quite a while actually) Coiltek made it sound like they had some other coils in the works, but so far nothing more has been released from them for the CTX.

 

[Jason in Enid]

The biggest issue here is that Minelab has already covered the spectrum pretty well. DD style coils are much more linear in coverage than concentric coils. When you change the size of a concentric coil make a huge change in the area you are scanning at any moment. When you change the size of a DD coil, you reduce coverage (at depth) by a direct amount.

DD 11" coil to DD 17" coil gets you 6 more inches of area, 54% increase
DD 11 coil to DD 6" coil get you 5 inches less area, 45% reduction

concentric 11" (95 square inches of area) to concentric 17" (226 square inches of area) is a 138% increase in coverage.
Con 11" (95" area) to Con 6" (28" area) is a reduction of 71% of coverage.

So you can see, you gain very little by having anything in between the factory sizes. Making things even more difficult is that detection depth is not a linear scale to coil size. You don't lose almost half your available depth when going down to a 6" coil. In my experience, in my soils, you only lose about 20-25% of depth.

 

[sprchng]

I guess you can look at it as a half empty or half full scenario. The 5 x 10 on that linear detection field gives nearly 80% more coverage than the 6" and is only 10% less than the 11". The real benefit is the ergonomics for lack of a better term. It is definitely more nimble and versatile than the 11 , and because of that , pinpointing by wiggling or rapid short swings off the point is much faster than the 11" on shallow targets especially. Whether those benefits justify the price is the issue as to whether I would buy another or not , but without doubt the 5 x 10 is the more enjoyable of the three to use. From my prospective of having all three , the only reason to use either the 11" or 6" would be if either the most extreme depth or separation was paramount , respectively.

I would not however buy one of the first run models or a used one , as the warranty is not transferable and I want to know for that price that I will at least get two years of service out of it.

 

[amberjack]

coiltek 10 x 5 works well on etrac the moulds they use are for PI's I am sure as the etrac doesn't fit right either have to put an extra flat washers in to tighten up the coil. nice coil though but I see no need to buy one for my ctx.

50 line https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHgA_7BTOTM

AJ