I use different coils for different situations.
I have the Minelab 800 and the Sunray 8 for the small coils I use. The 800 is actually quite a bit smaller than the Sunray 8 and is my favorite small coil. I use it in trashy areas and I do recommend it.
I mainly hunt with the stock coil though. It is deep and and usually has no issues with moderately trashy ground. It covers the ground faster than a small coil and it is not too heavy.
I also have the Excelerator 14 and the Sunray 12. The 14 gives the best depth and ground coverage. It is surprisingly stable. It is heavy and I use the Swingy Thingy if I'm going to use it more than 20-30 minutes.
As for finding coins, the SE is great at IDing them at depth, and works well in difficult (mineralized) ground at finding them. I have never used the digital screen. My experience has been that I can get more information about the target by the sound first. Then I go to the smart screen and get more out of it by seeing where a target falls on that screen. A couple of numbers usually don't help me too much on deep or iffy targets. Seeing the cross hair jump from one place to another sometimes gives me a clue as to what it might be. The digital numbers would not mean much at depth I wouldn't think. But, I guess it is what you get used too.
As for finding jewelry items, they can hit almost anywhere on the smart screen or digital too for that matter. A small childs or ladies ring can read in the foil range. A large man's gold ring can read around the quarter range. Most hit in the pull tab range.
Keep in mind that many of our older coins also hit in the foil and pull tab range as well. But also remember that is not the detectors fault.
The detector can only take you so far before you have to kick in with some careful attention and deduction of your own.
For instance, if you have been pulling tabs up on the property at 2" and suddenly you hit one at 6" you should pause and ask, "How long have pull tabs been around and compare that to how deep you have been finding them?" "If it is not a pull tab, then what else could it be?" "At that depth, could it be a IH, $5.00 gold piece, wedding band, etc?"
Then you may start looking at other things about the reading. Is it a smooth reading at the beginning, middle, and end of the sweep? Or, does it make a squawk sound at the ends. Good metal usually doesn't squawk!
Does the reading have a good tight repeatable signal, or does it spread out over quite a distance? Wide signals usually gives you a hint that it might be iron falsing on you or other trash. Gold and coins usually give a good tight signal on sweep and pinpoint.
Can you raise the coil another foot or so off the ground and still hear the target. Most likely not a coin or ring.
In time, you will learn even more techniques on your own to help you decide to dig or not. Of course, the only way you will know is to dig. I've heard others mention on these forums that the best discriminator is a shovel. For the time being, that might serve you well as you learn the SE.
Another way to look at it is that good things will happen as long and you keep swingin your coil and digging up what you hear.
As I said earlier, it will depend on your location too.
HH Alton
