New guy, Need some advice on coils

[In2Deep]

Howdy!

I guess I will start by saying that I used to have an Explorer II. I loved it, but tough times forced me to sell it. But I am buying a new eTrac today and I am pretty excited about it. When I had my other Explorer I did not get out as much as I wanted. I think its pretty safe to say that my X (Please notice the X) fiance was not exactly encouraging about me going out detecting.. hahaha... Makes me laugh thinking back about it.

That was a long time ago with her, I am married now and all seems to be pretty good. My wife is happy forme to find something that will get me out of her hair, so going detecting will not really be an issue anymore.. LOL

I spend most of my free time fishing or prospecting. I know the eTrac is not going to do me a lot of favors looking for gold, but thats ok. I am surrounded by old mines, ghost towns and ghost camps. Our history here goes back to 1815 (dont hold me to that). With a gold rush in the 1850 - 1930's.

I am sure there are some other detector enthusiasts like myself around here, but I have not never seen 1 person metal detecting anywhere around here. I have lived here for about 2.5 years now. But you can see why I am so excited to get my eTrac!

Anyway, I am wanting to buy another coil besides the stock coil. I was thinking about this one 15x12" SEF (Butterfly) Search Coil. Or the 12.5" Excelerator coil? This is the only thing that I am confused about.

I will be detecting some old homesteads and very open land usually. The ground here is hard as a rock (usually) and it dont rain very much this time of year either. Winter time we get to deal with 5' of snow though

I seen something on a YouTube video last year and I have been dying to try it. The guy used his detector in the creek to find where the hot rocks or heavy sand was deposited on high water, he then used some flags every 10 feet or so and after awhile you could see a definite line in the creek where the "hot rocks" where deposited. Then he would go back and shovel that gravel / soil into his sluice and pan from there. I thought that was a BRILLIANT idea.

Detector dont need to find gold, but if it can show me where the heavy mineralized soil is, thats perfect. And then I will be of course detecting for old coins / relics. Not really interested in going to the public parks and digging change. I am more fascinated with old coins and relics.

So no pressure at all, but I was thinking I would make my purchase in a couple hours.. hahaha My bottom line question, what do you guys recommend is the best penetrating coil that I could get in that $200 (ish) price range?

Oh yeah, if anyone that posts on here is nearby, would love to talk with ya. I live in Kettle Falls, WA.


Brandon

 

[Ray-Mo.]

The big SEF coils are good as is the 15" Wot coil for depth and ground coverage.However if it were me I would buy a smaller coil first to go with the stock pro coil for seperation in some of the heavy trashy sights you mention.The 5" Sunray or the new SEF 8x6 are a couple of the best in my experience,Good luck Ray.

 

[Steve from Ohio]

I agree with Ray.

The 15x12 SEF is one nice coil and I have heard the WOT is also good. I have the 15x12 and the 8X6 SEF.

I quite often use the smaller 8x6 SEF and is the ticket for weeds, brush and really trashy ground.

The stock factory coil is no slouch either. The SEF's have a bit better pinpointing ability in my opinion.

 

[3RINGER]

As both have already stated the SEF larger coil is great for depth, but with you wanting to hunt those older towns and homesteads you may be better off for now to go with one of the smaller coils listed or the EQ2 6'' due to all the trash. Love the DD's in trash.

can not help much on the gold Q though, hope it helps and HH

 

[In2Deep]

Wow, I am sure glad I had you guys to help. Its kind of a funny story.

I ended up with the 8 x 6" SEF and the 18 x 15" SEF. But that is not what I originally ordered. I bought the big one at first, but then after reading everyones replies and pm's I realized that I messed up pretty bad with buying the bigger coil. So now I have those 2 plus the stock coil.

Its been 5 long years since I had my other Minelab, are the eTrac and Explorer II similiar to each other? I have read on the other retail sites that they are, but I have not really gotten anyones personal opinion on it. I think it will be another 5 years before I can afford to buy even another coil after that whopper of a purchase. Heh, thinking about it. Dont think I have spent that much money at once besides buying my truck. Thats pretty sad

Thanks again for helping me out fellas, I appreciate it a LOT.

By the way, People on this forum have got to be the friendliest folks I have ever talked to in a forum for real.

 

[cosmic hillbilly]

Hi, I am also a newbie to the e-trac. I just ordered mine last monday. I too live in an area that once had a lot of placer gold (Idaho City, Idaho). Please let me know if you do have any luck finding gold or hot areas to pan with the e-trac.

Thanks!
Swayne

 

[In2Deep]

Ya know that first time I found gold in my pan, I understood what that "Gold Fever" is all about. Its like a bug that you just cant get rid of! There is a lot of great places around here for prospecting. Last year once I got the hang of it, I managed to find a snippet of gold in my pan on a regular basis. That was panning the concentrates after we ran it through the sluice.

Look up Northport on a WA state map, then look to the left a tad and you will find sheep creek. That is one of my favorite places to go. There is a great story about some Canadian guys that found a solid silver vein sitting on the surface while they were taking cover from a forest fire. When the book I was reading was written, One of the American guys that was witness to this was still alive and living in Northport. Its a great story anyway and there is still lots of minerals up there to be found. The Chinese were here in full force in the 1850's and really took a big bit of the gold.

I have lived here 2.5 years and have yet to see one other person swinging a detector other then my buddy John. I know the etrac is not the greatest gold finding machine, but I bet it will help me out a bit while I am prospecting. Plus there are ghost towns / camps all over the place. I been finding books about my area and ghost towns. A couple trips to the library and a LOT of googling have helped me learn all kinds of things about this area that most folks have no idea of!

Now I just need the courage to take me and my etrac off of my property and go where I might actually find something

Seems like the deeper i dive into detecting the more I learn about history, and then more I am fascinated with it.