Why are detectors sold with ever larger standard coils?

[John in Nawth Carolina]

It used to be that a 7" or 8" was standard. Now many come with 11" coils. Is it because they want to brag on depth or somethng?

I like an 8" coil for general use. It does much better than an 11" in trashy areas.

 

[Larry (IL)]

Larger stock coils came along with the advancement of the DD/SEF type of search field. The DD/SEF coils sees less ground at one time than many concentric coils and offers better ground coverage at depth. The DD/SEF also gets better depth in very mineralized ground than a concentric. Smaller DD/SEF coils are very popular when hunting trashy ground.

The concentric is still a very nice coil and gets better depth in more mild ground and pinpoints better, it all boils down to what you want. Many of us prefer the DD style coil in mineralized ground and the manufactures like to sell us what we want......

 

[ken ward]

I think it would be nice if you could pick what coil you want. I do like a small coil for my type of hunting. Have a nice day... KEN

 

[Larry (IL)]

That is the advantage of working with local dealers Ken, many will often swap coils to give the customer what he wants. I know that White's will do the same from the factory as well on certain models.

 

[GeorgeinSC]

Different size coils give different results. A large coil covers a tremendous amount more area than a small coil so that you can cover an area much quicker. Usually a larger coil will also give better depth so that you find those deeper targets that were left behind by the person using a small coil.

I use a SEF 10X12 the majority of the time except when I am in a trashy area or an area that has EMI problems. Then i switch to an 8 inch coil and sometimes it there are a lot of metal object that I want to detect around I go to a five inch coil.

Some times if I am beach hunting with my dirt fishing detector I put on a 13" coil. It works great on the dry sand but i do have to reduce the sensitivity on my machine for it to work well on the wet sand. But I do like it because it gives great depth and allows me to cover much more territory.

The Manufacturers are going to put their coil that is in highest demand on their machine. Or one that they feel will give the best results for a particular machine.

As with some detectors being better in some aspects than others the same holds true with coils.

 

[fowlercharles]

Hi John, I think you pretty much answered your question with your observation on the big coil situation. Us old hands that been there and done it already pretty much know you can have a great time detecting and enjoying the hobby just about "anywhere"with the standard general use 7 or 8 incher, so it's pretty cool when a dealer will deal you a choice on a coil. That great time anywhere doesn't always happen with one of those big ole coils when we eventually find that trashy spot where we know everything took place and it's time to bow up and root out the goodies. That ain't happening with a 10 gal. coil so only cure is to "buy" ourselves that 5 gal.coil and get on with it. Same is true of the bigger coils when needed, so it is really all about selling coils and making "more"money, which is a good thing. It is /was, nice though to be able to pick and choose our coils when "we" choose , and not do it because of some marketing ploy. Them's just my thoughts. HH Charlie

 

[ironsight]

GeorgeinSC is right on.

I read on this forum where many people are having fantastic successes with their puny coils. I think it all depends on the area, the depth of targets and to some extent soil conditions. And yes a small coil will kick a$$ in junk dense areas IF the targets aren't deep. In my experience, a small coil with its small foot print will ID corroded nails as silver more often than a larger coil.
Being primarily a park hunter, the parks around here have been heavily pounded. The only remaining old coins left are deep, on edge or close to junk.
My large NEL Tornado coil can cope with all those conditions which rarely leaves my detector... whereas my small coil and stock coil are collecting cobwebs somewhere.

 

[John in Nawth Carolina]

You think your large coil can cope with all those conditions.

go back over productive ground with a smaller coil... maybe an 8".

 

[Mega]

I do have a few large coils but they are for specific purposes ie deep hoard hunting but not as a everyday use coil,i mainly tend to use the 6-8'' dia coil these,mainly because my roman and saxon sites can be very trashy,so a large coil would be a total waste of time.

Mainly use the 9'' coil on the Deus as a general all round detector,DFX with the 6.5'' Concentric and the T2 with the brilliant NEL Sharpshooter coil,these are my main detector/coil combinations that i use,i even use my Pulse which has large coils on but i still use it with sub 8'' coils as well the smallest being 5'' to get in between the stubble when the crops come off.

So yes i really like using small coils these days

 

[ironsight]

You think your large coil can cope with all those conditions.
go back over productive ground with a smaller coil... maybe an 8".

Yes i know my large coil can cope with those conditions.
With my eTRAC, I have tried searching multiple same areas multiple times after previous Tornado sweeps with a small coil and got nothing extra except 8" deep corroded nails spoofing as silver.
Finally came to the realization the large Tornado found all of 'em among dense junk or not which is why i gave up on small coils except maybe for newer parks and such.

Again, any remaining oldies around the pounded parks around here are deep, some really deep or extremely tricky to detect.
The NEL Tornado for a larger coil (and possibly the Ultimate also from some of the posts here) has an uncanny ability to separate the wheat from the chaff with the right detector settings and experience. Underline experience.

When relying on just one detector and one coil whatever the coil is, at some point the detectorist becomes 'one' with the machine AND its coil.