Advantagesof changing coil size

Diggerbarns

Full Member
Oct 30, 2007
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0
Hello friends.I,m a newbie here on this site.Its a treasure hunters dream! :) Anyhow here is my question .Ijust purchased a whites xl pro.It comes standard with a 9.5 inch coil and I also purchased a 5.3 inch coil as suggested by the seller.I was wondering what advantages coil size makes? I was told that big coils search deeper,but the small coils are better where there is alot of debris.I,d like to know more.Such as how much search depth is lost with the small coil ect...Thanks
 

Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
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In Michigan now.
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Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The field of a coil goes into the ground in a roughly V shape with the bottom of the field near the dia. of the coil on the round concentric coils. But depth isn't everything. If you have two or three targets under the coil you have a tough time separating them to ID them or pinpoint for retrieval. The smaller coil gets between the targets better and allows you to locate that coin around all that junk that the larger coil wouldn't let the detector see. That is why many of us have every coil for each machine that we can get.
 

stoney56

Gold Member
Oct 4, 2004
6,888
56
Oklahoma
One thing that helps me with the small coil is when I get several signals close together is to actually lift the coil. I try and let the point of the V distinguish the targets a little better. It sometimes works.
 

thompy

Bronze Member
Feb 19, 2005
1,271
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Menominee, Michigan
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T-2,
the guys that use the 6000 use the 5.3, they have a fast sweep speed and the coil helps in the trash, depth with the 5.3 is pretty good, the 9.5 is better for fields or trying to locate a site,
 

Dimeman

Bronze Member
Jan 16, 2007
1,634
12
Houston,TX
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Garrett AT Pro Fisher F5
A beach would be where to use the larger coil where you can go deeper, items sink deeper in sand, than dirt, and there is lots of open area to cover.

A park where there is lots of pulltabs and bottle caps, you should use the small coil, it would locate the coins close to the trash items better because of the smaller pattern....like Sandman said. Search depth won't matter in a park --most of what you might find is within a 5 or 6 inch depth, most of the time.
On a beach or large open areas the large coil can detect from ground level to at least, 6 or 7 inches on a dime sized target.A lot of times a detector will detect deeper,but it depends on the size of the object in the ground.
 

luvsdux

Bronze Member
May 16, 2007
1,767
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Lewiston, Idaho
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Multiple Tesoros and Whites
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Metal Detecting
I purchased a lightly used MXT that came with the 4X6 coil in addition to the 9.5. My first trial run was in a very trashy park near home. I started with the standard 9.5 and the multiple targets drove the machine and me crazy. Switched to the 4X6 and the difference was truly dramatic. The machine was able to lock on and identify individual targets among all the trash and I ended up having a pretty decent hunt. Only downside is the smaller coil doesn't cover as much area per swing forcing one to hunt a bit more intently which is a good thing anyway.
Cheers,
Bill
 

teverly

Hero Member
Mar 4, 2007
921
16
central ohio
Detector(s) used
MINELAB E TRAC x 2 xp deus
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I use the smaller coil in really trashy areas.
Most of the time i use the stock coil for yards and my larger coil for mostly trash free areas and hunting in fields if im trying to cover a lot of area to find a site...
 

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