Coilteks new 8.5 x 11.5 & WOT 15" Coils

[Ron B]

Coiltek's new 8.5 x 11.5 & WOT 15" Coils

Has anyone tried either or both of these products?
Coiltek's lowered their prices quite a bit ($209-$215 from $329-$399) and I'm thinking about ordering both?

GRB

 

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[rjnail]

Re: Coiltek's new 8.5 x 11.5 & WOT 15" Coils

i paid $199.00 for my 15" wot for the sov gt..

 

[Sandman]

Re: Coiltek's new 8.5 x 11.5 & WOT 15" Coils

I've used the WOT 15 on beaches only and like it. However it is heavier than a stock coil but goes deeper. Guess it depends on how much WORK you want to do for a hobby. I've always hated work and tried to stay away from it. Many have died from doin' it.

 

[erikk]

Re: Coiltek's new 8.5 x 11.5 & WOT 15" Coils

I use the WOT on my EX2 and love it. it gets heavy so I use a swingy thingy and have no problem, It will go deeeep

 

[Shortround]

Re: Coiltek's new 8.5 x 11.5 & WOT 15" Coils

Guess it depends on how much WORK you want to do for a hobby. I've always hated work and tried to stay away from it. Many have died from doin' it.

I am not afraid of work at all...I can crawl right up next to it, lay down, and go to sleep no problem

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: Coiltek's new 8.5 x 11.5 & WOT 15" Coils

Sounds like your wife does all the work.

 

[bearbqd]

Re: Coiltek's new 8.5 x 11.5 & WOT 15" Coils

I'm getting the 15" WOT myself when I get home in a couple of months. Here's a great review of it that I got off of another website.


Deep Target WOT Hunting Tips & Tricks

If you are reading this you are probably thinking about buying a WOT coil for the Minelab Explorer. Will it really go deeper than the stock coil? Can you really use it on land in a city park? Or maybe you already own a WOT and you are not having much luck with the coil so you are looking for some tips. Well I probably have a few hundred hours on my WOT coil and I think the following will help answer some questions and assist you in getting the most out of this great coil. Note I'm not associated with Doc or Coiltek, I'm just a metal detecting junky like you. After I bumped into half a dozen people who were struggling with this coil and the Explorer I contacted Doc and offered to contribute some tips and tricks. Anyway here is my WOT story...
I took up metal detecting just a little over 2 years ago now and the Minelab Explorer was my first detector. Soon after I got the itch to buy a second coil and figured that since I live in a very historic area most parks around here have been hunted to death in the 1-6 inch deep range, I thought buy a big coil and go deep. All the folks on the detecting forum said no, they said you can't use a big coil like that in a park and suggested that I buy a smaller coil instead to pick through the trash. They meant well of course but I decided to try the big coil anyway and purchased a WOT against all advice. Now as a newby I took a lot of ribbing for swinging the WOT but that started to quiet down after I started posting mercs and barbers from the hunted out parks five nights a week. It went dead silent after I started posting seated dimes, half dimes, and gobs of IH's, half dollars, a bust dime, 3 cent piece, 1700 colonials, 1700's large cents, well you get the picture. Here's some newbie thats only been detecting for a few months digging up all manner of finds from hunted to death parks.
Folks the WOT coil is a KILLER coil that has demonstrated its ability in the field. In these two years I have found over 400 silver coins alone and most of the best were with the WOT, at least 200 silvers, several hundred IH's, and all my 1700's colonials and pre 1800 large cents. Yeah but wouldn't the stock coil have gotten a good signal on those coins to? Not the deep ones, not the ones on edge. Sure if the coin were lying flat at 7 inches the stock coil would pick it up but you are going to read about some targets that ID'd good using the WOT that the stock coil ID'd as a rock solid iron signal.
First tip, plan to hunt deep with the WOT thats what its designed to do and hunting deep is different than hunting 1-7 inch good signals with the stock coil. Deep targets behave and sound different and if you are like me you will walk right over them until you learn to recognize them. Case in point, I have a site which is not too large, maybe two football fields in size. I hunted it hard 4 times when I first purchased the WOT and found absolutely nothing but clad in the 1-7 inch range. I got outhunted more than once by that other top brand detector of all things which at least picked up a couple of rosies and a Washington quarter. I was all over that field because in 1860 it was a town square and I had heard there were some old coins found there yet I was going home empty handed time after time.
Then one day I decided to open up the Explorer iron mask to -16 which is zero discrimination, and I decided to dig every signal 8 inches or deeper. That day was like turning on a light switch, at first indian head cents started popping up all over the place. Then a barber dime, teen mercs, more barber dimes, then seated dimes back to 1840's, then a bust dime, seated half dimes, a half dollar, 3 cent piece, two cent pieces, barber quarters, SL quarters, and gobs more indian head cents, silver rings, silver religious medals, gold rings, and other jewelry items. My new other brand swinging detecting buddy who showed me this site was now having a cow. To date I have dug at least 150 silver coins from this site and over 200 Indian Head cents.
So what was I doing wrong those first several hunts? Well this site as it turns out is a sink hole and the coins are very deep, you find beaver tales 7 inches down and the good coins were all 8-12. 150+ years of grass growing over the top of them plus this place is a swamp each spring. I just happened to luck upon the perfect site to learn how to use the WOT and Explorer on deep coins. After I finished with this site I took what I learned over to the two big parks in town where I had also been skunked many a day and stripped them of several hundred more coins. Are you getting excited about the WOT yet?
Next tip, deep coins don't ID perfectly on the screen and just grow fainter as they get deeper until the go silent, oh no they don't behave like that at all. With the stock coil a silver dime or Indian Head cent at the edge of its detection depth can ID and sound very much like iron in the iron mask -14 area, yes top left. Its the ground mineralization, the Explorer can see a little silver and copper down that deep with the stock coil but mostly it sees a bunch of iron mineralization in the soil and at some point in depth that pulls the signal way over to the iron side. Heres where the WOT comes in, lets say an Indian Head cent is ID'ing rock solid iron using the stock coil, the added depth the WOT gets will pull that signal back over to the coin area. It won't be textbook coin but the sound/behave like a coin and the screen ID will improve enough that you will dig it.
Not convinced? Well we have checked many signals in the field before the target was dug that ID'd iron using the stock coil but ID'd coin using the WOT. I have dug large cents and silver quarters at 12+ that ID rock solid iron on the other top brand detector but textbook with the WOT. I dug my best 1786 colonial while teaching someone else to use the Explorer, it ID'd 100% textbook with the WOT but gave a mostly iron signal with the stock coil. Trust me, the WOT will improve the signal enough on the deep ones to pull that coin back to the good side of the screen and decrease your chance of missing it. By the way since learning that coins can ID as iron with the stock coil I have learned to dig iron signals that are trying to behave like a coin with the stock coil and found many a coin that way.
So how far off can a deep coin ID? The answer is WAY off, with the stock coil I have dug IH's which hit top left near iron mask -14 and bottom right near rusty crowncaps and pull tab pieces. I have dug silver coins which ID'd middle of the screen, near nickels, right in the rusty crowncap area, even top left not quite to the nail area. The WOT helps pull the coins back up to the coin area which is a big help. The WOT also loves silver and hits hardest on silver coins. Once you dig a few silvers with the WOT you will recognize them right away.
So what is this round/coin shaped tone? Coins, especially deep coins with Fast=OFF and Deep=ON give a nice robust signal which is wide as you sweep across it. Your average nail or trash item might give a signal 2-4 inches across as you sweep it but a deep coin will give you a good 4-6, this is what I mean by a target behaving like a coin and I have dug many a coin that sounded like crap and ID in wierdsville on the screen simply based on the shape of the sound, wide, robust and fluty. The BEST way to learn this is to simply pick a depth, 8 inches, 7 inches, and spend a couple of hours digging every single signal that deep or deeper. You will quickly learn how small shallow trash falsely ID'ing deeper than it really is sounds, it may ID deep but as you sweep it its short and chopped off. Rusty bottlecaps trying to fake you out and sound like silver are flat and monotoned not fluty and they tend to pop as you complete your sweep. I have dug some big silver directly under rusty bottlecaps that ID'd in the textbook rusty bottlecap area for no other reason than they were giving off fluty silver tones and should not be.
WOT in Trash? You bet, I dug a silver half once at 8 inches, I cut a 6 inch plug and in doing so I cut one bottlecap in half and there was another stuck in the plug above the coin...go with those fluty tones. You have to go very slow and pick at the trash, expect to finds some coins and you will, work different angles, overlap your swings and sneak up on them. I have dug a few which only hit on the front of the coil, any further forward and they were masked by iron or nearby shallow trash. Now obviously if the trash is insane put the WOT away and go with a smaller coil.
WOT in iron? Yes, in my area rusty nails are everywhere, I don't think you could take a swing in many of our parks and not hear a rusty nail but the WOT loves silver remember and I have dug silver that was fused to rusty nails and many coins stained by iron they were so close.
PinPointing? First remember the WOT is a hot coil, it will pick up shallow near surface trash several inches off the front of the coil so the first thing I do is check a coil sized area around my target to see if I'm not picking up some shallow coin out in front. Then to pinpoint I use the center 5 inches of the coil, the WOT hits hardest in the center and so you can use that to zero in. Get centered as best you can then turn 90 degrees and narrow it down further. But remember deep targets won't pinpoint on a dime you so better cut a larger plug unless you want to gouge the crap out of a nice CC mintmark seated dime like ahem some people did. In fact I gouged, bent, sliced, and otherwise mutilated many a silver coin until I purchased the Sunray X1 probe. I have rarely done so since.
Coins on Edge? People let me tell you, nothing loves a coin on edge like the WOT, I have dug so many that I'm convinced the geometry of the magnetic field lines the WOT coil gives off must intersect those on edge coins better, its a coin on edge killer. Now you may not get as robust/wide a signal when they are straight up so keep a watch out but generally the WOT will get your attention by giving you a few fluty tones. My 1833 bust dime was straight up and down 7 inches down and that area had been pounded by all sorts of machines. Uh...second base on a trash laden ball diamond by the way.
Sensitivity & Machine Stability - First off forget semi-auto mode, adjust your sens manually because semi-auto overcompensates. Second crank the sens up folks, now if the screen cursor is jumping all over the place and the machine is going nuts back off but I'll put up with a little jumpy behavior if I can run the sens at 26-28, I never go higher than 28 with the WOT. Many people say don't run your sens too high and maybe there are times that might degrade a good signal but I have tested tough signals in the field that were iffy at sens 28 and simply not there at all at 22. I hunted around a statue in Portland, OR in super black sand like ground at 26 manual and could find nothing with the stock coil...I got mad, ripped the coil cover off, cranked it to 32 and what do you know out popped several wheats and a couple mercs, sens = depth.
I run my volume on High, max limits, max variability, max sens, etc. I run my gain at 7, its best with both the stock and WOT coils. With these settings don't waste time straining to hear a faint signal, most will give you a good medium loud to loud response. Every once in a while I get a faint signal thats a bit fluty, maybe 1/3 as fluty as dime sitting flat and those are generally deep severely on edge coins. Flat mono-tone i.e. non-fluty high tones that are faint and read deep will be rusty nails.
Iron Mask - hey hunt using a reasonable amount of discrimination if you want to but set your iron mask screen to -16, wide open all metal, then when you think you got a good signal switch to iron mask mode and sweep it again, notice that with nothing discriminated out you get a full clear signal unlike the chopped up discrimination signal. Also notice that discrimination of nearby iron and trash can pull the coin signal off center when pinpointing, with nothing disc'd out its MUCH easier to pinpoint both the WOT and stock coil. I'd bet money this jump to iron mask trick will help you avoid digging some of the iron and trash, and you will also be amazed how much better a coin can sound with no disc.
Last tip, buy a "SwingyThingy" for the WOT, with it I can detect all day verses maybe 2 hours without. Get that coil right on the ground too, as little air space between it and the ground as possible.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: Coiltek's new 8.5 x 11.5 & WOT 15" Coils

bearbqd,

Thanks for the post. I also just stared using a WOT on a brand new Sovereign GT a couple weeks ago that I picked up on a trade in.

First time I swung the WOT on the beach here I thought "what the heck?" I had a good signal, but nothing in the hole, what was I doing wrong, that is till I went deeper. I was digging coins at 8-10+ inches but unfortunately they were clad .

Now I did just get it, and shortly after getting it we found a long trough that developed in the surf here and we have been pounding it with the Excals while it is still there, so I have not had the chance to use the WOT and Sov much on the beach. But just from my little time I did use it I am very happy with it and looking forward to using it more as I try to vacuum the beach.

I also use a harness, and with it I can swing all day with no pain in my arm, you just can't beat hunting with a harness. I have a hunting buddy who said he wouldn't use one, but after trying it he uses it now.