Difference in depth with 6" coil?

[CoinHunterAZ]

Sorry if this has been asked before, my searches didn't turn up any answers. I'm just wondering what to expect in actual loss of depth with the Equinox 6" coil as compared to the stock 11" coil. Thanks!

 

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[CarsonChris]

The deepest coin I’ve found was around 7”. Up to 4” it’s great. Below 4 I start losing VID.

 

[Iron Buzz]

Some air tests I've seen seem to show about 2" less than the 11"

 

[vferrari]

It will be a be a little more than half the depth of the 11", typically. Rule of thumb is depth is appoximately equal to the diameter of the coil (for an elliptical, it is the width of the coil). Beyond that, too many variables to say anything definitively.

 

[CoinHunterAZ]

Thanks guys, good information. I've been hunting a huge old park and finding a LOT of stuff with the Equinox. I think the biggest reason though, is that I'm getting a "layer" deeper than I could get with my previous detectors. I may have to re-think this, or wait for a mid-sized coil.

 

[McKinney_5900]

I have dug coins down to 9 inches with the 6". That's in Texas clay soil to boot. It's a nice coil.

 

[CoinHunterAZ]

Well, I sure like the idea of the better separation. The loss of depth is a concern though, oak leaves and pine needles are burying stuff deep. I dug a silver rosie last weekend at 10". Wish Minelab would come out with an intermediate 7 or 8" coil, I think I'd be all over that one.

 

[McKinney_5900]

Well, I sure like the idea of the better separation. The loss of depth is a concern though, oak leaves and pine needles are burying stuff deep. I dug a silver rosie last weekend at 10". Wish Minelab would come out with an intermediate 7 or 8" coil, I think I'd be all over that one.

"The loss of depth is a concern though"

Of all the different manufacturers machines using their 6" coils...the Nox 6" tops them all in depth. Impressive how ML made a 6" footprint coil which gets the depth I keep seeing, compared to the stock 11", with my 600/6" coil. It usually takes an 8" coil to begin to match it IMPO. Jm2c

 

[glabelle]

It will be a be a little more than half the depth of the 11", typically. Rule of thumb is depth is appoximately equal to the diameter of the coil (for an elliptical, it is the width of the coil). Beyond that, too many variables to say anything definitively.

That is true in air - but in heavy mineralization, a 6" coil can actually exceed an 11" in depth. So it depends upon the soil in which you are searching. Out West, an 8" coil is ideal for the conditions.

 

[vferrari]

That is true in air - but in heavy mineralization, a 6" coil can actually exceed an 11" in depth. So it depends upon the soil in which you are searching. Out West, an 8" coil is ideal for the conditions.

Actually, the rule of thumb is based on neutral soil (not air) and in general high mineralization reduces depth for all coils. But there are always exceptions to the thumb rules like those you describe and that is why I said too many variables (mineralization, soil moisture content, target size, shape, orientation, and composition) to declare any absolute depth claims. Which makes it kind of pointless to discuss all the infinite and less probable exceptions to the norm as if they were going to apply to the OP's situation. It is definitely a "your mileage may vary" situation.

All that being said, I have found the 6-inch coil to perhaps run a little deeper than expected (by thumb rule) under certain specific situations, myself. But those situations not being the norm, I wouldn't advertise it to generally be deeper than the 11". For what it is, it is a good performing coil from a sensitivity standpoint. But frankly, no one is really getting the six-inch coil because of depth performance.

 

[cudamark]

On average, I find the 6" coil loses about 4" over the stock 11" coil. As mentioned, actual loss depends on the hunting/soil conditions.

 

[gunsil]

Well, I sure like the idea of the better separation. The loss of depth is a concern though, oak leaves and pine needles are burying stuff deep. I dug a silver rosie last weekend at 10". Wish Minelab would come out with an intermediate 7 or 8" coil, I think I'd be all over that one.

Please e-mail Minelab customer service and tell them you'd like to see an 8" coil. I and others have done so, if enough people do so hopefully they will make one. I hate dragging that big 11" coil around for general coin hunting. I also hate hunting with a hockey puck for a coil.

 

[CoinHunterAZ]

On average, I find the 6" coil loses about 4" over the stock 11" coil. As mentioned, actual loss depends on the hunting/soil conditions.

That 4" loss of depth is a problem where I'm currently hunting. The 11" coil is doing quite well, but the "old hunted out park" extremely trashy. I'm still finding silver and wheats every single time I go there, so I really can't complain. I'm with gunsil though, an 8" coil would be "not too big, not too small, but just right". I'll e-mail Minelab too, and cross my fingers.

 

[toasted]

Please e-mail Minelab customer service and tell them you'd like to see an 8" coil. I and others have done so, if enough people do so hopefully they will make one. I hate dragging that big 11" coil around for general coin hunting. I also hate hunting with a hockey puck for a coil.

Agree. I dont like tiny coils but I would love to have a coil in the 8-9” range

 

[lockster99]

I'm sure my 11" hits deeper than my 6" in....well every condition I've ran across so far.

 

[digger27]

Thanks guys, good information. I've been hunting a huge old park and finding a LOT of stuff with the Equinox. I think the biggest reason though, is that I'm getting a "layer" deeper than I could get with my previous detectors. I may have to re-think this, or wait for a mid-sized coil.

I hunt in the SE with red clay mineralized soil, black soil mixed with iron and much more iron mixed into everything because of the history of this city and our geographic location.
Depth is an issue here but the bigger problem is major masking, most everything last 2-3" or so gets skewed, screwed up, changed or can go completely dark depending on masking garbage that infests our devil dirt.
I have used a couple different defectors and a lot of different coils to try to get the best ID's possible and get as deep as possible...and I have done pretty well.
Then I got a Nox.

In my strange dirt it just seems to work...better, deeper too, by a few inches from what I can tell.
Using the larger coil I have noticed and dug several masked coins and even a few surprising spills from a couple of sites I know have been scoured for decades and a couple from private lawns that I have visited more times than I can count over the last few years.
Nothing was super deep, if I can get to just the 6-7" area cleanly that would be fantastic as most older targets here usually hang in the 4-6" area with a few deeper at some sites but I found there is a layer of older, great targets at that 4-6" depth area that everyone...and I mean everyone, missed over the years because they were so masked.
Many were no deeper than 4", most every detector in the planet should have been able to hit on these old coin targets but they never did.
I don't know if these coins were on edge, I can't believe all of them were, or exactly what was doing the masking but the Nox seems better at noticing these masked targets although I admit they aren't perfect ID's either.
After I got the small sniper I mounted it and it has not come off since because as great as the standard coil is at doing what it needs to do the sniper in my weird dirt is even better.
Once that sniper was mounted these items below are the kind of targets that started to show up from sites that have been scoured, two of the bigger coins were my most recent and that would be a silver quarter and the Walker half...from a public park I guarantee you had been hunted since detectors were invented.
Shockingly, both coins were in the 4-5" depth area...they should have been scooped up long but never were.
The Nox and the sniper found them though, and both these coins were tiny, short hits and were by no means 100% diggable.
Could the standard or bigger coil have hit on these the same, better, or at all...I don't know but I do know the sniper did it.
For the foreseeable future I am sticking with it, I hunt trashy, mineralized and iron infested dirt most of the time so I think the sniper gives me a slight edge over the bigger coils and I will take any advantage I can get.