Actual buried coin 6" coil test. Anyone?

[vferrari]

Yes, I agree with you, HighVDI. Not earth-shattering, but MAYBE "enough?" I think, in my dirt, all told -- based on all the testing I've done on the coil so far and my experiences with how my test garden's results compare to "real-world" detecting results, the very limit of possibility on the 6" coil will be an 8" dime/penny, and maybe 8 1/2" on a quarter...

IF I can prove this to hypothesis to myself, and manage to actually dig a 7 1/2" to 8" dime with it, then that will give me the confidence that IN ADDITION to what I will gain in separation ability with the 6" coil, I will NOT be giving up TOO much, in depth capability (such that it would negate any separation advantages the coil offers, in the types of "real-world" hunting sites and situations that I generally experience...)

There is no doubt that for some, the separation advantages that the coil offers would be significant, for their type of hunting, even if it meant 3", or even 4" of depth loss. But, my take is that given the number of old coins at the 7" and 8" depth that are found in the sites I hunt, that -- FOR ME -- makes it very necessary for the coil to be able to give me solid ability on at LEAST a 7" dime NO MATTER its separation ability. Otherwise, if a coil were only capable of 6" depth or less, I'd be very hesitant to use the coil in the types of sites I hunt. Because while I'd know that I'd pick up quite a bit of separation ability, the knowledge that I'd be unable to see a good majority of the old coins (given how many are beyond the 6" depth mark) would strongly reduce my ability to "hunt confidently" with the coil. Such a coil (capable of no more than 6" on a coin) would then be relegated to an extreme "specialty" coil, for me, for only the very trashiest/nail-filled spots, and then ONLY after hunting it heavily with the 11" coil, and digging as many of the deeper targets as the 11" coil would allow. Then, at that point, I might put on the 6" as a "cleanup" coil, just to see if there were a few shallow, but masked, coins that I had missed with the 11". I would MUCH rather have a coil that would allow me the confidence that it is BOTH a better "unmasker" than the 11" coil (allowing me to feel confident that I could find coins missed due to masking), AND is still a reasonably deep coil (allowing me to also feel confident that in the less trashy parts of the site, I would still have a chance to find coins missed due to being relatively deep -- deeper than "inexpensive" detectors might be capable of seeing).

This is why I loved the 6x8 SEF coil so much on my Explorer. That coil offered separation ability beyond that of the stock 11" coil, BUT -- it was no problem to bang out an 8" dime or penny with that coil. PERFECT. Maybe Minelab (or some other coil maker -- DETECH, are you listening?!) needs to make an 8" Equinox coil, or a 7" x 10" elliptical, or something like that...

Meanwhile, however, before jumping the gun and deciding that I need an 8" coil, I need some time to see if the 6" can BE that coil for me, by finding me a 7 1/2" to 8" deep dime. If it can, then it's a coil I will use frequently, and confidently. If not...then I will be eagerly hoping that someone might step up, and build a good 8" type of coil for the EQ...

Steve

I never realistcally expect more depth (on a dime sized target in mild ground) from a small round coil than the diameter of the coil itself, any more than that is gravy as far as I'm concerned. There are no free lunches. This coil was designed for separation, vice depth. Simple as that. If you want depth on a nail infested site you are going to have to hit it with the 11" coil to find the lone (unmasked) deep keepers and then try to unmask the shallow targets with the 6", just as you said, Steve. I really would like to see a an 8" round or preferably a 10×6" elliptical coil offering.

 

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[nagant]

The M/D basic's still apply as to depth but we are getting more for our buck with separation and versatility.

 

[Truth]

I am just re-reading manual, and I just noticed they advise bringing a coin to the site and your going to start detecting in , bury it and figure out best settings in actual conditions to find it.

so your machine is geared up and tuned to actual site conditions
I think this very practical advice

That’s exactly what it do.

 

[Truth]

Actual buried coin 6" coil test. Anyone?

I bring a silver dime with me everywhere I go and test which mode works the best and that particular place where I’m hunting. I buried a silver dime about 7 inches and it was very iffy, not not at all on some modes with the 6”, which didn’t really surprise me. I never really smacked a dime at 7 inches even with the 11 inch coil in my conditions. Here where I live this Louisiana mud, clay, sand and everything in between has high mineralization it really makes you work for it. And when you add the rusty nails or park trash to it, and maybe some old Katrina hurricane debris, it’s a just a mess out there. But I’ve learned to read the signs and the language on every other machine I’ve owned and the equinox is no different. I’m still working on mastering it which takes my awhile because I’m kind of slow. I did buy the 6” coil for a huge patch of iron I detect at a 1820’s house. I have found 2 Bust half dimes dimes in this area (and that was with the 11 inch coil) There’s a guy I share the property with know, who’s hunted this property for 15 years prior to me with an E trac and missed them. I will admit he hasn’t left me much, but he did say the only thing he hasn’t found was a half dime and I found two of them in two months AND a half real [emoji4] I am surprised I don’t get solid target hits like I thought I would with the equinox, but like I said with all the iron and iron falsing they can sound just like a iffy small silver and the small silver signal can sound just like a falsing rusty nail, so I just dig it all.

And if a 8” coil comes out I’m sure I’ll buy that too. I just bought the Anderson shaft so why stop there :laughing

If anything the 6” coil is perfect for our thick dense with vines hanging everywhere woods with trees 2ft apart. I envy all you gives in videos that have free walking woods where the trees are 6ft apart. Jealous

 

[HighVDI]

Good luck on that Truth. I am getting more falsing with the 6" over the 11". If you think you were digging that guys yard to shreds before......

 

[Truth]

Good luck on that Truth. I am getting more falsing with the 6" over the 11". If you think you were digging that guys yard to shreds before......

Hey VDI I’ve already tried twice with the 6” and will admit not really changed thinking I’d get “in between” the iron, but thinking maybe to slowdown more. OR maybe the Equinox is just a iron magnet :laughing
Must admit it is frustrating.

 

[vferrari]

Good luck on that Truth. I am getting more falsing with the 6" over the 11". If you think you were digging that guys yard to shreds before......

First time you mentioned falsing on the 6". Cranking sens up to compensate for the lack of depth, perhaps? I'm not expecting great depth, but falsing is def not an issue for me with that coil. A concentric coil option would be nice on the EQX. Quit banging your head against the wall and sell that 6" coil while it is still somewhat scarce. You are def not liking it and no sense getting frustrated because it is not designed to meet your expectations.

Hey VDI I’ve already tried twice with the 6” and will admit not really changed thinking I’d get “in between” the iron, but thinking maybe to slowdown more. OR maybe the Equinox is just a iron magnet :laughing
Must admit it is frustrating.

Iron magnet...

It definitely can behave that way if not set up properly for the site conditions.

Intelligently balancing sensitivity, recovery speed, and mode selection depending on the coil you are using is key.

Because of the miniscule swing coverage of the small coil, it definitely forces you to go slow. I cannot imagine using a coil like that on the beach unless I was hitting a small patch of ground.

 

[sprailroad]

I bought the 6" for the EQ you all already know, and I like it for the separation. The 5x8 for the AT Pro, and the 7x8 SEF coil for the Safari, both, I really did/do like, a lot. IF a coil for the EQ comes out say something like the Safari's 7x8 butterfly type coil, I do believe I would buy it.

 

[nagant]

I'd love to try that coil in the back yard, nails, brass screws, and EMI. Just find a promising spot and go 50 tones low and slow and increase sensitivity till you find the cut off for that spot. I have a 4" tesoro coil that most people got frustrated with, take your time and listen to it.

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

John, I wouldn’t use the 6” at the pounded mowed fields we hunt. I think the 11” would be better. All of the old coins are deep. Give it a try this Fall/Winter at some of the old foundation/cellar hole sites. Maybe pick off a few silvers near the surface among the nails. I’ve got a couple sites nearby you could try as well.

 

[HighVDI]

John, I wouldn’t use the 6” at the pounded mowed fields we hunt. I think the 11” would be better. All of the old coins are deep. Give it a try this Fall/Winter at some of the old foundation/cellar hole sites. Maybe pick off a few silvers near the surface among the nails. I’ve got a couple sites nearby you could try as well.

That's my game plan for sure. I'd never field hunt with the 6". I've got plenty of old homesites I've hammered with other machine/coil setups and just want to see if the EQ can fish out any more keepers.

 

[HighVDI]

First time you mentioned falsing on the 6". Cranking sens up to compensate for the lack of depth, perhaps? I'm not expecting great depth, but falsing is def not an issue for me with that coil. A concentric coil option would be nice on the EQX. Quit banging your head against the wall and sell that 6" coil while it is still somewhat scarce. You are def not liking it and no sense getting frustrated because it is not designed to meet your expectations.



Iron magnet...

It definitely can behave that way if not set up properly for the site conditions.

Intelligently balancing sensitivity, recovery speed, and mode selection depending on the coil you are using is key.

Because of the miniscule swing coverage of the small coil, it definitely forces you to go slow. I cannot imagine using a coil like that on the beach unless I was hitting a small patch of ground.

I'm just more curious to see how others like it and what kind of depth people are getting with it. I've done really well with the 11" in the iron patches so far. I don't get too frustrated too quickly over these things. Like you said I could sell it off if need be. Might just keep it around for the 2" 1700's coins! Lol, J/K.

 

[Wild Colonial Boy]

Good luck on that Truth. I am getting more falsing with the 6" over the 11". If you think you were digging that guys yard to shreds before......

I did notice I was getting a lot more falseing on nails with 6", two way 90 degree swings good solid signals, and test in 5khz,, and still solid, on my 11" I got better indication I was being fooled

Hopefully as Vferrai sad if you take your time and play with setting Scenerio's there potentially away away around it,

I was running high sensitivity in nail bed and swinging too fast , also my machine was on the blink, and I was experimenting getting to know iffy but good signals, so who knows

from my little experience I think its all a shot in the dark until the color reading technology like the DRS ELECTRONICS Ground pro , develops better,


keep your expectations low, and you just have to keep trying different approaches from an arsenal of growing knowledge

 

[sgoss66]

Just a thought that comes to mind, brainstorming here...

IF this coil does indeed seem to "false" more on nails, i.e. fooling the detectorist into thinking there's a good target there, when in actuality it turns out to be just a nail...

I wonder if Iron Bias could be adjusted "upward," to a higher setting than one would normally run with the 11" coil? At first this sounds counter-intuitive, as raising Iron Bias would seem to work in OPPOSITION to trying to achieve the best "separation" (which is what the 6" coil's strength should be). One would think that if "separation" -- i.e. trying to find good targets in close proximity to iron -- is your goal, and you have chosen to use the 6" coil to accomplish that goal, it would seem logical that you would NOT want to run a HIGHER Iron Bias. However, since Iron Bias is supposed to be the setting that "controls" how likely the machine is to assign a "good" ID to a nail or other piece of iron, perhaps playing with slightly higher Iron Bias settings will allow a user of the 6" coil to find that "optimal" or "goldilocks" level, where the machine/6" coil is less likely to call a nail a coin, but still likely to "see" a coin sitting next to a nail.

Thoughts?

Steve

 

[Wild Colonial Boy]

Just a thought that comes to mind, brainstorming here...

IF this coil does indeed seem to "false" more on nails, i.e. fooling the detectorist into thinking there's a good target there, when in actuality it turns out to be just a nail...

I wonder if Iron Bias could be adjusted "upward," to a higher setting than one would normally run with the 11" coil? At first this sounds counter-intuitive, as raising Iron Bias would seem to work in OPPOSITION to trying to achieve the best "separation" (which is what the 6" coil's strength should be). One would think that if "separation" -- i.e. trying to find good targets in close proximity to iron -- is your goal, and you have chosen to use the 6" coil to accomplish that goal, it would seem logical that you would NOT want to run a HIGHER Iron Bias. However, since Iron Bias is supposed to be the setting that "controls" how likely the machine is to assign a "good" ID to a nail or other piece of iron, perhaps playing with slightly higher Iron Bias settings will allow a user of the 6" coil to find that "optimal" or "goldilocks" level, where the machine/6" coil is less likely to call a nail a coin, but still likely to "see" a coin sitting next to a nail.

Thoughts?

Steve

Thanks Steve, you could be right,
You just reminded me that another thing I was doing different with 11" I was keeping iron bias at 2/3 where now with the fear of masking small targets in iron, I am at 0

 

[HighVDI]

I've been pondering this too Steve. Then I think....well there goes any depth you might be shooting for in order to curb falsing! More testing and tweaking is definitely needed. The spot I beeped last evening (an old church) really was a challenge on falsing nails. I've got a few hundred hours on the EQ by now and have a pretty good grasp on how iron behaves but I think this little coil is a different animal all together. JMO so far.

 

[sgoss66]

HighVDI -- so, it sounds like a whole new "learning curve," to where everything we think we've come to learn, in terms of "nuances" of the machines behavior, and its language, might have to be "re-learned" when using the 6" coil. Sounds like there may be a whole DIFFERENT set of "nuances" and "language hints" that we might have to flesh out, when running new coil. Ugh!

Steve

 

[HighVDI]

HighVDI -- so, it sounds like a whole new "learning curve," to where everything we think we've come to learn, in terms of "nuances" of the machines behavior, and its language, might have to be "re-learned" when using the 6" coil. Sounds like there may be a whole DIFFERENT set of "nuances" and "language hints" that we might have to flesh out, when running new coil. Ugh!

Steve

I hope it is not the case but for me so far it looks that way! I have a problem also with the way the 6" pinpoints so strong on a fringe silver dime too. barely reaches it with a super bouncy vdi then pinpoints like its 2 inches down. I use pinpoint as a reference too much on the EQ for that. If it were a bouncy, deeper sounding target and the PP sounded faint and deep then it would hint more of a deep coin. Again that's JMO so far.

 

[vferrari]

HighVDI/Steve - Don't let that 6" coil get into your heads. You guys are making sound like its causing a rip in the Equinox time-space continuum. Lol. Some valid points you all are making that I will have to pay attention to in more challenging situations but frankly, it's behaving like a typical small coil to me (my key reference being the 5" round DD on my F75). But I also haven't put it to work in a real nail bed situation, just modern junk. I am primarily using it as an "access" coil versus a separator (i.e., getting into tight spots like near fence lines, in bushes, around benches). It has done its job. Nothing to write home about but it likes quarters where I am using it. Dit get a quarter about 8 or 9" down in sand and bark mulch, that's about the deepest recovery for me so far.

 

[HighVDI]

HighVDI/Steve - Don't let that 6" coil get into your heads. You guys are making sound like its causing a rip in the Equinox time-space continuum. Lol. Some valid points you all are making that I will have to pay attention to in more challenging situations but frankly, it's behaving like a typical small coil to me (my key reference being the 5" round DD on my F75). But I also haven't put it to work in a real nail bed situation, just modern junk. I am primarily using it as an "access" coil versus a separator (i.e., getting into tight spots like near fence lines, in bushes, around benches). It has done its job. Nothing to write home about but it likes quarters where I am using it. Dit get a quarter about 8 or 9" down in sand and bark mulch, that's about the deepest recovery for me so far.

I come here to chat about the hobby. I guess you.can say detecting is ALWAYS in my head! Might have took the place of the every 6 second one....

That little 5" on the f75 was impressive for depth!