Big Coil...

[digger27]

For those that use the Patriot...or whatever.
I got a big Cannon coil for use on my F70 this year and it might interest you to follow along my journey with it this season.
I had good luck with and really enjoy using the Sharpshooter so I wondered how a larger after market coil might work for me, I was aiming for a Nel in the same size but a dealer had this one at a discount so I went for it instead.
The same coil so no big deal.
Didn't think I really needed it, the 11" DD works pretty well for me here but I won some money at the casino so I thought what the heck, I also have some very difficult mineralized and iron infested dirt so depth is a problem...out in Kansas I could easily hit 10-12"+ with most of my coils, here getting much past 7" is not easy with any of them in the bad stuff.
IF this thing can get me even an extra inch or so in this mess over the 11" DD coil I will be thrilled, more than that would be a blessing but we will see.

Just a few hours with it but so far so good.
Took a little time to get used to the weight but that is a lot easier now, it covers a huge area but with practice I am getting better at zeroing in on targets surrounded by other things.
Like the Sharpshooter it seems quieter than my Fisher coils so I can turn it up a bit more if I choose to, seems sensitive and pretty stable.
I will write up a full review after I have more hours on the thing but so far so good...I think it was worth the purchase and might have some advantages over the 11"DD but that remains to be seen.

My last hunt I found a relatively small bucket lister in an area filled with junk, iron and trash so so far so good.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/today-s-finds/570646-my-first-chauffeur-badge.html


More to come.

 

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[aaroncr]

As always I'm following anything you take the time to post...i could have missed it but which big coil...brand and size...are you trying out??

 

[digger27]

Cors Cannon coil.
Everyone seems to like the Nel Tornado, I liked the shape and size of the Thunder better plus it is a bit newer so maybe they improved it in some way over the Tornado.
A dealer had the Cors Cannon which is exactly the same coil for a great discount so I went for that one instead.

Went out for one more short hunt after I found that pin, as I mentioned the weight took a bit of time to get used to but now it is not an issue at all anymore.
It comes with a coil cover so in areas with just grass you can just slide it all over the ground if you want to.
It has some weight but not what the 15" Fisher coil has, I heard the bottom rod bends with that thing on it but mine doesn't with this one.

What I was really concerned about was how it would work in my sites which are loaded with a ton of trash and iron very close to each other...infested in some areas.
Can this coil pick out small, great targets in this mess while swinging over several targets at once?
Can I notice them if it can?

On my last hunt I had the disc at 15 using monotone and DP and I was able to find a couple of coins surrounded by junk fairly easily.
I also used all metal for a bit, sense 99, thresh at +9 and found a few more.

It is not the same as using a sniper coil, my usual weapon for hunting in most places around here, it does take a little practice if you are not hunting in a cleaner wide open place but I am getting more comfortable and better with it hunt by hunt.

The real goal is to see if I can gain even a little more depth over all my other coils with this one.
4-7" seems to be a prime area where older great targets are hiding here even though most are heavily masked but I have found a couple at about 8" or a bit more even though those are very rare.
At one old site with a really old mid 1800's home and with some weird soil both I and a friend of mine buried a coin at 7-8" and neither of us could touch it with an AT Pro or my F70 both with big coils on any settings...I mean not a peep and this was mostly black soil that was still mineralized but not the heavy red clay stuff.
That was disappointing and demoralizing.
We suspect there are some great targets at sites like these deeper but without a PI unit we just can't reach them.
Back in Kansas I am sure I could do better with most coils but this is just the kind of stuff that is normal around here and that continues to drive us crazy.
I have one friend I hunt with that has used an F2, an older Tesoro, an AT Pro and a DEUS and has never hunted anywhere except here in Bama and I told him don't...in his case ignorance is bliss and if he ever found out how different the dirt is in other parts of the country how deep we can actually go and then fully understood what we are up against here he would not be happy.

My one friend that was with me at that home where we couldn't hit that coin has since upgraded to an AT Max.
Says he is getting a bit deeper but he just got it so more time needed to really see if that is true.
The other guy that has the Deus is thinking about maybe getting an Equinox but even though supposedly that one is reportedly doing some amazing things they are not doing them here in my devil dirt...an area where E Tracs and CTX's don't seem to have any huge advantage in the slightest so I am leery of this one too.
I am getting as deep as anyone I have ever heard of getting to around here using my F70 and a bit deeper than most, or to be precise I have figured out behavior on the deeper ones that has really helped me recognize some really great masked targets others have missed and recovered them.
Still, we all hope we can continue to get better and find more so those guys are doing it their way and I decided to get this big coil to see if it might make any difference at all.
Just one more inch could turn out to be a game changer to me, or even just a little more solid and stable signals on those deeper ones might help out a ton but I still need more time to see if this coil is even capable of doing any of that because I haven't come across anything great deep...yet.
I am hopeful, like the Sharpshooter this coil is noticeably quieter than my Fisher coils so I have all kinds of setting possibilities on a little hotter levels to mess with and I am having fun doing that.
On that last hunt I had the thresh at -3 but I was able to push the sense up to 95 and stay relatively quiet which surprised me.
I have never been able to push my 11" DD Fisher coil much past 80-85 at this same site like ever before it got super noisy, jumpy and crazy.
I might not need to push it to the limits but getting as deep as possible is the primary goal and here higher settings might be able to punch through a little deeper for me with this coil than I have been able to reach in the past.
That is my hope, anyway.

I also want to try the sense down to 30-40 and see how deep I can get and if that scanning field narrows down to that precise laser like scalpel like the Fisher DD does at lower gain.
To get deep, zero in on great targets and be able to notice them in this insane dirt...wouldn't that be fantastic if this coil can actually do all of that?
I got a whole new season to find out so stay tuned.

 

[aaroncr]

10-4 Digger,...I'll be adding a sharpshooter style coil to my Patriot sometime later this summer. After sending my AtPro down the road I picked up the F75 + package several weeks ago. Haven't even took it outside yet. Gonna be working the Patriot over the next few weeks or month or whatever then acclimate myself to the F75 for comparison. It's just how my brain works. Step at a time in methodical fashion if I'm ever going to really figure anything out. After the Patriot is outfitted with the smaller coil I plan to add a larger coil to the 75 for a depth demon,..the little 5 inch has my attention also but that will be later for one of them. I've only got 2 hunts under my belt on the Patriot but it is night and day difference for me compared to that AT Pro. They are great machines,..just not for me and my homestead hunting. I want a machine that is already fast before I buy extra coils and slow my swing down in all this iron,..I want my money and time to make the really good greater,..not make the mediocre simply OK,..if that makes any sense. Even from my inexperienced point of view on this F series I've gotta say they are WICKED fast man lolol..I mean shoooweee what a day my ears and brain had Sunday,..and I loved it! I was like finally I've got something to sink my teeth into. That's just how I feel about it.

None of my finds from Sunday were really shallow,..deepest probably 8 inches. And that's ok,..I was in at least some disc the whole time. I think the GB was around 60ish,..I rebalanced semifrequently so it varied just a bit. Been doin some reading from Nasa Tom and I will be playing with some of the monotone settings you've mentioned basically running wide open. He said a disc of 6 will get rid of most nails if I remember correctly in one of his post I've got saved. He also had some coin settings in one of his post that I'm going to work with also.

But the most interesting thing I've seen him write is the experiment he did at that baseball diamond on masking,..WOW! That was an eye opener on how much stuff is really out there and how easily it is hidden. ..and that theory I do buy into. Only makes sense when you think about people going over and over certain sites and still finding old targets. Anyway,..still reading and learning plan to be back out Thursday for at least a 3-4 hour hunt hopefully. Been tinkering with this hobby off and on for over 3 years now,...but my excitement has never been higher. My brain jus doesn't stop thinking about it. Down the road gents,..heres to my first silver sometime this year....it's gonna happen ))

 

[digger27]

After switching from the F2 to the F70 I got amazed, shocked and thrilled on my first hunt and none of that has subsided.
Over 3 years now hunting in both great and horrible dirt using all kinds of coils and settings and I am still learning and finding new things that work and work well.
No boredom with this one, something new always seems to pop up whether it is a new combination of settings or some great target.

Luckily all the coils you get for this one or the F75 will interchange and that can save you some bucks.
The F75 has more programs, features, that different handle and that trigger but at their core are essentially the same.
What you learn on one can be used on another.
Most settings on one can be duplicated closely on the other...close enough, anyway if you find some that really work well for you.

Speed, oh yea, I always knew about that and practiced hard to be able to take advantage of that ability, (and it did take practice), but after 3 years I am just now starting to find out exactly how your sweep speed can matter and help calm down signals if you do it correctly.
Like I said, always something new to learn and everything you learn might make you better.

 

[aaroncr]

You mentioned those other detectors that some of your friends have and the mine labs and the new NOX. Just from a relative rookie point of view that has had a few detectors and reads a ton I think the depth thing has been pegged out for a while. The "new one" coming out is always supposed to be an inch or so deeper,..if that were true we would be digging dimes at 20 inches by now easily,..it just aint happening. I do think minelab was on their game with the FBS machines and I'd like to hear that silver sound the etrac makes on old silver in person BUT,..would it fit my style of hunting in all my century old iron??,..from what I read probably not. Not saying I'll never own one as a specialty detector but that is way down the road for me. I think the jury will be out on the nox for a little while, I don't think it is looking to be groundbreaking however it could prove to be a lot of detector for the money at the moment. The thing is the moments aren't lasting long from what I see. A lot of companies are apparently coming out with new machines in the very near future. You'd have to be living under a rock not to know that if your in this hobby,..it's headed to multi freq, better unmasking and separation (maybe) and waterproof. Do I think any true added depth is coming Nope. Better Id perhaps,..who knows. Also what a great time to pick up some like new gently used top end detectors,it's a buyers market right now and not looking to change. The only one that I've seen that perhaps has my interest for my next possible purchase would be the V3i. But again by the time I get there it will probably be the v3i ll or + or whatever lol. It is still fun to watch while I expand my education. It is a market truly driven by consumers at this time.

,................and the whole battery set up on the Nox scares me a little,..maybe a lot.

 

[HighVDI]

That F70 with the cannon has got to be a complete aninal! Even with a moderate gain/sens. setting.

 

[digger27]

That F70 with the cannon has got to be a complete aninal! Even with a moderate gain/sens. setting.

Got out a little bit yesterday, tried all metal again and I also switched into low gain for a bit at different levels from 35, 40, 45 and up to 60.
DE Speed, -2 on thresh, 2F for a short time, then 4H tones and disc from 6 to 20.
Seemed to zero in pretty good on targets with low gain like other coils do, separating more than one target under the coil is getting easier even with higher gain.
Nothing super deep but I did dig a small rusted 1/2" long nail piece at about 6-7" that I suspected was iron because it jumped from high to low but I went after it just to see how deep it was...this was with sense about 40.

It easily can hit 4-6" which is where I need to be on most any settings, hopefully I will come across a rarer, deeper target at 8"+ and once I do and get a good depth reading past 6" I will experiment with different settings to see how low I can go and still get a good solid dig me signal.
You may be right, this thing just might be a beast and get pretty deep in my devil dirt which is the main reason I bought it.