Coil placement in relation to your feet?

[Digger54]

I see a lot of short videos in my Face Book reels and have noticed that most of the time I see people detecting with their coil a good 12" to 18" out in front of their feet. I was taught that you should adjust your rod length so that while standing upright the coil would be flat on the ground about 2" off your toes and that your sweep would be close to you in an arc so you don't pendulum the swing. Keeping the coil swing close to your feet reduces the strain on your lower back.

Are the newer detectors so light that they no longer recommend coil placement while adjusting rod length?

 

[mindcrime1988]

It really comes down to personal preference. Yes, you want to keep the coil as parallel to the ground as much as possible but whether that is 2" or 24" in front of you is irrelevant in my opinion. I keep my swing arc quite a bit in front of me because that is what is most comfortable for my back. But it is true that many newer detectors are getting lighter in weight.

 

[Carl-NC]

IMO, the shorter you make the rod the more likely you are to pendulum.

 

[k0bgalan]

Carl's correct, but I have a caveat. Too long (for your height), and swinging the detector becomes uncomfortable and tiring.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I use straight shafts on my excals, and they have a much wider sweep radius, wider radius means less trips to cover the same area. I found it fairly easy to train myself to do level swings left to right without swinging it like a pendulum.

I also use harness with adjustible bungee cord to support the coil, attached to chest.

 

[ToddsPoint]

I use straight shafts on my excals, and they have a much wider sweep radius, wider radius means less trips to cover the same area. I found it fairly easy to train myself to do level swings left to right without swinging it like a pendulum.

I also use harness with adjustible bungee cord to support the coil, attached to chest.

The harness sounds interesting. My back is really bad. Carrying anything in front of me sets it off. I can only swing a detector 30-45 min and I’m finished. Between swinging and bending over digging this is a painful hobby!

 

[SD51]

Funny story...when I bought my first detector, the store owner told me to make sure I didn't sweep the detector too close to my feet. He had a customer complain that he was getting so many false signals every place he detected and wanted to return the detector. Turns out the coil was picking up his steel toed boots.
I like to sweep the coil side-to-side in a straight line, not in an arc and make sure the coil overlaps the last sweep by about one-half the diameter of the coil, so I don't miss those deep signals.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

The harness sounds interesting. My back is really bad. Carrying anything in front of me sets it off. I can only swing a detector 30-45 min and I’m finished. Between swinging and bending over digging this is a painful hobby!

Try a harness, it connects to upper part of shaft and supports the coil so you are only guiding it. It also helps when recovering target in water as you can let go of detector and it hangs at your side controls up.

Multiple models, I use a Lejermon model s and either wear the harness it comes with, or hook it to my back hydration water pack that has loop in front I put stainless key ring on to connect to.

Our supporting vendor Serious Detecting has the lejeune model s in stock, and he also sells it through Walmart, currently under $10.00 too.

There is also the DetectorPro Detecting Pal The Best Swing Support System For Any Metal DetectorI

There is also the DetectorPro Detecting Pal

 

[djackson7348]

Funny story...when I bought my first detector, the store owner told me to make sure I didn't sweep the detector too close to my feet. He had a customer complain that he was getting so many false signals every place he detected and wanted to return the detector. Turns out the coil was picking up his steel toed boots.
I like to sweep the coil side-to-side in a straight line, not in an arc and make sure the coil overlaps the last sweep by about one-half the diameter of the coil, so I don't miss those deep signals.

This is true. I have found false signals from different types of shoes, so I learned to swing out front and flat.

 

[releventchair]

If I'm not hitting my foot I'm fine. Swing coil level beyond. More preferably using a serpentine / elongated S pattern ahead of me when focused.

 

[Digger54]

The harness sounds interesting. My back is really bad. Carrying anything in front of me sets it off. I can only swing a detector 30-45 min and I’m finished. Between swinging and bending over digging this is a painful hobby!

For me the beginning was getting hamstring cramps in the middle of the night after a day of detecting. Then my back problems progressed to getting that beginning of cramp like pain in my butt cheeks and legs whenever standing or walking. Injections and PT did nothing. The culprit was a compressed L4/L5 that I ended up getting fused a few months ago. Now pain free and hope to get back into the hobby soon.