I think "My" jury is finally in.

[bigscoop]

Well, I think the jury (for me) is finally in as far as dealing with all this summer sand. In my opinion, and based on several weeks of alternating coils (big VS small) it appears the larger coil provides a decided advantage both in and out of the water once those deep summer sands roll in. It isn’t so much a matter of depth or sensitivity, but rather it is a matter of recent drops and greatly improved “total coverage”. Keep in mind that I’ve been alternating between the 8” and the 12 x 15 SEF. (Side note: Sometimes when water hunting the current is just to swift to allow for the 12 x 15 and the 8” is the only coil option. But other then these short periods the larger coil was still alternated in usual routine.)

Gold has been, and still continues to be elusive regardless of the coil used, but the silver count with the 12 x 15 is easily three or four times the amount VS the 8” coil. In the water I’m not really covering larger amounts of area with the larger coil because the coil has to be swung much slower (and very smoothly) then the 8” in order to maintain decent depth and sensitivity, however, that larger coil is covering every inch of the total area of water hunted. So in the water it’s just a matter of complete total coverage while still maintaining a sufficient amount of depth and sensitivity. Stepping out of the water and onto the wet sand the larger coil then provides the ability to cover more wet sand area in the same amount of time, nearly twice as much, and with increased depth and sufficient, if not somewhat surprising, sensitivity at times.

The main drawbacks to the larger coil are rough and uneven bottom conditions and the obvious increase in drag when water hunting The other drawbacks to the larger coil are the turbulence factor, something the larger coil is very sensitive to, and the last drawback is when encountering step drops and sharp slopes. All of the above mentioned conditions provide obstacles that can, and often do, effect the performance and the efficiency of the larger coil. And of course, trashy areas or areas with a lot of iron deposits can also make for some troublesome hunting with the larger coil.

So for me, and on my area beaches, the larger coil gets the nod once those deep sands of summer arrive whenever conditions allow for its use.

 

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[vpnavy]

Thanks for sharing...

 

[mandad76]

Agreed....I always opt for larger coil when conditions allow....very good explanation....thanks for postin'!!

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

Don't you have to slow down your sweep speed with the large field 12X 15 Sef coil on wet and dry sand as there is more six times the area under this large field coil than the 8" (actually 7.5 " diameter ) DD small field coil? It seems like what hand giveth ( in increased surface area under the coil) the other hand taketh away (by having to slow down -snail mode) for the processor to keep up.

 

[bigscoop]

Don't you have to slow down your sweep speed with the large field 12X 15 Sef coil on wet and dry sand as there is more six times the area under this large field coil than the 8" (actually 7.5 " diameter ) DD small field coil? It seems like what hand giveth ( in increased surface area under the coil) the other hand taketh away (by having to slow down -snail mode) for the processor to keep up.

In the water it's a crawl....a slow and smooth coil control....but the tradeoff is that I feel I am covering every inch of the area gridded. Right now it's also about "recent drops" so depth isn't really my concern beyond that first 10" range. Not really looking for the small/finer stuff either - just wanting to insure that I'm getting complete coverage over the area hunted. On most days visibility here is limited to about 2 feet so even though I may think I'm walking a tight grid I'm sure I'm still missing some area when using the smaller 8" coil. So I feel the larger coil is just providing me with better complete coverage.

The wet sand is situational, but here again, I'm looking for recent drops this time of year and my main concern is covering as much of that first 10" of sand as possible - not really focused on the deeper stuff but will investigate them whenever I locate them. Even when I'm moving along at a fairly good clip I'm still routinely hitting targets in that 12 - 16" range. Personally, I could care less about the small stuff, tiny/fine chains, earring backs, etc. "Easy, fast, targets in that first 10" of sand" is what I'm mainly focused on now this time of year. We've just got way too much deep soft sand everywhere right now to worry about that deeper stuff that's probably too deep to be detected anyway - so my main focus is covering as much of that first 10" - 12" of sand as possible in a somewhat efficient manner. Targets are very scarce and few and far between right now.