NEL Attack First Impressions

[Hydro Man]

Got my new NEL Attack wired up to my Excal and took it out to test it out today.

Awesome is all I can say!
I love it!

It comes wired for the Sovereign and there are no instructions for Excal connection so a little technical expertise is required to do it yourself.
You may want go through LIR.

I hunted a very sanded in, fairly clean, fresh water beach waist to chest deep in both PP/AM and DISC.

I played with the sensitivity and ended up using a max sensitivity of 6 (12 O'clock).
I was getting some falsing at 7

The NEL behaves very similar to the stock 10" with regards to tone and stability only with more depth and a monster sweep.
Tones are maybe slightly "looser" than the 10"

Sweep resistance is better than expected, but you do have to slow your sweep a little compared to the 10", which you probably should do anyway with a bigger coil.
Did find it easier to sweep than the WOT though.

The beach I hunted was real sanded in but despite the difficult conditions, “Nelly” did not disappoint!
A little yellow in the pouch!

 

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[Loco-Digger]

Congrats on the gold and for hunting with the new set-up.

 

[OBN]

Thanks for the report and Big Congrads on the Yellow..WooHoo!!

One thing that concerns me, you hunt fresh water at chest deep and only able to use 6 sensitivity? Wonder if we have any saltwater hunters, outside of the NEL circle that can give us a report on chest deep sensitivity...

Any reports from Cliff...

 

[cdv1]

Well OBN, as you know each Excal is just a bit different. On my first water hunt at chest deep, I had no problem running just out of manual BUT when switching to Disc it was chatty to say the least....Just like using an Excal when you change headphones (tones change etc) you have to re-learn the machine a bit. With the 10" in PP I could normally questimate whether the target was iron or Ferrous just by the rise and fall of the sound....quite like using a single tone PI (sand shark). I was out hunted by both a 10" Excal and a 8" CZ-21 on that hunt.....but no gold was found by anyone on that trip. Back out today on a familiar beach and will be able to make a better determination of the big NEL. Dewcon and I are hunting together, hopefully we can compare live targets some more. On the first hunt, Dewcon had a few whispers located and the NEL heard them easily..... I sunk a nickel at 12" then NEL could hear it and I would have stopped for it..... the 10" Excal heard it slightly BUT Dew said he wouldn't have stopped for the signal..... that was wet sand and I had the machine at max sensitivity (just out of auto) at the time.
I do like that it is EASIER in the water then the CTX with the stock coil and a full one pound lighter then the CTX too!
Pinpointing is not as hard as I thought it would be.... center of the big coil is where the target is... When I can't see the coil, I put my heel at the back of the coil and move the coil....lower the toe of the foot and plant the scoop.....worked good for me. Taking the snorkel today to better SEE what is going on down there with the target and pinpointing.
More later don't want to make Dewcon wait for me.....

 

[Hydro Man]

Thanks for the report and Big Congrads on the Yellow..WooHoo!!

One thing that concerns me, you hunt fresh water at chest deep and only able to use 6 sensitivity? Wonder if we have any saltwater hunters, outside of the NEL circle that can give us a report on chest deep sensitivity...

Any reports from Cliff...

Should mention that I was hunting mostly in discriminate with the max sensitivity of 6, I didn't really see how far I could push it in PP/AM.
Going out today again so I'll try more work in PP/AM.

 

[OBN]

Thanks Cliff and Hydro. The main thing is in the saltwater chest deep, if it can handle high sensitivity in that it could be a winner. Wetsand I think the 13 ULT maybe able to hang with the big NEL. But the 13 goes crazy after about 15 inch's, submerged in the saltwater.

 

[lost items recovery]

I've been running mine just out of auto in pp/all metal up to my neck and the NEL has proven itself to me as the 15" coil of choice out in the surf.
It pulls some deep targets here in South Florida which we need most of the time.

One thing it's shown me is,
That my 720i is a great match.

 

[dewcon4414]

Joe..... on my testing down here, the 13 is a killer big coil in the dry sand...... but the closer you get to the surf the more the 10" can compete. You have to back off the sensitivity and that looses you a lot of depth. Now, the NEL doesnt seem to do that. I mean if you can keep a big coil in disc running at 12 oclock smooth you know its going to be hot. It doesnt seem to loose a lot of sensitivity to smaller targets either...... big plus. It did react wierd on one nickel..... it nulled on a really deep one.

Well we did our hunt. You want to tell Joe how well that coil went. right out of the car. got to rag on you buddy. I can tell you one thing its hard to keep up with a person taller than you and with a huge CTX coil. Fun day thou.

 

[frogmaster-riviera]

I have never felt i was going deeper, find more or gain time with a larger coil in the surf.

I prefer 8" in the surf with excalibur ...and I have to avoid that CTX 6 is a killer ;-)

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[hamiddetecting]

Very nice!! Congratulations!!

 

[Soflhunter]

Nice Finds !!!

 

[penzfan]

Hunted a beach pier area today with historically high EMI. The 15" NEL Attack coil gave me very little EMI feedback. One more reason to like the NEL...

 

[Hydro Man]

Well OBN, as you know each Excal is just a bit different. On my first water hunt at chest deep, I had no problem running just out of manual BUT when switching to Disc it was chatty to say the least....Just like using an Excal when you change headphones (tones change etc) you have to re-learn the machine a bit. With the 10" in PP I could normally questimate whether the target was iron or Ferrous just by the rise and fall of the sound....quite like using a single tone PI (sand shark). I was out hunted by both a 10" Excal and a 8" CZ-21 on that hunt.....but no gold was found by anyone on that trip. Back out today on a familiar beach and will be able to make a better determination of the big NEL. Dewcon and I are hunting together, hopefully we can compare live targets some more. On the first hunt, Dewcon had a few whispers located and the NEL heard them easily..... I sunk a nickel at 12" then NEL could hear it and I would have stopped for it..... the 10" Excal heard it slightly BUT Dew said he wouldn't have stopped for the signal..... that was wet sand and I had the machine at max sensitivity (just out of auto) at the time.
I do like that it is EASIER in the water then the CTX with the stock coil and a full one pound lighter then the CTX too!
Pinpointing is not as hard as I thought it would be.... center of the big coil is where the target is... When I can't see the coil, I put my heel at the back of the coil and move the coil....lower the toe of the foot and plant the scoop.....worked good for me. Taking the snorkel today to better SEE what is going on down there with the target and pinpointing.
More later don't want to make Dewcon wait for me.....

Well consider me educated.
I had my NEL out again waist deep on another cleaner, freshwater beach but this time hunted PP/AM and as Cliff mentioned above I was indeed able to run with the sensitivity just out of auto.
Plus when I knocked it over to DISC it was still actually fairly stable.
I admit I normally enjoy hunting in DISC, but while I was running it hot in PP/AM I came across a target that I got no signal on when I knocked over to DISC.
When I dug it turned out to be a ring!
A junk ring, but it was a bit of an "Ah Haa!" Moment for me.

I also tried it out on a really trashy beach with a lot of weeds.
Well the NEL is impressive, it's still a 15" coil and definitely not the be all end all.
All I can say here is give me back my 10!

 

[dewcon4414]

OK HM...... now tell us WHY you would prefer the standard? To much to push around, not sensitivity enough........ obviously it impressed you in PP which is why a good many are looking at it seriously. It takes in a lot of material to process especially with the sensitivity level it can handle. Might be a bit much to work with since most places except the bay or gulf have a lot of drift. PPing would surely take some getting used to if it PPs in the center of the coil over the tip....... especially on zincs that move around and can get deep. Id say...... give it some time, dont sell it until its paid for its self....... or get the coil swap ability so you have a choice of coils.

 

[Hydro Man]

OK HM...... now tell us WHY you would prefer the standard? To much to push around, not sensitivity enough........ obviously it impressed you in PP which is why a good many are looking at it seriously. It takes in a lot of material to process especially with the sensitivity level it can handle. Might be a bit much to work with since most places except the bay or gulf have a lot of drift. PPing would surely take some getting used to if it PPs in the center of the coil over the tip....... especially on zincs that move around and can get deep. Id say...... give it some time, dont sell it until its paid for its self....... or get the coil swap ability so you have a choice of coils.

Do have coil swap ability Dew.
Just would've preferred the my 10 because of all the trash on this small beach and the targets were so close together that I felt the 10 would have offered much better separation
Also the late summer weed crop was tougher to get around with the 15".
Just first impressions.

 

[penzfan]

Took Ms. NEL into the chest deep salt water for the first time today. Very stable and sensitive to small targets. The best of it:

 

[cdv1]

Do have coil swap ability Dew.
Just would've preferred the my 10 because of all the trash on this small beach and the targets were so close together that I felt the 10 would have offered much better separation
Also the late summer weed crop was tougher to get around with the 15".
Just first impressions.

HM, I have to agree with your comments.... on an "extremely trashy or target rich" beach and/or in an area with grass and weeds....the 15" is not a coil I would choose to use....I'd grab my machine with the 10" on it. However in our present Florida waters with next to no targets, you just can't beat the coverage the 15" gives you. The 15" does not seem any harder to move through the water then the 10".

Very stable in PP at any setting of Sensitivity, in Disc, for my machine 8 seems to be as high as I can go to hunt with in Disc.... but for the quick switch over from PP to check a target higher then 8 will work for target checking.....just not swinging at a higher level. No adjustments are necessary when moving from wet sand to chest deep in the water....this coil is very stable on the Excal II.

Large targets and coin sized targets are easily distinguished between. Not sure if it is my machine or the combo of it and the coil but in PP a shallow target give a signal tone rise (as expected) yet as they get deeper the tone seems to null(drop off) somewhat and I can better pinpoint the target for digging in disc!!!......need to do some testing to see if I'm hearing what I think I am.

Cliff

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Well consider me educated.
I had my NEL out again waist deep on another cleaner, freshwater beach but this time hunted PP/AM and as Cliff mentioned above I was indeed able to run with the sensitivity just out of auto.
Plus when I knocked it over to DISC it was still actually fairly stable.
I admit I normally enjoy hunting in DISC, but while I was running it hot in PP/AM I came across a target that I got no signal on when I knocked over to DISC.
When I dug it turned out to be a ring!
A junk ring, but it was a bit of an "Ah Haa!" Moment for me.

I also tried it out on a really trashy beach with a lot of weeds.
Well the NEL is impressive, it's still a 15" coil and definitely not the be all end all.
All I can say here is give me back my 10!

I can never return to a 10", I tried and just couldn't do it.... Felt like I was hunting with a coffee saucer after using the 15" coils for so many years...

 

[cudamark]

Agreed, I'm using my stock 10" backup while my main machine is getting mods. Felt like I was swinging a hockey puck! Just put a 15" NEL Attack on my E-trac. So far, so good, but, still evaluating.