NEL Search Coils vs Garrett Factory Search Coils

[AT-Pro-Hunter]

Hey there everyone,

For my first couple of years detecting, I was using a Titan 3000. I took a few years off and finally saved enough money to purchase a Garrett AT-Pro Diggers Special package. I also purchased a 5x8 coil. I received everything on Wednesday and went out on Friday with my brother and his E-Trac. For my first time with the AT-Pro, I was very pleased. I found all clad, but I am still happy.

Now comes my question. What is the difference if any between the factory Coils and the NEL Coils? Can anyone help me out here?

Thanks,

Rodney

 

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[mr helton]

The two I'm familiar with are for specialized uses.

The 15" NEL Attack coil is amazing for open fields and areas that aren't completely loaded with trash. Great depth.
The 6x3.5" NEL Snake is fantastic for cellar hole lips and other areas where the trash/nails are incredibly dense.

 

[ColonelDan]

Below is the field test report I did recently. For some reason I couldn't get the xls table to copy properly into this thread however. If you PM me with your email address I'll send you the entire report.


Purpose: The focus of the test was to compare the performance of five coils on the Garrett AT Pro:

* Garrett 5x8
* Garrett 8.5x11
* NEL 5.5x9.5 (Sharpshooter)
* NEL 12x13 (Tornado)
* NEL 15 (Attack)

Each coil was mounted on the AT Pro and tested to determine relative sensitivity at depth and ability to discriminate and separate good targets from iron on land. All results, observations and comments reported are from the viewpoint of the average user and not a professional design engineer.

Procedure: Tests were structured to evaluate sensitivity at depth in sandy soil and the ability to discriminate and separate (D&S) good targets from iron.

D&S: Conducted on dry land, an iron nail was moved incrementally closer to the good target so as to determine the closest distance wherein each coil could produce unique or separate tones thus distinguishing between the iron nail and the good target.

Soil: Sensitivity was determined by reporting the greatest depth at which targets of various size and metallurgical composition could reliably be detected.

Under both test conditions and for each coil, I began by conducting a factory reset then ground balancing the AT Pro per the manufacturer's instructions. From that baseline, the Pro Zero mode at maximum sensitivity with iron audio off was used in all cases.

Targets selected were as shown.

* Antique Iron Nail
* Copper Penny
* Nickel
* Silver Quarter
* Clad Quarter
* Clad Dime
* Thin 10K Pinky Ring
* Mens Medium 14K Wedding Band




General Observations: Below are a few of the most significant observations from the test runs with my general conclusions at the end.

All coils were very stable throughout the operation even with sensitivity set at maximum. I chose a location free of EMI and ground mineralization in order to reduce the number of variables that could affect coil performance. More testing under EMI and/or mineralized soil or even saltwater conditions would definitely be useful.

As indicated on the spreadsheet, the NEL coils within the relatively same size range of the Garrett coils appear to have a slightly better separation capability.

I was particularly impressed by all the coils separation/discrimination performance when the iron nail was placed directly on top of the various targets! One significant lesson any user must learn to recognize is that with the iron nail on top of the target, a unique tonal change was very apparent. No longer were there two distinct and identifiable tones, but rather there was a single tone that was not the iron grunt nor was it the normal tone of the target involved—it was a hybrid tone. Evidently, with the two widely different metals in contact, the detectable electromagnetic finger print is altered to varying degrees depending on the good target's metallurgical composition. Successfully learning to recognize and identify this tonal change will enable the user to find good targets when the iron might be in direct contact with a good target.

There was a distinct difference in each coils separation ability when the nail was oriented vertically on or near the target relative to the direction of the sweep vs a horizontal orientation. This is not surprising in that the detectable surface area of a horizontal nail is much greater throughout the sweep than when the nail is vertical. This difference is apparent from the results shown on the attached spreadsheet.

I also found that when detecting the smaller targets, a slower sweep speed is useful for successful separation when using the larger coils.

Although I found the 15 inch NEL Attack to be deeper than the others, it lacked in comparable sensitivity and had a distinct tendency to wobble at the end of the lower shaft due to its size and weight.

VDI was not considered during this run as the range varied widely from coil to coil. A separate test should be designed to determine VDI accuracy and consistency among the five coils tested.

The small 5 inch “sniper” coils were not tested. I only have the Garrett 5 inch on hand so there was no comparable NEL coil available for testing this time around.

Conclusion: I found the sensitivity and depth of each coil to be very good with excellent separation capability commensurate with the size of the individual coil. I would confidently use any of the five in the field with no reservations. However, I would have to give an edge to the NEL coils this time as tested under the established scenarios. As is always the case, subsequent tests under other conditions could very well result in somewhat different findings.

I would give a distinct advantage to the NEL Tornado overall. In terms of sensitivity, separation and depth, the Tornado combined these three critical criteria better than the others. Were I forced to choose among these five, I would definitely select the Tornado for general open field use and the NEL Sharpshooter for close in work or in heavy brush and iron infested areas. Having said that, in the larger scheme of life the difference between the Garrett 5x8 and the NEL Sharpshooter is negligible. Either will serve the user very well. One final word: all tested coils are quality products indeed.

Colonel Dan

 

[Oddjob]

Hey there everyone,

For my first couple of years detecting, I was using a Titan 3000. I took a few years off and finally saved enough money to purchase a Garrett AT-Pro Diggers Special package. I also purchased a 5x8 coil. I received everything on Wednesday and went out on Friday with my brother and his E-Trac. For my first time with the AT-Pro, I was very pleased. I found all clad, but I am still happy.

Now comes my question. What is the difference if any between the factory Coils and the NEL Coils? Can anyone help me out here?

Thanks,

Rodney

Welcome to the forum.

My soon to be 13 year old son uses Nel Coils on his AT Pro with a Mars Shaft. He uses the Storm, Tornado and Snake; we have purchased him the Big for his birthday next month as well.

He has been hunting for the past 7 years but when he turned 12 we got him his own machine and let him out on to run his own hunts. We hunt parks, resorts, amusement parks, water parks, beaches, streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, play grounds, sport clubs, mountains and any place that holds large outdoor events where drunk folks may drop something.

This week he just purchased a Velomobile and has secured 3 sponsors, 2 paying and one product giving to advertise on his Velomobile. Mars is one of his Sponsors and has given him the Goliath and Tiger Coils, and the MD Pointer. The other two sponsors are monthly payments, one is from our Bank and the other is from the insurance company.

We hunt only for profit, and in many types of environments. He started with the AT Pro stock coils and that lasted for about 5 weeks before he moved up to Nel. Right away he claimed there was a big difference all around from ground balance, target ID, target position and depth. His finds increased greatly and he has only kept going up with his finds.

He still uses 2 of the Garrett coils when we go North up to an island called Borkum, he says that they balance out the best from all the coils he has. Soon his Mars sponsor package will be here and he will have to sort out those coils as well.

That all being said, my point is that you need to get to know what you ATP can do in YOUR hands first before you move on out to another coil(s) from Nel, Mars or any of the other firm making ATP coils since it has been so long for you. These coils regardless of which manufacture they come from will do better than the next one depending on the environment and will do worse than the next one depending on the environment, use and operator.

In our family we do not look at MDing as a hobby, for us it is a serious extra means of income. If you treat it as such and learn as much as you can about every aspect then you will do good regardless of what you put in your hands. For my son, he is 100% sure that he will never take a job in his life other than what he is doing right now, to him he is completely content at the moment with how much he has earned in the past 11 months, but he is not content with what he has learned over the past several years of hunting and he wants to learn more and more.

So work with what you have, learn it, learn your self, perfect everything, dig it all if you have to, document everything, learn from others when they offer it or when you can, make money and have fun.