help! which coil?

[sfox54]

i am looking at getting a new coil and i am not sure which type to get, so i am looking for some input. i pretty much hunt parks playgrounds, vacant lots in a city setting. so coinshooting is what i mostly do. the reason i am looking at coils is i rarely find targets below 5-6 inches, so i guess it is depth i am mostly looking for. i have a delta 4000 teknetics. it currently has a 8 inch concentric coil. pretty much my choices are....10 inch elliptical coil or 11 inch and 13 inch DD coils. i would appreciate some thoughts on what way to go. a new detector isn't in the budget for now...dangit!

[Tony Two-Cent]

Like you, most of my detecting consists of coinshooting in parks and school yards. All I can tell you is that the 11 Double D coil on my E-Trac seems to work wonders. A concentric coil emits an inverted cone-shaped pattern into the ground. The pattern tapers down to a fine point, making it easy to miss deep objects. An 11 double D coil produces an 11 wide straight-line pattern which gives you much better coverage with each sweep. I routinely find dimes at 10 deep with the 11 Double D coil on the E-Trac. The Walking Liberty Half I found a couple of weeks ago was 12 deep.

[del]

I'm partial to &quotcheesysmile: coils too , the have better separation and handle mineralization better than concentric coils .

[coinnut]

I'm all for DD coils. See if they make an SEF coil for that machine too. But another question for you is..... Are you sure you are pushing the limits of your delta 4000? Some of us run very hot sensitivity settings to get the depths we get. I rarely run auto mode. I always crank up the sensitivity. Just a thought before you get a new coil. Bury a dime at 8 and fool with the machine's settings to see if you can pick it up. Whatever settings find that dime....keep them lol Now try digging any target that bounces from one number to a good number and is a bit choppy. If it's deep it may be a coin at the depth limits of the machine. Bouncy signals that want to read coin, but flip to another number, usually are good and deep. They may be older coins. Nice job of redoing an area and getting more targets.

[sfox54]

i thank you guys for your thoughts on a new coil. when i crank up the sensitivity i get tons of chatter and it seems impossible to sort through so i always turned it down to where i could distinguish better, but i haven't tried burying a coin and doing as you suggested....kind of like tuning to that coin....going to do some experimenting and see whats what....lol...now you got me thinking...thats a god thing

[POKIE73]

like the above posts stated your machines may be at its limit at the depth you mention as far as the coil goes i would also have to say the double d coils would be the choice of most detectors for better coverage as far as depth i would not be able to say dennis

[sfox54]

coinnut.....i went out for a hunt this morning. i hunted an area at my usual settings which i always set sensitivity at 5...my detector goes up to 12...and i notched out foil and iron. i didn't keep a count of all i found as i denominations, but i had 12 coins at the end. i went back to the start and set sensitivity at 10 and hunted the same area and found 9 more coins that i missed first time around and it took almost twice as long to hunt the area. and it seemed as most of the coins were deeper. its nota very scientific study but the results taught me at least two things..... crank up sensitivity...and in doing so i go slower....which adds up to more finds. i still am going to make atest garden of sorts like you suggested...i will post todays finds in a little it

[del]

test gardens are great to have around because they shorten the learning curve with every new machine you mey get.

[coinnut]

Going slower always leads to more finds, at least for me. Cranking the sensitivity, when done correctly, has always made the targets stand out a bit more from the chatter. Going slow gives the machine longer to react to the signal, before it hits another one. Plus it's better for the arm to not whip it like weed wacker. lol Now try digging any target that bounces from one number to a good number and is a bit choppy. If it's deep it may be a coin at the depth limits of the machine. Bouncy signals that want to read coin, but flip to another number, usually are good and deep. They may be older coins. Nice job of redoing an area and getting more targets.

[sfox54]

thanks again coinnut! cranking up the sensitivity makes me go slower. it almost seems like relearning a new machine. like i said i only have tried your suggestion once as i didn't hunt today but the difference is amazing. when i get just a little more confident in what the machine is NOW telling me i will notch iron and foil back in., they seemed to be the origin of most of the chatter. i am going to hunt next at a ball field i played little league ball at some ahem....50 years ago i think i lost a dime there lol. it is no longer a ball field but hasn't been used for anything else either

[tanacat]

I'm also partial to DD coils. But then I've only used 2 others-SEF butterfly and 6 concentric. This is a great thread- lots of good info |

A very successful MD friend swings short 2-3 swipes and says it takes about 3 swings to pick up a good deep coin... I admit I have a hard time going that slow & meticulous-prob why I don't find much deeeep silver

[sfox54]

thanks tanacat...i too am of the not going school until coinnut gave me some tips above in this post now i still catch myself and make myself slow down...lol maybe thats an advantage of aging we slow down just a little every year?

[tanacat]

maybe thats an advantage of aging we slow down just a little every year?

lol good point! Btw I plan to detect way into old age and recently joked with my engineer husband that eventually he'll have to rig a harness/detector to my wheelchair or walker.

But if all else fails, we can just sit in one place with a pin pointer... I once had knee pain while detecting an old farmhouse and sat down to rest near the front porch. I started digging in one spot and dug nail after nail after snips of siding after the next and whoa and behold---- out popped an 1877cc seated dime!

[Boulder]

thanks again coinnut! cranking up the sensitivity makes me go slower. it almost seems like relearning a new machine. like i said i only have tried your suggestion once as i didn't hunt today but the difference is amazing. when i get just a little more confident in what the machine is NOW telling me i will notch iron and foil back in., they seemed to be the origin of most of the chatter. i am going to hunt next at a ball field i played little league ball at some ahem....50 years ago i think i lost a dime there lol. it is no longer a ball field but hasn't been used for anything else either

Sounds like you have learned some good sound tips from some good teachers.
Nothing beats knowing your machine.

[ODA 226]

Definitely a DD Coil! If there is a lot of trash in the ground, I break out my Super Sniper for my AT Pro.