Coil for the E-Trac.

Oh Man I'm gonna be watching this thread like a hawk. Where I hunt on old military camp sites there is a ton of downfall timber and a lot tangle. A smaller coil would be just the ticket for this. But I don't want to just jump headlong into something I won't use very much either. Hope this thread keeps going for a long time. :yes:
 
I wonder how hard would it be to make your own coil. Just thinking out of the box And what would you need.
Has anybody tryed this :huh: Then you could make in any shape or size you would like could it be done.

Eagle 1
 
I have read a lot about coils and am NO expert by any means lol But, coils need to be wound properly, to a close tolerance. The shape of the coil is not just random either. Many designs have been tested and retested, nulled and thrown out. If you want to play around and try some, that would be fun. thumbsup01 But if you wanted to make a better coil? I suggest lots of courses in electronic engineering lol and a great imagination never hurt either. I wish I was that smart to make the next best coil :confused:
 
Thanks for the info, I dont think I will try it it's cheeper to buy it. But I think if I had the extra $$$ and :crazy: I would try it.

Eagle 1
 
Nobody mentioned the 18x15 SEF coil... Been seeing some videos with good results. Pinpointing seems good. Separation seems good. Depth seems great. Weight seems weighty... Anyone here try one?

Retail Price $899.95
Was $699.95
Special Sale Price $299.95

Wonder how long it's been on sale and how long the sale will continue...?
 
I read some posts about the 18x15 coil. Most people really seem to like it, but is has a limited area of usefullness. You need a lot wide-open ground, very little trash AND some type of support like a slingy-thingy cause they are HEAVY. I have also heard that they get a little more depth than the pro-coil, but not a lot.

Honestly, I wouldn't pay that much for a coil but if I found one for sale, used I might buy it.
 
So far in my limited Etrac days... the stock coil is great. If I had to get another right now it would surely be smaller. 6 most likely.
 
I love the stock coil and use it most of the time. If there is a lot of junk, or I am trying to change things up on an area I have hit hard I will switch to my SunRay X8 coil. I think it's a great coil and it does a wonderful job. I don't know if I would use anything smaller. When you drop from the pro-coil to an 8 inch coil you are reducing the coil size by 33%. If you drop to a 5 inch you are reducing by 60%. Since the DD coil basically detects along a strip, you only lose 33 and 66 percent of detecting area. You also lose depth when moving to smaller coils. It's all a trade off... how much depth do you want, how much detection area do you want, how much weight can you handle.

If I'm not digging a lot of targets the pro coil WILL wear out both my arms. I can hunt all day with the X8. It's not a lot of weight difference, but I guess it's enough difference for my arm.
 
Diggler said:
Nobody mentioned the 18x15 SEF coil... Been seeing some videos with good results. Pinpointing seems good. Separation seems good. Depth seems great. Weight seems weighty... Anyone here try one?

Retail Price $899.95
Was $699.95
Special Sale Price $299.95

Wonder how long it's been on sale and how long the sale will continue...?
Click to expand...

I bet it's a great coil for the beach, but I had the 15x12 and it kept pulling the E Trac shaft out of the machine, it was so heavy. I can only imagine the 18x15 :shocked04: :shocked04:. I think for most hunting, the front to back swipe is too large and will have you going over too many targets in one sweep. The price coming down is probably becasue there was way too much of a price increase from the 15x12 to the 18x15 to justify. No way would I ever pay that much for a coil unless I knew there were caches of coins buried deep, all over a property lol Other than that, around that 200 bucks is my limit.
 
I just bought the Sun Ray Stealth X-5 for my etrac. I got to use it this weekend for the first time. I went to a school yard that has been heavily searched over the years(not only by me but many other detectorist). In an area apprx. 5:blackeye:100 there is a lot of trash, highly mineralized and one side of it has fill dirt from a new ball field. With the stock coil I found 4 silver dimes and 6 wheats over two seperate hunts. I took the sunray coil and in 2hrs pulled 7 wheats, two 1943 P nickels and two more dimes. Most of these targets were right up next to bad targets. Some as deep as 8 +. Two of the wheats had the old style pull tabs come out of the hole first but the sunray coil was able to separate the good from the bad. So far I am impressed.
Nice thing about the smaller coil is it really forced me to slow way down. I know some of these targets were questionable with the stock coil and that is the reason I passed over them.

Very nice coil and does not seem to sacrifice depth at all.

Tom
 
I aquired the Minelab FBS coil that measures about 7 1/4 in Diameter, from an Explorer user in December and have had limited usage with it but I know I can get closer to metal poles and fences at a slightly higher sensitivity settings (around 26 - 28). I have also been able to pull wheaties about 6 - 7out of worked out local parks where the Pro coil has been, but trash or iron was usually close by. It has a DD configuration but I don't know exactly if it is or not. :-\ I don't see it on the Minelab site.
 
Can't understand a word of it. Russian? I take it?? I would love to try any other coil out there, but I can't spend 200 bucks everytime I get the urge to find a better coil lol So far I have tried the 12x15 SEF and the 12 Sunray and I must say the 11 is a better all around coil (in my hunting). The 12x15 is also good (better in a field), but a lot heavier. If anyone gets a chance to test that coil, I would love to see the results :yes:
 
My own opinion would be to get the Sun-ray x5 coil i think its about a 4 inch coil, it will find coins in very trashy areas very easily it is also good for rings and jewelery because it can tell the difference between trash and good items
 

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My go-to coil has been the SEF 10x12 coil for the past 3 years. I am mainly a coinshooter, but will hit the beaches during the summer months and after the winter storms. Our parks here in So. Cal, luckily are not really full of iron and lots of trash, but pull tabs are abundant though. (why do people remove those rascals anyways?)

I have to admit, I have found lots of good coins with the 11 Pro Coil that comes with the SE Pro & E-Trac. But for me, I find the SEF gives better performance. I am able to crank up my sensitivity a bit higher than the Pro Coil and the SEF still runs stable without much falsing. Depth is not really an issue for me because of deep holes Minelab makes me dig. Targets in the 5 to 7 are strong and my VID numbers are accurate, but I am looking for those iffy, deep signals. It did take me a while to get used to it when pinpointing, but once you figure that out, it's dead on. Separation has never been a problem, but I'm swinging a Minelab. 2 weeks ago I found a '39 merc with a nail sitting directly on top of it. It's times like that we all say, thank you Minelab.

When I feel I need a small coil it will be the SEF 6 EXcelerator EQ2 Pro because of my past experience with SEF coils.

To wrap this up, for me, SEF coils ROCK!!!
 
I had the same question when I bought my E-trac. I wanted a smaller coil and went with the 6 EXcelerator EQ2 Pro. I can't imagine another coil performing much better for the size than it has. I hunted a park that had been beat to dead over the years. I was shocked at how many coins I found with the smaller coil. I found two 1905 Indian Heads about 8 apart that had such detail on Liberty on the headband that I would bet money they were lost right after they were minted. This was in an area of an old main fairgrounds full of trash. I also found a Barber dime dated 1900 that was a good 7-8 inches deep. I'm sure the X-5 is a great coil but in my opinion so is the 6 Excelerator...
 
The 6 EXcelerator EQ2 Pro is all the small to medium size coil you'll ever need. But I've had my eye on the Ultimate 13 DD for the Etrac and from what I've read is lighter than the stock coil and gets about an inch more in depth.
:cool:
 
Well I've got an Ultimate 13 coming for my Etrac. I'll be doing some real world hunts with this coil and hope to video some too. :grouphug:
 
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