6" coils, a thing of the past? Do Manufacturers care?

[utmike]

I've whined about this with the Manticore before but....

I noticed the Legend 2 and others are following suit with the supposed "small 5x8".

There are some of us who enjoy hunting the overwhelming trash of ghost towns and tear downs.


The BEST way to be successful in these areas is a small coil footprint that won't be overwhelmed by co-located targets. The little coils can get into/under sagebrush and other obstacles and send those little "squeaky" audio responses you get with a coin hiding near iron.

It seems that the manufacturers have walked away from producing them and if you're a small coil hunter, stocking up on older models like the Equinox 800 with the 6" might be the way to go.

Curious what others think?

 

[Picketwire]

A tesoro with all metal. motion and all motion, and a 6 inch coil is pretty effective. It sees things in nails that my Equinox with the 6 inch coil doesn't. Both pick out things better than any of my larger coils. I believe the Tesoro Bandido 2 micromax was Monte's favorite until his passing for the conditions you are describing. I agree with the need for small coils.

 

[utmike]

A tesoro with all metal. motion and all motion, and a 6 inch coil is pretty effective.

I've never used a Tesoro but.... the guys that I knew that did were very good with them. Last time I saw Monte, he was still talking them up!

 

[markinswpa]

For the last three year of when I was using the 800 I never took the 6 in. coil off. That was when I found the most keepers. I tried the 10x5 but the 6 in. just did better. Depth, separation and getting in tight and sniffing out coins hiding close to trees and in the brush, and another place was tight up to sidewalks that have rebar in them. The last year and a half I have been using the Manticore w/ 9 in. The 9's performance has been nothing less than exceptional but I would buy a 6in. if Minelab would bring one out. I hunt alot of woods and think at times I can't get in tight enough with the 9. But then up comes the question, would a 6in. coil perform as well as the 9 in. I remember digging some pretty deep silver dimes with the 800/6in. but the Manticore/9in., its depth is almost uncanny. So there might be a trade off there but I would absolutely give a 6in. coil a try.

 

[fwcrawford]

A tesoro with all metal. motion and all motion, and a 6 inch coil is pretty effective. It sees things in nails that my Equinox with the 6 inch coil doesn't. Both pick out things better than any of my larger coils. I believe the Tesoro Bandido 2 micromax was Monte's favorite until his passing for the conditions you are describing. I agree with the need for small coils.

I am not sure I understand what you mean when you made the statement “A Tesoro with all metal motion and and all motion”.
Can you explain in more detail please?

 

[fwcrawford]

I agree on the advantages of the 6” coils
I have the 6”, 5x8”, and the 5x10” coils that I use on my 800 and XTP.
I have gone behind the stock coil and made additional finds with the 6” coil and like using it.
I started river detecting two years ago and for this, I prefer the 5x8” for its slightly narrow footprint for getting into small areas between rocks.
The 5x10 I use for general detecting and really like it.
One thing for sure is that the stock coils keep getting bigger and bigger it seems.