Coil choice for conditions?

[RayB Fort Worth]

I just purchased a small Sun Ray X-5 coil for the trashy areas. I find myself using it most of the time and just being lazy, and not changing to the factory coil at all. I was thinking of buying a large 12.5 or even the 15 inch coil. I know the large coil would be good for the less trashy areas, but is there a large improvement on depth over the factory coil? I don't want to pay $200 dollars for a coil that I might hardly ever use and that may not give me the bang for the buck. I believe I'm getting about 5 to 6 inches max out of the X-5 coil and don't really know what the difference would be by using the stock coil. Any information on this would be appreciated.

 

[jeff & Maria]

If you really do a lot of field searching the 12 would be a good choice, but only because it is lighter and covers more ground than the stock 10 inch. Don't buy it for the depth you think you will get. The stock coil and 12 inch have about the same capability,in most conditions.
My feeling is the best investment you can make would be a Sunray 8 inch, or the Minelab 8 inch (which is really a bit smaller) They have no problem finding the deep targets and work well in even somewhat trashy areas. You would probably find that it covers enough ground and wind up using it 90% of the time like most of us. That 5 inch is a great coil for getting into tight areas and around homesteads that tend to have 200 years of goodies/junk around them.

 

[wpaxt]

A friend of mine uses one on his Explorer and says it works great in high trash & gets excellent depth. The WOT is great and gets better depth than the stock coil, but I wouldn't use one in a trashy park. On the beach, however, it works great.

Bill (S. CA)

 

[Larry--IndianaHVAC]

Why would you buy a larger coil if you haven't even used the stock coil??? Does this mean you are going to use a 12.5 and not the stock 10 inch? Don't waste your money and start using the stock coil in less trashy areas.