Equinox Skid Plate

[wildwilly]

Are any of you using the factory coils without the skid plate? All mine does is collect dust, dirt, water, etc. Is the coil bottom thick enough to use without it? The soil in this area is mostly plain dirt with no rocks. Your thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Ronstar]

My Fisher coils did not come with skidders and seem to be just fine but then again I’m mostly on grassy areas. The Sharpshooter came with a cover and it went to the sandy beach last week, I’m still shaking sand out of it..........

 

[BigTony]

Are any of you using the factory coils without the skid plate? All mine does is collect dust, dirt, water, etc. Is the coil bottom thick enough to use without it? The soil in this area is mostly plain dirt with no rocks. Your thoughts are appreciated.

I stopped using them awhile ago.
There are scratches on the bottoms of all my coils.
Is that bad? I don’t know but I don’t have the rust bits under the coil to bother me
Decide for yourself by testing it a week.
Tony

 

[Ted S]

I hunt a lot of fields. Much more than grassy areas. Mine only comes off to be cleaned.

 

[Donut]

Was getting filled with the fine sand from Lk Michigan sand and would just pour out.
Finely fill all the open cavities in my 11” coil with silicone sealant. Problem solved. Now nothing pours out of my skid plate.

 

[u2robert]

I would never use a Equinox coil or any new Minelab detector with out a skid plated they are to thin and fragile.
Not like the Fisher CZ & 1200 series coils that are resin filled almost indestructible, never heard of those coil ears breaking off.
But I guess that is the price we pay for lighter cheaper made detectors.

 

[Donut]

U2robert I still keep my skid plate after filling all the cavities. But I only have to remove it a couple time a year and hardly anything there.

 

[wildwilly]

Thanks guys, I think I'll try it without the skid plate for a while. Rarely rub my coil closer than 1/2 to 1" from the ground. I'm not worried about the depth lost. Seems the newer detectors have thinner bottoms than the old Fishers, Whites, etc. The fine iron particles and salt drive irritate the heck out of me. Hate having to clean the skid.

 

[Donut]

Thanks guys, I think I'll try it without the skid plate for a while. Rarely rub my coil closer than 1/2 to 1" from the ground. I'm not worried about the depth lost. Seems the newer detectors have thinner bottoms than the old Fishers, Whites, etc. The fine iron particles and salt drive irritate the heck out of me. Hate having to clean the skid.

Do like I did and you shouldn’t have to clean the coil.
Doug

 

[hunter12]

I leave the skid plates on all my detectors. One on my Nox is easy to take off, I use it mostly for the beach, and like to make sure it's cleaned after every outing. But I'm a clean freak anyway.

 

[MackDog]

Thanks guys, I think I'll try it without the skid plate for a while. Rarely rub my coil closer than 1/2 to 1" from the ground. I'm not worried about the depth lost. Seems the newer detectors have thinner bottoms than the old Fishers, Whites, etc. The fine iron particles and salt drive irritate the heck out of me. Hate having to clean the skid.

I always scrub the ground with my coil, it seems to get deeper. What about putting a silicone bead around the top of the skid plate

 

[5900_XL-1]

A mentor back when I first started the hobby had a tag line, "Scrub the grass." I adopted the method back then. Elevating a coil on purpose as a default, will cost you deeper finds, especially if you tea-cup in the least. at all. I won't scrub gravel but grass is 99.9 percent of my hunting.

Most all of my coils came with skid plates and I use them. As mentioned though, the bare coils made these days aren't built rugged, and a plate is just wise.

 

[u2robert]

I'm a grass scrubber also that 1/2 to 1 inches might be the difference between trash & treasure.

 

[wildwilly]

Thanks all for your replies. I'll just leave it on.

 

[klpgp]

Are any of you using the factory coils without the skid plate? All mine does is collect dust, dirt, water, etc. Is the coil bottom thick enough to use without it? The soil in this area is mostly plain dirt with no rocks. Your thoughts are appreciated.

The Nox coils are not like the Garrett's Iron Clad coils. Light weight coils are not durable without a coil cover. An alterative would be to use Gorilla Tape to protect the bottom of the coil.

 

[Donut]

Here on Lk Michigan the sand is so fine the coil fills with vert fine sand. I took the cover off and filled my 11” coil cavities on the bottom with silicone sealer. Problem solved. No sand anymore. I don’t know if the 15“ has the cavities like the 15”. The 6”:doesn’t.

Doug.

 

[silvercoinboy]

I wash my detector in the shower after any dirty outings- sand, mud etc. especially if in a salt environment. Usually take the cover off outside and shake out the dirt/sand.

 

[Mark kus]

Keep it on I never hunt without one and after every couple hunts mine comes off when I clean my whole detector I’m anal about my detector..
Mark

 

[Digger 45]

I seal the plate with bathroom caulking, make sure it is clean in side and then apply to all the seams so that no water or sand or dirt can get in, then you can spray it off each time with no problem, if you should have to remove the plate for what ever reason, you can use a razor knife to cut the caulking and remove. I have done this two years ago and works well.

 

[NJearthman]

What’s with the skid plate anyway? Why can’t it all be sealed like the Garret coil on the AT Pro? Also would like some improvement on the pinpoint. AT PRO you just back off the signal, when it’s silent the target is right below the tip of the coil. Hardly ever need to hit the pinpoint button. Equinox it’s somewhere around the center of the coil. Always have to use the pinpoint, which after awhile is really annoying. More often then not based on the hand held pinpointer I’m digging the side walls of the original hole created. Sorry to be cranky but it’s true.