Explorer It Is.

[putnuontilt]

After much research between the DFX and Explorer. Ive chosen to go w/ the Explorer. My questions are... 1. What are the best headphones for it? 2. What equipment as far as digging tools are best? 3. I plan on buying a larger and smaller coil than the standard that comes with it, what sizes and brand do you prefer. 4. Should I wait for the new coil from minelab to be released to the public? There's so much out there on the market I'm just confused on what to get. I live in upstate NY and I'm open to any suggestions or advice. I also am looking for the best dealer. Thanks in advance

 

[BlackX]

On headphones, see this thread:
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?19,715884
(Note there are two pages.) From that thread and other sources, it does look like the SunRay Pro Golds may be the best seller for it.

Digging tools:
The Lesch brand seem to be the most popular by a good bit. After that it seems to be a mishmash of other things. (I'm in the latter category so far. My main tools at the moment are the tip of a fishing rod for a probe, marker, and to nail the plug down to keep it out of the way; a nice solid, long kitchen knife to make my initial cut(s), and a cheap plastic garden trowel for most of the rest of my digging, mainly so I don't scratch the coin and can check the dirt in the trowel with my probe (they're about buck apiece at Wal*Mart and various other sources so I buy them in bulk since they break for me about every 2 months or so (a good bit more often in the winter)).)

Coils:
I'm only 3-months into the Explorer but I'd suggest if you're not beach hunting or want the larger coverage for big fields, hold off on the larger coil for now unless you have money to burn. I picked up a WOT but I'm not using it much yet beyond trying it out here and there after I first got it. (Though there was some big fields I've hunted since where it could have been helpful.) On smaller coils, I picked up the SunRay X-5 but everyone seems to have their favorite. Bryce gets a lot of nice finds fairly deep with the Excel 6". Met a guy (and have seen someone post on here similarly) that that once they put the Minelab 8" (7.5"?) coil on they've basically not taken it off since. Then there are the ellipticals which a lot of folks seem to like. I'm still learning but lately I've just been using the stock Slimline all the time. I'd suggest the SunRay X-1 probe before other coils though. Makes a world of difference.

New Minelab coil:
Personally I'd wait a week or two to at least get the first batch of reports from what the new coil is like in comparison to the Slimline. On the other hand, there might be some nice deals out there as dealers try to get rid of SEs with the Slimline coil.