Well, give me the 12X15 SEF any day. I detect with it 99 percent of the time. The other 1% of the time I use a 4.5X7 for trashy areas. (soon to be the 6X8 SEF) Every old timer I talk to says you really only need 2 coils, 1 large 1 small. The 12X15 is great for yards, parks, woods (perhaps not over grown), beaches and just about any place you can get to. I cover tons of ground and go head to head with a buddy and find coins on ground he's gone over. Perhaps a trait of the butterfly coils, perhaps enhanced by the coil size. Coins that are not out of range of his 10" coil, I just think the ability to separate targets on the 12X15 is fantastic. A lot of times due to its size I can hunt in semi-auto and get the same depth my friend is getting with his 10" using a high manual sensitivity. If needed I can crank manual sensitivity up. I am constantly impressed by how clear small targets are with such a big coil. If I'm hitting a tot lot, I can pick up the aluminum backing on those paste on "jewels" kids love to play with at 5". I'm talking about the ones that are perhaps 1/4" in diameter. I found a copper zodiac charm at 7" and it was half the diameter of a dime, it rang clear too, no iffy ness to it.
As with all large coils, if you don't go slow and steady, you can pass over targets, this is a user issue, not a coil issue. Also, this is a heavy coil, my first year with it after 4 hours my arm was a bit toasted. This year I've built of the required endurance and have not had any problems. For those who like to crank manual sensitivity up on your coil, this bad boy gets unstable fairly quickly. Just be confident that you are getting great depth without the high sensitivity. I know large coils are sometimes hard to use in dense woods, however, since this is a thick heavy coil, I find it can bull it's way through taller grass and those small little saplings and underbrush you can find in the woods. Lastly, pin pointing with the SEF is AWESOME. I usually can center over a target and cut my plug maybe 4-6" in diameter. My friend uses a 15" and a lot of times he digs pits, I let him use the 12X15 and he was impressed with its ability to pin point. It cut his recovery time down drastically.
I'm seriously thinking about picking up the 15X18, (which would complete my set of 4) but I think it would be more of a situational coil than an everyday coil. I'm not sure I have the patience to go slow enough with such a large coil in a moderately trashy site. The 12X15 is perfect.
Hope this helped.
Jai
