Need help on new Coil

[gim]

I am wanting to get a small coil for my Sovereign GT found this one (5" DD EXcelerator Search Coil for Minelab (Sovereign Series)) at Kellyco. Has anyone used this coil or can give me a review on it or know of a good small coil where to buy one. Would like your expert or opinion. I like the Elliptical Search Coil but can't find on for the GT. Please help me with all you reviews and opinions. Jim

 

[Critterhunter]

In a small coil you have either the Excelerator 5" or the S-5 by Sun Ray which is 5.5" in size. You also have the Minelab 8" Tornado coil which is actually 7 & 1/4 or 7 & 3/4" big (can't remember). Many people like that coil as they feel it still allows excellent seperation while still going deep. I find the S-5 to get really good depth at about at least 6 but probably 7 or 8" on a silver dime in my soil. I don't know much about the 5" Excelerator but it is cheaper than the Sun Ray.

 

[Rick(ND)]

the 5 inch coil is small and good for some real bad trashy areas, but for over all the stock 10 inch coil works good and if you need a smaller coil that the S-8 of Sun Rays, the 8 inch Tornado coil and even if you can find a older 8 inch Coinsearch coil and dont plan on putting it in water will work out excellent as the coinsearch isnt water proof.

 

[GunnarMN]

Critter that S-5 is a deep coil if it can get to 8"

 

[Neil]

Ive never been able to get over 5 or 6" with either of the sunray S5s, white or black version which is why I got rid of them. They are excellent for super trashy areas but not for depth. Big jump in depth when you go up to the 8" range coils.

Jim it depends on how trashy the areas you hunt are and remember you can always work the stock coil a bit by circling targets/nulls for a better signal. Sometimes that is all that is necessary and not a smaller coil.

 

[Rick(ND)]

I sold my 5 inch coils for the same reason, tried both the Excelerator and the S-5 and found I like the 8 inch coil much better for trashy area.

 

[Nomad NJ]

I use the Minelab 8" Tornado coil and it works great. It was made for the detector.

 

[matthias]

I have both coils. The 5" DD hasn't been hooked up since I got the Sunray S5. Both work well in trashy areas. Just my opinion. HH. Matt

 

[Ron from Michigan]

I have used both coils and didn't like the S-5 even though I do work in lots of thrash.The 5 inch coils for the Sovereign's don't give enough depth.I wouldn't go any smaller than the small 800 coil. HH Ron

 

[Critterhunter]

Wow, I'm amazed at you guys saying that. I think the S-5 gets outstanding depth. It gets very near or about the same depth (7") on a silver dime in my soil that most other machines I've used using a 8 or 9" coil would get. Up until owning the Sovereign the QXT Pro got the best depth in my soil out of all the machines I've owned, which was about 7.5" on a silver dime. The S-5 gets right around that for me in both a buried dime test or doing an air test (about 6 to 8" depending on sensitivity setting). Maybe I've got a hot one or something. Next time I have it on I'll do the depth tests again and measure things to post.

Really anyway having good depth can actually hurt you when trying to sniff something out in trash. I often lower the sensitivity or stick it in Auto when using the S-5 in heavy trash so I'm not lighting up as much ground (targets) around the coil, and so I'm not perhaps seeing iron that is deeper than the old coin I'm looking for.

Enough people seem to love the 7 1/4" Minelab "Eight Inch" coil for great seperation yet good depth.

 

[JimmyCT]

I had the detech 5" DD coil for a short period of time (used it twice) It is a great coil, I am certainly not knocking it. I just love to use the stock 10" coil for several reasons. 1) Like Neil stated, I take the stock 10" coil and super wiggle that baby around in trashy areas. When I find even a decent signal I wiggle that 10" coil in all sorts of directions to determine if I can bring up the audio / meter reading in a trashy area. (I am thinking of the 8" as being my smallest coil should I decide / come to the conclusion that I want / need one) 2) I can cover much more area / ground. 3) depth factor. Hope this helps. - Jim

 

[Critterhunter]

I haven't used the S-5 all that much yet but I have found a rosie with it that was about 6 or 7" deep and right in between two shallow tab signals. This was at a spot many machines have pounded over the years.

 

[Neil]

Wow, I'm amazed at you guys saying that. I think the S-5 gets outstanding depth. It gets very near or about the same depth (7") on a silver dime in my soil that most other machines I've used using a 8 or 9" coil would get. Up until owning the Sovereign the QXT Pro got the best depth in my soil out of all the machines I've owned, which was about 7.5" on a silver dime. The S-5 gets right around that for me in both a buried dime test or doing an air test (about 6 to 8" depending on sensitivity setting). Maybe I've got a hot one or something. Next time I have it on I'll do the depth tests again and measure things to post.

Really anyway having good depth can actually hurt you when trying to sniff something out in trash. I often lower the sensitivity or stick it in Auto when using the S-5 in heavy trash so I'm not lighting up as much ground (targets) around the coil, and so I'm not perhaps seeing iron that is deeper than the old coin I'm looking for.

Enough people seem to love the 7 1/4" Minelab "Eight Inch" coil for great seperation yet good depth.

You can lower the sens with the larger coils too to help with the "good depth" problem your referring to. We cant see in the ground so when we hunt, having to good a depth can be a hinderance your right, or it can be an advantage as you sliding over targets your X5 wont see/signal on. Since we cant see in the ground we really dont know what we are missing.
Bottom line is what works best for our own areas. As much as you can try different coils/detectors/headphones....all of it to see what works for you best.

 

[Critterhunter]

My only point is that the S-5 gets around the same depth (6 to 8") in my soil as any other machine I've ever owned using an 8 or 9" coil. That's impressive to me. Of course the Sovereign now gets deeper than all my prior machines using the stock 10" coil or the 12x10. Isn't the old "rule of thumb" on the Sovereign that it's typical to get (what was the old saying?) 2 to 3 inches more depth than the actual size of the coil. Meaning, 12 or 13" with the 10" coil, 10 or 11" (although I've heard of 12") with the 8" coil, and so that would mean 7.5 to 8.5" with the 5.5" S-5.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I know I read that on here a while back. What's the rule of thumb again in inches over coil size for the Sovereign? Was it 2 to 3" or 3 to 4"?

 

[Neil]

Ive never heard of that rule of thumb your talking about, could have just forgot it. Perhaps you can pull up that thread and post it?

Again the bottom line is what works for you where your at. I tried several of those S5s, they used to be a chunky white coil and werent waterproof, thats on both the Sov and the Explorer. Then they started making them thinner, changed the color to black, and made them waterproof. Same performance though.
Good for you if you can get 8" out of one, I never could.

 

[rarysgaard]

I have both the Sunray S5 & excelerator 6" coil and both of them are great.They have great seperation & great depth up to 8" for both.I personally like the excelerator 6" better for sound,it seems a little crisper and less broad on target sounds.I just ordered the S8' coil.

 

[Critterhunter]

Glad you're saying about 8" on the S-5 because I was starting to wonder about my tests on that. I knew it had to be at least 6 but probably 7 or 8" on a silver dime if I remember right.

One thing about smaller coils that never gets talked about is that they will produce cleaner/better signals in really rough ground, and I'm talking about in high minerals or black sand here and not because of trash nearby. I found on my Whites that that was the case. In effect I would get deeper than using the 9.5" coil at some sites due to the high mineral or black sand content. Using a bigger coil would give a much more washed out or junky signal at the same depth. This isn't as much noticed on the Sovereign thanks to the way it handles the ground signal and also because of the 17 frequencies, but just the same I have noticed it to seem to be true at certain spots. At the very least it will clean up the falsing from RF noise and the falsing caused by rough ground. I'm sure there comes a point where the ground gets so bad that smaller coils for sure get more depth because they aren't overwhelming the machine with the ground signal. Just like there comes a point in size when a large coil is being washed in too much ground matrix and depth starts to suffer or targets degrade. The 15x12 seemed to max out in my soil at around 8" on a coin, perhaps 9". I had to watch how high I ran sensitivity or it would degrade target signals even though the machine was still stable. I seem to remember Crazyman saying in his bad soil the 8" coil gave him more depth than the stock 10" coil too.