NEL 5.5x9.5 Sharpshooter on Teknetics T2 review

[Fish N Chips]

I got my new NEL Sharpshooter today for my T2 'Classic'. The mailman was 2 1/2 hours late which put a damper on my mood, lol.

The coil is much smaller than I expected, something I am very pleased with. I was wanting a 6x8 but could not find one, this is a nice small coil. Smaller than my 11" DD, yet the same width and not quite twice as long as the 5" coil. A perfect in-between size. The coil seems well made and came with a cover and all the mounting hardware (screw, rubber washers, cable strap). The cable is thicker than my Teknetics cable but not excessively so. I read these compared to garden hoses, but found this was not quite the case. It wound just fine up the shaft. The quality of the coil seems very nice. It balances well with the mounting point at the middle of the coil.

TID numbers seem right along with the 11" and 5" coils. I could run max sensitivity with no chatter.

I set up the nail board test with a 1902 indian head penny and rusted square nails. Interesting results:

Test #1:
Sensitivity 60, Discrimination 10, Tones 3. Ground balance 78
The coil got 5 out of 8 hits. It hit all the #1 spot directions, and only 1 of the #2 spot directions. I almost got a 6th, but I truthfully would not have dug it. All TIDs were down averaged, coming in around nickle to zinc (58-7 depending on direction, but good audio.

Test #2:
Sensitivity 60, Discrimination 24, Tones 1. Ground balance 78
The coil got 6 out of 8 hits. Almost as good as my 5" coil! It hit all the #1 spots, and 2 of the #2 spots. Definitely no more than that, the other two were completely nulled. Again TID was running nickle to zinc, but great audio.

Test #3:
Sensitivity 60, Discrimination 10, Tones 2+. Ground balance 78
The coil did the same as Test #1.

I took it to my local park with a huge RADAR transmitter. EMI is a huge struggle here, but I figured would be a good test on the EMI resistance, or lack there of.

As normal the EMI was horrible, the coil was a bit better than my 11" coil but still bad. My daughter was using the Silver Umax and we had to turn it down to 3-4 sensitivity to run semi-stable. I tried frequency shifting with little to no difference. I ended up running sensitivity around 20-40 depending how close to the radar I was, to deal with most the chatter. It was still annoying but worked. Other settings were discrimination 40 (to further help with EMI) and tones 3. There was no doubt when I hit a good target, a nice solid tone and lock on the TID. The TID seemed to lock on much better than the 11" coil when compared. My 11" jumps around and is a noisy chirpy beast at these parks, EMI or not. I found the coil very stable and much more tolerable in the trash.

I did not make any amazing finds. Just clad coins, trash and some chunks of lead. I got a few nickles that locked right on at 56-58. I noticed pull tabs bounced a bit more as I changed directions, coins did not. TID seemed a lot more stable. Separation seemed very good, I could run it right on a coin surrounded by trash and hear the coin well. It ran well in the heavy trash and the more open areas having a good balance of separation and coverage, making good finds in both. I make no illusion that my 5" would have been the better coil to use in the heavy trash, but was pleased how well the Sharpshooter did. My 11"coil can not hardly function in the same location. Depth was hard to judge as the EMI really interferes with hearing deep targets here. I dug several coins and pull tabs at 5" at 40 sensitivity.

Bottle caps still fooled me at first, but lifting the coil would give me a little iron crackle in the audio and the TID would drop. I use this with my other coils, and it worked well with this too. Coins locked on so well there was never a doubt on those, unless the silver ones magically turned into buried soda cans, lol. I hate when that happens.

I have a lot more hunting to learn and make a better determination on the coils attributes and detriments. My initial impression is that I really like it. I think it will work perfectly for the application I got it, hunting moderately trashy parks and sites where I want one coil to cover the varying terrain and trash levels. My 5" coil will still be the weapon of choice for the heaviest of the nails and trash, gridding small heavily littered areas looking for targets. This medium sized Sharpshooter coil will cover more of my general hunting needs, and I think it will do it perfectly. The 11" coil will be reserved for large fields and beaches where I want to cover more ground looking for targets.

 

[ramairnut]

I got my new NEL Sharpshooter today for my T2 'Classic'. The mailman was 2 1/2 hours late which put a damper on my mood, lol.

The coil is much smaller than I expected, something I am very pleased with. I was wanting a 6x8 but could not find one, this is a nice small coil. Smaller than my 11" DD, yet the same width and not quite twice as long as the 5" coil. A perfect in-between size. The coil seems well made and came with a cover and all the mounting hardware (screw, rubber washers, cable strap). The cable is thicker than my Teknetics cable but not excessively so. I read these compared to garden hoses, but found this was not quite the case. It wound just fine up the shaft. The quality of the coil seems very nice. It balances well with the mounting point at the middle of the coil.

TID numbers seem right along with the 11" and 5" coils. I could run max sensitivity with no chatter.

I set up the nail board test with a 1902 indian head penny and rusted square nails. Interesting results:

Test #1:
Sensitivity 60, Discrimination 10, Tones 3. Ground balance 78
The coil got 5 out of 8 hits. It hit all the #1 spot directions, and only 1 of the #2 spot directions. I almost got a 6th, but I truthfully would not have dug it. All TIDs were down averaged, coming in around nickle to zinc (58-7 depending on direction, but good audio.

Test #2:
Sensitivity 60, Discrimination 24, Tones 1. Ground balance 78
The coil got 6 out of 8 hits. Almost as good as my 5" coil! It hit all the #1 spots, and 2 of the #2 spots. Definitely no more than that, the other two were completely nulled. Again TID was running nickle to zinc, but great audio.

Test #3:
Sensitivity 60, Discrimination 10, Tones 2+. Ground balance 78
The coil did the same as Test #1.

I took it to my local park with a huge RADAR transmitter. EMI is a huge struggle here, but I figured would be a good test on the EMI resistance, or lack there of.

As normal the EMI was horrible, the coil was a bit better than my 11" coil but still bad. My daughter was using the Silver Umax and we had to turn it down to 3-4 sensitivity to run semi-stable. I tried frequency shifting with little to no difference. I ended up running sensitivity around 20-40 depending how close to the radar I was, to deal with most the chatter. It was still annoying but worked. Other settings were discrimination 40 (to further help with EMI) and tones 3. There was no doubt when I hit a good target, a nice solid tone and lock on the TID. The TID seemed to lock on much better than the 11" coil when compared. My 11" jumps around and is a noisy chirpy beast at these parks, EMI or not. I found the coil very stable and much more tolerable in the trash.

I did not make any amazing finds. Just clad coins, trash and some chunks of lead. I got a few nickles that locked right on at 56-58. I noticed pull tabs bounced a bit more as I changed directions, coins did not. TID seemed a lot more stable. Separation seemed very good, I could run it right on a coin surrounded by trash and hear the coin well. It ran well in the heavy trash and the more open areas having a good balance of separation and coverage, making good finds in both. I make no illusion that my 5" would have been the better coil to use in the heavy trash, but was pleased how well the Sharpshooter did. My 11"coil can not hardly function in the same location. Depth was hard to judge as the EMI really interferes with hearing deep targets here. I dug several coins and pull tabs at 5" at 40 sensitivity.

Bottle caps still fooled me at first, but lifting the coil would give me a little iron crackle in the audio and the TID would drop. I use this with my other coils, and it worked well with this too. Coins locked on so well there was never a doubt on those, unless the silver ones magically turned into buried soda cans, lol. I hate when that happens.

I have a lot more hunting to learn and make a better determination on the coils attributes and detriments. My initial impression is that I really like it. I think it will work perfectly for the application I got it, hunting moderately trashy parks and sites where I want one coil to cover the varying terrain and trash levels. My 5" coil will still be the weapon of choice for the heaviest of the nails and trash, gridding small heavily littered areas looking for targets. This medium sized Sharpshooter coil will cover more of my general hunting needs, and I think it will do it perfectly. The 11" coil will be reserved for large fields and beaches where I want to cover more ground looking for targets.

Very good report and very well put. I use my Sharpshooter coil for the same reason as you and save the 5" for the heavy trash areas. I am still anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Mars coils in the US.

 

[Fish N Chips]

I hear the MARS coils are fantastic! I have very few spots I can use a larger coil, but look forward to seeing some first hand reviews on them. It is nice to have some different options out there for the machines.

 

[Neil]

Can you put up a pic of this coil alongside the stock coil. Seems they are really close in size and would give near the same footprint.

 

[Mega]

The stock coil is 11''x7'' and the Sharpshooter coil is 9.5'x5.5'' does not seem like much but its still pretty deep but gives far better target separation in my mind,have used mine for over 12 months on my original T2 and still love it instead of my stock coil,but saying that for more open sites like our ploughed and rolled or pasture then i would either use my new Mars Tiger coil or NEL Storm.

But for general use the Sharpshooter does take some beating.

 

[Fish N Chips]

My 11" DD gets 0 for 8 on the nailboard test, not even one hit. The larger coil nulls over the nails. The NEL definitely gets more separation and can slice in between the nails, but is a bit more sensitive to positioning and swing speed than the 5" coil. I thought the same thing with the dimensions, it seemed the 11" and 5.5x9.5 would be pretty close, but it is smaller than I thought. The beam length may be even smaller than the actual dimensions, the spot the Ds actually cross is a bit less than 9". I need to test and see where the actual detection area is. Beam width does seem narrower in my testing.

I can not wait to try this at a different park. I am likely stuck at home the next few weeks with the kids, but can not wait to get out again soon!

Here are a few pictures:

 

[Mega]

Only thing i thought was cheap on the Sharpshooter coils was the 2 sticky labels i found after the 1st dig they started peeling off so rather look el-cheapo i just pulled them both off and must admit i think it looks much better without those labels.The glue quality is total cr@p and starts peeling pretty quickly.

 

[Fish N Chips]

I air tested the coils in my house. I know air testing is not all that accurate, I dig coins much deeper with my coils than they air test at. My 11" DD can get 11+" depth in moist soil at my parks. Still it is a way to compare the coils. Here are the results:

Settings: Sensitivity 99, Discrimination 10, Tones 1. Ground Balance 90 (factory pre-set). I can get a bit more distance with a ground balance at 70, but as long as the settings were the same on each coil I figured they would be comparable. At 99 sensitivity the 11" DD was starting to become unstable, chirping a bit. The other two coils were quiet and stable.

Measurements rounded to the nearest .25 of an inch (1/4"). Coins were modern clad coinage, no copper or silver. I may test the other conductors at a later date. Coins were taken out to where they gave a clear faint signal, just before breaking up on the audio. TID was stable the entire distance.

11" DD:
Quarter 8.25 "
Dime 7"
Penny (zinc) 8"
Nickle 8.5"

5.5x9.5 NEL:
Quarter 8.5"
Dime 7"
Penny (zinc) 8"
Nickle 8.25"

5" DD:
Quarter 5.5"
Dime 4.75"
Penny (zinc) 5.75"
Nickle 6.5"

The 11" DD and 5.5x9.5" NEL are very comparable, almost the same for depth. I figured the NEL would be slightly less, not the same. Field use will be where the real depth test is determined and it will be interesting to see the results.

 

[Mega]

F N C,those figures make interesting reading,i always thought the Sharpshooter coil was not all that far behind in depth compaired to the stock coil,the stock coil would have been seen better in my mind if the rod mounting was more central rather than at the rear of the coil,only a small thing but i think it makes the T2 just slightly nose heavy.

 

[Neil]

Thank you Fish and Chips. I had that coil awhile back on an Etrac. Its well made coil, pretty robust.

Like you mentioned about the detection area, that's what I was referring to. Im new to the T2 but am already seeing that pieces of foil close to the surface will hit off the edge of the coil by an inch or two even running sens at 80. That's with the 11" coil on and Ive been mostly using the all metal mode since its more sensitive. That's pretty sensitive and I think in a site with close targets I would have to dial down the sens quite a bit to be effective. I mostly beach hunt and that's not a problem. Right now Im trying to figure out what the deepest targets sound like, what they show on the ID.

Good luck with that coil!

 

[chuck ky]

Just image the damper it put on the mailmans mood having to work til 8:30 instead of 6:00. We should be used to that by now on the day after Thanksgiving especially since its also Black Friday with all the extra traffic.

 

[Fish N Chips]

I can imagine as my job varies a lot this time of year as well, and I rarely make it off on time anymore due to staffing. 12-16 hour days get tiresome. That said it is hard to think of my mailman being any crankier than he already is! I always wave and say hello, but he just glares at me and all the neighbors, we all laugh about it. He is a mean old cuss, lol. Our mailman across town was always in a great mood, this one is a bit scary

My uncle just retired from the US mail service. He hated the holiday season, but admitted it was job security.

 

[Youngted]

I use the Mars Tiger coil GREAT very well made much better than any other coil that I have had in that regard very sharp better than the standard coil in depth and more stable. It can find say a George 3rd halfpenny UNDER a rusty nail.and small Roman coins pretty close to small iron