Not Impressed by the 12 x 15 SEF - Yet...

[Erik in NJ]

Just received this coil yesterday - decided to try one out after reading about Bryce's success with the smaller 10 x 12 SEF - I decided to go a little bigger to get an extra inch or so of depth. I went back to the area where I found the Large Cent and all the silver coins and charms last weekend. It seemed that this area had never really been hunted as I was not used to finding so much silver in just a few hours. I covered the area pretty well for the most part with the new Pro coil. I hoped with the 12 x 15 SEF that I would be able to pick up some real deepies that the Pro couldn't reach. Granted I only hunted for a couple hours this evening, but I did not find any coins that the Pro would have missed.

In fact the depth gauge with the 12 x 15 mounted is off - why the heck don't they compensate for this when they build the coil - I had the same problem with the WOT. You get reading on coins that are approx. half of the depth gauge and then you dig expecting a 6" coin and it turns out to be at 2" or so. Very frustrating. I did find a very deep old copper washer that rang up like a deep coin. It must have been at least 10" down which is pretty good depth around here. But no really deep coins so far.

I will not pass judgement on the coil yet - I'd still like to try it at a few more sites. Maybe the Pro coil is just an outstanding coil - I don't know - but I am convinced that there are very deep coins at many of these sites and I'm trying to find a way to get down to them.

I was getting some real iffy signals from time to time, but I wasn't in the sort of area that I felt comfortable digging really deep holes for something that may have just been iron falsing.

Anyone have any similar experiences (or opposite?)

 

[Jim upstate NY]

att least I assume the depth gauge is set in the explorer using the stock coil, so smaller coils should read deeper than they really are, and the bigger coils will read less depth.. strange you are seeing them read deeper on bigger coils.. unless you coil too far off the ground or something?
I assume is strength of signal that it uses for judging depth.. a larger coil should give a stronger reading at same depth, thus showing less depth.. I generally rely on the audio to judge depth.. and use less gain on larger coils.. I never found teh depth guage on any machine to be of much use anyway.. but the audio response is a good way to go.. just have to get the gain set so they read similar on your different coils

 

[Mike Bearden]

Wouldn't it be great if internal software would allow the user to recalibrate the detector for all compatible coil sizes ?

Seems like with all of this new digital technology that it would be a very feasible task on the manufacturers end and marketable to boot.

Uh oh ... here I go again with wishful upgrading


Good Hunting
Mike

 

[Erik in NJ]

Jim/Mike,

Shallow targets are definitely reading deeper than they are - as Jim said you would think it would be the opposite - I'll have to bring my XS out with the Pro coil and double check some targets. Mike I agree, an option to adjust for coil size would have been an easy thing to add. Personally, when I design software I like to add many configuration options - the user doesn't have to use them, but they are very handy for this sort of thing and not requiring a software change for modified behavior. Accurate depth readings at least to me ar very important. I think Minelab should have greatly expanded the number of advanced options on the unit.

 

[OscarSE]

At least the SEF coil cover more surface than the original one 10,5'. So it means safe time on beach combing.

 

[Jaichim24]

I recently purchased the 12X15 SEF as well. I purchased it in the hopes it would go past the layer of nails in my 1850's yard and find some goodies. No luck as of yet. It's amazing how little I am getting out of my yard, not one piece of silver, or anything older than a late end wheatie. (as far as coins go)

I did hunt my favorite church spot with it, (see my posts in Friends & Finds section, though I think I posted my first hunt with the SEF here as well) and found a decent amount of silver. It was able to discriminate just as well as my stock coil. Pin pointing is easy with it. Given its size, I was able to cover more ground. None of the finds were deeper than 6" though. So increased depth hasn't surfaced, however I was going over areas I had been on only once before. I wouldn't say it is pounded. Last week I went over the "sweet spot" with my 10" coil and wasn't getting many hits. Now that we are having some rain, I am looking forward to going out with the 12X15 to the "pounded" parts, and see if I can uncover some more.

As mentioned above, one benefit of this coil is the size, and I've had a good time at the beach covering a lot of ground. I was able to run the sensitivity up there in the dry sand. However, I haven't played around with wet sand or water yet with it.

Jai

addition: The coil does add a lot of weight to your machine. I usually had to switch arms fairly frequently at the end of a 4 hour beach hunt.

 

[OscarSE]

Beleave or not I put especial glue on the main cable get into the SEF coil in order to make it waterproff, then I test it into the water Serf Detecting and it gave to me one gold weding ring 18K GOOD!!!

 

[Erik in NJ]

Hi Jai,

The coil definitely covers more ground - it's a little heavy, but I didn't find it unbearable. I haven't given up on it yet - it's just I thought at this particular site there might have been deeper silver below that the Pro coil couldn't see - unfortunately I didn't get any deeper silver with this coil. I'm going to try the E-Trac there at some point and see what that can do as well.

Regards, Erik