One outing with 7.5 kHz and ditched it.

[MassSaltH2O]

Hi. I guess most of you know that I am a salt water beach hunter.
I recently received my new 705 with the stock 7.5 kHz coil.
I took it to Hampton Beach (for those of you who are familiar with NE U.S.)
I tested it out. I found out that this rig can only go down two inches in wet sand on a nickle.
As for the dry sand, a 3 kHz coil would be much more optimal.
So I chucked the 7.5 kHz coil. The 7.5 kHz concentric is probably the worst coil for the beach.
I was able to get a great deal on a new six inch round DD 18.75 kHz coil.
I got this coil for gold prospecting as well as for the beach.
It just came in today, so I havent taken it to the beach yet.
I'll let you know how it works out. I wouldnt be surprised if I get three or four
Inches in wet sand.
I think the best coil for salt water beaches would be the Minelab nine inch concentric 3 kHz.
If you REALLY want to get serious, there are the Coiltek All terrain 15"DD coils available.
But these coils have several drawbacks:
A) They are heavy.
B) They cost a small fortune.
C) They go too deep. These coils can detect a soda can at 20".
Digging 20"inches for beer cans gets old PDQ.
So I think the Minelab coils are the best for the beach.
Oh, BTW, the Minelab six inch round DD 18.75 is waterproof, too! Sweet!
Happy hunting, Kev

 

[DELETED USER (Emmitt)]

Gotta love Hampton Kev! HH ALL

Emmett

 

[MassSaltH2O]

Yup! And they will probably have free parking later this Fall, too!

 

[Old Longhair]

I have found that since there is no redundancy in available coils, each has it's place. Each brings something to the table that no others do.
The trick is appropriate coil selection. Because conditions vary so much around this orb, it is extremely difficult to know in some cases which one will perform well for the desired task.

Randy's blog about coil selection "Which Xterra Coil Is Best For Me" is a good place to start. Links to it can be found in the FAQFAQ pinned thread at the top of this forum page.

 

[Neil]

Kev I am on my second go around with a Xterra 705 and this time Im gonna leave the stock coil on longer and try it at the ocean, something I did not do with my first 705. The first one I jumped right to the hi freq elliptical coil mostly and also used the 10.5" med freq coil, both worked ok on salt water beaches.
Interesting what your saying about the 3khz coil on salt water beaches, Ive not used one of those on wet salt sand but might pick one up if the price was right and try it.
The large coiltek coils are something I used in the past on Sovs/explorers and Im not about to go to that weight again Just takes to much of the pleasure out of the hunt for me.
Ive got to look into the full variety of coils for the Xterra. I will let you know how the stock 9" coil does here for me on NJ wet sand.

 

[MassSaltH2O]

Hi Niel. I can tell you right now how that concentric will do in wet sand.
Lousy! You will only be able to get down about two inches on a nickle.
The beach is one of the most highly mineralized terrains.
If you are high up on the beach on the dry sand, with about 10 inches of dry sand deep, a concentric works best.
But go half way down the beach towards the water. Still looks like plenty of dry sand, right? Wrong.
Dig down two or three inches and you will run into wet sand. What kind of depth do you think yiu will get here? Maybe three inches with a concentric. And the closer to the water you get, even tho it still looks like dry sand, the less dry sand there is.
I tried the stock 7.5 concentric at the beach. Lousy. I ditched it after just one hunt.
I switched to a DD coil. I think that unless you just stay high on the dry sand, a DD coil is required for beach hunting.
Sure, lots of folks use a concentric at the beach. But you will notice that they stay high up in deep dry sand.
A concentric is the best coil to use for the high, deep dry sand. But once you come down to mid-beach, a concentric is out of its league. Especially as you move closer to high tide levels at low tide.
I'm doing better with a DD coil. To be specific, I'm running a Minelab six inch round DD high frequency coil.
Except for down near the water where you might find some gold jewelry, a HF coil is not optimal for beach use.
But, this Minelab DD gives nice clear, loud signals on dimes and quarters even in dry sand.
I suspect that a Coiltek six inch digger 3 kHz DD would be optimal for beach hunting.
The low frequency would be great for silver coins, silver jewelry, and clad coins.
The DD coil will punch down thru a lot of that wet sand.
So I'm looking to get one of those digger coils. Pricey tho. HH Kev

 

[harryh31]

Hi Neil,
I notice you are concerned about the the weight of the larger coils, just as I was up till a few days ago.
Last week I bought the 15" Coiltek DD 3 kHz coil, which is quite heavy.
I have now overcome this weight problem by using the Mk11 EASY SWING. This is a fantastic piece of kit and transfers the weight of the coil to the top of your shoulders instead of your arm, you have no weight on your arm to carry, just enough effort is required to swing the coil.
I don't think one is allowed to advertise here, but the Easy Swing is available here in the UK.
I will send you a PM if you are interested. HH. Harry
Won't be able to respond till next week, going away today, on hols.

 

[Neil]

Harry thank you. I will look it up, if I cant locate it I will let you know.

I tried one of docs swingy things years go with an explorer and wot coil and it was good on the flat beach but a bit didn't help on the slopes at the beach.

 

[rl48off]

I have one and really like it especially when my elbow hurts take the load off. {edited only to remove non-sponsor link per the site rules}