So if one coil allows you to run quieter at higher sensitivity verses another coil.....

[Ray-Mo.]

which coil will be the deepest if both are similar in size? For instance the SEF 12x10 runs quieter than the 11" Pro coil at upper sensitivity levels.I have my own theories and test results for my soil conditions and was wondering about others with actual infield experiences,Thanks.

 

[DukeOBass]

I just know that I have found coins in places that have very little surface area to cover when running a SEF coil vs the ProCoil.

 

[Djay-Mo]

Just for what its worth,I came across a 12x10 SEF at a yard sale last summer.It supposedly went with an explorer that they had already sold.The lady selling it let me take it home and try it for 30 minutes as long as I left a hundred dollars with her,so I did. I live just a few blocks away.
30 minutes in my test garden at home did not impress me at all,the 12x10 would not sound as smooth or hit as hard on my deeper targets and the numbers were a little on the high side both ferrous and conductive.
I took it back , even though it looked new. I may have messed up not buying it because I know 30 minutes is not very long to try anything out.
I just want to make sure I am going to upgrade some when I get a new coil.

Djay

 

[Jack Flynn]

Ray here's my two cents worth. For sure the E Trac was made to run extremely quiet and stable with any coil you put on it. It will run dead quiet until it hits something accepted with all the Sunrays, the pro coil, SEF's and such. It's made to be that way. Now when you crank that sensitivity in manual or better yet with a small coil like the X 5 it will run at 30 in decent ground in auto. All I have here is decent to excellent ground to hunt in so can't ponder bad ground that much. Anyway I love mine at 28 29 and 30 sensitivity and will not hunt in manual. All the coils above get a little chirpy I think, notice I think. What I see is the coils are seeing much more depth so they have more sounds to feed back. Now with that being said again, I know there's some theoretical formula that says a 5 or 6 or 8 or 12 inch coil can only see as deep as it is wide. My experience tells me, well, hogwash. At the high sensitivity setting of 28-30 the five inch Sunray will sound off a target at 8 inches. The eight inch Sunray I've dug a lot of coins in the 8-11 inch range and even a few deeper. In other words to me they are not unstable just seeing more depth making them sound off on more accepted targets. I hunt at 29 manual with power lines 10 feet above my head in several places along roads and still have no problem being noisy. I personally hardly ever anymore use anything but the X 8. I just recently bought another 10X12 SEF from KC and still have the X 12 and the only difference I can see is about 2 pounds more added onto the end of the E Trac with the SEF. I'm trying to sell it now. I feel those that run the E Trac in auto are missing an opportunity with every swing of the coil..........

 

[NebTrac]

Ray here's my two cents worth. For sure the E Trac was made to run extremely quiet and stable with any coil you put on it. It will run dead quiet until it hits something accepted with all the Sunrays, the pro coil, SEF's and such. It's made to be that way. Now when you crank that sensitivity in manual or better yet with a small coil like the X 5 it will run at 30 in decent ground in auto. All I have here is decent to excellent ground to hunt in so can't ponder bad ground that much. Anyway I love mine at 28 29 and 30 sensitivity and will not hunt in manual. All the coils above get a little chirpy I think, notice I think. What I see is the coils are seeing much more depth so they have more sounds to feed back. Now with that being said again, I know there's some theoretical formula that says a 5 or 6 or 8 or 12 inch coil can only see as deep as it is wide. My experience tells me, well, hogwash. At the high sensitivity setting of 28-30 the five inch Sunray will sound off a target at 8 inches. The eight inch Sunray I've dug a lot of coins in the 8-11 inch range and even a few deeper. In other words to me they are not unstable just seeing more depth making them sound off on more accepted targets. I hunt at 29 manual with power lines 10 feet above my head in several places along roads and still have no problem being noisy. I personally hardly ever anymore use anything but the X 8. I just recently bought another 10X12 SEF from KC and still have the X 12 and the only difference I can see is about 2 pounds more added onto the end of the E Trac with the SEF. I'm trying to sell it now. I feel those that run the E Trac in auto are missing an opportunity with every swing of the coil..........

Thanks for the report Jack. Just to clarify, what I've highlighted in red....is that exactly the way you meant to say it. I assume it isn't, due to your last sentence, or am I mis-reading something?

NebTrac

 

[Ray-Mo.]

My results are very much like yours.I almost forgot how quiet auto sens. is as I run in 26-30 manual 99% of the time now days.The other day I bumped it to auto without realizing it and thought something was wrong as the E-Trac was dead silent!
I think auto sens. is great for the first hundred hours or so on the E-Trac and then if you are hunting older deeper coins high manual is the way to go.I can remember when I first got mine and thought 30 manual was out of the question with all the feedback but now I hardly notice it except at the very worst sites
If a person is hunting a site with all coins at 8" or less auto would be a nice quiet way to go but I am always worried about missing that seated dime on edge at 9"+ or the seated quarter at 11" on edge.

 

[niterider_58]

I like both coils but prefer the 10x12 hands down over the pro coil in my soil and heres why. Bryce and i was hunting a school yard last year when he said hey how is this target still here!! i think its silver dude. so i swing my pro coil over it and it sounded like crap from every angle, i said oh that crappy signal i passed on that one its junk. Bryce pulled his pro golds out where I could here and I could not believe the high pitch scream of silver he was getting We both was using the same settings only difference was he had the 10x12 and I had the pro coil on and this happened so often I bought a 6x8 10x12 and 12x15 sef and now when i hit deep silver it sounds like silver, just my 2 cents worth....Phil.

 

[Hotcz70]

Very well said...and 100% truthful...and over at least 50 different actual infield keeper targets at depths of 9" to 11".

I don't know what else to say other than "it is what it is" here in our IL soil.

I too would now have to say I like BOTH coils...and I have really learned "how" to make the pro coil work for me. I truthfully do like it now and will definitely use it often. Sometime I'll show you something I figured out about it...and how it hits differently on deep iffy targets than the SEF coil does. It took me a lot of "crap" and iron digs before I figured it out...but it is a little trick that definitely holds true. I found out I can't dig the same type of hits as I can with the SEF coil...and it held true on 34 crapper targets dug in a row...but I finally figured it out

I'm sure everyone will have varying results on which coil they like best...and which coil hits deeper targets...is more stable...more sensitive...etc...but that is what makes the hobby what it is. We all have certain things that we listen for that tell us to "dig"...and we will all have differing opinions and comparison results because of it.

 

[Hawkeye Jim]

I've only had the E-Trac since last August and have always operated the sensitivity in the Auto +3 mode with great results................but this coming year I'm going to try the manual sensitivity and see how it works..........I know from reading past posts and the manual, that manual sensitivity boosts all three channels to the same level of sensitivity.

Now just have to wait for all this darn snow to melt to give it a try!!!

Hawkeye Jim.

 

[Ray-Mo.]

I am thinking your soil is very mild and may make a difference.I had the 6x8,10x12 and 12x15 and liked them all.Tried 2 different 10x12s and figured out in my soil that my pro coil was slightly deeper than either weighed less and balanced the E-Trac much better.I am quite sure all coils of same make and size are not equal and this plays a role in our results.I sold my 10x12 and bought a second pro coil for backup and need to try it and see if it is as hot as my original pro coil.
DrBob is a very proficient Explorer/E-Tracer hunting the same SW MO soil I hunt with the exact same results.I actually used the last 10x12 for 2 months of hard hunting this past summer and did well but when I went back to the pro coil it was like wow! what was I thinking swinging the heavier coil all that time with no better performance....
My 9" Silver Rosie in my test garden is what made me stick with the Pro coil as it hit harder and sounded better to my ears than the 10x12.Going to go scoop some snow and test my second pro coil and see If I get similar results.
I am in no way downing the SEF coils and have no plans to get rid of the 6x8 or 12x15,Ray.

 

[OhioCoinHunter]

I hunted with the 10x12 sef coil most of the time last year here in Ohio. It hit harder on deep indians and I also noticed I was digging more older and deeper nickels. It does an excellent job hitting on silver too. I found my one and only U.S. silver three cent coin with it. I know I dug some coins that were out of reach with my Pro coil.

There were some "now-how-did-I-miss-that-one?" moments where I wondered how I missed a keeper with the Pro coil. For example, at this one park I liked to hunt frequently there is a huge old tree. The trunk must be 3 to 4 feet in diameter. It's ancient. I had hunted the ground around it diligently a few times with my Pro coil thinking there just had to be something worth finding left in the soil. No luck. When I hunted the same ground on another day with the 10x12 coil, I got a solid, high conductive hit at a depth of 7 inches and dug a 1908D Barber dime. I couldn't believe it. I found it in an area where there is a noticeable downward slope in the ground - an area I pounded with the Pro coil. I just don't know how in the world I could have missed it with the Pro coil. It was a dream signal that sounded out loud and clear.

There were also times when I missed hunting with the Pro coil...mostly toward the end of the year. Finds slowed dramatically at sites I pounded with my 10x12. So I put my Pro coil on and, wouldn't you know it, began to find targets I apparently missed with the 10x12! Early in the season I would have said the 10x12 sef coil was the better coil - hands down. However by the end of the year I came to respect my Pro coil more. They are just two different animals that complement each other very well, in my opinion. I have great confidence in each coil...but I'd still give the edge to my 10x12 coil.

I've never cranked the manual sensitivity on both of them to do a side-by-side depth comparison. My guess it that both coils would get more depth in soil with low mineralization. It would be interesting to see how each coil performs in heavily mineralized soil with the sensitivity cranked.

Maybe it's due to the soil conditions around here, but I have noticed, in general, I get more falsing with the Pro coil. There are some areas where I can run it at 30 and it doesn't do too bad. But most of the time I have to back off the sensitivity to get it to settle down. The 10x12 runs more stable for me in general with higher manual sensitivity numbers.

 

[Jack Flynn]

Ray here's my two cents worth. For sure the E Trac was made to run extremely quiet and stable with any coil you put on it. It will run dead quiet until it hits something accepted with all the Sunrays, the pro coil, SEF's and such. It's made to be that way. Now when you crank that sensitivity in manual or better yet with a small coil like the X 5 it will run at 30 in decent ground in auto. All I have here is decent to excellent ground to hunt in so can't ponder bad ground that much. Anyway I love mine at 28 29 and 30 sensitivity and will not hunt in manual. All the coils above get a little chirpy I think, notice I think. What I see is the coils are seeing much more depth so they have more sounds to feed back. Now with that being said again, I know there's some theoretical formula that says a 5 or 6 or 8 or 12 inch coil can only see as deep as it is wide. My experience tells me, well, hogwash. At the high sensitivity setting of 28-30 the five inch Sunray will sound off a target at 8 inches. The eight inch Sunray I've dug a lot of coins in the 8-11 inch range and even a few deeper. In other words to me they are not unstable just seeing more depth making them sound off on more accepted targets. I hunt at 29 manual with power lines 10 feet above my head in several places along roads and still have no problem being noisy. I personally hardly ever anymore use anything but the X 8. I just recently bought another 10X12 SEF from KC and still have the X 12 and the only difference I can see is about 2 pounds more added onto the end of the E Trac with the SEF. I'm trying to sell it now. I feel those that run the E Trac in auto are missing an opportunity with every swing of the coil..........

Thanks for the report Jack. Just to clarify, what I've highlighted in red....is that exactly the way you meant to say it. I assume it isn't, due to your last sentence, or am I mis-reading something?Yep that's a mind fart, think one thing and type another. Old I guess, manual all the way Ray.

NebTrac