Swing Naked (no coil cover) ?

[Scanman]

Recently I have watched several Tesoro Ebay auctions and noticed a lot of auctions the detectors were missing the coil covers, today I asked a seller if the coil cover is missing and his response was:

"There is no coil cover. I do not use coil covers on any of my detectors."

I have not had any further contact, not sure what to think about that?

Why would you not want to protect your coil?

Anyone else share the no cover method?

 

[TabMagnet]

Only time I use coil covers is when I am in rocky areas... Arizona desert being a prime example and even then I doubt I would have damaged the coil had I not used the cover. Other than that there is nothing to fear where I live now. Sugar sand. So why bother. I am much more concerned with keeping the detector dry and the elements out of the box itself.

 

[mudpuppy]

Never had a coil cover...and no problems with my coils either...now, there are water hunters that hunt in very rocky places that hit it everyday hard for many hours where a cover might make sense...in such an abrasive situation like sand and rocks, a coil cover might be a good idea..I hunt the water heavy with no coil for a year on one rig with no trouble....I've run a standard machine on the dirt for three heavy years, with the same 11"dd coil on it all the time, through the winter snow, on the beach, out in the heat, cold, rain, woods, hillsides parks, totlots gravel and chip...grabbed over 10k clad coins alone last year I kept track... with absolutely ZERO effect or damage to my coil...i have had to replace the foam handgrip on the detector though, and wish soembody would come up with a set of comfortable Pachmeyer grips!
Mud

 

[MarkCZ]

Coil covers started out a real good thing, but it was on what I call "Box Coils" these older coils where just two plastic shells clued together with the coil winding inside. The shells of these box coils weren't very thick and in the right conditions the bottoms could wear through, to solve this problem coil covers came to be.
Well years later many still use them, even though they're not "Boxed Coils" any more. The newer spider coils has a plastic formed top that when upside down forms a tray or a cup much like a Jello mold. This coil mold is layed upside down and the winding laid in place, then the whole mold is filled with a sort of epoxy, so in doing these there is no air space inside and there is no thin shell for a bottom, they have a solid bottom that is pretty thick. In other words you would have to rub the coil on a lot of concrete to wear the bottom out. So, for many the cover is way more of a problem then they are of any use, which they do keep the bottoms of the coil looking good, but they collect stuff and add weight. So, in the looks department they may help the resale value some.

Mark

 

[tvr]

I started off using coil covers; don't often use one now. Had one hunt a few years back where a little black sand in a coil cover kept me hunting silently for a long time until I dropped a coin on the ground to check the detector and could not find the coin. Off came the cover and all was well. Covers add weight; on some set ups that is more fatigue. If you do start to get some wear on a coil, a little marine epoxy can give you a new surface.
Cheers,
tvr

 

[tabman]

I use coil covers on the 9 x 8 spider coils, because of the way they're made. I'm afraid the bottom edge will break off.

I don't use coil covers on my 8 doughnut coils, unless I'm hunting rocky or gravel areas. I mostly hunt grassy areas.

tabman

 

[fowlercharles]

Hi Scanman, to get a better idea of what the guys are saying about the"'weight" factor ( especially for us older folks), remove the cover from your largest coil and swing it for a little while, or maybe even all day. I believe you will get the idea. Of course coil protection in harsh areas makes sense, but in general most coils are a pain in the butt to remove for cleaning.. The weight on smaller coils with covers are not so much noticed, but, still " must" always be cleaned before your next hunt. HH, Charlie

 

[wltdwiz]

i use shoe goo wears like leather

 

[BarryL]

Never had a coil cover...and no problems with my coils either...now, there are water hunters that hunt in very rocky places that hit it everyday hard for many hours where a cover might make sense...in such an abrasive situation like sand and rocks, a coil cover might be a good idea..I hunt the water heavy with no coil for a year on one rig with no trouble....I've run a standard machine on the dirt for three heavy years, with the same 11"dd coil on it all the time, through the winter snow, on the beach, out in the heat, cold, rain, woods, hillsides parks, totlots gravel and chip...grabbed over 10k clad coins alone last year I kept track... with absolutely ZERO effect or damage to my coil...i have had to replace the foam handgrip on the detector though, and wish soembody would come up with a set of comfortable Pachmeyer grips!
Mud

I agree dont use coil covers either as for as the foam grips I remove them and use a bicycle grip I found at Wally World that is rubber cushion and fits the palm of my hand and easy to clean

 

[richbat]

Coil covers are just like asking the question,which way do i wind my coil cable around my shaft,it's all a matter of preference to the owner.Myself i use them and always have,just my preference.

 

[Topo]

I always use them, better safe than sorry

 

[deliveryboy]

I maintain a pretty balanced swing so I rarely make contact with the ground hovering approx 2-3 " off ground. I have them on my Lobo and one Compadre only because I bought them that way. I will definitely keep one on my Lobo for prospecting since as stated by others the desert terrain is very rocky and uneven. Overall I find them redundant unless your style is ground scrubbing.

 

[BarberBill]

I've seen this basic thread many times. Pesonally, I prefer the extra protection and use a coil cover even though I probably don't need it most of the time. The weight isn't that big a deal on most Tesoros, at least not enough to discourage me. Bottom line though - use one if YOU want, don't use one if YOU don't care to.
BB

 

[Rainyday101]

I don't use one. To me they are just another chance for a problem area. Anytime a radiated/transmitted signal passes from one medium to another three things happen. 1. Some signal is reflected 2. Some signal is abosorbed 3. Some signal passes through. Now very little signal is reflected and absorbed, most passes through, but sand between the coil and cover, water, etc. things can get worse. We already are passing through three mediums, the coil, the air, the ground. Why add more, I leave mine off. Loss of signal is probably so neglible it isn't worth considering. Hell, I will proud the day I can say I wore my coil out!

 

[Scanman]

I can understand everyones reasoning, and there are some valid points, but one look at my covers and I know they are doing there job. If most of my detecting was in parks, soccer fields etc., with a lot of grass I could see not using a coil cover.

 

[jarrow]

I've seen this basic thread many times. Pesonally, I prefer the extra protection and use a coil cover even though I probably don't need it most of the time. The weight isn't that big a deal on most Tesoros, at least not enough to discourage me. Bottom line though - use one if YOU want, don't use one if YOU don't care to.
BB

 

[Monte]

the 4" Snooper coil on my White's Classic ID, on which it stays mounted.

My White's and Tesoro's, the makes I most often have in my personal detector arsenal, do NOT have coil covers with that one exception.

Consider this.:

1... Regardless of the brand detector used, mount the coil cover on the coil and search for 30 minutes. The pause, immediately remove he coil cover and stat searching again. Is the coil cover heavy? No, not alone, but out on the end of the rod it feels like a lot!

2... One detriment to have the coil cover on the coil is that it does increase the weight, or the perceived weight, and often it causes the operator to sweep a lighter detector, like most Tesoro's, at a brisker sweep speed. That's not a good idea with a 2-filter detector, if you happen to be hunting in black sand, highly mineralized sand, pea gravel, small rocks, etc., because a too-fast sweep will swamp the filters and too much ground signal will impair a target response.

3.. Most people did not use coil covers with any brand, and eve Tesoro's coil cover production was only about 50% of the search coil production. Then they made the epoxy-filled 8X9 coils and everyone wanted a coil cover due to the ugly look of the filling from the bottom side and the fear that the epoxy would wear down or wear out quickly w/o a coil cover. So, they had to up their coil cover production.

4... The old, early-day TR and TR-Disc. models, at the higher frequencies, had to be swept closer to the ground to maintain a consistent coil-to-ground relationship. Back then, in the 1970s, mainly and very early '80s, the technique called "scrubbing" was popular to maintain that universal relationship to the ground. However, in '74 we got ground cancelling detectors and the urge was to keep the search coil about 1" to 2" off the ground. In '78 we got our first motion-based Discriminating detectors and, again, we were urged to keep the search coil about 2" off the ground, or even a little bit more (3"), as that would keep us from experiencing 'fold-over' and 'back-reading' from the mineralized ground influence on the search coil EMF that was more powerful and the detectors had a higher 'gain' adjustment.

5... Coil covers can be a real pain in the hind-end to have to remove, clean, and re-install. Much easier to just not use them.

Just opinions from 49 year of detecting experiences ... and I don't need or want coil covers as I maintain a good functional ground-to-coil relationship and am not scrubbing the coil or experiencing any damaging behavior.

Monte

 

[TabMagnet]

Since this thread will not die and seems to just keep replicating and growing.... it brought to mind a mental picture that I need to erase....

The SWING NAKED title is more than a tad suggestive of those in the "E Pluribus Unum Compadreitis Carpe Diem" cult where the "less is more" philosophy is embraced within the church of Compadre walls.

I hope they never see this post and get any ideas, however I can see some members "Swinging Naked" along the beach "au naturel" or at most in a Thong to further embrace the "bare minimum" standards of the Church Of The Compadre... and here is where I need help erasing my mental exposure... pun intended.... as we all know the Compadre will definately find targets and when it does... those fine gentlemen will undoubtedly bend over to recover said target thereby exposing their wherewithall to the world.

Please keep this thread away from those members of said cult and may the two never merge. I can only imagine what T-shirt would be coming out next.