Which coil for a Bandido II Umax, for trashy spots?

[thumperjones]

So I have been hitting a few new very trashy areas in an old part of town. I'm detecting empty lots where old houses were demolished a few years ago. I'm finding the most interesting stuff between where the front porch was, and the sidewalk. My Bandido is doing great ignoring the nails and bits of ferrous junk, but the yards are LOADED with screw caps and aluminum junk. It's nerve racking to squeeze out a good signal to say the least... I'm hoping to get a new coil to help "get in between" and pick out some good targets.

My current coil arsenal:
7" Widescan (DD) *I use this coil almost always*
8" Concentric "brown donut"

Considering:
4" Concentric Tesoro
5.75" Concentric Tesoro
5.75" Widescan (DD) Tesoro
5" DD NEL Sharp coil

Most concentric coils have a hard time getting the depth of a similar sized DD coil here in my red dirt. I worry that the 4" may not be deep enough, but if it will hit a dime anywhere near 6" in dirt I'll be tickled. As for the 5.75" coils, I'm worried they may not be small enough to notice much difference from my favorite 7" Widescan. The NEL coil sounds like the perfect compromise, but I worry it may not perform as well as a Tesoro coil. Admittedly, I have never used an NEL coil on any detector.

My budget will only allow for one more coil, so what would you pick and why?

 

[tabman]

What settings are you using on your Bandidio II µMax when you're detecting those trashy yards?

tabman

 

[thumperjones]

I usually try to keep my Disc set just above foil, but even with it up past zinc the caps still sound off. They are right under the surface. I can tell whats a cap and whats not, its just that the ground is literally covered with them. I'm hoping to be able to get between them and pick out the slightly fainter (deeper) signals.

Sens: 8
GB: slightly positive
Thresh: 2 oclock
Disc: 7-8

 

[Dirtdigger33]

I just started using the 7" widescan coil this month on my Eldorado Umax, I have not had a chance to try it out yet on my Bandido II Umax. I do know that is amazing on the Eldorado. If you are able to hunt this area for a while I would try gridding the area and digging some of the trash out. I have found real trashy areas if you get rid if some if the trash there is treasure being masked by it. Also I would recommend dropping the sensitivity down. I have found most of my good stuff including a 1945 s war Nickel and a 1935 d buffalo nickel with the compadre at 2-4" deep. It is all about swinging your detector low and slow and a whole lot of digging and patience. Almost the same amount of patience as fishing. I can't wait to try the 7" widescan on the Bandido II Umax. HH

 

[thumperjones]

I really like the 7" Widescan. It gets great depth and seperates really well. You will love it.

Maybe I will just try and dig out some of the junk as you suggested. It would save me some cash anyhow haha.

 

[Hombre]

The 5.75 concentric is hard to beat, nice slow & overlapping coil sweeps work well for me, dig the trash and unmask some better targets underneath.

 

[Mega]

I can understand the desire to stop detecting 'nails and bits of ferrous junk' and you to a certain extent can do that with the discrimination of the detector but 'screw caps and aluminum junk' would be a major task and with so many if you did knock them out would be also stand to loose many decent targets as well,especially if using a coil above 6'',if you try and even if its possible to knock out aluminium which is after all a 'metal' and you are using a metal detector so my personal opinion is i doubt that you will be able too.

The best bet would really be go for the smallest coil which is the 4'' and methodically detect the area but then of course you over come the null signal problem of a good and bad target under the coil at the same time due to the size of the coil but then you loose the depth so its a very tricky site to work.

One possibilty could have been using a detector with the ability to knock out certain items ie notch them out but i dont think your detector allows it.iron and ferrous junk can be tackled to a certain extend but bottle caps and alloy will be almost impossible as yet i am not aware of any detector that can be that selective,well i have never found a successful way yet.

I never ever discriminate out foil,alloy or anything in that range as alot of our silver hammered coins can also be knocked out as they come in the same range as foil,so i run my machines with as litlle discrimination as possible on my roman and saxon sites.

It will be interesting to see how you get on with this problem,but gut feeling tells me you wont be able to with any success anyway,thats the only major down side of hunting sites like you do,the small 4'' coil option is the best way forward and if your machine has a notch facility that may also help.

 

[Dirtdigger33]

Just another thought for you. If the houses are demolished, is there grass or dirt where you are hunting and how deep are the screw caps? If it is dirt and the screw caps are shallow why don't you pick just a small part to hunt and scrape off a shallow layer with and detect that spot. Maybe you will scrape off some screw caps with the dirt and when you are finished you can push the dirt back. It might work if it is okay with the property owners. Good luck and HH,

 

[thump7]

Just another thought for you. If the houses are demolished, is there grass or dirt where you are hunting and how deep are the screw caps? If it is dirt and the screw caps are shallow why don't you pick just a small part to hunt and scrape off a shallow layer with and detect that spot. Maybe you will scrape off some screw caps with the dirt and when you are finished you can push the dirt back. It might work if it is okay with the property owners. Good luck and HH,

Actually not a bad idea if it is just dirt there.
Another thing that would work, is to put your machine in all-metal, swing the coil about 8" above the ground an listen for all the iron caps/ bigger junk. Take a screwdriver and pop out all the surface crapulance and then start over going low and slow.

 

[thumperjones]

The lot is grass and weeds. I can't make a big mess, I told the owner I would leave it just as I found it. But I CAN cut a billion neat little plugs I suppose haha!

The idea about swinging the coil up high to remove the bulk of the big stuff sounds like a good plan. I'll try that right around the sidewalk and near the front step area. I think I may try and get that little 4" coil just to have around. It could come in handy for a quick scan of some park/playground areas on my way home from work. I've got a few really nasty spots that see a lot of traffic, and I might could pick some jewelry out of them.

Thanks for all the tips and advice, guys. I appreciate it.

 

[BarberBill]

I've used the 4" coil to swing through heavy weeds/grass from time to time with some success.
BB

 

[Walknstik]

You can't beat the 4" coil for target separation in the trashiest of places and the 5.75" concentric coil is also a good choice with a bit more ground cover per swing. When the trash is really dense I don't worry so much about depth because target masking is usually the bigger problem. Searching in and around dense trashy places can really test your patience at times because it's best to swing slow with the smaller coils and it takes time to cover areas thoroughly. As stated earlier above hunting areas with a lot of screwcaps and aluminum trash will make the search even tougher cause a lot of goodies can fall in that same range of disc. Good luck and good hunting!

 

[Monte]

their 6" Concentric. They call it 5.75, but my rulers and tape measures all seem to agree that it is a 6" diameter size. My 2nd favorite, and former best pick, was the 7" Concentric, but I have been having similar or better performance out of my 6' Concentric coils. I hunt very trashy sites so I mainly use smaller-size coils, and have for many decades. I think you would like the 6" Concentric coil, especially working it slowly and methodically to best clean keepers our of a bunch of litter.

Monte

 

[thumperjones]

Thanks Monte. I'm gonna go with a small coil for sure, and by your recommendation a concentric. Whatever pops up used first may make my decision on the size lol.. Thanks again!

 

[88junior]

I like the 8" concentric coil it does good for me in trashy sites.