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A Small Coil For The 7000


WesH

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 I have been painfully considering a purchase of a 7000.  Seeing the gold a friends 7000 is getting that seems to be out of reach of a 5000 is giving me reason for this consideration.  However with the areas I used to have access to that facilitates the use of the large coils are being lost due to development and I would have little or no areas to go that there would be a benefit to the large coils.  If Minelab would make a small coil like the 11 inch diameter that is stock with all the other models up to the 7000 it would justify a purchased.  I wonder if it’s the technology in the electronics that will not work with a small coil.

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22 minutes ago, WesH said:

I wonder if it’s the technology in the electronics that will not work with a small coil.

No. Minelab simply has not done it yet. Despite my pulling my hair and pounding the floor, and generally being an annoyance! :laugh:

Honestly, I suspect Equinox is in our way at the moment. New machine introductions are an “all hands on deck” thing requiring all available engineers to focus on the effort. There are rumors of third party development also. I have no doubt a smaller coil will appear eventually, but like all things detecting breath holding is not advised.

My vote is for an 11” x 8” coil.

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 I agree with your synopsis Steve.  I am a bit surprised the aftermarket hasn’t jumped on the market already for a series of different size coils.  I like the size coil you mentioned.  That size would be just about perfect for my areas.

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I doubt there is a coil more difficult to manufacture than the GPZ coil. It uses a winding configuration not used in consumer detector models before which facilitates the technology used in the GPZ 7000. There is over 6000 feet of copper wire in each coil! It has to be manufacturered to very high tolerances with no possibility of internal movement.

In other words, not remotely as easy to make as most coils and doing it on a volume basis might actually be beyond the manufacturing capability of smaller third parties.

minelab-gpz-14-coil-with-rod.jpg

Minelab GPZ 14 Coil with Lower Rod and Scuff Cover

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  Steve I am also left wondering, nothing new, that the coil design of the GPZ7000 is more of a major reason for the level of performance of the 7000 than the detector electronics are.  I wonder if a coil of the same design could work with the other model lines.  

  You were posting as I was typing this.  Kinda answers my question.

  Wow that’s a lot of copper.  No wonder there as heavy as they are.  I wonder if more wire in the coils for the GPX, GP and SD’s would increase depth and sensitivity.

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The coil is part of the magic for sure. The coil design was not new to Minelab (there are posts on Geotech with similar designs that precede GPZ) and in theory can work with detectors designed specifically to run it. That being the catch - you can’t just slap it on another detector and expect results.

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I brought this up to the Minelab rep. that was at the Nugget Shooter outing in Arizona.  Her answer to me was that a small coil was definitely a possibility but also noted (as Steve mentioned) that they have been very busy with the Equinox and Gold Monster.  My bet is that once things simmer down, we may start to hear about more development on this.

My concern is if they will actually make it small enough.  11" rounds are still big.  If an elliptical can be made, this would be more applicable to more environments.

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On 12/3/2017 at 10:21 AM, WesH said:

 I have been painfully considering a purchase of a 7000.  Seeing the gold a friends 7000 is getting that seems to be out of reach of a 5000 is giving me reason for this consideration.  However with the areas I used to have access to that facilitates the use of the large coils are being lost due to development and I would have little or no areas to go that there would be a benefit to the large coils.  If Minelab would make a small coil like the 11 inch diameter that is stock with all the other models up to the 7000 it would justify a purchased.  I wonder if it’s the technology in the electronics that will not work with a small coil.

Wes, I strongly agree that a smaller coil would be very useful for creek hunting, brushy, and rocky areas, but will i pay upwards of what could be a $1,000.00 coil, probably not.  In these environments, for me, i will dust off the 5000 and use my $240.00 Nugget Finder Sadie coil.

Brian.

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