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8" X Coil In The U.S. - A Field Report


jasong

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Thanks everyone for the comments. Hopefully it's a bit of an advance preview for what a smaller coil can do on the GPZ from whatever manufacturer you choose to buy from. I was in the camp looking for larger coils, but these smaller coils definitely have a place in the arsenal on the GPZ even for a guy who mostly likes searching for bigger nuggets. With the GPX, the most common coil arsenal here was something like - Joey (or ML 8"), 9x14 (or 11x17), and 18" (or 16"/25"). In other words - a shooter coil, a general use coil, and a deep seeker/prospector coil. Unsurprisingly, the same 3 coil types all have a use on the GPZ as well if you work a range of different areas from mountain to desert to prairie. Seems to me that the 10x15 that JW is using is a candidate for the best all around coil size if a person just wanted 1 coil - but I haven't run that coil myself so it's just a guess based on the versatility and useability of the 9x14 on the GPX.

I know one thing: you couldn't pay me to put the stock coil back on now! 

Dave - I know at least one person who has a 12" Z search on order here. Hopefully I'm able to compare the 12" X to Z this Spring or Summer, or maybe this trip if I find an owner in AZ as my understanding is that there are a small number of Z coils here in the US for purchase now. I was hoping I could go test one with a dealer but the limited stock probably makes that infeasible. 

JW - Like Yoda teaching the young Jedi a lesson. 😄

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When I get back home, a scale to 3 degrees of accuracy is definitely on my purchase list. I'd like an even more sensitive one like we used in chem lab to start doing my own rough assays with, but those are too clunky and delicate to take into the field. Those ones you can't even breathe on, literally.

My scale collection is demonstrative of the evolution of gold machines. I started with one zero (0.x) with my 4500, then moved to two zeros (0.xx) with the GPZ, and now need three zeros (0.xxx) with the new coils. Thankfully, that's as small as I care to detect. 😄

BTW: mono coils scale roughly by area of the coil. The DOD has a similar scaling from what I can tell. The 12" and 10x15 are pretty much equal in area. There are probably other factors to consider with ZVT/DOD stuff though, dunno.

12": 113 in^2

10x15": 118 in^2

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Jasong,

Well done on all the recent posts.  I think I've been to GB 2 times since I saw you.  I don't have a quad so it wasn't me getting on to your patches!  There are several diligent GPZ users out there and some are going up into the new subdivision roads and the big cuts.

It is a shame now that I didn't let you use my 15x10 coil when I saw you.  I was with my friend and you were busy.  I certainly would have learned more from you than you would ever learn from me.

Mitchel

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Well dang, Jason.  I guess I left a few behind.  Good to hear from you.  I'm with you on it not really being too worth it for the little stuff.  But every once in a while, it is good to break a troublesome skunk.

The only problem I have with my Xcoil is the un-winding.  I still have to pull my coil wire through the shaft with a shoe lace.  But I can get it to work, if I need it.  So I am used to it now.

Anyways, I am glad you are getting out there and still hunting gold!   Take care.

 

Andyy

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13 hours ago, Andyy said:

But every once in a while, it is good to break a troublesome skunk.

This coil is the "Skunk Buster". Every patch I've taken it to where I knew there was smaller gold to be found, I've found more! Common enough that I don't even need to compare it to the stock coil to know this amount of dinks was just simply not heard by the stock. 

I am not the type of detectorist that really spends a lot of time going ultra slow and listening for all the little bits. But I have to think that some of the surgical precision detectorists would clean up with this coil in places like Rye Patch (I hope to test this this summer), or in any old patches in AZ that were known to have a lot of small bits and where a person knows just where to grid slowly. Or any deflation surface type patches really.

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Jason, Do you have a sdc2300?  It would be nice to compare signals on some of the undug targets.  At least in my areas, the sdc cleans up on smalls behind the 7000, so I'm curious how the detectors compare when running similar sized coils.

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I don't have an SDC to compare with unfortunately, Wes.

I have detected a patch here in GB which a Minelab dealer apparantly takes their "experienced" customers to, and said customers worked it for a few years until they felt it was dead, gridded and raked, and I know it's seen a lot of SDC's (and GPZ's). And I was finding stuff about 1"-2" deep, tiny little bits, without too much work, right in the main area 100ft from the road.

I have to feel - and this is only a guess - that the GPZ+8" is at least on par to small stuff as the SDC based on this. Maybe more sensitive even. Keep in mind I'm running HY/Normal and able to run high sensitivity though. Not sure how it would work in Motherlode with serps, basalts, etc compared to the SDC.

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Thanks Jason!  That would make sense running HY/Normal is a bit more sensitive. The sdc probably runs comparable to the Difficult ground setting on the 7. I've found sdc signals can be extremely subtle on small or deep gold, but when you understand its language, its a really fun detector. 

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