RickUK

I guessed it was along those lines the targets that you are after,if that is the case then i am pretty certain a 16'' coil would be fine and 18'' would be more than enough,this would certainly nail a small money jar size item and of course bigger and still allow for single coinage as well to be found.

Have been thinking about this post about which coil is better of the 2 but you left out one vital piece of information and that was your finds that you are after,had a look at one of your previous posts and you mentioned this ' Byzantine and Roman money' so am assuming that its mainly coinage,of course i could be wrong on my assumption but i dont think i am. My opinion going from what you have mentioned is that the 18'' coil would be better for coinage size items and above but the larger 22'' coil would be the better option for locating say the coin hoard container but not so great on the individual coins.when i am after finding the scattered coins from a plough damage hoard then i mainly use the 15x12 Minelab mono coil,18''Detech mono coil on my TDI Pro and for actually locating the actual container i would use my 20'' Grande Sierra mono coil. But as most traditional UK hoards are/have been buried usually by a person laying down flat on the ground and placing the container into the hole then these are found in the 15'' to 24'' depth range or the length of the persons arm for a better way of describing it,so in theory a 16''-18'' coil on the GPX should be more than enough hitting power to not only get the individual coins and also the container and other artifacts as well. These are of course just my thoughts on how i would use my detector/coil combination in a situation like this and its not all that different from your situation by the sound of it.It may be off topic of say the norm of nugget hunting but the common denominator is of course the word 'gold' as in nuggets and gold coinage.

This possibly one of my favourite detecting forums,of course i am not a nugget hunter but the information that Steve H and the forum has provided me has been top notch,no major bitching or posts like other forums have,it basically runs exactly how a forum should be without over power hungry moderators etc which some forum have,which is a pity. It would be tragic if the forum in its current format changed,thanks Steve for providing a tremendous detecting platform.

Logic would tell me that the 22'' Coiltek coil could be slightly deeper but i would think that would be on larger targets,but here is a report from Gordon Heritage who is a official Minelab tester and he has report on actually using the 18'' Coiltek on a GPX machine. https://www.minelab.com/usa/go-minelabbing/treasure-talk/the-gpx-4800-with-the-coiltek-18-elite Makes interesting reading as its hunting for UK gold coins rather than nuggets which of course we dont usually have. This review may or may not help you.

The defuncted 3C's

Richard,a good haul by the looks of it,the recent bad weather that we have had has moved the sand around alot,so you had been lucky finding some coinage,far better than finding 'stiffs' on the beach

As you are after mainly roman coinage etc then my personal opinion is that the GPZ would not be the right machine for the job,actually locating the 'actual container or hoard' that contains coins then possibly yes,the GPX would be my choice out of the detectors that have been mention as its so much more versatile and of course the massive array of coils available both in DD or Mono format,the DD is the only option that offers some form of discrimination. This then leads onto 'possibly' another option and one that i actually use and that is the Whites TDI Pro,i have found is pretty good for hunting on some of my roman sites including one roman villa site in the worst soil conditions going,basically its like black sand but 80 miles inland from the coast,so very few VLF machines will work on this site,but a TDI Pro will and does work pretty well,with the added secret weapon of using the 'low conductivity' setting i can still hit our roman and silver/gold coinage but reduce the amount of non desirable targets ie nails etc down to a very acceptable level. Of course the TDI pro has another bonus and that is that the machine is also alot cheaper than the other 2 options that have been mention,please note that i am not saying its better in anyway than the Minelab options,but for the specific job in hand that you have mentioned ie coinage and possibly artifacts as well i guess then the TDI Pro does become a very viable and cheaper option.If i was after say only gold nuggets or that type of thing then i would go for the other 2 machines. Of course what works for me and the detectors that i use for may specific detecting scenarios of course possibly would not work for others,this is another possible alternative that you may have over looked and one that i also use is a VLF machine and i use 2 Nexus machines because of the massive depth advantage over other VLF machine,but they offer not only real depth advantage but also very sensitive on small single coins but also the whole hoard aspect as well.For me i like have 2 options that i can/will use and that is both Pulse and VLF technology. Of course this is only how i would use some machines in a similar situation as yourself especially when after single,multiple or hoard coinage situation and of course artifacts as well.What ever option you choose good luck in the quest and keep us updated so that other folks can benefit from your experience either good or bad from what you have learnt.

Interesting scenario,i am assuming its a hidden hoard of gold coins and as you have mentioned that they 'could' be in a glass container then it would be a sub 200 year old hoard,of course could be wrong but you dont have any further details. In a situation like that here in the UK if i was too come across a scattered hoard ie the plough has taken the top off the container and spread the hoard in a reasonably tight radius,then i would try and locate the stray coins then try and locate the container,usually ours are located in earthenware pot that type of thing and usually down at the 18-26'' depth range,which is the type of range that you have mentioned.The detectors that i have and use for these types of detecting hunts are either the Whites TDI Pro(pulse) with a range of coils from 12'' upto 20'' that certainly will give you the depth especially on the bulk or container of the hoard/stash or what ever you are detecting for.A couple of other detectors that i use are the Nexus SE (dual 9'' coil) or the Nexus MP with the 14x13'' coil,both of these machines are VLF but will certainly hit the bulk hoard container at the depth that you are after. One other and last resort and the deepest option that i use is a Fisher TW-5 twin box,basically no good on single coins but will have no problems locating a container of coins in the area size that you have mention,how deep will a twin box go on a hoard size container with coins in,well i will stick my neck out here and say that will nail the container at even greater depth,it all depends on the size of the target,the larger it is the deeper a twin box setup will go,but remember no good on single coins. This may or may not help you,but this is the method that i have use with some success here in the UK,surprisingly enough if you are on a tight budget and non of this information you have provided,you can buy a much cheaper setup say like a older version MXT and buy the Whites 15'' coil Concentric coil for a very reasonable price,this then allows you to use the stock coil for locating the stray or single coins or what ever you are after,then the larger 15'' coil for locating the actual container.This option does basically exactly the same as a high end Pulse machine or specialist dedicated machine at a fraction of the cost. Of course this is just my opinion and thoughts on how i would tackle such a detecting scenario and it has been successful i may add.

John,well fancy seeing you on here

Some interesting detector/coil rig setups in those photos especially the wheeled trolley rig For me the current biggest coil setup that i have on my TDI Pro are the Minelab 15x12 Concentric coil which is reasonably heavy but i use with a harness,18'' Detech Mono which is much lighter than the Minelab one,but the biggest coil that i swing is the 20'' Grande Sierra mono which is a Jimmy Sierra design but built by Miner John for him. I will highlight that i have never been near a gold nugget location as all my detecting is done in the UK and using the big copils for deep hoard hunting,so we have different techniques when using Pulse machines. But i guess most folks are using the GPZ with either the 14'' or humongous 19'' coil on,big coils on the GPX possibly could be on the decline as folks change over to the GPZ. Its interesting in what rigs the nugget hunters use,great photos that you have shown.

Here in the UK we are still in our main detecting season,which starts initially when the crops come off in August/September depending on how the weather has been during the summer.As soon as the crops are harvested then the detecting season starts and ends depending on the crops sown of course,but i can detect for the most part right upto feb/march on cropped land but all year round basically on pasture. Some farmers as soon as the seed hits the ground will basically say that the fields are out of bounds till harvest time,some are very laid back and will allow like some of my permissions upto about 3'' possibly 4'' of seed growth then that is out of bounds till harvest time. Of course from say April through till Harvest time detecting land can get very hard too find and even then if you are able to detect the ground can be like concrete and you then would need a digger to dig your find/s out the ground.But as luck would have it i usually end up on pasture which i like and often the targets are much deeper,but always have a backup magnet and rope in the car for a spot of 'magnet fishing' thats rather nice during the hot summer months,or i even like a spot of detecting on river crosssings like fords and near ancient bridges that man has used for over a 1000+ years. In theory we have nearly all year round detecting,i dont mind detecting in the cold,hot or even when the ground is soaking wet but never liked detecting when its chucking it down with rain,that is not my idea of fun.

The legendary ex military UK Land Rover,ideal for detecting just dump all your gear in the back and off you go,almost un-stoppable off road wise,can be picked up reasonably cheap as well at auctions.All though Japanese off roader are more refined the beauty of owning a Land Rover is you can almost be certain of getting spare parts for them either new or 2nd hand and at a reasonably cheap price anywhere on the planet. But saying that i own a german softroader the BMW X5 which is not all that reliable as one would think and the spares cost a arm and a leg when it does go wrong

Interesting topic especially as i also have a Vaquero but its the UK version called the 'Laser Trident11 Extreme' the difference here is that the normal UK Vaquero ie Trident 11 is basically the same as the US Vaquero. What makes the 'Extreme' version which is a modded version made by the UK service/repair centre Pentechnic is that it has been slightly modified inside and also a few other additions,fine tuning and basically its a 'steroid' version of the standard Vaquero,the freq is 18.5khz or possibly 19khz i stand too be correct on the 19 khz comment,but this is mainly aimed at our small silver hammered coinage and that is the main reason over the 14khz of a normal version of the machine,also it has the higher tone modification and also has a fixed and manual GB facility,one other major visual difference is that they also have the 'Tejon' battery box on which is 8x1.5v rather than the 1 9v battery. Mine came with the 11x8 coil on although you can of course stipulate the 9x8 Concentric coil or even any other coil combination as you wish,but i was not sure about the 11x8 coil for some time,but it has grown on me over time,i also have and use alot the NEL Snake coil 6.5x3.5'' for really trashy roman/saxon sites this combination on the trashy sites makes it a deadly combination,especially when you have a field that has roman hob nails on from the roman shoes,but the small coil allows you too pluck decent roman coinage from between these beds of nails. One of the main reasons that i bought a Vaquero or UK variation is that its ultra lightweight even with the 11x8 coil on it,i have wrist problems with my detecting arm and it makes no odds how hard i try with the other arm which is good,it just aint happening,the left arm just does not do the same as my regular detecting arm.Also of course the legendary Tesoro/Laser discrimination albeit its really optimised when using a Concentric coil but its pretty good also with the WS coils as well. It will never be my main machine,no Tesoro will ever achieve that for sure,its a site specific use machine in my book and its good for that use only really,do i have other machines ?? yes i do infact i have many many machines once again some are for everyday use like say my Deus and T2,but i also have site specific use machines as well for depth ie hoard hunting that crown belongs too my Nexus machines and also Pulse machines for a couple of very highly mineralised sites,and a tremendous selection of coils for these detectors that i own/use,are they all used the answer is 'yes' of course some are used many times during the year and other's just a few times but the all earn there keep in some way. The Vaquero is a good reliable lightweight workshorse and brings a smile and alot of enjoyment factor when i use it,does it find me anything ?? yes' of course it does,with our rich historical heritage in the UK it has found me some very nice finds as like all my other detectors as well.We are very luck in having as much history as we do here,if i am honest we tend too take it for granted.

Steve,you are probably right about that new 22'' coil,what i will say is that the Coiltek 14x9 mono coil that i have that was specifically made for the GPX/GP range does work a treat on my TDI Pro,been using it instead of the 12'' DF coil and never regretted getting it,its a pure joy too use for my site situations which are mainly farm land and deep artifact/hoard hunting.

I am aware that this coil is a DD and mainly aimed for the GPX range of machines,but could be interesting too find out if it would also run on the TDI Pro range of detectors,gut feeling tells me it would.

Of course its only a general indication on how each detector performs,i do own a TDI pro and it just shows exactly what depth advantage can be gained over other machines.Must admit never really like the stock 12'' DF coil so i mainly use the Coiltek 14x9 Mono which is not only deeper,its also lighter weight wise yet still deadly on small coin size finds.But for very small items like say cut 1/4 and 1/2 silver hammered coins and roman then the MJ 9x5 folded mono is the coil that i prefer,dont do nugget hunting or much beach detecting as mine is mainly inland.Cannot comment about the other machines used in the test though as i have never used them.

Great read,i also use the same size and type of coil on my TDI albeit mine is the Pro version,so the battery problem as such is not a problem as such,but the folded Mono is a deadly combination,been using mine alot of late and its become my everyday use coil. This of course just my personal opinion i have never really been a fan of the stock and 7.5'' DF coils,infact they are as brand new with may be a few hours on the clock but these days just gathering dust in a cupboard,my preferred replacements for them are the MJ folded mono and also the Coiltek 14x9 Mono,both as light as a feather but perform extremely well on my sites. Of course we all hunt different targets due too various locations,i dont hunt nuggets as we dont have them as such in the UK,but i do hunt low conductivity targets such as silver hammered coins and also roman coinage,this then is when the TDI range and the folded mono coils become deadly weapons of choice and they certainly do hit hard on hammered coins.

One of my favourite coils that is within the sizes that you have mantioned and i really enjoy using is the NEL Snake 6.5''x3.5'' i use one on my T2 and also a the UK version of the Vaquero called the Laser Trident11 Extreme,on both of these machines they perform superbly. They cover slightly more ground that the 5'' T2 coil but target separation in my mind is slightly better,on trashy sites then the T2 with the Snake coil is my weapon of choice,then my 2nd choice for the next size up is the NEL SharpShooter 9.5''x5.5'',the Sharpshooter coil on my original green T2 has taken more gold coins ie full and quarter staters than all my other machine put together.

Well the Whites sale is over,but just had a phone call from Scotland and they can ship me over at basically the same price a 6'' Mono coil for my TDI Pro,so will be on the next shipment from across the pond to the UK. Always had terrific customer service from Whites scotland and i assume it would be the same across the pond.

Only watched a few minutes of the video and then hit the 'exit' button,that says it all really.

I use a TDI Pro and not for nugget hunting but deep relic hoard hunting,currently the large coils that i use and dont have any problems with that are designed for the ML range are the 15x12 Mono,18'' Detech Mono,14x9 Coiltek and the largest coil which i will admit was designed for the TDI Pro is the 20' Grande Sierra mono.All run perfectly well,because i use it for deep larger objects i run my delay 15-20us. Must admit not all that keen on the stock 12'' and 7.5'' DF coils that are made by Whites,infact they are basically brand new gathering dust as i just dont use them,my favourite small coils are the Jimny folded mono and i think my all time favourite coil for the TDI Pro is the Coiltek 14x9 mono which was of course designed for the GPX range,but works extremely well on the TDI and exceptionally light as well because its foam filled. When i use the Jimny folded mono with GB on and in low conductivity its deadly on silver hammered coins and roman coinage as well,but also hardly dig much iron,i have access too a roman trading villa site but what is mostly challenging about it are the ground conditions,the ground is basically nearly like black sand but about 80 miles from the coast,not alot of VLF machine can work this site but the TDI excels. Really love this machine,maybe not the best machine for nugget hunting but terrific for my needs on some of my permission,its not used everyday but when it does come out to play it certainly earns its keep and the added beauty of a wide selection of ML coils.

Never really liked that size coil case for my DFX,found it heavy so only used it a few times. I do use a Coiltek 14x9 coil,really nice and light due to being foam filled.not good for surf use as it floats,but inland a terrific coil,out of those coils that Steve i have and use the 'Jimny' folded mono coil and also the big beastie bottom right bought it brand new when Jimmy Sierra shut up shop and paid basically peanuts for it including shipping too the UK,not used much but its tremendously deep,the cost involved means it will stay in my TDI coil arsenal of which i have many coils some designed for the TDI Pro and also some from the GPX range that i also use.

Absolutely brilliant idea,really cool idea,trouble is i did buy one of the XP cases thinking that i would carry and use it all the time,un packed it and put all the gear inside it and never used it,that was 18 months ago lol But i do still use my Deus on a regular basis,infact i like them that much i have a complete one as a back up that i always carry with me.

In the last few month i have been gradually drifting back into using Concentric coils on some of my everyday machines,well on the machines that allow both coil usage except the T2 and the Deus as both dont allow Concentric coils too be used. The specific sites/permissions that i hunt can/are be very trashy like roman and saxon sites,so i feel that Concentric coils are the best tools for the job in those situation,currently working a large permission that is right next door to the great north roman road which is often called the A1 from London up North,its certainly a very productive site but one does also encounter 2000 years of trash as well,so although that i do have machines like the Deus,T2 and some other modern machines,the best machine/s for the job are the Laser B1/B3 which Tesoro based machines tweaked for the UK and and also one that has totally blown me away is a 20 year old IDX Pro all these machines have got Concentric coils on,but not only have the finds improved i must admit by a massive margin but also the enjoyment factor has come back again.......just these 2 things are in my mind the most important part of detecting 'increased finds rate and the enjoyment factor' and its only since using these old classic analogue machines which also have Concentric coils on. I still use very small DD coils on a few of my detectors in the 5-6'' coil size predominately the 5'' T2 coil and also the NEL Snake on a modern Trident 11 Extreme or basically its a Vaquero but on steroids and when used with these small DD coils on excel in target separation on Medieval village sites which can be a very daunting environment with a large coil on. Although i do basically use both DD and Concentric coils,i am starting too enjoy Concentric coils more and more,the trick is using the knowledge that one can only basically gain from years of experience on deciding which coil/detector combination too use on that site that you are working that day,alas the current stock coils that most detectors have these days are 'happy medium' coils,its always wise if possible to have a selection of coils for your machine/s this in theory should cover most of your detecting needs,but of course we all detect different targets around the world,the only common denominator is that they are all metal,some hunt gold nuggets in Aussie land or Arizona,in my case i hunt a wide spectrum of finds here in the UK,so we all use the best tools for the job for your region. Some folks will be out this weekend hunting gold with say a GPZ with a 19'' coil on,but i will be using a 20 year old IDX Pro with a Concentric coil on,this just shows what at the time we consider the best tools for the job.Do i have some modern high tech machines,of course i do,but i only use them for site specific use. DD and Concentric coils do have advantages and Disadvantages,the hardest part and the skill is choosing the right one for the task that day

This new detector from Minelab may well be the best VLF machine for years,no question about it they do have a very slick team of folks who deal with the promotion and advertising of these products,but although we have all seen the recent videos on how quick this machine is,we still dont have the final specifications. Will i be buying one of these machines when they finally are available ?? the answer is 'no' and the reason being i have always had one major buying criteria that i never shift from and that is giving a new product a minimum 12 months time duration from launch to see if any major design faults or reliability issues evolve,and this not only applies to detectors i use this for any major purchase,things can and do go wrong with new products (MX-Sport electronics and Nokta plastics).Of course this product may fly of the shelves as fast as they can make them and never have a technical glitch,and i do hope they do,but for me how ever tempting the adverts and videos are,i will still be sticking by my buying criteria which would mean that i would not get one till very early 2019.