PhaseTech

First of all, in these situations I'd be using a lower manual sensitivity. Second of all, if you have the 8" coil, even better, but the 10" is still fine. Thirdly, listen to what happens to the threshold tone AFTER you go past the target. If you get a high tone signal then the threshold drops to a low growl, it is very likely iron. If you get a null or a squeak or a grunt and the threshold goes to a high tone, then there's likely a good target amongst the clutter. Work real slow, and check targets at 90 degrees. If in doubt, scrape 2 inches of sand and re-check. While the recovery speed may seem slow compared to modern machines, the Excal and Sov can still separate real well IMHO! Last tip - don't ignore the one way signals. If you get the trailing high tone threshold, I'd be checking it out. Dug many odd shaped bits of jewellery that gave a one way, that you'd swear were deep iron.

Couldn't agree more. As a consumer, less confusion, easier to sort out which model you want, and as a retailer, you can hold more stock and more accessories as you don't have to support multiple lines. Win win for all. I have experienced this first hand at least a dozen times in the last week trying to assist customers in finding the right machine - there are simply too many options.

Check it out Steve: http://www.detech-metaldetectorsaustralia.com.au/concentric-coils

Nothing wrong with the DD variant. Found many a nice piece with that coil strapped to the GP3500. On your 4500 you should be able to run it in Sens Extra, Boost, Mono

Had a quick flick through. At 8:41 watch how much better the 17x13" Evo hits the target compared to the 17x11". The Advantage is struggling. And on the 8.5g at 11", big difference between the 12x8" and 15" round. There's also a noticeable improvement over the 14x9" even with swinging the 15 super quick. One thing I noticed on several occasions is when he lifts the coil he often gets a loud ground noise. This tells me he wasn't ground balanced properly to begin with, or more likely in Tracking and the repeated passes over the target is messing with the ground balance. And lastly, how good is the 15x12" Commander! Probably the most underrated coil of all time.

Northeast to answer your question: If you look at the diagram which is straight out of the Minelab manual, with a DD coil in DD position, the left side is the transmit winding, and the right side is the receive winding. When in Mono mode, the detector still transmits with the left winding, but it now receives off both windings. So essentially the receive pulse is spread across the whole coil, and what you end up with is a field that is like mono coil, but skewed a bit to the left side. The whole left edge of the coil now becomes sensitive which is great for pin-pointing. Using an 11" DD coil as an example, when in Mono mode, it'll have performance characteristics somewhere between an 11" DD (in DD) and an 11" mono. - More Sensitive than a DD to small targets - Less depth than an 11" round Mono on larger targets - Better ground handling compared to an 11" mono - Not as quiet as DD mode - Better EMI suppression compared to 11" mono - It MAY, in the right ground be able to use Sens Extra where you MAY struggle with a straight mono The other way you could look at it would be to compare to an 8" mono. The 11" DD in Mono is essentially an 11x7" elliptical, so the 8" mono will provider a sharper response on most small gold, but the 11" would be superior in ground handling, and a bit more ground coverage. Hope that helps.

Nice one. I would never have expected it to even pick that up. Try it in Mono mode, it should be even better judging by my findings. I've shared some initial impressions here: https://www.prospectingaustralia.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=496064#p496064

Yep, I agree with Joe, if a lot of the gold is rough and prickly you want a smaller coil for that added sensitivity. But, my preference would be a 14x9" (NF, have not tried the Coiltek version).

Your detector is turning on and there is audio so your power cable is fine. It was also detecting the bbq, but not the smaller object so either it is in cancel mode, or something has blown internally. I'd try it in all positions of the Coil switch just to be sure. Can you not just return it to the shop and get them to sort it out?

Cool, sounds like an interesting area.

Hi Joe, A DD coil in Fast tracking is your best bet for hot ground. A big normal wound coil like a 18" DD Commander will handle super hot ground very well. If you are after depth, and the area is known for big deep lumps try Deep and Salt timing, especially with the 15" Detech which is a very sensitive DD. Cheers, Nenad

The Gold Kruzer has one of the most stable thresholds of any High freq VLF I've used, and that's what helps it perform on the ground. Many other machines can air test better, but they are next to useless on the ground. Joe76, yes as Steve has said all VLF's will lose depth in mineralisation. The smaller coil will be the better choice of the two stock coils in mineralised soils, with the concentric being reserved for mild ground or if using the Gold Kruzer to chase jewllery. The optional GK24 coil is a 9.5x5" elliptical DD, and this is a good choice for mineralized soils, better depth and coverage, but not quite as zippy on tiny stuff as the small 7x4".

Look forward to your results.

So sad to hear this. Jim was one of a handful of guys who went out of their way to help me out when I was a keen rookie with many curly questions. I hope he knew how much he was respected. RIP

Expected release date here in Oz is June 3. $640 AUD.