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I recently purchased the excellent LG 24 coil for the Legend for under $130. Why are similar sized coils by Coiltek (Equinox)and Minelab (Manticore) coils twice that price? Are they twice as good? lol

Anyone know for certain what the MX stamp on the coil ears means for the 6" DD Shooter. I know the V stamp stands for V rated and will work on a variety of higher end detectors, but what models can accept the MX stamp? I was always under the impression the 6" DD Shooter was originally designed for MXT but then White's started making different versions of MXT (will this coil work on all of the different MXT series) and to make things even more complicated, they then made a detector series called the MX. Could this coil stamped MX, only be used for those MX models? I don't think so, since the decal is exactly the same as the one for the MXT. Thanks folks your help.

The other day I ventured into a not so hunted area of my permission. It is a steep hill on the backside of a cut stone foundation... No doubt an embankment where the inhabitants tossed their discards long ago. The incline is tough as is the ground. The ground there is like cement as large Locust trees help shield rain. The finds were not deep, possibly the deepest being 6", but the entire hill side is blanketed with small square lathe and framing nails. I generally don't use discrimination on my Apex and I hunt with wide open sensitivity. I listen for pitch level and watch display readings. My iron volume is set lower to "2" allowing me to hear the nail concentrations, but keep my sanity. I have always liked Garrett's elliptical searchcoils starting back with the AT-PRO for their shape, quality of construction, and the ability to hunt closer to objects like rocks and trees. Today I was hunting with the elliptical stock coil "Viper", 6 x 11". When I first purchased the Apex, I did some air tests to see the extent of the coil's unfettered electromagnetic reach and I was surprised to get a small clear signal on my custom 14K gold wedding ring at a measured 14". Hunting the embankment was difficult. You lay the detector down, it wants to slide down the hill along with yourself and your digging tools, but the chances of finding targets here was fairly good. In one hour I found the targets in the first photo below. The targets were tough to discern mixed with the nails given the Apex has only one processing speed... But that speed affords good depth amongst target concentration. Two days later I would saddle up Garrett's smaller elliptical "Ripper" coil (5 x 8") and head back to the embankment. It was a calculated purchase awhile ago, but I had yet to really give it a workout. As a side note, before I left I did the same same air test with my wedding band and was again surprised to find it had nearly the same reach as the Viper coil. But how would it do given the smaller footprint? As a test, I carefully hunted the exact same areas to see if I could define more targets amongst the chatter. As you can see in the photo below, I found twice what I found before! Signals were easier to confine and all were found at the same depths as the stock coil. The spoon was actually buried vertically with the bowl deepest in the ground. As I brushed the leaves away I could just see the handle's back edge at the surface. Even though the Viper coil weighs about 1.0 lb., it is still nice to swing in high grass, but the little Ripper (0.8 lbs.) is an absolute crowd pleaser! Less resistance to grass and weeds and the depth is not too far from the Viper. What I came away with from those two days is the Ripper forced me to hunt with a slower swing speed given less ground coverage. Slower works well to give the Apex more processing time between crowded targets... Also, not as much depth loss as detectors with higher processing speeds. I would not want to hunt farm land with smaller coils because the matrix is not as crowded and you might miss those targets on the fringe of detection depth. Cellar hole grounds is where the little "Ripper" rips it up!

Woody's done a decent video on the chip in the 6000's coils. It's there for absolutely no reason other than being an authenticator to prevent unsanctioned aftermarket coils. You can read about the security chip here at the manufacturer's website. Video is of the newer model. This video shows how they program the chips, all very interesting stuff. There were rumours flying around Nugget Finder did this wrong when the Xceed coil was delayed, no idea if that was true, probably not. It's really not all that hard to do a dongle using the chip, the only thing different to the GPZ is you have to cut open the coil to make it a donor coil rather than just chopping the cord like the GPZ, the coil can work on the dongle without a chip in it so can still be used but I think many aftermarket coils are more likely to appear once GPX's are out of warranty and the stock coils are prone to failure so once people have a heap of dead genuine coils what other use do they have other than dongle coils 🙂 It's a shame Minelab are so against aftermarket non-sanctioned coils, they're holding back their detectors doing this, I suppose it makes life easier to bring out future models by doing so with self-imposed performance restrictions though. The funny thing is another common use of that chip is printer cartridge authentication to prevent people using aftermarket printer cartridges. We all know the agony of buying printer ink. There is big money in printer ink, Minelab gold detectors feel like they're worth their weight in gold, printer ink actually is worth more than its own weight in gold :)

It's great to see Nel still around, they've survived the odds so far and now they've released their range of coils for the Legend. Legend owners now have an additional 10 coil choices for the detector, and this will mean it's fiercely competitive with the best of the best from any brand. That 17x15" Nel Big would have to add some depth, then the absolute tiny gold nugget (flake) sensitivity of the Nel Snake at 6.5 x 3.5. The Nel Superfly and Tornado are also coils to take note of. It was always my condition that I wouldn't buy a Legend unless it had Nel coils, as I have too many detectors and adding another similar one would be a pointless exercise for my needs. However, now with Nel having their range of Legend coils available it is a must have detector for me, the Legend paired with a Nel Snake coil would be a beast for prospecting. He's a link to the Legend's Snake coil. https://nel-coils.com/index.php/en/production/nel-snake-9-5x3-5?id=2376 I'm sure they're going to be hard to come by at the start, and no doubt expensive as shipping from Ukraine at the moment is sky high, a price I am willing to pay though, this has to be a giant kick in the marbles to Noktas competitors.

Which atv mounted / drag coil is better? A wide area, looking for gold nuggets,

Something I've been wanting to do for a while now..I got another x ray generator couple weeks ago and wanted to try it out on my DR System.. Heres most but not all of the coils I have. 1. CTX 6" 2. TDI Pro 12" double mono 3. CTX 17' 4. XP Deus 9" 5. Miner John 8x12" mono 6. x cal 8" 7. Gold Monster 6" 8. Fisher Gold Bug two 6" 9. Nox 6" 10. Nox 11" 11-14 GPZ 7000 stock coil

Hi, I’ve been looking for a used 11 inch equinox coil and saw a significantly less expensive one on sale that is in almost new condition except that the cable was accidentally cut in half. I considered getting it as I can repair it properly because I used to repair underwater velocity meter and transducer cables at work. My question is do Equinox coils also contain an internal chip? If so, should I be concerned about it if the detector and coil were not energized when the cable was cut? Or any other possible issues doing this type of repair? I’m pretty competent about doing the cable repair itself, including properly replacing the shielding and making it waterproof. My main concern is what could’ve happened inside the coil. Thanks!

Does anyone have any experience with these Fisher/Tek coils? FirstTexas has them listed on eBay for most of their machines. I remember seeing them in the past for F75 but never heard much reporting on their performance.

Does anyone know if any mfg. besides Garrett has ever made offered a coaxial coil?

Although I will not have a chance to test this coil on the seabed until next Monday, an initial test in the air has me very curious... A few days ago, a user on YouTube complained of considerable noise, very similar to the M11 at the beach with even lower sensitivity, so much so that it could not exceed 20 points. To my surprise, what I noticed instead is that the footprint of this coil does not seem to respond as strongly as on the 8x5". Let me explain, apparently, the lateral response is much less pronounced and sensitive, compared to the obvious center part between the two rx and tx parts. It would appear to be something like a concentric plate, rather than a double-D technically speaking. With fully open pattern and lower separation speed, the differences are practically zero. Talking about sensitivity, 22 as last option before falsing yet in the air. The question certainly arises at this point about effective in depth coverage, rather than mere surface coverage. It is very likely that the difference in depth is almost zero and that the greater amplitude beyond the elliptical perimeter of the M8 is marginal. We shall see...

Actually not much to report for this week, if anything the M9 had a fairly quick break even with three rings under its belt. Two of the three, were recovered last week and thus not new, but the third turned up Tuesday morning after sunrise buried well over 10 inches...No wonder, considering the 7.77 grams of 14K. Bad surprise was the acid test, where just the heaviest one turned out to be 9K complete with a 585 mark typed inside. A real scam into which the owner also fell, because inside it bore the bride's name and thus a fake wedding band or at least passed off as 14K but with much less real value. (This ring appears next to the M9 logo). About the M9, there is little to be done, once in the dive, exceeding 20 points of sensitivity with beach LC, is out of question.With the M8, one can dare a few more points and given the non-appearance of broken bracelets or necklaces, I will return to use it soon. Definitely the M9 is more akin to rings, but not to links in bracelets and necklaces. Have a great weekend to all of you!

I currently have an SD 2100v2. There may be an upgrade to a new machine in the future, but thats not the question. I would like to know what series coils will work with the 2100v2. Will coils labled GP Extreme work? I know one of the coils I currently have is marked GP series. As I said, I may upgrade someday so also asking so I know what machines my current coils might fit I is lost!!!

I've got a lot of clad coins I was going to cash in. Coinstar has no fee if you put the coins into a gift card. Anyone know of a seller that sells coils on Amazon? I've looked but only see full machines.

A MD dealer/distributor from Canada has some rare Tesoro coils listed on ebay. There is an elliptical for the waterproof PIs (sandshark/piranha) and the 7” for the waterproof vlfs (tigershark/stingray). They have a couple others for the land machines as well. I finally managed to get a 4” concentric and a 7” widescan! https://www.ebay.com/usr/cts300551

I'm a bit of a coil addict, I like trying and using various brands and types of coils. I think more than anything the recent revelation with the Nugget Finder coils for the GPX Series being very inconsistent and random in their ability to work correctly on detectors like the Algoforce shows the inconsistent nature of coil manufacturing with some handmade coils. Coiltek seem to have avoided the problem entirely with their coils and calibration on the Algoforce so far, I've not heard of anyone having the same issues but perhaps their manufacturing methods are very different, I think they are from factory photos with their high-tech machinery that I recall seeing in the past. I haven't heard of the problem with Detech coils either? Maybe someone has? The NF coils have been a bit of a luck of the draw, some Sadies work fine, some seem to work and calibrate fine but not perform as well as expected, and others just won't calibrate at all in ultra fine mode (the most sensitive) indicating an out of spec coil, the 12x8"s seem similar but for all sizes to be pulled from production it's likely more than just those two affected. It is really great Nugget Finder are reworking their coils to handle these more sensitive detectors, and it's said the new versions will work just as well on the originally intended detectors like the GPX 4500/5000 but at the same time will work better on the more sensitive detectors like the Algoforce and modded GPX's. It's really good news NF decided they would continue making older GPX coils to give us a good range on the last of the detectors on the market to have a big range of plug and play coils, already over the past few years many models of GPX coil have been discontinued by manufacturers likely due to lack of demand, so selection of new GPX coils is already getting slim compared to years gone by. This begs the question, even though on the older GPX series like the 5000 the coils worked without even knowing about these inconsistencies that are now showing their faces with the newer detectors, were some hotter than others? did some work better than others in general and we just didn't know it or is it just because we're pushing the limits of the coil designs in their current form? This goes for all brands too, are some coils really hotter than others of the exact same coil? I believe this to be the case but don't really know, it just seems that way. It's likely the same with VLF coils too, the old Gold Bug 2's it was widely believed some people had hotter coils than others.

Well, after almost two weeks out of the water, I just used on the wetsand the M9 for a couple days, leaving the M8 to rest for a little. So this morning I was approaching the deeper waters and after half an hour or so, a crazy noise started out of the blue. No sensitivity detuning or noise cancel or GB or program change worked to keep the machine quiet. Turned off and re-turned on, nothing, same conduct. At a certain point, really tired by all that noise, I managed to change the min. & max. Pitch lower to avoid ears overstress in the depth audio mode and simple profile (the only combination for a neat strong signal). This solved just partially the problem and finally I've been able to hear signals by three SS rings that were in the area. I passed and crossed the tight space in every possible way till silence, but I mean by objects. My Manticore seems to get crazy without a reason and in spite of the longer lower shaft to avoid the rod lock bolt interference or the usual tight cable on the upper part, it remains to understand what is happening. Later I'll carefully dry it out and clean as usual to change the coil and try with the M8. If at that point the noise goes away, I'm maybe the owner of a faulty M9. This is the fourth or fifth session I dive with it... Let's hope for the coil or I'll be forced to ship the Manti to the doctor😑

Today I sold a Whites TDI pro to a customer, we set it up and turned it on with the stock coil and did a few air tests. He heard that Minelab coils would work and other PI series coils. I suggested we try some Detech coils with the following results. The new 14in Mono Spiral wound ran quieter and air tested a little deeper on coins than the stock dual field. The little 6in Detech mono was a surprise as it hard and loud on targets for its size. When the weather gets better we are going to try a variety of the Detech coils and see which are worth having for the TDI, outdoors with more realistic buried targets. I`ll post what we find out.

Four coils so far, 8.5" x 11" Raider coil as standard coil, three other options, two smaller and one larger. The Viper will probably be a favorite with many and is already available. The small Ripper and large Reaper coils are still in the works in progress stage. These coils have a new waterproof connector. That plus being optimized for multi frequency operation with the Vortex series means they are not compatible with any other detectors. No word on aftermarket options yet but in general Garrett has always enjoyed good aftermarket coil support, so we will probably not have to wait long. Headphone options include the proprietary Z-Lynk wireless MS-3 headphones for the VX7 and VX9. The VX5 does not have Z-Lynk enabled and so you will have to upgrade to the VX7 or VX9 to get this option. The Vortex models do not have Bluetooth and so for those wanting wireless you have either the included Z-Lynk option, or the possibility of adding an external Bluetooth transmitter via the 1/8" audio out port. The Vortex series uses a 1/8" jack compatible with any 1/8" headphones. Note that the Vortex does have a built in master volume control (not all detectors do) and so you don't have to worry about having an external volume control on wired headphones. Regular ear buds will work fine. Beware of some model specific cell phone ear buds though as some use a modified 1/8" jack that may or may not work. There is also a waterproof headphone option for those wanting to get underwater with their Vortex. See my separate thread on the Z-Lynk system that describes how you can convert any wired headphones to wireless for use with with your Vortex VX7 or VX9.

Has anyone done a side by side comparison of these two coils in the gold fields to see the difference with the smaller (sub grain size) gold flakes?

At the end of the day, I gave in to the temptation to introduce the M9 into the artillery... After 49 total days of ownership and about 20 sessions in which I 97% adopted the M8, the Manticore has produced its price and the first gamble after the break even point will be this new coil. I'm highly skeptical of an improvement regarding thin gold sensitivity against the M8, but I'm attracted to a few more inches of coverage...Regarding detection depth, I'm afraid there's not much to look forward to. We'll see as soon as the coil arrives next Wednesday what it brings. In any case, before next Monday, I won't have a chance to dive.

VLF detectors can come with DD or concentric coils. This is similar to but not quite the same thing as DD versus mono on a pulse induction detector. There are three basic coil types in wide use, Concentric, Double D (DD) and Mono. A VLF detector transmits and receives simultaneously and so there must be both a transmit coil and a receive coil. A pulse induction (PI) detector can alternate between transmit and receive and so one coil can be employed as both transmit and receive in an alternating fashion. There is confusion on this but simply put VLF (induction balance or continuous wave) detectors do not employ mono coils. A VLF can only employ the concentric or DD options. A pulse induction coil can work with all three types. Metal detector coil types illustrated - concentric vs DD vs mono VLF detectors are more alike than different these days. One thing that can make a real difference is what coil the detector comes with. Two very similar models will be quite different if one comes with a 12" round concentric, and another an 11" x 7" DD. In this case the very same detector can be turned into two different detectors by changing coils. Here are a couple rarely seen on the F75 - the 10" x 5" DD and 10" elliptical concentric. A big difference between the Teknetics T2 and Fisher F75 was that the F75 came later and the ability to use concentric coils was added. The T2 can only use DD coils. Why DD or concentric? DD coils are all the rage these days. However, concentrics have more consistent detection patterns with less dead spots up close. Every notice how that DD coil goes wacky on shallow targets? And concentric coils are much better at identifying flat ferrous targets like bottle caps. Here it is from the guy that should know best, Dave Johnson, lead designer on the F75. About Search Coils by Dave Johnson Search Coil Field Shape by Dave Johnson Coil Basics by Carl Moreland I like the 10" DD for the solid design, better for working in stubble or other locations where an open coil might hang up. The concentric just for being better behaved. The DD is the better prospecting coil for bad ground. Concentrics do well on milder ground. A note on coils. The blade like knife edged detecting pattern depicted in DD marketing ads, and even the diagram above, is largely myth. Electromagnetic fields radiate and simple coils cannot focus them into beams. A round concentric coil has a search field shaped like a soccer ball cut in half. A similar size DD coil will have a search field more like a football cut in half lengthwise. If you ever doubt this, just fire up your detector with a DD coil, flip it over, and run a coin under the coil noting where the signal fades at different locations under the coil. This is best seen via true all metal modes, as disc modes suppress the edge signal to a large degree. But it’s there, and targets under the edge of a DD coil will mask centerline targets to a degree that would surprise most people. Finally, depth is more related to coil width than coil length. Think of a 5" x 10" coil as a stretched out 5" coil, not as a skinny 10" coil. That is why when listing elliptical coil sizes you will often see me putting the small number first. Marketers do it the other way around so you tend to think you are getting more than you are. A truer picture can be had by comparing the total area of a coil, one to the other, but for quick and dirty comparisons, comparing by width will give you a more conservative idea of comparative coil performance, than comparing by length. Fisher F75 with 10" Elliptical DD Coil Fisher F75 with 10" Elliptical Concentric Coil

I was on a trip, using my Gold Bug Pro device with the standard 11-inch search coil, and suddenly the device continued to buzz with the Overload message appearing. I moved away from the place, but nothing changed. I raised the detector high and nothing changed. I also tried the other 5-inch disk, and it was normal. I expected a nail or Something similar entered through a crack at the base of the search file. I dismantled the damaged file and did not find any indication of the problem... Any help is welcome

I bought somebody's GPX 4500. It came with 4 coils. Then I realized that I don't have a clue what are the strengths and weakness of the different coil configurations. What are some general principals to guide folks in matching coils to the situations that they encounter? I don't recall having seen any guidance on this. Thanks

I was just curious to know if the AlgoForce runs bundled or spiral coils optimally? I know it's early days to know definitively but is it safe to assume that the AlgoForce isn't too fussy in coil configuration. I know there is mention of the older Gold Search coils working well as do the Evo line of coils (Spiral). I guess this leads to whether either of these coil formats would be best in hotter ground? Thanks for any feedback. I only own 3 mono coils that I use with my GP3500.......my all time favourites.