X Coil Questions

[jrbeatty]

16 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

As far as the QED, I have one. I paid for it. I did not pay much attention to what the now ex-dealer said before or after he became an ex-dealer.  The QED I have works quite well with smaller coils. Is it even close to a GPX 5000........NO. Is it better than a Whites TDI for me.....YES  so far. I don't have enough hours on it yet to compare it definitively to the SDC 2300 except to say that it is tons easier to swing and coil changes including DDs are easy.

If anyone wants to borrow it just let me know. 

As far as this forum is concerned, it is where I feel at home with people like Steve, Rob A, Bill S, Gerry, and many other detector lovers and prospecting friends here that I respect and trust. My day would not be the same without this forum.

Jeff and Steve: 

As a former QED enthusiast, it has given me no joy to witness the disintegration of the relationship between my friend (and former QED agent) Reg Wilson and Howard Rocky, the QED creator. 

What has amazed me is how long the relationship actually lasted - given that both these strong personalities are in reality chalk and cheese. I'm not going into boring gory detail, but suffice it to say that the casualty list of former QED supporters is now both lengthy and distinguished. 

Despite this, The QED remains a popular entry level PI detector. I have never maintained it is anything other than an excellent lightweight first assault prospecting detector, certainly not a world beater as some have incorrectly maintained. It has certainly added dozens of ozs to my collection over the years:

https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/4255-gold-found-with-qed/?tab=comments#comment-45878

To X Coils: 

I met X Coils Ilya Yalanzhi online through our common interest in detecting and ancient coins. It turned out we both had a rare gold stater of King Kotys 11 of the Bosporan Kingdom (124-133AD) Ilya is lucky enough to live in Kerch, where that kingdom was located and frequently sends me images of other ancient coins he finds as part of earning his living. We have been able to use that coin as a common test object for comparing different coils.

To date he has sent me one 22" GPZ concentric gratis, I have purchased a 17" spiral DOD and have ordered a 26" GPZ Concentric which I will also pay for. He expects nothing in return except honest feedback and that I have given.

I made my own adaptor. To me, it was an easy project since I have been soldering electronic circuits since they were powered by valves in the early 1960's

With both QED and X coil connections I'm apparently in the eye of the storm. If certain people wish to maintain their agendas and conspiracy theories, hissy fits, whatever, that's up to them. To me, the weather is clear and sunny.

Steve: I trust you have no problem with my posting on either topic. If you do, I'm sure you'll inform me.  

[Jeff McClendon]

The previous post by jrbeatty and the link he provided are the kind of posts and reports that I come to this forum for. I joined this forum after the linked post was started and honestly had never seen it before.

JR told his story without any bravado, bullshit, or opinionated ranting. It was factual and incredible at the same time. I don't know if there are still places in the US where gold like that can still be found, especially with an entry level, lightweight PI like the latest iteration of the QED........... amazing. I am happy finding sub gram gold nuggets at most of the places I hunt. Anything larger is a real blessing.

I enjoyed the great photos of Reg and the benign looking landscape where much of the gold in the photos was found. 

I also appreciated his calm and informative section on X Coils. I did not realize that they were available for ZVT and more traditional PI detectors. I will have to pay more attention to this brand of coils in the future especially in relation to PI detectors. 

[Jonathan Porter]

Looks like everyone has had their say now so hopefully this X coil thread can continue on in a positive direction moving forward. ? It seems to me two important things have happened in parallel, one was the major shake up with all the different entities and the other is the release of the Concentric coils. Both have had a profound effect on the situation and the many discussions around the subject. ?

The entities thing is less meaningful now than it was a month ago and will probably continue that way as all the friction points have been largely removed. My friction points were multi faceted and have been discussed ad nauseam, so with the personal character stuff now put aside I would like to examine the BIG changes in the form of the new Concentric X coils, because they really are a game changer especially when considering my concerns based around Ferrite balancing etc.

 From my perspective I REALLY have changed my opinion of X coils, Rick (Araratgold) first brought to my attention the differences in the new CC coils but at first I was a bit skeptical based on experiences with Concentric’s back in the early ZVT prototype days, but I was willing to listen because he has my respect. I will admit though I was a very skeptical because Rick had not complained about the spiral wound DOD Coils even without ferrite balancing, I’d say most likely due to the ground types he works. This is not in any way a criticism of the way he detects or the ground he works, (Australia is made up of a lot of different extremely diverse ground types) I was thinking the CC coils might behave similar over the ground to the Spiral DOD’s which in the ground I work would be problematic.

The video he put up of his 17” CC coil in action really made me sit up and take notice Meerkat style ? and also made me realise I might have to ‘Eat Crow” due to my cautionary comments when they were first announced, so fair enough I stand corrected because when I received a 17” I too was very surprised by how well they behaved.

All three CC X coils I’ve used ferrite balance well, not perfectly but more than adequate where the ground signal is far greater than the tiny bit of residual X signal I’m hearing on the ferrite, so its a big TICK ✅  from me on that score ( X signal was always a major pinch point for me). Secondly there is minimal saturation signal (unless the ground is really bad), amazingly even less than the GPZ14 so another BIG tick  ✅ from me on that as well. Next was touch sensitivity and even in General Difficult I was impressed, it was easily as good as the GPZ19 and GPZ14 coils. Amazingly the bit that really surprise was salt signal, that really came out of left field and I can only put it down to a few things but I need to ponder on it some more. ? 

So there you go, I’m eating some of my words, the latest Concentric X coils get my tick of approval on many fronts, they have very good sensitivity on even the tiniest of stuff at quite surprising depths. I have not dug anything amazingly deep yet or on the larger side of the scale with a 5 gram piece at 14 inches being the biggest so far, but all in all they have definitely improved a lot, to the point where there is probably no longer any need for the DOD spiral wound coils (unless they have improved a lot since I last used them as well). 

So is this a plug for X coils? No its just me being honest about what I’m experiencing and also owning my previous publicly expressed negativity. Do I sell X coils? NO I do not, if you want an X coil go to the web site and order one.
 

JP

Gold found on the first session with the 17” Concentric X coil in extremely variable ground

[Lunk]

Hopefully with a little prodding from JP, Minelab will take another look at concentric coil options for their next GPZ incarnation.

[araratgold]

Thank you JP for that very balanced report. 

Whatever Ilya and his team have done is certainly working. These coils have basically given the GPZ the super sensitivity of an SDC ( or dare I say it the GPX 6000 ) but with the raw power of ZVT !

Some of the little bits I have been getting at prodigious depths rechaining my old patches have left me scratching my head  !

Rick

[cobill]

Well, I got tired of waiting for ML to offer a smaller GPZ coil and ordered an X-coil. I've never done any electronics soldering before and followed Simon's and Rick's detailed instructions, along with Chet's new procedures to make a patch lead using my 19" GPZ coil. I ordered the required plugs and accessories for the project. Took my time, checked with my ohm meter as detailed in the instructions, secured with double-walled heat shrink and everything worked perfectly on my 15" x 10" coil and the GPZ 19" coil worked great....nothing trashed or disabled. 

Bill

P.S. Latest on FB X-Coils page. WOW!

Even JP stated "Pretty impressive"! Rick Bryant using an X-coil 17" concentric. Some are saying the new concentrics will work as well as the new GPX 6000.

"Rechaining an old patch. Another 2.5 grams today in 8 pieces with the 17 CC, including another crumb that won't move the scales that read to 0.01 grams  Clear signal at 1 inch in HY Normal and still there in Difficult. Gobsmacked at how good this coil is "

[Gold Catcher]

What an interesting turn this discussion has taken. Some people might have been right all along then, when all this started. Me, I am just disappointed that no authorized and ML-endorsed procedure exists to have the plug made, by an authorized ML repair shop, including warranty. Sure, do it yourself obviously works for many and this is great for them. However, I am one of these guys who does not take any chance with a 10k investment but rather trust the engineers who built it the way it is. I am on the NF12 waiting list (will it ever come to the US?.....) and will get my 6000 any day now. I hope I won't have a huge disadvantage then, only because I am relying on products that are made by professionals without the need for helping out myself.

[Norvic]

GC Aye I don`t think you`ll have a major disadvantage waiting for the 6000, but I suspect from your questioning you may be heading in the direction of early adopters and will evolve into helping your self out in the future, tis the spice of life.  

[Gold Catcher]

You are right, Norvic. For some reason I just can't jump over my shadow just yet. But this could all change when I come into your neck of the woods ?