Deus 2 13x11" Relic Hunt Field Test - Button Bonanza (update)

[F350Platinum]

Got out with the 13x11 D2 coil today, had a late start but the 30 degree morning quickly warmed up to the mid 50s by afternoon. 

I went to the field that I've hunted the last few times I've posted, got a lot of good stuff there. The most plentiful thing is buttons, I did get a 14k gold wedding band and an 1857 half dime here. I've pretty much wiped out this area, so I thought it would be a good place to try the big coil to see if it turned up anything that I might have missed, either by depth or coverage.

I didn't find swinging the coil any worse than the 11", with the new lighter lower they ship with it, it's only 3.5 ounces heavier. I shortened the shaft length a bit and that helped even more. I was able to hunt for 6 hours without any additional fatigue.

I hate to write this but there was no discernible difference regarding depth in this field, the coil didn't find anything that I would not have found with the 9" or the 11" coil. The only noticeable advantage was coverage, but I had to go a bit slower and interrogate targets more.

This does not mean this coil won't find deep objects, there is nothing deep here but big iron. I dug a few pieces of it to see how deep it went, some bits were definitely 12"+. Then I stopped. When you get a new coil you should dig some undesirable stuff to make sure.

The modified general program I'm using runs very hot, 98 sensitivity and 0 reactivity. If there was anything deeper I certainly would have found it.

I was impressed with the lack of bump sensitivity with this coil, I was only hearing some small ground chatter. I was also impressed with the accuracy of IDs, it seems to work well, better than the 11". It separates well, I was able to pick out some good stuff co-located with iron bits.

I use full tones in square audio. I find it suits my detecting style. Iron is low and great targets are very high. I'm running pretty much all metal with no discrimination.

I did many ground balance grabs, but it always stayed at 78 today. It was extremely muddy due to an overnight frost, I had to keep scraping my boots or they'd get over 5 pounds. 😀

I did find a couple more targets in the initial search area, but nothing good was more than 6" deep.

After about 3 hours I got tired of searching the same place with no results, so I searched another part of this huge area that I thought had very little. I was wrong. 🤯

I ended up with 14 buttons total, two large dandies, 8 medium, some of which were concave, had either silverwash or had some gold left, and 4 very small buttons. I got a 1930s wheat, a piece of a spectacle buckle, another saddle stud, and some whatzits. I'll have to return to that area, I dug a button every few minutes until it was time to leave. Got the wheat on the way back.

I guess overall I would recommend the 13x11 for relic hunting in this field, however there's nothing so deep that the 9" or the 11" wouldn't find it. I'll have to try it in some other places I have access to. It's big, it catches my boots' steel shanks from time to time, and both it and the 11" are pretty heavy compared to the 9". The only advantage is sweep coverage.

It's a great coil if you have a specific use for it! Can't wait to try it at a beach.

This is all I dug for trash today, another impressive thing.

 

[CPT_GhostLight]

It looks like another great hunt. Thanks for your initial thoughts on the 13" coil. I'm still on the fence, but I was in a place today that I could have used the extra coverage. I sometimes find myself in a hunt on a large area and pressed for time so I start going too fast with the 9" and I know I'm missing targets. I was wondering how well the 13" would do on a relic site that had a lot of iron. It looks like it worked well for you. Congrats, and keep up the great and honest reviews.

[Joe D.]

Another great hunt, and test report Bob!👍

   Even though I don't have a Deus 2 (Yet?🤔😁), or any relics to hunt, I love a good finds story! And you don't seem to be running out anytime soon!! So nice work again; keep mucking away!!🍀👍👍

[F350Platinum]

43 minutes ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

It looks like another great hunt. Thanks for your initial thoughts on the 13" coil. I'm still on the fence, but I was in a place today that I could have used the extra coverage. I sometimes find myself in a hunt on a large area and pressed for time so I start going too fast with the 9" and I know I'm missing targets. I was wondering how well the 13" would do on a relic site that had a lot of iron. It looks like it worked well for you. Congrats, and keep up the great and honest reviews.

Thanks! 

There isn't a lot of iron in this particular field. I do have some very trashy spots but they're still covered with bean crop. It's really nice to hunt this field, when you get a good signal, about 98% of the time you'll get something good. The strangest thing is that I sometimes find a beer can over a foot deep. 🤔 I expect large iron to be that deep, but not aluminum. 

The takeaway here is that this coil gives really accurate IDs, something I find lacking in the 11", and even the 9". Lower bump sensitivity as well. 

I think the delay in releasing it was to eliminate some of the issues they had with the large coil for the D1? For sure there are improvements.

[unox]

Thanks for taking the time and sharing your info and finds F350. It was a good hunt, you ended up with some nice results in the end.👌

[F350Platinum]

20 minutes ago, Joe D. said:

Another great hunt and test report Bob!👍

   Even though I don't have a Deus 2 (Yet?🤔😁), or any relics to hunt! I love a good finds story! And you don't seem to be running out anytime soon!! So nice work again; keep mucking away!!🍀👍👍

Thanks!

I sure was mucking it today. 😵

With so many new detectors out or coming out, the justifications for getting the Deus are IMHO as follows:

More waterproof than any other detector

Much lighter than any other detector with a similar size coil

No wires. Coil changes are quick

Great headphone options albeit pricey.

As you well know, any detector once learned will produce results commensurate to the environment, you're not gonna get gold nuggets where there aren't any 🤔 😀

[F350Platinum]

8 minutes ago, unox said:

Thanks for taking the time and sharing your info and finds F350. It was a good hunt, you ended up with some nice results in the end.👌

Thanks!

I've been in the spot where I found at least 10 buttons in one hour, I must not have been looking too hard there before. 🤣 It was nice to hit so many in so little time! Great way to end the day.

[Carolina]

55 minutes ago, F350Platinum said:

No wires. Coil changes are quick

Why they insist on that puny 1/4” plastic bolt is beyond me. You would think a 3/8” would be in order.

[strick]

On 12/5/2022 at 7:50 PM, Carolina said:

Why they insist on that puny 1/4” plastic bolt is beyond me. You would think a 3/8” would be in order.

Because the tight arses can’t be bothered with re designing their old shaft set up...which is one reason why they will never catch up with the competition. 

Nice work 350 I see you hiding your great finds over here now lol.

strick

[F350Platinum]

4 minutes ago, strick said:

Nice work 350 I see you hiding your great finds over here now lol.

Haha, busted!

Dunno about you but on my phone I always hit the newspaper icon to see all the latest stuff no matter what forum it's in. 🤣 It may upset the "exclusive" crowd but I like all aspects of metal detecting. 😏 I had to decide which spot to put it in.

The only reason I'm posting here in XP forum is because the post was mainly about the 13" coil, and how I really didn't find much in a spot I've wiped out with the other two 😀

This is not to be misconstrued as bashing it for sure, I'm really impressed with it. I simply cannot prove in my environment that it finds "deeper good stuff". I'm sort of relieved because I'm not a fan of digging large craters on this beautiful old farm. To its credit I did dig one really deep one, almost 2 feet, chasing a strong 79 ID (like that gold ring) that turned out, thanks to my trusty Quest pinpointer, to be a big chunk of iron buried with some bricks, probably filling an old groundhog hole. 🤣

I marked it in OnX Hunt in case I decide there's something to investigate. 

More to come in Coins and Relics once this rain takes a break... 😁 We've been getting rain almost every other day and it's not looking good for a while.