What Coils Are Compatible With Spectrum Xlt

[Daniel Tn]

I just recently bought a nice Spectrum XLT that came with the 9.5 coil.  I have been trying to search for what other coils are compatible but haven't came up with much of anything, other than some older posts on other forums saying some people favored an 8 inch coil over the 9.5. But they don't tell what the name of the coil is; just the size.  Any help is appreciated.  

[Fredneck]

6.59khz coils - Blue Max 4x6DD... Concetric - Bullseye 5.3 (5"), Royal 800 (8"), Stock 9.5, Blue Max, Maxima 1500 15"

My 2 choices for CW relic hunting is the Stock 9.5 and the 15" Maxima, As for the small coils, the Bullseye 5.3 is the better performer hands down, but with the right tweaks the 9.5 can perform well on sites where a smaller coil is in need. Have fun with it, I sure do.

[Steve Herschbach]

White's Metal Detector Search Coil Guide

 

There was also a Blue Max 600 which might be same coil as the 5.3 Bullseye. There was some duplication with White’s where same coil was marketed with different colors and decals.

[Steve Herschbach]

NEL has some XLT compatible coils….

http://nelcoil.com/index.php?route=product/manufacturer/product&manufacturer_id=12

[Daniel Tn]

Thanks Steve!  That's exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.  All I could find was previous forum topics on coils but no chart or list on what was compatible.  Looks like the DFX got the best coil options compared to the XLT.  XLT seems to only have that one bigger coil for it.  That's a shame...it has a very smooth all metal mode.  If it had a 10x12 size coil, it would be killer. It's actually better than most modern machines in my test garden area the way it is now.  I'm holding onto it. Honestly, it does better than my MXT *IF* the MXT has the 950 concentric coil on it.  Once you put a 6x10 DD coil on it, the MXT is slightly better.  

[EL NINO77]

Daniel... there is a simple modification of the XLT... by inserting a capacitor where you can also use coils for DFX/MXT... A colleague has an XLT modified like this... and so he can use both types of coils....

if I manage to find the modification scheme... I will post it here...

 XLT modification.. The basis of the modification is to place one 0.1 microF capacitor between the green and white cable of the coil connector and activate it with a switch.....

So by activating the switch .. you activate the circuit with the capacitor and you can use MXT/DFX coils... And vice versa. with the switch off, you use basic coils for XLT...

[bklein]

Don’t forget the Bigfoot coil!

[Fredneck]

8 hours ago, Daniel Tn said:

  XLT seems to only have that one bigger coil for it. 

Well if you can find a Jimmy Sierra 12" Hot Shot coil for sale, it's a great coil and folks rarely let them go. I know longer own one but ran them for years. Similar performance to the Super 12 with MXT.

[Daniel Tn]

I've tried to find the 12" Hot Shot but no luck.  I've chalked it up to being a unicorn haha.

I do wonder though...how does the DFX compare to the XLT in performance? It looks like the layout and menu interface is basically the same. I MAY try to pick up a used DFX since I do have quite a few coils that could be used with it.  I'm assuming a DFX could also be put into a motion all metal mode like the XLT?  

[Steve Herschbach]

3 hours ago, Daniel Tn said:

I've tried to find the 12" Hot Shot but no luck.  I've chalked it up to being a unicorn haha.

I do wonder though...how does the DFX compare to the XLT in performance? It looks like the layout and menu interface is basically the same. I MAY try to pick up a used DFX since I do have quite a few coils that could be used with it.  I'm assuming a DFX could also be put into a motion all metal mode like the XLT?  

Yeah very hard to find the Jimmy Sierra coils.

In general the XLT is just as good as a DFX for most uses, maybe better for some with it’s dedicated 6.59 kHz operation. The DFX in many ways is the same machine, built on the XLT platform, display, and general menu options. It however is a early selectable dual frequency machine, with the ability to run 3 kHz or 15 kKz or both combined.

The DFX is easily the better beach detector due to the dual frequency operation. It also does have far better coil support as being able to use all MXT/V3i coil variants. The Jimmy Sierra Bigfoot version for DFX was made with the DFX unique capability to shut off the rear half of the coil, and unlike other Bigfoot variants the figure 8 signal reversal front to rear is corrected with the DFX. I own a DFX specifically because there is no other detector/coil setup like it made by anyone else.

Oddly enough I also like the DFX because it’s not a super high gain overdriven machine like we get these days. Its performance is mild mannered compared to the current crop of SMF detectors, but it’s not going to bang hard on every tiny bit of metal in the ground. The 3kHz only mode does very well for silver while ignoring small foil etc. The 15kHz mode is great for jewelry, and can be run with un-normalized VDI numbers which expands the low conductor range.

One quirk about the DFX that can be good or bad, depending, is that it is always locked in salt cancellation mode, kind of like the CZ-3D. This means again that it’s relatively insensitive to tiny aluminum but also tiny gold. For my uses I am fine with this as I am not chasing micro jewelry. The XLT might have the edge there even though the DFX sports a higher nominal frequency. All the power goes into the XLTs single frequency. The DFX is always running in dual frequency mode in theory, and creates a single frequency mode by single shutting off half the signal. The V3i was a step up in repairing that deficiency.

I’m a big fan of the XLT/DFX display, prefer it over the Minelab 2D version personally. White’s SignaGraph Display Explained

All in all the DFX is the one old detector I simply can’t let go of. It’s not the sheer power of the machine, in fact, just the opposite. I like it for cherry picking shallower targets in turf, specifically jewelry, without getting bogged down with the false signals or hits on tiny bits the super hot detectors produce. In fact it’s been too long since I’ve fired the DFX up, and this list has inspired me to do just that, so thanks!

White’s DFX Engineering Report… and More