AT-General and M8 comments

[longbow62]

Right from the get go when I got the Manticore a year and a half ago I started using ATHC 100% of the time. I did really good with it and really thought it was the best program despite the falsing. I have recently switched and have been using AT General full time to give it a good test. I definitely think General it's a lot less prone to falsing on iron in my ground. You don't hear quite as much spurious noise as you do in ATHC. I can see why people would gravitate to it vs. ATHC. Using AT General is much more pleasurable detecting experience all the way around. I'll have to do a lot more testing to know if I want to stick with it. At the moment I think in low iron and low modern trash ATHC is probably best. Iron and heavy modern trash AT-General is probably better from an overall detecting experience type thing .

I am not currently sold on the M8 coil. It's deep on air test, but I just don't find many deeper targets while hunting with it despite many of the places I hunt having really mild ground. I used it for several hours the other day finding mostly targets from on the surface to 3"-4" max. I decided to put the 11" back on after using the M8 for 3 hours and the ground just came alive with many more targets being heard. Were they doubles of shallow targets? I don't know but I was hearing a lot more targets plus the deeper ones I don't think the M8 was alerting on. Within 20 minute of putting the 11" back on I had a silver ring and a 43 silver Washington. Both were 6"-8" deep. I just never have good luck with small coils. My buddy was using the M9 and got 2 Mercs and a War nickel. I didn't see how deep they were, but they were definitely 5"+ according to him. We did an air test of one of the Merc dimes laying on top of the ground in a spot free of trash and the coils seemed decently close depth wise. I was very confused by that.  

[GB_Amateur]

36 minutes ago, longbow62 said:

I am not currently sold on the M8 coil.

I'm repeating things that have been posted here many times, and likely will in the future.  Small coils are best for very small targets (smaller than most coins) at shallow depths.  They allow higher sensitivity settings in mineralized ground and high EMI environments.  They have better separation in thick trash (iron and/or aluminum).  But as conditions become more ideal, they are no match to the larger sized coils for coin-sized and larger, deeper targets.

I, too, occasionally see posts about small coils being 'deeper' than larger coils, but it all depends upon the context (conditions).  It's not a panacea.  One size does not fit all.

"...The right coil for the conditions..."

On a side note I finally broke down and got a Manticore's 5"x8".  It will be good out West, in particular, in trashy ghost towns and where tiny gold is near the surface.  I'm going to give it a whirl later this week in my trashiest local spots.  Stay tuned.

 

[Dug D]

I'm also not thrilled with the M8 depth, I used 11 inch one week in a trashy park and picked several wheats out in 2 hours, two weeks later I spent 3 hours same park, nothing past 4 inches, depth meter way off and about 30 clad coins. Noting I was able to run the sens 4 or 5 higher than with the 11 inch. Not sure when the M8 is going back on, wish I bought the 15 inch. 

[Redneck]

I found a wheatie 7" deep. sensitivity @18, ATG mode , that has been my deepest cent with the M8. A few V nickels @6.5".

[strick]

In the parks that I hunt AT General has proven to be the best choice while testing targets in the wild...its where I usually start..I guess thats why they labeled it AT general lol...as far as the M8 goes why would anyone even begin to compare it to the bigger 11" coil for depth? 

strick 

[fishersari]

I use m8 not because it go deeper or equal to m11 even though I can crank up sensitivity more than m11 but the depth is very good to satisfied my needs in known ground.. As others has said , I use the m11 for unknown ground/surveying..

with m8 sensitivity of 24-27 recovery of 3-4 I have found few tin coin ID at 12ish nearly as deep as TRX pinpointer length and that is good enough for me furthermore its easier to swing in-between bushes, tree trunks etc ... not for all ground though since I hunt mostly in palm oil plantations for relics and  it depends on fertilizer, tides, additional top soil type etc...

I'm using much higher sensitivity because the possibility of it will stop (gives stronger response) me more on discovery swing..

[Dug D]

The depth of my M8 coil detection so far has been limited to about 4 inches, if I was digging 6, 7, or 8 inches  I likely would not have said anything. On a 4 inch coin it shows 5 arrows as depth, a 3 inch coin can be 4 arrows. I swing level and brush the grass and push into the grass when on a target. I am surprised by everyone's depth numbers, I'm generally using the 11 inch in mild ground and rarely dig a full pinpointer depth hole, 9 inches, and that will be an extremely marginal signal. 

[fishersari]

Different soil gets different depth I guess ... 6 to 8 inches is easily attainable in some of my ground.. the almost 9 inches target retrieved was the deepest I dug with m8 and one of the reason I use my m8 as main coil. Coin size also plays a major role for depth too.. I don't know what US coin is comparable for this coin 

But this coin in particular were found with m11, not the deepest found with m11.. just want to show the size of the coin..  

[Steve Herschbach]

The equation for small and large coils never changes.

The lower the mineralization the better for large coils, the higher the mineralization the better small coil do. In the most intense ground a small coil can meet or exceed what a larger coil does by getting less blowback from the mineralization. In low mineral ground the larger coil will always have the edge for depth on normal coin size targets.

The smaller the target, the better small coils do relative to large coils.

The denser the targets, the better small coils will do at isolating and identifying individual targets. Larger coils benefit from sparser target conditions.

Ground coverage is a factor and the larger the area you have to cover, the better large coils look relative to smaller coils.

In high EMI opt for smaller coils.

None is better than the other. They all have their place depending on how the factors above play out.