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Lobo ST With Hot Technology 3x18 Coil


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I've been in the hunt mode to find and acquire one of the rare 3X18  Delta 4 pin Hot Technology cleansweep coils for about 3 years. Finally got my hands on one.  These coils have been out of production for about a decade and they're about as rare as 'hen's teeth'.  Tesoro still makes the Cleansweep in the 5 pin Epsilon configuration but not the 4 pin Delta .  Mating this coil up to my Lobo Supertraq has provided me with some interesting observations.   Generally speaking it does cover a large swath of ground with each sweep, but the sweep speed has to be slowed down to say 1/2 to 2/3 of the speed of the stock 6x10 elliptical coil to get a good target response.   My best depth was a measured 5 inches on a quarter on edge.  It pinpoints fairly well off both the toe and the heel, but I do a full circle of the target to make sure the target is within my 6 inch cut plug.  The coil discriminates very well.       Now the interesting stuff.  First, it does not fully ground balance in the All metal mode. Pumping the coil down and up, it sounds off loud on the down push and does not respond on the up pull.  However, it is still functional in the AM mode, targets are still picked up clearly and the pinpoint function still works.   Both modes, All Metal and Discriminate achieve the same depth.  I ran the Sensitivity at a gain of 3, more gain didn't achieve any more depth.  In All Metal with a smooth threshold the coil ran stable and only responded to ground tracking and targets. In Silent Search Discriminate (setting of 3 1/2) the coil had at times a propensity to load up and give off erratic chatter, it also sounded off on 'bumping'.   I found the best way to run the coil was in AM and upon locating a target I would do a quick switch to Disc. to determine to dig or not to dig.  I will do some further testing but I believe I have found it's boundary limitations. A good coil, it just has some quirks.  I would imagine this would be more stable on a Vaquero.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the report.   How does it air test a nickel in Disc?

I recently acquired a 4 pin cleansweep as well but I plan to run it on a Tejon, which I don't have yet. 

HH
Mike

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It's not impossible that the coil has an issue. One reason Tesoro stopped making that version was difficulty getting reliable performance. I had one myself for my old Vaquero and it balanced fine in all metal. Part of the problem may be that Tesoro detectors and coils are tuned as a matched set. If may be that returning the coil and detector to the factory could result in better operation is they were tuned up together; I would almost bet on it. However, that might mess the machine up for use with other coils.

I sent one of these coils to White's to see if it could be mated to the MXT and Dan Geyer was unable to do it for the reason mentioned above (White's coils are not part of the tuned circuit in the way Tesoro coils are).

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Time to eat  'Crow'.  My first post was just after receiving the coil and a quick hour in my backyard.  I'll have to take a redaction on what I posted previously on/after  "the interesting stuff".  I've had this 3x18 cleansweep coil out now on 4 park hunts and 1 dry sand beach hunt.  Ground balancing no longer appears to be a problem. Coil is no longer is unstable in the Disc. mode.  It does 'false' when bumped hard on the ground or hitting the sand tops when swinging at the beach.    For Mike I did the following 'air test'.   This was done with a brisk sweep speed only obtainable on a bench.                                                                                                                                                                                   

   Mode                           AM                                                   Disc.                 both at sens. set at 8         all figures in inches 

penny                          6        8.5                                          4.5        7  

nickel                         7.5      10                                            6         8.5

dime                            6          8                                            4         6.5

quarter                        8         10.5                                       5         7.5

First figure in each column is just under the first 1" of the coil where one would pin point. ( does this well).   Second figure is across the center of the coil.

 

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Thank you very much for the air testing, osbod007.   That helps me a lot.   I'll compare my Compadre/Cleansweep combo the same way and post for us to compare.

17.5 kHz vs 12 kHz.

HH
Mike

 

 

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Thanks Mike,  the little Compadre puts a big smile on my face every time I pull it out.  I'd love to see how it air tests with a cleansweep  mounted.  

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