Smaller coil

[outdoorsman]

I am hunting a farm from the late 1700's. It is loaded with iron stuff, and I spent most of the summer cleaning it out. I am running a Garrett Ace 400 with the stock coil. Should I get a smaller one to target smaller items and coins? I am looking at the Garrett 4.5" Sniper coil.

[del]

I am hunting a farm from the late 1700's. It is loaded with iron stuff, and I spent most of the summer cleaning it out. I am running a Garrett Ace 400 with the stock coil. Should I get a smaller one to target smaller items and coins? I am looking at the Garrett 4.5" Sniper coil.

Welcome outdoorsman , I've hunted the "quiet corner" area for years , great area for early history .

a small coil will get you better separation of targets . There is however much newer technology machines that will do a lot of a better job at picking through the iron .

Dan

[OxShoeDrew]

Welcome, Outdoorsman! I agree with Dan...I guess you'd also have to take into account your long term detecting goals, did you want to invest in better machines for further detecting or maybe you just want to see what's in this particular property...in any case, smaller is better in iron. Also, after pounding an iron area slowly with your stock coil don't be afraid to lower the sensitivity and go over the same spots again. I'll PM you!

[Lodge Scent]

Back when I had my old White's machine, I would always hit the iron patches at a site with the tiny sniper coil after hitting it with the larger coils. Some of my favorite finds were discovered with that small coil. But like Dan said, the old technology even with the small coils can't compete with the new multifrequency machines in the iron.

[outdoorsman]

Kinda disappointed that machine bashing was the first answer.....

[del]

Kinda disappointed that machine bashing was the first answer.....

Actually , the first answer was affirming your small coil inquiry in the iron or trashy areas , nobody here was "machine bashing" only letting you know that the technology has gotten better in the last 7 years .

Dan

[Digger_O'Dell]

Not here to bash any machines, but to justify some comparisons. I started with a lower end Minelab (still better than most single frequency machines at the time in my opinion) I had pretty much all the different coils available for it that I wanted. Had to change coils for each of the 3 available frequencies for each size. Did pretty well with it, but trashy areas were difficult at best, and there was never any all around good solution. The highest frequency would help get those silver coins out of the iron, but depth was very limited, often to only maybe 6 inches tops. The low frequency would pound the nickels, but loved iron too. Big coil low frequency in clean open fields was killer, and could hit lower conductors to almost 18 inches. But to get through iron and have any depth, had to keep the mid range mid size coil and hope to catch a hint of a peep signaling a possible good target-although it was usually a false signal, so digging maybe 30 holes would net 1 or 2 good targets. Going with the smallest coil at middle frequency cold really help get between the trash, but again at the expense of a lot of depth.

I was able to upgrade to a Minelab CTX 3030 before long, and having the multi frequency was night and day difference. But again, coil choice makes a HUGE difference in many cases. Of course the smaller the coil, the more the depth is limited, yet in many cases it will pick through those trashy areas so much better than a large coil that might be over a dozen nails at the same time. But again, the biggest coil is great for relatively clean open areas like farm fields or long stretches of beach where it would be absurd to use a 6" coil as you would be there years before covering a vast area one time. It boils down to choosing the best tool for the job, and experience, often through trial and error, will dictate what works best for you in certain situations.

As for new machines, I know the CTX is awesome but it has become somewhat dated. There has been no updates for it since I've owned it, so a bit (OK, more than a bit) disappointed at the lack of support for such an expensive machine. The technology has grown quite a lot since the CTX was introduces, and machines are far more sensitive and magnitudes faster processing signals allowing very tight separation of signals. I'm looking forward to likely upgrading to the new multifrequency Minelab machine in the next year as the prices will also become more affordable as the novelty wears off, and we get some new adopters getting some time with them under their belts to give feedback.

This is just to show that we don't really care about what machine you enjoy using, but just try to help advise others how to get the most out of their treasure hunting time. Finds are becoming far more scarce, and places to hunt are also becoming a challenge. So good luck and happy hunting. We'll be here if you have any more questions.