First impressions of my new Coiltek 14" x 9" Coil on the Beach

[fred]

After I did a dump run today I celebrated by giving my newly arrived Coiltek 14" x 9" coil a spin on the beach.

I was only going to be out a couple of hours and didn't really expect to find much as I had been detecting up and down the same beaches since we were allowed out to play again and finds have been getting a tad sparse of late.

The new coil was noticeably heavy and I had to move the stem to the fifth hole to balance it properly. It was also very sparky, which I stabilised by Ground Balancing (I normally run GB between 15 and 20 but it went to 25 with the Coiltek one) and then by reducing the Sensitivity from 23 to 22.

My first signal was an iron cored penny and the next a £1 but after that it was mostly fishing weights and old sixpences (a few years ago some swine threw thousands of pre-decimal and foreign coins onto my local beaches and they are still coming out). After a while a sharp 18 signal winkled out the silver ear ring from a few inches down. Half an hour later another larger 18 signal produced about threequarters of a 9ct gold signet ring from six or eight inches down. It had some patches of green corrosion on it from copper leaching out and the broken edges were rounded rather than fresh.

An hour later as I bimbled along the edge of the incoming tide on the way back to the car a 22 or 23 suggested a pound coin but to my great surprise a silver ring came up from about a foot down.

Two bits of silver and a goldie is unusually good for just a couple of hours swinging on these beaches so it is obvious that the coil is a good 'un. I have used Coiltek coils before so I knew that it would be though. Despite shortening the stem the increased coverage meant that I covered the beach quickly. Targets gave strong signals over the whole width of the coil and the Minelab wriggle still works with it to make pinpointing, if anything, easier. The reduced width meant that the chances of having both iron and non ferrous under the coil at the same time was much less than with the 15" coil so the signals tended to ring out clearly. The numbers and sounds were not quite the same as with the stock coils but they weren't far out e.g. fishing weights tended towards being 21 rather than 20 and my solitary 20p piece was a solid 16 rather than 15. I haven't yet dug enough targets to be sure but I think that the new coil is a bit more sensitive than the 15" coil and certainly goes a bit deeper than the stock coil.

I think that there is a learning curve with the coil but I don't anticipate any serious difficulties, just lots of digging.

PS The gold ring and both bits of silver had been in the sea a long while. The 9ct ring weighed 5.88 grams and contributed about £85 towards the cost of the coil.

[Buriedbytime&dust]

Do you think you'll use it regularly, given the weight/balance issue?

I recall that you were never a fan of the CTX17, but this coil is very nearly as heavy, and on a much lighter machine.

[vladorado]

Thanks for the info Fred!
Nice finds! For two hours you found more than I found for four days.
I wander how the Coitek will compare to the 11 inch Mainlab coil underwater. It is supposed to be easier to keep close to the bottom due to the extra weight. Will it be easier to swing?

[fred]

Thanks for the info Fred!
Nice finds! For two hours you found more than I found for four days.
I wander how the Coitek will compare to the 11 inch Mainlab coil underwater. It is supposed to be easier to keep close to the bottom due to the extra weight. Will it be easier to swing?

Good point.

Once you have the balance right weight doesn't really matter underwater, what does matter is the water resistance. As the coil is a lot deeper and flat I suspect that the edge will offer quite a lot more water resistance so I would expect it to be more difficult to swing. I will probably find out over the next few days.

[fred]

Do you think you'll use it regularly, given the weight/balance issue?

I recall that you were never a fan of the CTX17, but this coil is very nearly as heavy, and on a much lighter machine.

That will depend a lot on how it performs over the next few weeks. So far I like it but a two hour trial isn't enough to be sure that I have even removed all the packaging, let alone got the balance right.

[fred]

Thanks for the info Fred!
Nice finds! For two hours you found more than I found for four days.
I wander how the Coitek will compare to the 11 inch Mainlab coil underwater. It is supposed to be easier to keep close to the bottom due to the extra weight. Will it be easier to swing?

Good point.

Once you have the balance right weight doesn't really matter underwater, what does matter is the water resistance. As the coil is a lot deeper and flat I suspect that the edge will offer quite a lot more water resistance so I would expect it to be more difficult to swing. I will probably find out over the next few days.

As half expected it is not that easy to use underwater. It can be swung through water with slightly more effort but it is difficult to maintain a steady depth. As the angle of the deep flat edge changes during a swing the coil is forced down and then up or vice versa by the water.

I also found that with the shortened stem to balance the weight the coil passed too close to my army type boots and picked up the eyelets off of it's back edge. Obviously no such problem when wearing wellies. My arm is now getting used to the extra weight so I have been able to lengthen the stem again.

There were not enough targets on the sandy beach that I visited today to form an opinion about its performance. I did get a couple of large sheet brass plates at over 2 feet deep though.