RhysEl wrote:Hi. I'm relatively new to detecting (about 4 months) and I love it.
I know I don't have the best detector out there, so I have a few questions for the experts.
Is it worth it? Will my machine become a whole new beast, or am I better off saving that money for a better detector?
With respect I would suggest that after only 4 months setecting you are still probably not getting the best out of the machine and that with more experience with it your finds rate will increase even with the same coil.
A new coil will make a difference but it certainly will
not make the machine a "whole new beast"
With increased depth and coverage, do larger coils make it harder to pin point a target, especially when there are multiple targets in close proximity?
Yes and Yes.
If you were given the choice of upgrading a coil or getting a decent pinpointer, which would you choose? I don't have a pinpointer yet and I know they're very useful, but on the same hand, they're not vital.
I would say pinpointer everytime.
If you think I should get a new coil, could I have some recommendations please? I don't have a clue where to begin researching to find the one which best suits my purpose.
You do not say what your purpose is
This might seem a silly response but different coils have different purposes, if ground coverage and depth were your requirement then you would need a larger coil, but if finding small targets like coins in heavily iron infested ground was your requirement then you need a smaller coil.
I was exactly the same as gray724, I had a Garrett Ace 250 and got a Nel Tornado coil. This provided better ground coverage which was useful on open digs and improved the depth but pinpointing was harder. It also was not so good as the standard coil when in trashy areas (a lot of my permission has horses so lots of nails from horse shoes as well as the shoes themselves). I rarely detect on beaches but the nearest to me was OK with the standard coil but impossible to detect on with the Nel Tornado.
I found the following page very useful when looking at getting a new coil
http://nel-coils.com/index.php/en/ It gives a rating for each aspect of the coils ability, as you can see generally the smaller coils are better for small targets and seperation of targets while the larger ones are better for depth. Although this is for Nel coils it would also be a rough guide to other makes of the same coil sizes.
The standard coil supplied with any detector will generally be the best compromise of depth / sensitivity to small targets / seperation of targets to give an all round performance made by that company for that detector.
So before thinking about a new coil you need to decide what your requirements are, if a good all rounder probably stick with what you have, if more depth and ground coverage go for a larger coil, if sensitivity to small targets and seperation (especially on trashy ground) go for a smaller coil.
Again as gray724 said "Sorry if it's not a straight forward answer". But if it was me I would go for the pinpointer instead of a coil. One extra thing you might want to consider is if you get a new coil might you still want to upgrade the detector in a year or so? if you do you will not recoup the cost of the coil but if you get a pinpointer you will still have that for use with the new machine.
Evan
