I read all this already at Tom's and Steves forum... I have mastered the art of Lurking
Chatter never bothered me with the DF the coil issue did I heard the whispers and disturbances in the threshold just fine with it.. The TDI beach hunter has a nice smooth threshold I took it to a beach that any VLF would be a wasted hunt.. no iron, compressed thick mud and clay, no rocks to speak of.. found a deep 18k wedding band from the 1860's there a good 17 inches down I measured with my scoop handle then measured it when I got home.. it was a repeatable threshold drop out... no tone at all..
I started with the Headhunter PI then moved on to the PI PRO liked the smaller coil after that the Dual Field... was hoping the Barracuda was going to work but oh well.
That beach would be a great testing ground for the AQ... Mark found that USA officers button with the wood backing still in it with his TDI PRO there...