6" Coil for Minelab Equinox 800 - Worth It?

TheCoilist

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I loved my 6" coil on my CTX3030 when I owned one. I am looking at getting the Nox 800 sometime in the future, but I see no one sells just the NOX and 6" coil and everyone thinks they're going to get a sale by adding a bunch of junk accessories to their packages that no one needs (unless they are beginners).

Anyway, sorry for the rant.... I want to know if the 6" coil is worth the additional $180 on top of the $900 for the NOX. I am thinking it is, but would like people's opinions.

Any place to find the combo set without the useless accessories (For a discounted price?) lol
 
I am NOT impressed with my 6". I love the 15" and the 11". In my coin garden the 6" cannot hit my 7 to 8 inch buried coins. The 11" coil hits most of the them and the 15" hits all of them.

I've tested 7 or 8 detectors. The Nox, CTX, Impact, and the MDT 8000 are the only ones that did well.
 
Love the 6" coil on my 600. Depends on what type of hunting you want to do. I hunt a lot of parks, schoolyards, and tot-lots so the 6" coil is perfect and picks out targets like a laser. :yes:
 
I'm happy with mine. I did notice about a 2" depth loss with it compared to the 11" but finds in most of the areas I hunt are still within reach due to the hard packed GA clay. I use the CTX in areas where the coins are running deeper.

Biggest benefits are the ability to snipe targets from between the iron, ease of pinpointing and better balance.
 
Love the 6" on my 800, especially in trashy areas. It gets great depth for it's size. I've pulled several good targets the few times I've been able to get out. It definitely has it's advantages if you hunt areas where you would benefit from it. If not, the stock coil would be best for better coverage and deeper detection
 
IMHO I consider 6" coil a "situational" coil, even more so with
the abilities of the Nox. What you have to decide is how many times
a year are you going to be in that "situation" if it will pay for itself.
Is it worth a couple more from THAT site? Now keep in mind this
could be the difference in a seated and not.

Some people think only about the physical size of it. Think great
now I can get closer to walls, bleechers, fences Etc....

Now, some people such as myself will get on a great site that is
so rich in actual coin targets everywhere it absolutely insane. Here you can
separate low tones from high tones much easier. And be more selective
and only dig expected silver targets.

Perfect example of this is one of my hunting partners did a private
park for years. The amount of newer silver pulled from this park is
incredible. There is actually 2 areas we nick named wheat penny prison.
He has hit it so often so much there are not many high tones left.
In November I went over it CTX with the 17" coil. Not really a coil you
would want for cherry picking in a target rich site, but I am very
efficient with the CTX and did VERY well. Pulled five more silvers.

Oddly, we went back there yesterday. I had maybe an hour before
I had to fly to work. Took NOX with 6" coil. Thinking I could pluck
a few more. I was in the prison and pulled 5-6 Wheats in one hole.
A foot over 4-5 more wheats in one hole. This can give you how many
targets are here. Its crazy!

My third plug was a super thin Merc! Guess what I am saying is
you NEVER get it all.

This is actually my second go around with the 6" coil.
First time I didnt give it a chance. This time I am.
I will say this is the first 6" coil that I didnt feel inadequate.
I have used several 6" coils for all detectors I have owned.
Seems like I have about 1" depth over all others. But far from the
depth I get with the stock coil.

For me, if its not a very shallow target the numbers are more
jumpy than the stock coil.

It is a great coil! You need to decide how valuable it would be for YOU.

Good Luck
DD
 
I am NOT impressed with my 6". I love the 15" and the 11". In my coin garden the 6" cannot hit my 7 to 8 inch buried coins. The 11" coil hits most of the them and the 15" hits all of them.

I've tested 7 or 8 detectors. The Nox, CTX, Impact, and the MDT 8000 are the only ones that did well.

thats because the coil is made for heavy trash and tight places, not hitting extreme depths. this would be what you use to tickle the rim of a iron covered cellar hole, or try to snag goodies in a modern trash filled park, or in heavy emi areas. you wouldn't use this farm field hunting or something like that.
 
For me personally, I would be doing more public places, parks, tot lots (when I have the kiddos). The farm fields and such I would definitely use the 11" or larger. But thinking about the areas I have hunted lately, it's been places where trash can be heavier than average.
 
It is of my personal opinion that the six inch coil offers very little for the money.
 
The six inch bangs on nickels in my area. I dug 10 or 12 in one day a few weekends ago. I had more nickels than quarters! I have been really impressed with the sensitivity and separation of that coil. I don’t have a ton of time yet on the six inch but I like it.

Next purchase for me is the 15” coil!

-D
 
At first I didn’t like the 6”. It’s TINY, TIny tiny! But with some discipline I’ve learned to swing it better. I think it has its place: curb strips, tot-lots, and even going over places I’ve done with the 11. I’ve yet to use it in the lakes/rivers or nugget hunting, but there’s that too.

I’m glad I have it.

Next up is some waterproof headphones. The 15” would be fun to try but not sure yet spending the $.
 
Is the 6" coil worth it?

I use my Nox 800 with 6" coil for gold nugget prospecting. I have had a lot of success with it. It will get a good 7" in even highly mineralized dirt. Its center area where the double D windings cross over is 3/4" narrower than the center area on the 11" coil. Since it is only 6" in diameter it off course will not go as deep as an 11" diameter coil. It will definitely separate targets better due to its smaller windings and will hit tiny gold bits less than one tenth of a gram similar to the size of a gold earring post.

If you want to hunt for micro jewelry the 6" would be great. If you have extremely trashy park areas that you want to separate close proximity 6" deep or less good targets from trash it would also be great.

If you need to detect in really tight spaces it would be great.

One nice 5 gram gold target find would pay for it.

Jeff
 
I use my 6" coil on my Nox 800 all the time for coin stabbing. I also take my Nox 600 with me with the stock coil. Yes, the stock coil does hit a bit deeper for my hunting but most of my clads are 6" or less in depth. It all depends on the site as to which coil I use but mostly I use my Nox 800 because of my settings and it really swings nicely.
 
I recently got the 6" coil and I really like it, other than the coverage area. I like covering a large area with each swing, but it can't be beat for totlots and near fences or really trashy areas like our local pull tab hill (where you can hardly swing your "full size" coil and not get a signal, generally a pull tab)
 
Does it find targets the stock coil can not find? Not in my opinion.
 
In my dirt and my conditions a great sniper coil is a must have in the bulk of the sites I hunt.
I can find a lot with the bigger coils but so far with the sniper I just find more and find it more easily, too.

Worth it...to me it's priceless!
 
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I'd like to give the 6" a try at my trashy honey hole. However, I went over part of my spot the other day with the stock coil and the recovery speed maxed out. I pulled a silver Washington and three silver dimes in an area that has consistently given up silver on each visit. Would the 6" coil help? Probably. In the meantime, though, a maxed out recovery speed with a slower than normal swing speed seems to be doing the trick nicely in a very trashy spot!
 
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The stock coil ain’t no slouch in the trash either. On a recent hunt, I watched WildDigger pull out 2 IHPs and a Merc from a little 5’x5’ area that several of us had hit hard multiple times with multiple different machines and coils. He was using the stock 11” coil.

The little 6” coil still has some nice advantages in certain situations though.


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I usually keep the 6in on my 600 because the 11in is so nose heavy it kills my shoulder, couldn’t imagine swinging the 15
 
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