• Forum server maintanace Friday night.(around 7PM Centeral time)
    Website will be off line for a short while.

    You may need to log out, log back in after we're back online.

Coils...help me decide...

Nubster

Full Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2018
Messages
156
Location
West By God Virginia
So...I'd like to upgrade my coil on my AT Pro. Looking for something that will work better than stock in trashy homesite type areas. I was looking at the NEL coils but wondered about a couple things...

Are the NEL coils superior to the Garrett coils? Or any other alternative brand coils?

When I'm looking at specs. it shows that for example the NEL Hunter is:

7/10 - Depth
9/10 - Separation
9/10 - Small target sensitivity

The NEL Sharpshooter is:

6/10 - Depth
9.5/10 - Separation
9.5/10 - Small target sensitivity

So what does that really mean real world and compared to the stock coil? I mean is .5 difference really that much and worth losing the depth choosing the Sharpshooter over the Hunter? And how much depth are we actually talking about?

To complicate the decision more, you also have the Thunder which gives more depth than the other two but only suffers a tiny bit in separation and small target sensitivity:

8.5/10 - Depth
9/10 - Separation
8.5/10 - Small target sensitivity

Thoughts? Main goals, like many people (at least east of the Mississippi), is old coins and Civil War relics.
 
So...I'd like to upgrade my coil on my AT Pro. Looking for something that will work better than stock in trashy homesite type areas. I was looking at the NEL coils but wondered about a couple things...

Are the NEL coils superior to the Garrett coils? Or any other alternative brand coils?

When I'm looking at specs. it shows that for example the NEL Hunter is:

7/10 - Depth
9/10 - Separation
9/10 - Small target sensitivity

The NEL Sharpshooter is:

6/10 - Depth
9.5/10 - Separation
9.5/10 - Small target sensitivity

So what does that really mean real world and compared to the stock coil? I mean is .5 difference really that much and worth losing the depth choosing the Sharpshooter over the Hunter? And how much depth are we actually talking about?

To complicate the decision more, you also have the Thunder which gives more depth than the other two but only suffers a tiny bit in separation and small target sensitivity:

8.5/10 - Depth
9/10 - Separation
8.5/10 - Small target sensitivity

Thoughts? Main goals, like many people (at least east of the Mississippi), is old coins and Civil War relics.

Garrett's own 5x8 coil is excellent on the AT Pro. Shaped just like the stock coil...only smaller. Similar feel and technique. You'll get a hang of it right away. The NEL Sharpshooter (5.5x9.5) will help you cover ground a bit faster. They make great products. Between NEL's quality and slightly larger design, you might not lose as much depth.

I have the Thunder coil and it separates better than I expected. Deep, too.
The best way to use it is to let it glide along the ground in open areas. Supporting the entire weight of it all day is tough and it'll bang and catch on weeds and brush.

I have the Garrett 5x8, the Garrett stock 8x11, and the NEL Thunder coil for my AT Pro.
 
Nubsster, how about a few personal thoughts and opinions? You can ignore them as you please.

Search Coil Selection: The 2nd most important step is selecting a detector/coil team to best handle tough site challenges. First, make sure you have a detector that is well designed to handle the environment you're going to face. I have spent 90% of my detecting time since mid-'83 to searching ghost towns, homesteads, RR Depot and siding ding sites, stage stops, pioneer and military encampments, and other places that most frequently abound in a very dense amount of Iron nails and other mixed ferrous and non-ferrous debris. Those types of sites consumed about 50% of my hunting time from '65 to mid-83.

I started using smaller-than 'normal' search coils in '71, and have continued to do so to the very present. Smaller-size coils, to me, range from 4½" to 6½", and a mid-size coil might include a 7"-8" round-shaped coil or a 5X8 or 5X9½ elliptically-shaped DD. I do keep 1 detector on-hand with a larger coil, such as an 11" DD round coil on my Simplex +. ALL other standard-size coils are in my Accessory Coil Tote should I want them, and that happens very rarely.

Aftermarket vs Detector-Maker's Coils: While I have used a coil or two from an aftermarket source that worked 'OK', I am not a big fan of them. I have always figured that is a metal detector manufacturer can not make a proper-size and performance-based coils for their own detectors, there is a problem. That 'problem' is if they can't make a decent coil, I'm likely not going to be overly thrilled with tier detector offering, either.

Now, to your Garrett AT Pro. Not one of my favorite detectors or I'd own one, but I won't bad mouth it because I have used them and they work Okay. Just not quite what I need.

Garrett's 5X8 open-frame coil is, in my opinion, an very good 'general-purpose' search coils for day-to-day hunting. If I planned to hunt a more trashy environment, I would try Garrett's 4½" Concentric coil. I have used it on an AT Gold with favorable results .... compared against several other average detector/coil choices. I falls short of my personal two dense iron debris outfits, but it is the way I would go if I had to set out with a Garrett AT model.

I'm well East of the Mississippi, but my main goals are old coins, trade tokens, and all manner of unique early-era artifacts. Many of those have dated from the late 1860's back into the mid-1830's, to include bullets, cartridge cases, complete cartridges, uniform buttons, regular-wear buttons, insignia, you name it.

Monte
 
I use the NEL Attack on my ATP. It's big and noticably heavier but I don't mind it since I'll spend all day in the woods recovering civil war and older stuff. So I'll take breaks, eat, etc. I went with the bigger coil to cover more ground out in the woods faster and I'm not disappointed with it at all. I have covered ground I cleaned out before and still found more. Even though Nel says items need to be a gram or heavier, I have found dozens of percussion caps, flakes of the caps, bits of rust, and even buttons weighing around .25 grams.
 
I ended up just ordering the Garrett 5x8. Should be here tomorrow and if it gets here early enough I plan to take it for a test spin before work. Hoping it helps clean up some of the signals in the really trashy areas I've been hitting lately.
 
I ended up just ordering the Garrett 5x8. Should be here tomorrow and if it gets here early enough I plan to take it for a test spin before work. Hoping it helps clean up some of the signals in the really trashy areas I've been hitting lately.

Good choice Nubster. I've used the Garrett 5x8 coil on all my AT Pros. Good luck!
 
Got out for a couple hours with the new coil and I didn't find a darn thing but trash...but the coil is awesome! Swings great and really lightened up the AT Pro and it really does a great job at separating and locating...well...trash...haha

Not the coil or the detector...I was just in a spot that has slim pickins'. I've found some good stuff there but it's definitely been hit hard over the years.
 
Back
Top Bottom