Detech Ultra V Nugget Finder.

Some time ago we purchased two 11 inch Detech Ultra Deep coils, one for each of our older GPX4500 detectors. On our last trip to Maryborough we had some success with them once we got a few teething problems sorted. As there seems to be a lot about the Nugget Finder Coils I decided to buy a 14 x 9 coil which was duly received a few days ago and comparisons began, but were hard to repeat sometimes. We live on 5 acres so eventually we found an area where we could set up some sort of test site.

I decided to use a shot gun pellet (4.5mm round) of which I have many, I drilled a 1.5mm hole through it and tied a piece of cotton through the hole, I then buried a section of 16mm plastic conduit in the ground with the top level with the surrounding dirt. I have done it this way as I feel that being able to vary the pellet depth in the soil was better than burying the pellet at a depth and then either finding or not finding. The idea of the conduit means that there is soil close around the conduit, it may mean to some that this is no better an air test, so be it.

The tests were done with my wife slowly pulling the pellet up the conduit until I was able to say I had a change in the threshold. I would then pick the cotton at the top of the conduit and then we would measure to the pellet. The setting on the test was what was stable at our location (no gold here) and they were carried out in normal, enhanced and special smooth with auto tune used, results with very minor variations were

14x 9 Evo Normal 40mm some noise
Enhance 40mm was noisy
Special smooth 40mm quiet did get a 60mm once but was not repeatable

11" Detech Normal 35mm some noise
Enhance 35mm was noisy did get a 50mm once but was not repeatable.
Special smooth 37mm quiet

So there was around a 5mm difference, but the surface area of the Evo is slightly bigger at 100 square inches and the Detech is 96 square inches approximately. I know that the winding's are not on the outside edge, but this is how I worked it out. I know I am going to cop an earful of what I should have done, but this is what I have done and I have obtained a result that shows a minimal difference. I have not tried a bigger target as this size or smaller seems to be around the norm now. This was never about the shape, it is to do with its ability to find small gold.

Graham

Interesting 2Late. I personally appreciate you taking the time to post the results. I have been wanting to get another coil and there is so much info/bulldust out there it's hard to make a choice. :Y: :Y: :Y: :Y: :Y:

I'm not one for testing & usually rely on what I'm finding (or not) to know if something is ok.
The Detech 11" Ultra Sensing Mono was a great coil for me on the QED. I wouldn't hesitate to get one for the GPX if I needed that size. I'm currently using a Detech 15" Super Deep Mono & find it to be a great coil on the GPX. Good sensitivity & depth.
The NF Evo 149 is also a great coil & another favourite of mine at the moment.
Nenad has done some comparison with the Detech coils vs others & seems to be of the opinion that there isn't too much between them + the Detechs are good value for money. I like the Detech coils & agree with that.
Your testing does seem to back that up. :Y:

Interesting comparison between the 2 coils. I know some people would say the Detech is better value for money but I would always be wondering in the back of my mind in this particular situation if I was using the 11" Detech and had a quiet day with not many targets, how many more targets are 1-5mm deeper than my detectable range, should I have used the 14x9 evo? especially after doing those comparisons.

They are the mind games we have to deal with on quiet days, are my settings optimum for the day? have I got the best coil possible for this area? so-on and so-on.........
Those mind games can lead us to having many different coils and detectors as well as various other accessories to compliment our set-ups and try to have the best possible for that location on that day.

I think in the end it's more important to have the confidence in the gear we are using and accept we will have quiet days regardless of the gear.

Nice comparison though Graham.

I don't know anything about 'detech' coils...what I will say about Nugget Finder is their after sales service is second to none. It's a relevant point when we fork out big
money for coils...what happens when there is a problem?

Goldtalk Leonora said:

I don't know anything about 'detech' coils...what I will say about Nugget Finder is their after sales service is second to none. It's a relevant point when we fork out big
money for coils...what happens when there is a problem?

Click to expand...

Gday

Yes I agree with Goldtalk Leonora, coils are a big investment now and you should expect good after sales service and a quality product, in saying this I have owned lots of nuggetfinder coils and have had very few issues with them and any problem was resolved quickly, this is why I like to buy locally produced products as we have found in the past that some makers just tend to disappear and then if you have an issue then its bad luck, its the old saying you get what you pay for I guess.

The thing with coils is that testing of this type will give you some sort of idea how one will perform against another in a controlled test, but in the field there are many variables that will effect the performance of a coil, and some coils will work better on some model detectors than they do on others, as an example I have an earlier model nuggetfinder 14" sl round mono coil, bought from mate who used it on his 5000, he said that it was a dull and unresponsive coil, as I had the same model coils but in the 16" and 20" versions and liked them, I bought it from him and now use it regularly on my early model 4500 with excellent results, and found it worked better than the nuggetfinder 14" advantage coil that I used previously.

Its a worthwhile exercise to buy and test coils to see what works best for you and your machine, but be careful not to base your decision on what people are saying unless it relates specifically to your model detector as no one coil is good on all models, maybe good on some but can be average on others.

cheers

stayyerAU

I would also go to say....and these are only my opinions....the best coil is the one you find gold with.....by that, I mean the coil you get familiar with
is the one you will start to find gold with...you can buy another ten coils but chances are you will always have 'old faithfull' on the end of the shaft.

Buying new coils....willit find you more gold???....probably...but not because of the coil...because of the operator 'thinkiing' it gives them the advantage. I know I bang on
but good detecting is not about settings and coils...it's about being a good prospector ( little to do with being a good detector operator) and your approach to prospecting.

But having said that....it's always fun buying new toys!!

Goldtalk Leonora said:

I don't know anything about 'detech' coils...what I will say about Nugget Finder is their after sales service is second to none. It's a relevant point when we fork out big
money for coils...what happens when there is a problem?

Click to expand...

No doubt Nugget Finder have great after sales service - never needed to use it so that's great in itself!
They are great coils but that doesn't mean we need to restrict ourselves to not trying new things. I'm sure many open minded prospectors use different brands of coil & other equipment. I myself currently have 2 x Minelab coils, 2 x Nugget Finder coils & 1 x Detech coil which I find are all great.
Detech are an innovative company that's been around since at least the early 2000's. The Australian branch kicked off in 2012. Not sure about their after sales service as I've never needed to use it either having now owned 4 different coils of theirs? All of their coils are waterproof & have a 2 year warranty which I don't think would be an issue if there was a problem. The distributor seems very keen to keep customers happy & at least one Detech retailer is among the most trusted in Australia - he is beyond reproach.

The tests that have done were done mainly as a result of this topic

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=29299

At the time I asked why one brand of similar made coil was considered better than another brand, to my mind the answers I got did not assist in any way as they were more to do with if a fault should occur or how well they were made, but nothing concrete about performance, the indication was that weight was the biggest problem.

We used our Detech coils on the last trip and found an area that needs more investigation, but none of the coils we had were any better than the Detech. So the decision was made to get one of the 14 x 9 Nugget Finders and see if that was any better as some indications were that there was going to be a very noticeable difference between the two. The results of my test ( I am not an engineer or electronics expert) seemed to be a reasonable way of getting the information that I wanted and a comparison between the two coils as I am looking for a substance buried in the ground at varying depths and sizes, so I felt that something of a common size and settings should give a suitable result. The results to me showed that there was virtually no difference in performance between the coils that I have.

I am of the opinion that the slight difference was possibly due to the extra length of the Nugget Finder, which from what I understand the oval coil gives a slightly deeper search pattern to the round coil. My test were never to say one brand was better that the other. As far as the Detech coils go I can assure that the service is top rate, we had a problem when we arrived at Maryborough that I was unable to understand, rang Pete and went out to his house, he spent about 1.5 hours with us sorting out the problem and gave us some suggestions for settings and areas that would produce a result with patience, our problem is we have a limited time on each visit so have to go to where we have found it previously.

I will possibly end up using the Nugget Finder as I like to wander further over the hill to see what is on the other side, so the extra length of the coil will suit my needs. Wife is happy to potter and has been successful where we have found gold and I always hope of finding a new area for her to potter further.

Graham

I own two Detech coils now. The 21"x17" SEF and the 15" Ultimate DD. I love the way they are fully waterproof and the skid plates just clip off for cleaning with no need for coil tape.

The jury is still out on the 15" as I only used it for the first time last weekend and I had trouble differentiating false signals from targets, but seeing as I'm still new to this and it's a new coil for me I can't objectively comment on it.

Booney also used his new 15" ultimate last weekend and I'd be interested to hear how he went with it and what he thought of its performance?

The only nugget finder I own is a Nugget Finder Advantage 20". Now I have to say, for me this has been a much easier coil to use as I've found .22 bullet heads and what look like lead musket balls at Kingower that were deeper than most crud that I have found so far. I still think I'll spring for a 15" NF Evo though when I've got the bucks to spare and the Finance Manager isn't watching

2late - FYI the area of an 11" dia is 95.03 sq in and the 14 x 9 is 98.96 sq in. A difference of 3.93, which is between 3 and 4 %.

I have a 14" Detech Spiral I bought from Nenad. He did a coil comparison, elite v NF v Detech, on Youtube over 3 years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyVj7lCXV7A&t=119s

What I gathered from his tests was that each of the compared coils had differing results on the various sized targets and depths, that gave a slight edge on the other 2.

My logic was that although the Evo or Elite might be one of the coils of choice, the Detech was very close to them. I saw the $$$ value of the Detech would better suit my limited budget.

After all, the ground is not dead flat or level, so 5mm in real world of detecting is barely noticeable. FYI - I did a test on a large target at a test ground near Talbot a couple of months ago, the Detech picked it up as digable at a depth of 42". The 3gr nugget in my Avatar was the first nugget I found with the Detech 20 minutes after putting it on the 5000, at a depth of 8".

Choice of coil is whatever works for you.

Graham, I've always been told that the round coils punch slightly deeper than the elliptical (oval) coils.
eg: a 14x9 to calculate it's closest round equivalent is 14 + 9 = 23, then divide by 2 = 11.5 hope that makes sense.

I've seen tests done comparing the NF evo 14x9 to the 12" evo round was that the 12 punched slightly deeper and the 14x9 more sensitive and easier to pinpoint at the toe of the coil.
Similar results with between the 15" round and 17x13" (which equates to 15" using the above calculation of add both and divide by 2), the results were only minimal but enough to say there's a difference in coils

So if you are finding the 14x9 punching deeper than the 11" round it may have more to do with the different makes of coil (?)

I have both the 12" and 14x9" NF evo coils and find the same as the tests between the two, I find the 14x9 more sensitive to EMI and I can't run it as hot as the 12" round but it has it's advantage of being able to poke that pointy end into all the nooks and crannys better than the round coil so for me it's worth having both coils and use the coil that best suits the ground conditions I'm going to detect.

Hope that helps a bit.

Ok ,thanks all for the reply's, my calculations of area were just rounded up or down as I was not sure what I was going to end up with or do with the information, the 3 to 4% mentioned condor22 seems to equate to the coils being so close that it does not matter in the real world, thanks for that, I was unable to work that one out myself. Our initial choice was also based on the cost as my wife also enjoys the looking and we are happy with our choice. We are ever hopeful that something like the 3 gram nugget will find its way under one of our coils also.

PP I did do the calculations on the larger coils and found that they were very close, but the size is now starting to be come a bit of a problem with arms and shoulders. I would not say it is 'punching' deeper, maybe just more like a 'light blow', but it was deeper and a quick calculation using my rough methods around the 8 to 10% mark which is 8 to 10mm at 100mm, not a great deal, but there will always be one that is just the little bit further down that may be missed, no matter what coil is used. We are hoping to get back down there when it warms a bit and see how we go with the 14 x 9, I think we have finally got our heads around all the settings on the 4500 which has been a major issue in the past with not having a steady threshold.

Graham

mbasko said:

Goldtalk Leonora said:

I don't know anything about 'detech' coils...what I will say about Nugget Finder is their after sales service is second to none. It's a relevant point when we fork out big
money for coils...what happens when there is a problem?

Click to expand...

No doubt Nugget Finder have great after sales service - never needed to use it so that's great in itself!
They are great coils but that doesn't mean we need to restrict ourselves to not trying new things. I'm sure many open minded prospectors use different brands of coil & other equipment. I myself currently have 2 x Minelab coils, 2 x Nugget Finder coils & 1 x Detech coil which I find are all great.
Detech are an innovative company that's been around since at least the early 2000's. The Australian branch kicked off in 2012. Not sure about their after sales service as I've never needed to use it either having now owned 4 different coils of theirs? All of their coils are waterproof & have a 2 year warranty which I don't think would be an issue if there was a problem. The distributor seems very keen to keep customers happy & at least one Detech retailer is among the most trusted in Australia - he is beyond reproach.

Click to expand...

I had an issue with a detech ultra. The distributor sent me a new one before I returned the faulty one!

mbasko said:

Goldtalk Leonora said:

I don't know anything about 'detech' coils...what I will say about Nugget Finder is their after sales service is second to none. It's a relevant point when we fork out big
money for coils...what happens when there is a problem?

Click to expand...

No doubt Nugget Finder have great after sales service - never needed to use it so that's great in itself!
They are great coils but that doesn't mean we need to restrict ourselves to not trying new things. I'm sure many open minded prospectors use different brands of coil & other equipment. I myself currently have 2 x Minelab coils, 2 x Nugget Finder coils & 1 x Detech coil which I find are all great.
Detech are an innovative company that's been around since at least the early 2000's. The Australian branch kicked off in 2012. Not sure about their after sales service as I've never needed to use it either having now owned 4 different coils of theirs? All of their coils are waterproof & have a 2 year warranty which I don't think would be an issue if there was a problem. The distributor seems very keen to keep customers happy & at least one Detech retailer is among the most trusted in Australia - he is beyond reproach.

Click to expand...

I had an issue with a detech ultra. The distributor sent me a new one before I returned the faulty one!
It was bought from Phase Technical. Enough said.