Hi Folks,
Took the new 17x13 CTX coil for a run on a couple of beaches this afternoon, this coil is big compared to the standard CTX 11 inch coil, it weighs in at 1075 grams and you certainly know you're swinging it on the 3030, that said though it is reasonably well balanced,on the sand it can tend to dig in its toe in deep footprints and rough sand, I found by shortening the lower shaft length by about 100mm brought the detector towards the vertical somewhat and this helped the balance quite a bit.
Pin pointing is no different from the standard coil and there is no problem there, likewise target depth is pretty well on the money also, in all there is little difference from the standard coil in both areas.
In terms of locating deep targets there is a significant advantage with the larger coil as would be expected, on the day I was ill prepared to dig down 12 inch plus to unearth targets, I'm still on light duties for another week or so. Based on the couple of hours detecting with the big coil this afternoon the up-coming warmer months on the beach scene looks very favourable given there will be loads more beach traffic.
Apart from the usual screw caps I managed two toy cars and a couple of $2 goldies Plus a 10 cent coin, oh yes and some BB's.
Very early days with the new coil at this point in time but in the right environment I think the big coil will be worth the money in terms of target depth and ground coverage. Swing weight wise it's still lighter than the GPZ7000 which I'm accustomed to swinging all day, all be it with the aid of the bungee support, based on this afternoons experience I don't think I will need the assistance of a bungee with this coil on the 3030.
Tomorrow I will give the Coiltek 10x5 coil a run on some high trash real estate that I stumbled on late to day, multiple targets under the big coil had the 3030 sounding like an ill tuned orchestra, should be interesting???????????????
With a bit of fine tuning in terms of settings and discrimination patterns the coming months should provide plenty of opportunities for some full-on detecting on the beaches and some event locations as they occur, looking forward to it.
Cheers,SinHof.
PS: The blue sports car is severely corroded and at this stage I'm not able to see any written information on its underside, it was in the surf down about ten inches.