Monte, my answers might be framed differently than what you are asking but here it goes...

I currently hunt with the Equinox 800 and I almost never hunt with anything but the 6" DD. Before that, the Etrac with the 6" excellerator or the 8X6 SEF, and before that the Xterra 70 with the 6" 18 kHz. My personal hunting preference is to be in the ghost towns or demolition of old buildings type locations. Both are always loaded with iron and undesirable targets. I like my coils to be as "least influenced" by other metal objects near coins and tokens as possible.

The smaller the coil footprint the better for me in these areas. Also, the smaller coils seem to get less hung up in sagebrush and stubble.

My other motivation is fatigue. I can swing the smaller/lighter coils more hours before I flame out.

I concede that depth favors big coils but, would say 95% of my favorite finds have been in the 1-7" deep range. I've dug a few 8ish inch keepers with smaller coils in OPTIMAL soil conditions.

Every now and then, I'll go with a bigger coil in parks when I'm specifically looking for recent/shallow jewelry drops. In those cases, I'm just trying trying to cover more ground.

Honestly, I probably don't have the skill or patience that some folks do in seeking out very deep "whisper" targets. I once watched a friend who i considered a detecting wizard dig a 21mm brass token at every bit of 12" in a park with an Explorer II with a stock coil. When he and my other friend with a Sovereign had me listen with my machine, all I could say was "listen to what?".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/2022 10:59PM by Utmike. (view changes)