What is the best Metal Detector Search coil?

In order to choose the best metal detector coil, remember that different coils have certain advantages in different environments. Where you want to go, and what you want to find will inform which metal detector search coil is best. For example, larger Search Coils can let you detect deeper than smaller coils. Smaller coils can be well suitied to trash-dense ground or gold propsecting in the goldfields. 

Read on to learn about all the different advantages of different metal detector search coils!

What advantages do Large Search Coils have?

If you want to increase finds and improve the maximum depth of your metal detector, getting a larger coil could be the answer. Larger metal detector coils have a greater maximum depth on medium to large targets (coin size and upwards) and bigger metal detector coils also cover more ground for each swing.

Large search coils are ideal for metal detecting at the beach or in open areas where there are fewer obstacles in the way or buried metal targets are more spaced apart. The increased depth and coverage your metal detector gets with a larger search coil will allow your metal detector to process more soil and increase the rate of finding targets in most areas, where buried metal targets are spaced further apart.

If you’ve metal detected in an area many times with a smaller search coil, you might be beginning to think you’ve found most of what's buried there. However, it can be a great idea to go over that ground again using a larger search coil to find out what you may have missed!

What advantages do Smaller Search Coils have?

Two of the biggest advantages of using a small search coil on your metal detector is the ability to find more treasure in trash-loaded areas, and their increased sensitivity to the smallest gold nuggets (less that 0.1g). The inherently small footprint of smaller search coils allows them to process smaller chunks of ground at a time.

When multiple metal targets are buried in the ground under your coil at the same time, the metal detector can become a bit confused. Smaller search coils reduce the chances of this happening due to their smaller physical size and detection field, which can dramatically increase performance (and finds).

Due to their small physical size, small metal detector search coils can also be poked into more smaller and crowded places, meaning that you can use your metal detector with a small search coil in those hard-to-reach areas once you have covered the large open areas with your bigger coil.

Small search coils are also more sensitive to small targets which makes them highly suitable for gold prospecting where most gold nuggets are smaller than 0.1g (when using a VLF type metal detector).

What advantages do Elliptical Search Coils have?

The best advantage of using a small or medium size elliptical search coil on your metal detector is being able to hit a good balance between depth, weight, usability in tight spaces and sensitivity to buried objects of all different sizes.

Due to their narrow form and size elliptical metal detector coils can also be used to find more treasure in trash-loaded areas, as they can separately detect buried objects that are close together more easily, all without sacrificing too much depth.

Elliptical coils are usually (but not always) the middle or medium-size option for a metal detector in Australia, and we’ve seen coils of this shape and size prove extremely popular due to this kind of versatility. An Elliptical Search Coil may be the perfect fit for you and your metal detector in the search for the next epic treasure!

Do Smaller Search Coils reduce interference?

You won’t always encounter noticeable levels of interference, but when you do, using a smaller coil on your metal detector will reduce interference.

Whether it is interference from ground mineralisation due to salt or iron content or EMI from power lines, aside from first adjusting the settings on the metal detector itself, smaller search coils can massively improve the performance of your metal detector in these situations because smaller coils are naturally less exposed due to their smaller size.

This can make metal detecting a lot easier in areas where there is a lot of interference because small search coils are more stable and produce fewer false signals or random chatter from your metal detector.

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