First thoughts and review of the new XP Deus elliptical coil.

[laidback4sho]

Ok, where should I begin? Oh yeah, this came in the mail today.

So I quickly assemble everything and pair the coil with the remote and the headphones. Next, I head out to a spot I've hunted before - an old abandoned settlement from the mid-1700s.

So the first thing I noticed is how stable this coil is, even with sensitivity maxed out. So far, so good. And this thing is as light as a feather. Another good point. And when it hits on a target, it's really loud and clear. What's not to love, right?

Well, I start digging. First target - an inch under the surface. Cool. Another target - almost two inches down. Ok. Well this goes on for about half an hour when I suddenly realize that I haven't dug anything over two inches since I started swinging. So I spent the next two hours trying desperately to pick up a little depth. Trying, but never succeeding.

I lowered reactivity, silencer was -1, sensitivity was maxed, frequency was 14kHz, response was 4, GB was set on tracking. I played with this and I played with that. No luck at all.

Folks, I've got a bad feeling that this coil ain't gonna be worth a damn for either coinshooting or relic hunting. Not in the least. Not at all.

It's a good thing I got this coil primarily for nugget hunting, because that's all that's left for this little fella. And I'll be heading to the misty mountains first thing in the morning to see how it performs there.

Now maybe some of you fine folks can get some depth out of it, but I sure can't seem to.

Anyway, I just figured I'd write up this little review for those of you who have been waiting for this coil to hit the market. I sure hope it performs on the gold tomorrow, or I'm screwed...

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[jadocs]

Very interesting thanks for the review. Glad I decided not to wait and got the 9".

 

[vferrari]

I was afraid of that. Gary kind of alluded to that in his vids. I think the 9" HF is the sweet spot. Based on my beach and terrestrial testing this week, I can see myself using it as my every day coil unless I need to go deep for high conductors. As far as the elliptical is concerned for relic hunting, I can see it being killer for cellar holes and for "electronically classifying" dirt removed from trash pits and huts, especially hitting hard on mid-conductive targets like buttons and small lead. But kind of an expensive tool for such a niche application. Of course, it will be a great nugget coil in tight or trashy conditions.

 

[laidback4sho]

Yeah, I saw where Gary had mentioned that. But seeing as how he works for XP, I guess that was as close as he could come to saying "Oh HELL naw!!!" regarding this coil's depth capabilities. And I can respect that. I mean who wants to be the one to tell the world that their employer's product blows dead bears, right?

But in all seriousness, I do believe this thing will perform like a champ in the gold. Just out of curiosity, I did switch it to the highest frequency, which was like 80.8kHz, and the ground suddenly lit up! I mean I could have dug 25 targets in a 1 square foot area, lol, where otherwise, it was whisper quiet at 14kHz. So don't be at all surprised if I come on here tomorrow displaying my nice little collection of that sweet, sweet yellow stuff. I know the 9" HF coil tore it up about a month ago. We shall see...

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[laidback4sho]

As for the 9" HF coil, it does seem to be the sweet spot. My finds seem to have more than doubled from the old legacy 11" coil.

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[Terry Soloman]

Have you tried lowering the sensitivity to just over half power? If you go nugget hunting with a maxed out sensitivity setting you'll be losing depth with an Eliptical. I usually run mine no higher than 5.5 on a 1-10 scale in mineralized ground. You should be good to at least 7"

 

[laidback4sho]

Have you tried lowering the sensitivity to just over half power? If you go nugget hunting with a maxed out sensitivity setting you'll be losing depth with an Eliptical. I usually run mine no higher than 5.5 on a 1-10 scale in mineralized ground. You should be good to at least 7"

Thanks, Terry! That may just be the bit of advice I've been looking for.

Will be trying that in the morning. Today, I started out with a sens of 90, but then bumped it up to 99 when I saw the depth was poor and that it could handle it without becoming erratic.

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[Tedyoh]

I'm just curious what your target were you dug......i can't see XP releasing a coil that can only pick up a dime or large cent at 2"......i say this because mine is coming Monday....

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[vferrari]

Have you tried lowering the sensitivity to just over half power? If you go nugget hunting with a maxed out sensitivity setting you'll be losing depth with an Eliptical. I usually run mine no higher than 5.5 on a 1-10 scale in mineralized ground. You should be good to at least 7"

That's good advice Terry. Sometimes we forget that maxing out sensitivity may just increase noise (or reduce signal to noise ratio) because everything gets amplified. Dialing it down a bit may help some stuff to pop off the noise floor, especially mid-conductors which is what this coil is designed to excel at.

 

[vferrari]

I'm just curious what your target were you dug......i can't see XP releasing a coil that can only pick up a dime or large cent at 2"......i say this because mine is coming Monday....

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I think the thing is this was designed primarily to excel at prospecting small, mid-conductors which does not do a lot for coin shooting unless you like nickels or are seriously trying for the gold coin club. I don't have this coil, but I do have the 9" HF. On a 6" deep gold chain test target (in sand) it was amazing to see how much louder the test target signal got as I bumped frequency up higher. I know at the same time I was doing that I was losing high conductor depth. (i.e., if I did the same test with a silver target it would have gotten fainter). This is not an ideal coil for coinshooting deep copper and silver. It should do OK at 14 khz but it won't go as deep as the standard coil does at 4 or 8 khz, plus you are also dealing with a smaller coil footprint so depth will suffer for that reason also.

On the bright side, I do know that XP is working on advanced versions of software that will supposedly take advantage of some aspects of the two HF coil designs that will help them achieve more depth across the board in highly mineralized soil conditions which is where HF shines. We'll see what they come up with down the road. Consider Ver 4.X for the HF coils basically what V 1 or 2 was to the legacy coils as far as signal processing is concerned.

 

[laidback4sho]

I'm just curious what your target were you dug......i can't see XP releasing a coil that can only pick up a dime or large cent at 2"......i say this because mine is coming Monday....

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A small sampling of what I dug today. But that's generally the type of stuff that was found. And none of it was deeper than around two inches. You may have better luck than I did. I am interested in hearing what others have to say regarding the performance. Perhaps I'm missing something. I will be knocking sensitivity down a bit tomorrow, just to see how it acts.

Also note, these are my first thoughts on this coil. Maybe after I've used it for a bit, I can unlock its full potential. I sure hope so anyway.

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[Tedyoh]

Ok thanks guys ...i will post how my "clean" test garden results turn out....i will also plant some coins and relics on my property where a late 1800's barn once stood, an iron infested area. Probably will not get a YouTube video up for a few weeks until I get back to PA where I do most of my cellar hole hunting. Thanks for the gold chain info V.F., I want to beach hunt more and that's half the reason I picked up this coil.

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[Calabash Digger]

oh no.

 

[laidback4sho]

I just got this reply from Adam N Lisa, across the pond, so maybe there's still hope.

I do know much discussion about this coil needs to take place between users, so that we can get everything possible out of it and unlock its full capabilities.

As for me, I'm getting ready to hit that gold honey hole as we speak.

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[vferrari]

A small sampling of what I dug today. But that's generally the type of stuff that was found. And none of it was deeper than around two inches. You may have better luck than I did. I am interested in hearing what others have to say regarding the performance. Perhaps I'm missing something. I will be knocking sensitivity down a bit tomorrow, just to see how it acts.

Also note, these are my first thoughts on this coil. Maybe after I've used it for a bit, I can unlock its full potential. I sure hope so anyway.

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

Up the frequency and you'll be hitting those pull tabs and screw caps a LOT deeper (lol) and small gold as you've found with the 9".

I just got this reply from Adam N Lisa, across the pond, so maybe there's still hope.

I do know much discussion about this coil needs to take place between users, so that we can get everything possible out of it and unlock its full capabilities.

As for me, I'm getting ready to hit that gold honey hole as we speak.

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

Note the high conductor target was found with 14 khz which is a standard VLF high conductor frequency.

Agree, let's see what happens after we get some more ellipticals out there for people to use.

 

[Prius]

Have you tried a simple air test? I will be following this thread because I am interested in this coil. Looking forward to your comments.

 

[austin_luker]

Sounds like the coil is doing just what's it was designed to do lol... Sucks there isn't good depth but kind of expected

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[laidback4sho]

Have you tried a simple air test? I will be following this thread because I am interested in this coil. Looking forward to your comments.

Yes, did an air test on a wheat cent earlier tonight and the best I'm getting is around 5".

I tried different frequencies as well as different programs.

Can't wait till people start getting theirs in the mail so they can chime in.

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[vferrari]

Yes, did an air test on a wheat cent earlier tonight and the best I'm getting is around 5".

I tried different frequencies as well as different programs.

Can't wait till people start getting theirs in the mail so they can chime in.

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

What about that gold nugget you snagged with the 9" awhile back. How "deep" at the max elliptical freq?

 

[Calabash Digger]

do you think the coil you received is bad? 5 inchs on a coin?