X-Coils 10X9 inch Performance

My first impressions, watch out Gold Bug 2, Watch out out SDC 2300, watch out GPX 5000 & Sadie coil, for there's a new kid on the block, who coupled to the raw power & electronics ingenuity of Minelabs GPZ 7000, has no equal.
Toptigin, you were not wrong in stating what you have seen this little 10X9 inch coil do, by managing to pick up tiny bits of gold the size of 0.1 & 0.2 gram, at 3 inches depth. For not only can I confirm what you have said by actual gold finds, but be so bold as to say targets half that size are being picked up at 3 inches deep.  
I know there's some good & bad points to write about, during the testing of any coil I'v ever had the privilege of testing/detecting with, but after putting on/ combining, this new aftermarket 10x9 inch mono coil, to the GPZ 7000 & running it through its paces, is as good as it gets. The little coil ground balances well & runs smoothly. Keep in mind being of mono construction & great sensitivity, when ground balancing over the ferrite don't go touching the ferrite.
Firstly, I'm sure there'd be many a GPZ user, who will more than appreciate its far lighter weight of 1.11kg (including lower shaft) & manoeuvrability through or around tight sections of rock or shrub are second to none. Being able to place your coil as close to the ground as possible, makes up the difference in depth factor, over hearing deeply buried positive targets, as that of hovering six or so inches above an area with a much larger coil.
As far as EMI (elctro magnetic interference) from near by power lines is concerned, this little coil, can run with a good degree of silence almost close to or beside power lines. It would be safe to say detecting anywhere near major high voltage power lines at 45 degrees to the lines, will have you running a smooth, noise free coil. I have no doubt, if this little coil were of DD winding, one would have no problem running a quiet coil, right underneath major power lines.
I was told (but not 100% certain) that all X-Coils are water resistant, but not totally water proof, meaning that they can be used under periods of showery rain, but not fully submersible under water.
Now to cut a long story short & having a spare couple of hrs free time to go detecting, I was taken & placed over some shallow sections of mineralized clay/slatey ground the other day, of which a mate of mine had found 4 gram+ size bits of gold, right by the side & underneath 10 inches or so high, tussock grass. He told me he had hammered this little patch of his (approx 4x5 meters wide) with just about everything under the sun, less a Minelab GPZ 7000. So I switched on the 7000 with standard 14x13 inch coil & went over the same bit of ground slowly/carefully, even scanning by pressing down on & swinging over some of that dreaded tussock grass listening for any sign of signal response, but to my dismay finished off the small area of his, empty handed. My mate upon seeing this was content to leave it with me, heading off to another locality. This is where the fun began. I went back to the vehicle, put on this new 10X9 X-Coil & decided to grid the same area again. Well, well, well, to my surprise or should I say shock, a meter or so away from his initial gold hole find, I received a faint but sure as signal. Approaching it from various angles confirmed it. Digging down slowly/carefully taking off an inch at a time, the signal response from the target got stronger, as it turned out to be positive. A measured 4 inches down into the crumbling decomposing slate/clay, out popped a tiny flat bit of gold, weighing in at 0.06 gram. Now something like this would catch anyone's attention, for I said to myself, what else of this size or larger, could possibly still be hiding, bellow this section of ground. It wasn't long before i found out. About a foot or so away whilst pressing down on/over a section of thick tussock grass, to about 4 inches above the ground, a faint but clear signal came through. First thing I thought was that this signal is more than clear enough/loud enough to have been heard by the standard 14x13 inch GPZ coil, but it was not to be, for I had missed it completely. Digging away the tussock & a measured 6 inches down into the mineralized clay/slate popped out a 2.1 gram bit of alluvial/reef gold. I could not believe how the 14x13 inch GPZ coil, did not manage to hear such a large slug of gold, so I put it to the measured air test & sure enough, 8.5 inches over this particular gold target was all it could achieve, whereas the little 10X9 X-Coil was hovering close to 10 inches. What happened next was even better. His small section of ground managed to pull in 2 more bits of gold & a further 2 small nuggets were found on another section of nearby ground about 4 meters away from my mates original patch. I want people to understand here, that there are types of gold, for what ever the reason, cannot be seen or heard in or out of the ground, to the depths we expect them to be heard by all or any PI detector. Type of gold/composition/orientation, would have to be a major factor contributing to this.
This little 10X9 inch aftermarket GPZ 7000 coil (X-Coil) has finally confirmed what I'v always been saying about detecting technology, that the gold on/in just about every gold bearing locality is not all taken away or gone, for with each new detecting technology introduced giving greater depth, more gold is awaiting to be unearthed, but a few cm's further down.
My preferred settings for the searching over or in shallow mineralized gold bearing ground/localities, using this small 10X9 inch X-Coil are as follows.
High Yield/Difficult, with Sensitivity set at 11, (leaving plenty of room to play with further settings), the rest being up to the individuals preferences.
It is not often I will praise a coils working characteristics as much as I have done so on this particular size/type coil, but I feel I must give credit to where credit is due & NO this is not a paid write up. I paid what ever was asked of me to pay for these coils, but feel I owe it to all/any of our members on here who go or have gone out of their way to un-selfishly contribute to this forum, answering the questions of/for the less experienced members, in the game of metal detecting for gold.  
I am confident to say & give the thumbs up to the manufacturers of X-Coils & of course to Stan/Dave as well as Toptigin, who have gone out of their way, towards introducing the X-Coil lineup to us.  Top job X coils, keep up the good work.
ps. the smallest nugget (bottom left hand corner) is the 0.06 gram (found 3+ inches deep) & the largest in the middle (found at 10+ inches depth), weighed in at 2.1 grams. If its gram to sub gram gold you're after, in areas of average to high mineralized ground, this small 10x9 aftermarket GPZ coil, cant be beaten.
As for bird shot (quail load size bits of lead), be prepared to bring back hand fulls during a whole days detecting.    








Cheers All, Kon. "

Thanks Kon for the report on the 10x9 size x-coils, I knew you would be impressed.

cheers dave

Great news Kon thanks for your detailed report.

My pleasure gents. Its not to often that something this good in way of our hobby comes along & puts a smile on ones dial, from ear to ear.

Cheers Kon.

Great write up kon. This little coil will rev up the gold fields for sure. Cant wait for mine to turn up.
Just waiting now for your report on the 18".  
I just hope those that said they would not buy one as had to do mods keep there words. We don't want them all reflogging good ground. More for us. (Tongue in cheek)

Thanks Travelergold

Horses for courses Wally. As they say, you can lead a horse to water, but you certainly can't make it drink. Likewise with these X-Coils, they aren't nor ever going to be, every-bodies cup of tea, nor are the required mods on coil plug adaptor lead, nor the purchase of a bottom lower GPZ shaft, (in order for the changing of coils to remain simple), but, people have to ask themselves, how serious are they about their hobby? How much time can they afford to put in, searching/chasing for that elusive "Golden Ointment & how far are they prepared to go?    I know where I stand, for my motto is simple, "Is it the coil you want to buy & use, or the coil you're looking for to sell?" for I get maximum use of mine, even in the little time I have to use them in.
Anyways & on another note, the 18 inch coil will take a little more time before putting up a full report on it. Being a much larger coil, (fitness for purpose) requires that I swing it over the most appropriate looking, flat bits of ground, with room to spare, for the spoils one seeks to chase, with a much larger coil, are also a lot larger in size & much harder to find than the tiddlers.    
I'll eventually get there.

Cheers Kon.

Great report Kon,do you have any idea when these coils go into major production or go on sale?
i'm sure there will be a few people frothing at the mouth

cheers moredeep

David (davsgold) is in charge of the distribution side of things moredeep. All/any enquiries regarding this new line of aftermarket GPZ coils, are to be taken up with Dave. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to answer any questions/queries that anyone might have. Members on here can pm him direct.


Cheers Kon.

G’day Kon,

Great report on the 10”x9” x coil, but I just have a question about what you mentioned about it being a mono coil?

I’m pretty sure that a mono coil wouldn’t work with the GPZ 7000.

Anyway as I said your report on this little coil was very good and a very promising addition for the GPZ 7000.
Can’t wait for your next report on the 18” x coil.

Thanks for sharing with us also.

Cheers.

Mike.

G'day Mike

Don't hold me to that one Mike, for I'm not 100% sure & could be drastically wrong. That's what I believed their winding configurations to be, considering their outer edge sensitivity, is 3 times that of the Double D design on the GPZ 14x13.  Similar outer edge sensitivity to any mono wound coil, but until  I can gut one of them open, & have a peep inside, is the only way we can all be 100% certain.  Scratch that last statement Mike, for they are a little too expensive to gut.  Maybe Dave can elaborate more on their internal configuration winding, or the type of wire used?

Cheers Kon.

G'day Kon and Mike

I have not seen inside one of the coils either, but this is what I am told about the internal configuration.  The are not exactly a Mono coil as like Mike said that probably wouldn't work, but they do act like and have similar characteristics in a lot of ways to a Mono coil.  The 10x9 is still really a Super D type coil.

Some of their coils are now "Spiral Wound" and this is printed on the coil.  Still has to be suitable to use on a 7000 though and so it is NOT a standard mono coil.

A spiral test coil just received to test.


cheers dave

Thanks for clarifying that one up for us Dave. Interesting to see how that 12 inch round, spiral wound coil performs.

Cheers Kon

Thanks Kon & Dave,

These coils really look good and going by all your testing/ground time with them. They are proofing their own and hope that the 12” spiral wound comes up trumps as well for you Dave.

Cheers.

Mike.

Hi Dave.

Can you please send me some info about how to set this up. As far as I can tell I need a new lower shaft but not sure. Can you also send me some pricing on the complete range.

Cheers John

Good write up Kon. I, for one, am looking forward to these coils becoming commercially available.

Hopefully we can get someone on board to professionally make up the patch lead, because I'm damn sure I don't want to try it myself !

One thing we can be sure of, is that bitter and twisted old man Doug will be doing everything in his power to make sure the coils can't get into Australia !

Cheers,
Rick

You may be right Rick, if he is successful there will be a number of disappointed GPX owners.  It is amusing to think that he would be working in parallel with the detector manufacturing company that he has spent so many years bagging.

I too am hoping to see these new design of aftermarket coils become fully commercialised one day Rick, for this particular little 10X9 is years ahead of its time. I also understand your concern about the modifying of an adaptor patch lead (so as to be able to interchange from one coil to another) for it can be somewhat tricky, as well as a hindrance for the average person out there with little knowledge of wire configuration/soldering skills, with even less room for error. There's got to be some electronics techo out there that would be willing to take it on, making it easier for the not so tech savvy.
I put that little 10x9 up against a mates GPX 5000 yesterday, using what he considered to be his best overall coil for gold finds (14x9 NF Advantage) in Fine Gold timings, on/over half a dozen size gold nuggets, ranging from 0.06 to 2 gram in size, only to be beaten in depth (but only by an inch or so) on a dollar coin buried flat in mineralized soil. Results, 2 inches+ higher with the 10x9 on the 2 gram nugget over his 14X9 & as for the 0.06 gram flat little bit of gold, he could hear it, but only by touching the coil to the nugget. 2+ inches greater depth with the little 10X9.  
He was spitting chips on the gold side, but what a relief it was to see his 14x9 winning at depth over the $1 coin & rightly so, for his was a slightly larger in size mono coil. I then asked him what his second best general purpose prospecting coil was for picking up gold or that $1 coin at depth & he gladly pulled out the 17X11 NF which went a couple of inches deeper on the coin. He was more than satisfied with his results, until I pulled out the 18 inch round X-Coil, set it up & waived it over the same dollar coin.  What happened next, I had to refrain my self from laughing cause he was left devastated. I'v never seen a GPX 5000 air born from a meter away into the back of the ute tray.    

Cheers Kon.    

Kon61gold wrote:
Toptigin, you were not wrong in stating what you have seen this little 10X9 inch coil do, by managing to pick up tiny bits of gold the size of 0.1 & 0.2 gram, at 3 inches depth. For not only can I confirm what you have said by actual gold finds, but be so bold as to say targets half that size are being picked up at 3 inches deep.  

   Kon well done! Practice is an indisputable fact.
 

I am confident to say & give the thumbs up to the manufacturers of X-Coils & of course to Stan/Dave as well as Toptigin, who have gone out of their way, towards introducing the X-Coil lineup to us.  Top job X coils, keep up the good work.

Guys, I have no task to advertise something. And what you convince. I once learned a lot of new things for myself in this forum. Now I'm ready to share what I saw and know. I work in the mines. Good luck under the coils!

I hope they bring out a x-coil for the gpx kon,I'd hate to be flinging the ol 5000 around the bush,it's served me very well

cheers moredeep

It served him very well too moredeep, for many a year. Its just that one has to see what this 10X9 inch combo on the GPZ 7000 can do, that leaves one gob smacked.  By the way, I had a spare hr up my sleeve to go detecting trying out this small 10X9 X-Coil today, over some flogged to death mullock heaps, near where I lobbed on to that 19 grammer, for half a dozen quail load buck shot & 3 tiny tiddlers (.067, 0.072, & a 0.08 bits of colour). I gave up the area saying to myself, you won't go 10 meters swinging in a straight line without receiving a positive signal with this small coil. Its simply dynamite on sub gram gold, over the most flogged of localities. By the way, I have to mention the tiny lead shot weighed more than the gold, yet the smallest of the 3 bits of colour (0.067gram gold) came in faint but clear at a measure 3 inches+ deep in mineralized clay. One can see why I'm over the moon.
I think Dave mentioned something similar is in the pipe works or already made for the GPX series detectors. Will have to check with Dave on that one.

Cheers Kon.

That is impressive kon,I'd be excited too,hopefully this coil along with the bigger coil sizes will keep the ZED's market value from declining.

cheers moredeep

moredeep wrote:I hope they bring out a x-coil for the gpx kon,I'd hate to be flinging the ol 5000 around the bush,it's served me very well

cheers  moredeep

G’day moredeep,

This coil that Dave posted on the other thread in General Discussion is supposed to be for the GPX’s.  

https://golddetecting.forumotion.net/t25940p180-aftermarket-for-gpz#254298

I think it’s about the third pic down 15”x14” coil for the 4500 & 5000.  

Cheers.  

Mike.

Thanks for that Mike,so it is,it'll be interesting to see the test result on this coil verses the evo and elite.
hopefully some one has done one or will be doing one soon,

cheers moredeep

For those in the adelaide region, i had an electronics guy make up my adaptor lead and as expected he did a very profesional job. Looks as if minelab made the patch lead up. His main work is on phone, tv and electronic circuit boards but has also done repair work on minelab and other detectors as well.  Price wise i do not know what he will charge but he did mine for free. He told me he would be more than happy to do more. Pm me for his number if you are interested. He is south of the city. TG

We gave the new 12" spiral a run today at Stuart Town common, a flogged to death gold field, and that is also where we have bee going to do most of the tests of the various coils.

So the 12" coil went very very well, test over that same target we have been using and got that no worries, air test over a small 10g lead up against a measuring stick, Kon knows what I mean as its the idea that he uses, and this 12" coil got 16" in the air test.

Also it got a couple of nuggets as well, after testing we spend about an hour detecting around where we were testing, marked out about 6 targets, and then used a few more coils checking the same targets before digging, so the 15" round also got the same targets and the 16x15 did as well.

Out of the 6 targets, 2 were gold 2 were lead shot, one was a nail about 2 foot deep and 2 foot into the side of an old timers hole (sidewall) and one ground noise which disappeared after digging a little.

cheers dave

Good informative report Kon.

Thanks G.B.  Looks like another impressive looking/successful, GPZ 7000 aftermarket spiral wound coil above, which no doubt because of its lighter weight/size, can/will be used as a general purpose all rounder.
One last query here Dave. Is that 12 inch spiral wound coil round or elliptical in shape, cause its a little to hard to tell from the picture?

Cheers fellas, Kon.

Kon61gold wrote:Thanks G.B.  Looks like another impressive looking/successful, GPZ 7000 aftermarket spiral wound coil above, which no doubt because of its lighter weight/size, can/will be used as a general purpose all rounder.
One last query here Dave. Is that 12 inch spiral wound coil round or elliptical in shape, cause its a little to hard to tell from the picture?

Cheers fellas, Kon.

It's a 12" round coil Kon, the picture does make it look a bit elliptical.

cheers dave

Thanks Dave.

Cheers Kon

moredeep wrote:I hope they bring out a x-coil for the gpx kon,I'd hate to be flinging the ol 5000 around the bush,it's served me very well

cheers  moredeep

This is my GPX-4500 device. Upgrade did Woody. X-Coils 16x12 mono. Found a nugget in the place where GPZ-7000 worked.
Weight 1.1g