Good 'ol smooth green Minelab 18" mono - Ready for the museum?

Chaps I need your help on this coil above.
I have had it for many years and it has served me well on the 2100 and recently the 3500.
The question is - is there any benefit in getting another 18" mono or are there no differences in "Q" etc and I'm wasting my $???

For those that have never owned one - its not the old garbage lid - but the fibreglass green "smooth" one that was released with the later 2100's.
Its, bloody light and very sensitive - but i cant help but wonder if i should upgrade to a coil that may be even more sensitive as things may have changed internally?

Opinions welcomed.

Cheers
Matt

Gday matt

The coil you describe sounds like one of the early 18" Kevlar mono coils, it was written somewhere that these were the most expensive coils of that size ever to be made and were the most advanced coil of the day.

If the coil is still in good condition then there is no reason at all why you shouldnt continue to use it if you want to, the main problem with early coils is that they tend to become loose internally, and more flexible than they should be, and that causes the coil to become noisy in operation or touch sensitive, they are extremely hard to use when they are touch sensitive as any "touch" as the tag suggests will produce spurious sounds and signals making it difficult to tell what is a target signal and what is just touch noise.

There have been some changes to the way coils are made and also to the wire used for the internal windings since the kevlar mono was made so operation wise an 18" nuggetfinder mono would be as light or lighter than it and would also be in my opinion a more stable and robust coil.

The main thing with the bigger coils is that they are not normally used very often and not normally used as a general purpose coil, but are generally used when you have some deep ground or large areas you want to cover from time to time, if you dont use a big coil often and this coil you have is in good nick, then it possibly would not be worth your while to purchase a new 18" coil as you may not get the use out of it.

cheers

stayyerAU

Thats some interesting info on the coil you came up with stayyerAU!
It certainly is light - thanks to the kevlar.
I wonder if anyone out there is still using one with the more modern GP /GPX's?
If it becomes too noisy i will probably replace it - but you may have persuaded me to give it another season.

Cheers
Matt

FFS, shake it, this will let you know whether or not if its got a season or two lefty in it.

If the inner coil which is housed in a foam covered in a black/dark grey shielding slops about, you may want to retire it, as StayyerAU says, it will sound off when bumped.

I used one on my GP-3000 for a while and loved it.