Why are there so many coils available for the X-TERRA Series of detectors?
Good question.
Currently, there are eight coils available to suit your X-TERRA detectors.
All of them do mostly the same, detect metal but a few of them are ‘specialist’ coils more suited to a few tasks “the Pros” or seasoned hunters indulge in!
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with the “stock 9 concentric” that comes as standard kit with a lot of X-TERRA’s, the option to customize your detector without shelling out buckets of money is offered through what’s termed as VFLEX technology available only on the X-TERRA range.
So what’s VFLEX technology then?
VFLEX is the only system currently available that initiates a frequency change by simply changing the search coil used.
But why is VFLEX a good thing?
Well, VFLEX has eight different coils in its range and can you imagine trying to stuff eight detectors into a rucksack? It’s far easier to put just the coils you want into a rucksack and change the operating frequency of the X-TERRA to customise the searches to find the artefacts and or gold nuggets that you want.
So what about the coils then…what do they do?
Well, there are essentially two different types: (1) Concentric (2) Double-D. These coils are mostly round in shape and this describes the internal coil windings inside the coil. In a Concentric coil there are two round windings inside, one large on the outside and a smaller one in the middle.
This is perfect for pinpointing and for general searching but can be affected by ground minerals to some degree. In addition, the sweep pattern should be overlapped so as not to miss anything.
The Double-D has two ‘D’ shaped windings mounted inside >back to back< Sweeping with this coil one doesn’t need to overlap the sweeps as they have a type of broad, ‘wiper blade’ sweep and they can handle mineralization levels a lot better than a Concentric coil and can also go deeper in bad and poor soils.
While most of the coils for X-TERRA are round in shape, there is also an elliptical shaped coil. The same construction applies to this coil as the Double-D, but the windings inside are smaller in diameter.
VFLEX takes all this a stage further, as previously stated X-TERRA can change its operating frequency simply by changing the coil being used to another coil; to suit either the terrain or the type and conductivities of the metal artefacts being searched for. I’ll cover this in more detail in a future blog post.
Des Dunne
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