Should I get a larger coil?

[swifty3565]

Hi, I'm very new here and to MD'ing. I am getting ready to purchase an ACE 250, and I am wondering should I buy the extra 9x12 coil now? Is it a great benefit, is it necessary or will the 6x9 be just fine. Most of my hunting will be in parks, fields and the woods, and occasionally a lake beach. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[cchughs]

I went the other way and got the 4 1/2" Sniper coil for my ACE. I bought it because I was hunting an old city dump that had been abandoned years ago. I couldn't get between the junk to find good stuff with the larger coils. I liked the coil so much that I hunt with it pretty much all the time now. Just my opinion but I would buy the smaller coil for parks and beaches and the stock coil for the woods and fields. Good luck.

[bill(de)]

A smaller coil and extra lower rod is the first accessory i buy for any new detector and rarely use the oversized at my sites. You may find larger used coils easier and cheaper the on classifieds once folks realize how much trash they usually have to contend with . HH Bill

[Hightone]

I have the Ace 250 and the sniper (small) coil. I rarely use the sniper, because the areas I hunt don't have a lot of trash. The stock coil is fine for me. The larger coil would be for use where you would find metal more than 3 feet apart from each other. It covers a larger area in sweep, but it is not going to find the smaller things. It would be good for caches and relics, but not as good for coins. Because it is bigger, it goes a little deeper.

[INDY]

I do plan on gettting the sniper coil for my ace 250, because I hunt alot of trashy areas. Boobie and Bill you mentioned a lower rod also. What is that? And is that something I should have to get with my coil?

[Hightone]

The lower rod is just a faster way to switch coils. You don't have to remove the bolt and nut to change coils. Just disconnect the the coil from the box, switch lower rods with the push of a button (rather than removing the nut and bolt) and plug in the new coil.

Its faster and doesn't make you keep using the coil nut, which will eventually strip out with constant changing since it's made of plastic.

[TonyinCT]

Some great advice here on coils and the use of lower rods to help in the exchange of coils.

[Hightone]

The GTI2500 takes the small "scorcher" coil (4.5 inches). But you don't get to use the imaging feature, as it uses only 1 receive antenna.