Tom D. did you post that you like the fisher

10 inch coil better than the sunray 12? If so why do you like it better as everthing I read everyone seems to think the sunray is deeper and mabey lighter.. thanks

Sonny I had an early Sunray 12 inch and sold it(gave it away considering what they are going for now) as I didn't hunt N.J. shores anymore due health reasons. Just my lowly opinion but it about the same weight as the 10 inch but due to its configuration just seems easier to swing certainly covers more ground and above all goes deeper in most instances. Certainly the Fisher 10 inch is a good coil and certainly much cheaper but Sunray sure makes excellent pricey acc's. Not something I read in a book but have used both and this post comes from actual experience. If my memory serves me correctly Tom did post he preferred the Fisher 10 inch and perhaps in his neck of the woods and his mineralization it performed well also as indeed Fisher makes a good product also at about half the price....

I recently picked up a Sunray FZ-12 for my Tom validated 1021 CZ-3D. I have been using it on a 100 year old golf course that has been changed to a city park (golf course closed).
I also have a 5" and 10.5" Fisher coils. The 10.5" coil got a lot of use in there so far and it works well. One of the challanges there is that relandscaping has been done over the years.
Lots of the silver and wheat pennys are deep. In our midwest soil using the 10.5" coil the pennys and dimes are undetectable at 10" with it. So on went the 12.5" Sunray Invader. I've got about 20
hours hunt time with the FZ-12 so far in there. I have been finding10" coins with it. One particular golf green on the south end has been producing lots of silver (mostly dimes) and wheat
cents on the sloping west side of the green. I have covered it from several directions with the 8" and 10.5" loops. It's been pretty tough to get a diggable reading in there. Last week the
FZ-12 pulled 4 more silver dimes and several wheat cents out of that area... all over 8" deep and some on edge. There is this nylon fish net like landscaping mesh there about 4" down
so that has definately been relandscaped/resoded in that area. The good stuff is deep!
I weighed the Fisher 10.5" coil and the FZ-12 (both have coil covers). The FZ-12 is 1 ounce lighter than the Fisher 10.5" coil. The FZ-12 pinpoints great. The biggest disadvantage of both the
10.5" coil AND the FZ-12 is that they will miss good signals masked by junk... if they are used in real trashy areas. The FZ-12 will work pretty good in these areas if you go slow and listen.
But the 8" coil works better.
The FZ-12 was worth the investment for me. It goes at LEAST an inch deeper than the 10.5". Weight is not an issue, I use the Fisher chest harness.
I've been detecting the old golf course for just over a month now, twice a week. As of Saturday, April 14th, have gotten 53 silver coins, 7 rings, and a few hundred wheat cents out of there.
One spill I found was pretty darn neat... 4 silver war nickels, 3 mercury dimes, 4 wheat cents. All in terrific condition.

if i remember correctly tom prefers stock coils over aftermarket coils in general due to the major manufacturers coils being more consistant coming off of the production line. also a 10 inch coil being optimal for being able to sample/see the most ammount of dirt or sand and still id items and get more depth than a larger aftermarket coil. i am also interested to see his reply.

I have tested 4 FZ-12 coils in my usual/typical scientific data collection methods............... and have found the 10.5" factory coil to be slightly deeper with more consistent/accurate ID. This is test-garden results....... and real-world results,,,,,,,,,,,, head-to-head.

I must also mention that I have exclusively hunted areas with the FZ-12 coil............... and have found coins (and other deep targets) that the 10.5" missed; yet.......... then reinstall the 10.5" CZ coil .......... only to learn (head-to-head) that the CZ 10.5" coil would also find these same 'marked' targets..... and with slightly better resolution and ID.

Summation: Different days present infinite different variables; ie different ground moisture content, different EMI conditions, different approach direction into the target ..... etc....................

Interesting.
Hardly use my SunRay 12" anyway as I use the 8" and 5" mostly.