Nexus Dual 20' Coil Review

The Nexus dual 20' coil, depending on the way you look at it is a thing of beauty but you really need to know how to tame it because it's a bloody beast in regards to both sensitivity and depth capabilities. I purchased mine years ago so it's the old design which is completely handmade, I love the quirky look of it and even though it's really large it's surprisingly light and I can swing it all day without issue. This coil is still on sale but it's a completely updated design and I think it actually comes in a little lighter than my model.

The operating frequency is 5.7 KHZ and it's designed for outright depth not unmasking and separation, due to its size it has to be used in the right hunting scenario. There's no point taking it on super trashy sites or areas where targets are close together, it's designed more for fields and large open areas where targets are more sparse. The reason why you haven't seen many videos of me swinging is due to the very simple reason that it's a last resort coil. What Do I Mean By That? when you've heavily worked an area and targets have started to dry up then the dual 20' is the next step. 

I've explained this is the past, clearing an area out with the smaller coils reduces the possibility of target masking when you then decide to bring a big deep seeking coil into the equation. I'm actually quite lucky because I have a great permission that, on the outskirts of the property, isn't loaded with signals so I can and have introduced the dual 20' into my hunting on that specific land. It's all about using the right tool for the job and for the correct application.

In regards to build quality, the dual 20' both old and new is fantastic, high quality materials have been used and the coil ears are proper heavy duty so there's no worry of them ever breaking. When you look at the coil as a whole it can be quite daunting but the area to focus on is the tear drop shape in the centre. This is where the targets are detected, with practice pinpointing is easy, engaging the VCO and using the X-ing technique enables accurate target location. You dig where the VCO tone is at it's most dense, if you purchase this coil I suggest you practice pinpointing on targets above the ground before actually hunting with it.  

Operation in the field can be tricky at first, you're dealing with a large coil so taming and controlling it will take a bit of practice. Firstly, the coil will tell you at what height off the ground it's comfortable being balanced at because when you lift and lower the coil you dial it in where the ground phase starts. This can be anything from 10cm to 15cm off the ground, depending on conditions this can vary from day to day or on the same day in the same field. For example, if part of your land is damp or wet you might find you have to balance it higher off the ground. If there's areas in the same field that are dry then you might be able to get away with tuning it in a little closer to the dirt. 

How Will I Know When To Retune The Coil?

Just like every other Nexus coil you'll find that you'll start to get excess ground noise at the end of each swing, when and if this occurs review the ground balance procedure by lifting and lowering the coil. In regards to the threshold settings, I recommend having it suppressed, the dual 20' is too large and wild to hunt with an audible threshold. When I first started using Nexus the rule I stuck to was the smaller the coil the higher I had my threshold level. Over time with the correct swing technique I started to bump it up, now the only coil where the threshold is suppressed is the dual 20'. 

It's very important to point out that the exact height you ground balance the coil at is the exact height that you swing it and you have to focus and master keeping it in that position. After some practice this will become second nature, mastering this element will allow you to run the coil nice and smooth with minimal ground interference. If you swinging the coil below the point of ground balance then you're wasting your time because it will be fighting with the ground as opposed to resonating with it.

What If All The Above Sounds Like Too Much Hard Work?

Simple, don't buy the coil, the depth capabilities of the dual 20' are immense, we're not talking about pin-pointer depth here. People seem to class that as "super deep", yes for the digital toy machines it is but it's super shallow for all Nexus machines and coils. Mastering the operation of Nexus with a coil the size of the dual 20' will enable you to find targets at depths that no other handheld metal detector can touch. But as I've explained in the past, it's not a user friendly device so work needs to be put in to really get the most out of the machines and the different coils. I'm hoping in future videos I can hit on some really deep targets so I can demonstrate what I call "DEEP" compared to everyone else out there. 

Regarding signal response, signals phase in beautifully, as mentioned before, you're concentrating on the teardrop area of the coil down it's centre. Once a target is located 'then' you can lower the coil closer to the ground to help bring the signal out. Switching to VCO will enable you to pinpoint accurately because the VCO pretty much mimics a non motion pin-pointer. You want to be marking the target and digging where the audio response is the most dense and at its loudest. 

So far it's proved to hit on small targets with huge signal responses so I'm not worried about not picking up the smaller stuff. The larger targets give blistering signal responses, it was only the other week where I found a Bronze Age chisel swinging the dual 20' on my V3+. It was fairly deep and the response was huge, you could've easily mistaken it as being just under the surface. Another point I'd like to make is, you have to take off your finds pouch and handheld pin-pointer etc because the coil will trigger off on anything around your waist, this includes your phone if you keep it in your pocket. I've resulted to leaving everything in a pile in the field so I'm only swinging the metal detector. 

Bronze Age Chisel

To conclude, the dual 20' is a specialised coil, perfect for deep hoard hunting and when you're really wanting to go deep for relics and coins. It has to be pointed out again that it's not designed for land that's loaded with trash and lots of targets close together, it's more of a "clean up coil" where you've opened your site up and you now want to see if there's any deeper items hiding out of reach to all other machines and coils. You need a strong set of nerves to master the dual 20' but if you really take the time to learn it your opinion on whats "SUPER DEEP" will change pretty quickly.