I use both models on my line, depending on a lot of factors. I use a lot of #11s for coons. For coyotes, fox, and cats, I use both #2 longs and #2 coils, plus some 1.75 coils, too. I think that they each have big plus and minuses that have to be considered when setting them. By design, longs have a mechanical advantage in how the springs lock up on the jaws. But, a stout springed coil will hold just as tenaciously. Most of my longs have adjustable pans on them, a big advantage over longs with crimp on pans that only free-fall. You can whack them on the frame sides a bit to take some of the wobble out, but you can't do much to add resistance in how they trip, unless you put something under them to stiffen up the throw.
But, for pussy-footing cats, sometimes the free-falling pan isn't such a bad thing to possess, either. I've caught several mink in dryland sets guarded with longs that had free-falling pans, too. Mink sometimes show up in odd places. A stiff pan might have kept me from the incidental mink catches, so go figure.
I'd love to have some top of the line new traps, but I won't pay that much to retool my entire shed, so I make do with what I have. I know what the limits are, how each will perform for me for a given species, location, etc., and run with it. There are a lot of arguments over 1.5 coils vs. #11s for coons. I've caught a lot of coons in modified #1s, too.
moved the chain opposite the single spring, etc. The pan has no resistance whatsover, and you get some toe catches unfortunately. I swivel the heck out of them and run short chains, and they hold a lot of coon for me. Why go through all that hassle modifying a bunch of #1s for coon vs. buying more #11s or 1.5 coils? Money mostly, and I love to tinker and make what I own work.
