Over all the Sovereigns are a tough detector as most of us see, many made back in the early 90s are still working as good as new other than some small problems with the ISO rods where the coil connects will come loose. There were also little problems on the original and the XS with the plug in battery connections as some pulled on the wire instead of the plug when disconnecting battery to be charged, On the XS2 and the XS2a they used a different set up so it was a drop in pack, but the pressure on the battery door from the spring connection would sometimes push the door open. Speaking of battery doors for the XS Series if anyone reading this has a extra battery door for the original, the XS, XS2 or XS2a I could use one myself as I need one for one I have here.
The Sovereign when most people first start using one wonder if they made a big mistake as it looks not as well built like others, but as we see they are made to last. Most hate this detector and some sell them right away, but those that kept them and learned them well and knows what this detector will do and not only get very impressed, but others they detect with also get impressed. I feel it is the best detector I have used in my 42 years of detecting from what it can tell me about whats in the ground and can see items next to trash as I seen many times, also some of my deepest coins found have been with the Sovereign and knew they were coins before I dug them from experience with the tones and meter reading as how they were acting.
I too wish they would not have discontinued them, but think most switched to the Explorers so they sales for the Sovereigns went down enough so Minelab to quite making them. The problem with some of the part were there was so many different ones as many of these different model Sovereigns used different parts inside as they were always trying to improve what they had even though they looked the same. With many other brands they used the same parts, but made them look different, so they could stock the part as so many were interchangeable for the different models.
Now as I see it I have had a Sovereign since 1996 and still have a GT and a XS2a and maybe selling my XS2a as I have complete confidence in my GT. I have tried others from the Explorers , E-Trac to the 3030 and still have my GT and always plan on having one as long as I can detect as I know what it can do. If your GT is working OK and done well for you I would keep it, as where are you going to find a detector that works as good as the Sovereign. Maybe pick up a different detector to use, but keep the Sovereign as many have found out as they sold theirs only to buy one back again.
Good Luck
Rick
