Like I said, if you avoid digging coins that you think are clads then you are going to miss silver, because every machine I ever owned with high coin resolution I've dug plenty of silver dimes and quarters that read like a penny or a clad version of them. Minerals, depth, masking, being on edge, etc. I've even dug some that were not any of this and not even worn, yet for some darn reason they read lower on the scale as some other coin. Can't tell you how many targets I dug that I was sure were wheats since a machine told me they looked to be, and yet out pops a silver dime.
If you want to know the coin types above copper penny then the Sovereign is not for you for sure. I don't when I'm old coin hunting as for the stated reasons I gave above in the prior message. I only want to split hairs on zincs when there are a billion around and I can do that with the Sovereign. Mainly I like to use high resolution on land when say gold ring hunting. I can visually note and avoid say 1, 2 or even 4 to 7 or so VD#s for common tabs at a site and dig all targets 1 digit off. If I want to be even more picky I'll sweep the target from two 90 degree angles and if the ID ranges by more than 2 digits then I'll pass knowing it's probably odd shaped trash and not a round ring, button, coin, or some other round find. Very deadly to avoid a lot of trash when you are being picky, and that's due to it's super high VDI. On machines I've owned with low resolution it was mostly impossible to look for a jumpy VDI on junk in the low/mid range, because the VDI # for a target is much wider, so the VDI can stay rock stable even if it's say an oddly shaped piece of aluminum or foil. This ability of the super high VDI for low/mid range on the Sovereign is one of it's deadliest weapons for finding gold rings or other good stuff while ignoring a ton of trash when you want to be picky like that.
I've owned machines like the Sovereign that lumps all coins above copper penny into one zone, such as the QII/QXT/QXT Pro (owned all of these machines over the years, and several of each). Same deal with it. Zincs with a separate zone but all coins copper and up are in only one zone. I dug a lot of silver with that machine since I feel a "wider net catches more fish", so to speak. Same deal with the Sovereign. I'm one who prefers a wider net for coins myself, but I know others prefer to get a hint as to the coin type. You can do that with the Sovereign by paying attention to both the size of the hit (quarters are wider) and also how fast the VDI gets up to 180 as I said in the prior message. The tone is also key, as wheats seem to have a somewhat softer/sweeter tone than clads, and silvers seem to be even a hair more higher in pitch/sweetness. Not 100% full proof but it does give you an idea often and with practice you'll find you are right more often than not.
Wheats can also read in the 176 to 179 range. Often even if they go to 180 they'll linger down there for a while until you work then up to 180 with the wiggle. You've got to constantly wiggle or very short sweep over targets to get the VDI to pull the best ID and also show you the target's traits. Watch how fast and easy it gets to 180 and often that, combined with the tone's "sweetness", will tell you what it might be.
For instance, when I dug my F-12 condition 1921 standing liberty quarter a month or two back, soon as I swept over that coin it went "180" right away and instantly. No working it up to 180. First pass with the coil and it's right in your face "180". Now, at depth, it might take more work to get it up there, but you'll learn that such and such coin at such and such depth should be "this easy" to get to climb to 180, while others will be "this hard" to get to get it there. So as the depth increases, all the coins are a bit slower in their climb, but based on the depth (how loud it is) you can adjust your thinking for how hard, slow, or fast, all the coins should be to climb to it. This quarter was from memory about 5" deep if I remember right or so. A silver that shallow should pretty much go 180 right off the first pass of the coil for the most part.
Far as nickles go, I can tell you that they read as high as about 144 to 146 or so, where as 99.9% of all round or square tabs will start at right either 148 or 149 and go up to about 169. So it's very easy to cherry pick nickles. If you note in the charts there are also MANY other coins that read lower than 180, so you've got some strong ability to search for say a gold coin or a 3 cent piece or something lower on the scale while still avoiding a lot of trash. Such is the beauty of the super high low/mid range resolution on the Sovereign. My QXTs there was no way I could avoid tabs and only dig nickles due to them overlapping each other in resolution.
Same deal with many machines that have all the resolution expanse in the above copper penny range for trying to split hairs on coins. Often they've got rather poor resolution below copper penny down to foil, so not as easy to say avoid tabs or other junk and dig nickels, or not as easy to block out a few pesky tabs and dig everything else hoping for a gold ring.
The high resolution of the Sovereign combined with it's excellent long drawn out detailed audio makes it as good as it gets if you can even hope to be selective on gold ring hunting on land while trying to avoid some trash IMO. Not to mention it'll bang on even a super thin gold ring at some jaw dropping depth. The Minelabs don't do well on fine gold chains or tiny gold earings thought, but way I look at it most gold lost is in the form of rings, so that's what I'm after on land. Besides, I've owned machines with good fine gold sensitivity and they made for a bumpy/noisy ride for my tastes on land and had me chasing solid sounding hits that turned out to be tiny pieces of nothing. I'd rather that stuff sounds sick or is ignored, so long as the Minelabs will bang hard on thin rings at depth (which they will, because the ring, though super thin, is a complete large loop that makes a big picture to the detection field).
Only time I'd like to hear the fine gold stuff is water hunting, because then it's easy to just scoop all that tiny foil and other junk. There are other machines that will do that, but of course probably not at the depth an Excalibur or Sovereign will get on the coins and rings, so there is a trade off for everything in life.
Just like you have to decide what kind of resolution you want in VDI on coins for your hunting style, same deal with if you do or don't want fine gold sensitivity. Everybody has different tastes and needs, but mine are suited for what I want exactly as I want them in terms of old coin hunting or hunting for gold on land. Only "con" to the Minelabs for me is that on the beach or in the water I wouldn't mine hearing the tiny stuff for tiny/find gold potential, but I wouldn't trade that for depth on gold rings if I had to make a choice. Just MO, and others have very different needs, so you have to find out what you need and pick a machine on that decision. If everybody had the same needs we'd all be using one machine and there wouldn't be any other models/brands. Just like cars and trucks, we all have to figure out what we need for our wanted situation.
