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gt sovereign depth versus e-track
- Thread starter below2doe
- Start date
dewcon4414
Well-known member
Loaded question since basicly you are comparing BBS to FBS each designed and developed for a specific purpose. Depth..... well thats not everything. When asked about depth you have to say..... where and on what type of target and in whose hands. Each machine has its strong suit both are deep.
Dew
Dew
n/t
Critterhunter
New member
Without naming the machine I've compared undug targets to in the field against that a friend owns, let's just say that my GT with the 12x10 coil has saw super deep or badly masked coins just as well as his machine on numerous ones we've compared in the field. His machine is one well known for finding deep silver or ones badly masked. I believe the GT to be just as deep and just as good at unmasking coins that were so badly masked that they nulled for both of us all the way around except one tiny spot. Had I saw otherwise I would have moved on from the GT. I believe with these Minelabs it's more about the coil than the model when you are talking depth and separation. They are already so good at those things that to see any improvement one only need to look to a good aftermarket coil IMO.
Jack Flynn
New member
OK I'll jump out there and say it. Definately deeper than the ETrac, really deeper. I ran an ETrac for 3 years and when I got an Excal II then the GT the ETrac gathered dust for perk near a year. The GT is a superb machine that imo is very hard to beat with any machine. It's a true do it all machine. The obvious problem with most using it is learning it. To do that, you have to dig a lot of holes and have a great set of headphones. To run one without headphones is about paddling across the ocean with a McDonalds straw for a paddle. It just won't work.
Critterhunter
New member
Jack, wondering where you've been. Good to see you are still posting. 
Jack Flynn
New member
Been working or rather making sure "they" are working LOL. Been playing with the Deus some the last couple of weeks and fixing to have some time off. I've got to have my fix! Gonna take the GT and Deus out at daylight in the morning for an old beach hunt since we have been having plenty of rain. Can't wait! The sand should be compacted or/and hopefully a lot washed away................Critterhunter said:Jack, wondering where you've been. Good to see you are still posting.
This all depends on how well you know the detector you are using. I have a Friend that uses a Explorer XS and he will surprise you with the finds he get, because he knows his detector well. I have seen him get signals on coins my Sovereign only nulls on to. I have a Friend also that was a Sovereign user and switch to the Explorer and now the E-Trac and says he can find more and deeper coins with the E-Trac in the same area he worked hard with the Sovereigns. Like I say it all comes down to how well you know the detector you are using. In the right hands the E-Trac has a little more depth and separation that has been proven. To me the Sovereign is easier to use and understand and more of a turn on and go detector where as the E-Trac has more setting to adjust to make it do more like the new CTX 3030 even has more you can change for your style of hunting.
I like my Sovereign GT with the 180 meter and do like my E-Trac over the Explorers and now I have added a CTX 3030 also which I am still in the learning stage yet and don't know what to make of it yet. I do find I can hear the tones better on the Sovereign which can be I know it well over the others and I can ID better with the Sovereign too between a coin and trash because I know them well.
Rick
I like my Sovereign GT with the 180 meter and do like my E-Trac over the Explorers and now I have added a CTX 3030 also which I am still in the learning stage yet and don't know what to make of it yet. I do find I can hear the tones better on the Sovereign which can be I know it well over the others and I can ID better with the Sovereign too between a coin and trash because I know them well.
Rick
Critterhunter
New member
Jack, I'd love to hear any remarks you have about the depth/unmasking of that Dues to your GT. I know that Dues is a great machine and very fast but IMO recovery speed can be a non-issue if you control sweep speed/coil use and also use a coil with a good sharp DD line. I hear it's VDI isn't as good at depth as people would like, but also hear people are real impressed with how fast that machine is. One thing for sure, I was shocked to read a field report where a guy was NAILING deep bullets with it that even a top end Minelab couldn't even see at that depth. I had always thought I heard the Dues wasn't as deep as a Minelab, especially in bad ground, but in this bad ground that Deus was rocking the world. Still can't get over that field report, as it seems to go against everything I had ever heard...
Critterhunter
New member
I know the 12x10 has made the results a complete wash in terms of my friend's silver killer flagship model and my GT with 12x10. We have not being able to see any difference between the two, and that's on TONS of badly masked or super deep targets we've checked in the field. In fact, to shore up the depth thing, one day I hit a super deep very soft coin hit. I could tell by the audio whatever it was was down there super deep (keep in mind I keep the volume all the way down on my GT, so it's going to be soft at extreme depth, but I could still easily hear it).
I was running full blast sensitivity and the GT was stable. I called my friend over to check it and he said "I can't hear it" (and he was using just a tiny bit of iron rejection compared to the GT), so he took it out of auto, which was running very high anyway, and raised it the last 3 clicks or so in manual to full blast. Only then could he hear it. That tells me both machines maxed out in sensitivity are very close in depth in my soil when I'm using the 12x10, and if I remember right he still said it wasn't nearly as strong of a hit as I was getting.
Terms of Explorers, owned 3 and knew them well. Tried many different settings, various levels of sensitivity, etc and they were deeper in my soil than any non-Minelab I ever owned. First machine to break the 7.5" barrier on a silver dime in my soil. But in *my soil* the GT is deeper/smoothers/eparates better with the stock 10" Tornado than the 10" stock coils I had on my Explorers. The higher frequences of FBS didn't seem to like my minerals. I'm not the first person to say that on both land and on beaches compared to the depth/smoothness of a BBS machine, but I now think it might have had more to do with those lousy 10" coils they had. Same deal with people comparing older Sovereigns with not-so-good coils (like the BBS coils) to other machines, or comparing with a smaller coil on the Sovereign to a 10" or 11" or bigger coil on another machine that is going to be deeper and have a sharper DD line for better separation perhaps. I feel these Minelabs are so tweaked out that the coil is the key to better depth or separation.
That's why I'm adding Explorer #4 to my line up sooner or later here, and this time it either gets a 12x10 or the Ultimate coil, once I figure out which I like best. I'm kind of excited about the prospect of what #4 might do in my soil with the right coil, as I do miss staring at and using that computer screen on some days. Some days I'm in the mood for it and have to admit that screen is mesmerizing while day dreaming during a hunt.
Not going to replace my GT, but #4 will come out on days when I'm in the mood for some tweaking or staring at that screen, and on days I don't mind putting up with the extra weight (my GT uses a custom shaft and a few other mods that dropped about a pound and a half off the weight), or the less good balance compared to even a stock GT.
With the prices so insanely low on used Explorers these days it's crazy not to pick one up. Can't understand why they don't seem to hold their re-sale value as much as a GT? I've even seen a few SEs go for less than the average used GT price. Maybe it's that there are several computerized Minelab models to choose from but only one that has analog like controls and awesome long detailed audio, so there are less options in a Minelab to go to for that than there are computer models? I tend to think guys who prefer a computer screen all move up the line on those models and leave their others behind, giving people more out there floating around to buy. I don't know what to say about that, other than used Explorers are easier to come by and the prices are too good to pass up. I know some who swear that an Explorer II is the deepest silver sounding killer of all the Minelabs, while others say it's the SE, and still there are even others who swear it's the XS model.
Far as the Etrac/Explorer thing, I feel it's a Chevy/Ford debate. I prefer the VDI setup on the Explorers (more detail in Smartfind because it doesn't compress things onto the 12th line IMO) and the audio on silver at depth. Many have used them all and say with the right coil it's a toss up in depth/separation between them. Some say the Etrac IDs at depth better, while others say the Explorer is better at audio at depth. Take your pick. I just know the prices on used Explorers is just too tempting to pass up.
I was running full blast sensitivity and the GT was stable. I called my friend over to check it and he said "I can't hear it" (and he was using just a tiny bit of iron rejection compared to the GT), so he took it out of auto, which was running very high anyway, and raised it the last 3 clicks or so in manual to full blast. Only then could he hear it. That tells me both machines maxed out in sensitivity are very close in depth in my soil when I'm using the 12x10, and if I remember right he still said it wasn't nearly as strong of a hit as I was getting.
Terms of Explorers, owned 3 and knew them well. Tried many different settings, various levels of sensitivity, etc and they were deeper in my soil than any non-Minelab I ever owned. First machine to break the 7.5" barrier on a silver dime in my soil. But in *my soil* the GT is deeper/smoothers/eparates better with the stock 10" Tornado than the 10" stock coils I had on my Explorers. The higher frequences of FBS didn't seem to like my minerals. I'm not the first person to say that on both land and on beaches compared to the depth/smoothness of a BBS machine, but I now think it might have had more to do with those lousy 10" coils they had. Same deal with people comparing older Sovereigns with not-so-good coils (like the BBS coils) to other machines, or comparing with a smaller coil on the Sovereign to a 10" or 11" or bigger coil on another machine that is going to be deeper and have a sharper DD line for better separation perhaps. I feel these Minelabs are so tweaked out that the coil is the key to better depth or separation.
That's why I'm adding Explorer #4 to my line up sooner or later here, and this time it either gets a 12x10 or the Ultimate coil, once I figure out which I like best. I'm kind of excited about the prospect of what #4 might do in my soil with the right coil, as I do miss staring at and using that computer screen on some days. Some days I'm in the mood for it and have to admit that screen is mesmerizing while day dreaming during a hunt.
Not going to replace my GT, but #4 will come out on days when I'm in the mood for some tweaking or staring at that screen, and on days I don't mind putting up with the extra weight (my GT uses a custom shaft and a few other mods that dropped about a pound and a half off the weight), or the less good balance compared to even a stock GT.With the prices so insanely low on used Explorers these days it's crazy not to pick one up. Can't understand why they don't seem to hold their re-sale value as much as a GT? I've even seen a few SEs go for less than the average used GT price. Maybe it's that there are several computerized Minelab models to choose from but only one that has analog like controls and awesome long detailed audio, so there are less options in a Minelab to go to for that than there are computer models? I tend to think guys who prefer a computer screen all move up the line on those models and leave their others behind, giving people more out there floating around to buy. I don't know what to say about that, other than used Explorers are easier to come by and the prices are too good to pass up. I know some who swear that an Explorer II is the deepest silver sounding killer of all the Minelabs, while others say it's the SE, and still there are even others who swear it's the XS model.
Far as the Etrac/Explorer thing, I feel it's a Chevy/Ford debate. I prefer the VDI setup on the Explorers (more detail in Smartfind because it doesn't compress things onto the 12th line IMO) and the audio on silver at depth. Many have used them all and say with the right coil it's a toss up in depth/separation between them. Some say the Etrac IDs at depth better, while others say the Explorer is better at audio at depth. Take your pick. I just know the prices on used Explorers is just too tempting to pass up.
dewcon4414
Well-known member
Ill just say.... check with those using both machines in your area, be specific about what you want to hunt you may get a different opinion. Well said Jack about headphones.
Dew
Dew