Help with Sovereign GT

[newtohunting]

Hey hunters,

I use a Garret Sea Hunter in the water and love it but just bought a Minelab Sovereign GT and last night was playing it testing some items. Scary as it sounds, I waived a nickel and a quarter about 4 inches under the search coil and it barely picked up a signal. I had the unit turned on and I am now charging the battery just in case. I had the detector in all metal mode. Please tell me this detector is all it is cracked up to be and that it was well worth the money I paid for it. It just was not impressing me because it was not detecting any clad but within 3 to 4 inches. My Sea Hunter pickes up quarters 8 to 9 inches down. What is going on here.

Also, how do you folks with the GT like it on the beach? What settings do you find most lucrative when hunting?


Thanks for your kind response and help,


Gary

 

[DonNWF]

But It all depends on your beach conditions (mineralized sand, junk etc.). You said beach. The GT excels on the beach. But it is not a water detector. The coil is waterproof the rest of the unit is not.

Here are the settings I use for wet/dry sand on my beaches:
Disc mode-iron-mask-on. Pinpoint on.
Sens at 11 to 12 O'clock. (this is the one you will need to play with for your beach conditions)
No notch, no disc.
Volume all the way.
Threshold, just so you can hear it.
If not getting many signals I sometimes go to silent search.

If you got a lot of deep ones on your beach get a big shovel - You'll need it to move all that sand to get to the ones the GT will show you.
HH

 

[Art (NWOH)]

Let me guess......

You were in all metal track or fixed. All metal ground balance is way out of wack this way. Try in pinpoint or disc mode.

You should get around 10-12" with sensitivity maxed, provided volume is set high and threshold is just audible. Don't turn up the disc or notch controls or you will disc out the nickle.

HH

 

[adam in cal]

n/t

 

[Dang]

And I quote from his book "Treasure Hunting with Minelab Metal Detectors" V2.."One important point that deserves mentioning is that a BBS detector does not air test well. By that I mean that the detection depth one gets when air testing a Sovereign or Excalibur is not very impressive" Then he goes on to a lot of techical stuff as to why.
Now don't you feel better now? I know I did when I read this.
Dang

 

[Rick(ND)]

I never could get any depth in the all metal mode of the GT, but in the disc mode it is unbelievable how deep it can go once you know your tones and what to listen for.

 

[DonNWF]

It has made a world of difference in my recovery techniques. I use mine in the dirt and on the beach.
I don't understand why more beach guys don't use one on the beach, especially in dry sand. I used to get down and sift. Now most of the time I just bend over and sweep the probe through the sand pile, get the hit ,leave the probe in place and feel for the coin at or near the tip. Fast and efficient. In the wet when the hole fills with water you can probe right in. Thanks again. Don

 

[jim/wpb]

I gotta tell you that with this unit on a beach, wet or dry, ya better get yourself a monster scoop because you're gonna go deep. Listen for the whispers and you'll go 12" +++, with a WOT you'll go 14" +++++.

On a salt water beach, many of the clad coins I've found are extremely green, corroded and copper gutted, meaning they are far from fresh drops... Other MDist's get the top, but this unit gets the rest.

I prefer this to the Explorer as it performs the same as an Excalibur and is easy to switch back and forth. Where an Explorer, I have to revisit a learning curve each time I pick it up.