Find's Treasure Forums
Welcome to Find's Treasure Forums, Guests!
You are viewing this forums as a guest which limits you to read only status.
Only registered members may post stories, questions, classifieds, reply to other posts, contact other members using built in messaging and use many other features found on these forums.
Why not register and join us today? It's free! (We don't share your email addresses with anyone.) We keep email addresses of our users to protect them and others from bad people posting things they shouldn't.
Click here to register!
Need Support Help?
Cannot log in?, click here to have new password emailed to you
Changed email? Forgot to update your account with new email address? Need assistance with something else?, click here to go to Find's Support Form and fill out the form.
Is there any thing modern that compares to the SOV
- Thread starter Igor57
- Start date
close but not the same
GeorgeinSC
Well-known member
I am a Sovereign GT user. And like most folks I always wonder if there is something on the market that is enough better to justify the cost. I gave serious consideration to the Equinox. However in talking to people who have used both I have not run across anyone who will tell me that the Equinox is that much better. Yes the Equinox is FASTER and Separates like a champ. But I am old and slow so the GT suits me just fine. The big advantage of the Equinox is it is waterproof in shallow water. I have a waterproof machine for the breaches so the GT and I have fun together. Having said all that if i were in the market for a machine i am pretty sure that it would be an Equinox.
foiled again tab hunter
Member
I like the Excal 2 , to me it's like having a waterproof Sov. .......same electronics just one is waterproofed.......I have my Excal belt mounted, with the tube just a little in front of my left side & swing the coil in my right hand using the stock S handle. Just my 2 cents. HH...Tab.
GeorgeinSC
Well-known member
I hunt the beaches with the Excal II. However with my lousy hearing I am not usually able to decide what the machine is telling me. So if it does not disc out I dig it. Its always a nice surprise when on the rare occasion a piece of yellow comes out of the sand.
The Excalibur really is the only thing that’s comparable to the Gt. I own both and used them for years with great success. I now currently use the Equinox & Vanquish .They both work great. However.... in my personal opinion, I believe the Gt & Excalibur go deeper especially on the wet sand. Weight is the only issue with those two & certainly not performance. Having (tennis elbow) ruined it for me. Hip mount was the only way I can use them but, was bothersome to me.
midalake
TROLL
Maybe give that hip mounted a little more time? After 20 years of hunting the Sovereign hip-mounted it is very hard to do a connected detector on a stick again. I will admit when hunting the beach I just keep it in all metal. I guess if your flipping switches a lot that would be an issue. When I look for an item for someone I am switching a lot, it is a bit of a pain.
lammi
Member
I had the solv. Gt and loved it but sold when i bought CTX and equinox , coil wire broke on Excalibur so i put waterproof headphones on equinox
disappointed with equinox in water performance so now doing a total refurb on Excalibur so i can have it for water hunting
solid performance that has proved itself for Years, cannot wait to get it going again
disappointed with equinox in water performance so now doing a total refurb on Excalibur so i can have it for water hunting
solid performance that has proved itself for Years, cannot wait to get it going again
I 've had a lot of the newer detectors, but the Sovereign for me has been best. For medium to large gold rings in most parks take the challenge with a 180 meter digging targets from 142-180 after 600 targets dug you should recovery gold. HH Ron
I had a Nox 600 they are a nice unit
The Sovereigns are some great detectors and my GT has the Sun Ray meter and the Sun Ray S-1 probe to make it even better. Like Ron I have tried different detectors and for my serious detecting the Sovereign is the one I would take. If I use my Equinox 800 enough to learn it like the Sovereign is might be just as good. I havent used it enough to be good with it yet.
I want to get out, but with other things and health issues I havent used the Sovereign GT or the Equinox 800 this year yet. One of my first time out with the 800 I was impressed with the depth as first coin in a well worked area with mine and other detectors was repeatable and felt is was a nickle, but it was deeper than I thought and was 1906 V nickle at a good 8 inches deep. After that it was small pieces of alum foil and can slaw that were very deep.
I like the audio on the Sovereign and how it keeps the tone of the last target it sees for my bad hearing. I like the numbers on my 180 meter as it can tell my alot about the target. I also like how easy it is the use and set up, but the weight is a bit heavy for me now, but wasnt so bad when I used it a lot. The Nox 800 is good too, but not as easy to tell target like the Sovereigns do if good or bad as I do dig a lot of trash with it.I also find there is more adjustments to adjust or missadjust with the 800. I like the weight of the 800 as it is easier to swing the coil for longer. I like the back light on the 800 and easy to see. If they ever make or could make a Sovereign as light as the 800 , Minelab would have a killer detector. Both detectors have bigger learning curve than others.
Good luck to all and make sure you stay healthy with this Virus going around so you can post some great find you find with your Sovereigns
Rick
I want to get out, but with other things and health issues I havent used the Sovereign GT or the Equinox 800 this year yet. One of my first time out with the 800 I was impressed with the depth as first coin in a well worked area with mine and other detectors was repeatable and felt is was a nickle, but it was deeper than I thought and was 1906 V nickle at a good 8 inches deep. After that it was small pieces of alum foil and can slaw that were very deep.
I like the audio on the Sovereign and how it keeps the tone of the last target it sees for my bad hearing. I like the numbers on my 180 meter as it can tell my alot about the target. I also like how easy it is the use and set up, but the weight is a bit heavy for me now, but wasnt so bad when I used it a lot. The Nox 800 is good too, but not as easy to tell target like the Sovereigns do if good or bad as I do dig a lot of trash with it.I also find there is more adjustments to adjust or missadjust with the 800. I like the weight of the 800 as it is easier to swing the coil for longer. I like the back light on the 800 and easy to see. If they ever make or could make a Sovereign as light as the 800 , Minelab would have a killer detector. Both detectors have bigger learning curve than others.
Good luck to all and make sure you stay healthy with this Virus going around so you can post some great find you find with your Sovereigns
Rick
jtalley007
Active member
No, lol!
Ive been detecting since 1973, I’ve owed most detectors made. So far NO OTHER COMPANY COMES CLOSE IN TECHNOLOGY TO Minelab, and especially for salt beaches the sovereign or Excalibur runs so smooth. Purrs like a kitten.
JimmyCT
Well-known member
I loved my sovereign GT and it found me a boatload of silver and many other old coins. For me I miss the tones as they were magical to my ears.
I ended up purchasing the equinox 800 and I was determined in learning it like I did the sovereign.
After a few years with the equinox, I am shocked at the amount of silver I have found with it. I have even went back to hunting areas I used the sovereign and was pleasantly surprised at coins I missed with the sovereign. The sov GT is no slouch and its drawback is the extreme slow recovery. However it does have a very healthy appetite for finding silver. Ergonomics were not the best either.
The equinox has adjustable recovery speeds and iron bias. This is where it shines over the sovereign model. And IF you want sovereign like performance it can be achieved by slowing the recovery speed to 3, and increasing iron bias to FE 6 or higher ( this information I learned through a Minelab rep)
To sum my post up, yes the equinox is very comparable in performance and for me, I will not be going back to the sovereign. Good luck in your decision
I ended up purchasing the equinox 800 and I was determined in learning it like I did the sovereign.
After a few years with the equinox, I am shocked at the amount of silver I have found with it. I have even went back to hunting areas I used the sovereign and was pleasantly surprised at coins I missed with the sovereign. The sov GT is no slouch and its drawback is the extreme slow recovery. However it does have a very healthy appetite for finding silver. Ergonomics were not the best either.
The equinox has adjustable recovery speeds and iron bias. This is where it shines over the sovereign model. And IF you want sovereign like performance it can be achieved by slowing the recovery speed to 3, and increasing iron bias to FE 6 or higher ( this information I learned through a Minelab rep)
To sum my post up, yes the equinox is very comparable in performance and for me, I will not be going back to the sovereign. Good luck in your decision
Thanks that sounds like good advice with the legend coming out soon and I think Minelab with have to respond I wonder what the response with be. How about a nox with sovereign like tone that is light weight and has a great meter. There was a lot of info in a sov tone didn't have to dig bottle caps. I miss the happy zing tone
Nauti
Well-known member
I just ordered an as new gt off ebay and can't wait to start using a sov again.It's still up there with anything on the market as a beach machine and still competes well with most detectors inland as well.I've had a lot of success in the past with a GT on our ancient sites too,even though they are usually littered with iron.......i used a little Joey coil on mine which made it a viable machine for hunting in heavy iron.A question that often arises is why did minelab drop a machine as good as the Sov........maybe it's success was its downfall......it was ahead of its time performance wise and was probably reducing sales of the newer machines minelab was pushing at the time such as the explorer series.I would go out with anybody with an explorer,explorer se,etrac etc and compare signals in proper hunting condtions........i doubt there would be little difference in hit rate even between the sov and etrac which shows just how good the sov was way back when it was introduced.
So to answer is there anything now that compares with the Sov.........there are definately machines that have just as good or even better performance........but not much better......so taking into context how old the Sov is there is definately nothing that compares to it.It's still one of the best on the beach,still one of the deepest machines available and still gives anything out there a run for its money as a general purpose machine.
So to answer is there anything now that compares with the Sov.........there are definately machines that have just as good or even better performance........but not much better......so taking into context how old the Sov is there is definately nothing that compares to it.It's still one of the best on the beach,still one of the deepest machines available and still gives anything out there a run for its money as a general purpose machine.