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New GT or Elite?

C

cabochris

New member
I'm an experienced Excalibur user and am looking for the perfect saltwater beach detector. I think it is clear that for a VLF, the Sovereign is the best choice. I plan on using a WOT. But should I go with a used Elite or new GT?

Specifically, how often with a Sovereign would one hunt a saltwater beach in all-metal mode? Is there really any reason to with BBS and if so, would the ground balancing GT go deeper?

I like to keep things simple and am wondering with the GT if I would be fiddling with the GB all the time instead of hunting? On the other hand, if the GT is the better then I would go with it. If it's a toss-up between the 2, then an Elite costs less.

Thanks for the advice, CC.
 
I have used all the Sovereigns and like them all, but the Elite switched the controls around and made it hard to do my adjusting as i kept grabbing the wrong control. Minelab put it back where they belong on the GT which I like. Both have a great battery system and you have to remember you can not use 8 rechargeable in the alkaline pack as there is not enough voltage. The new GT has a straight shaft which I do like better and easier to swing for me. The GT has more toggle switches too with one for silent search if you want to run silent search. Either one I run in disc as I feel the all metal on the GT is made more for those that prospect over coin hunting or beach hunting. The track and lock for ground balance is only for the all metal mode. The GT you can also turn the iron mask off or on, but find on works the best for picking coins out close to iron.
Performance wise I myself feel the GT is more sensitive as it will false on iron more, but once you get to know it you will see that by coming at the target from different angle you can tell a good target from a iron false. I also feel the GT will give a better signal on deeper targets too and if you use a meter it seems to lock on to the deeper target better with better ID.
As you see I like my GT better than the Elite I had, but depending on the price you want to spend the Elite will work fine too. The Elite will work good and the GT has a few more options some may not see much of a difference in the 2, but those that know the Sovereign well will probably see the difference.
 
I am new to this forum and am just getting back into Metal detecting.
I would like to ask a couple of questions here.

1. How well do you think lithium batteries would work as the back up batteries.
2. What about adding the digital meter to the unit. would it be worth the extra cost.
3. How about adding the Sun-ray S-1 probe?

Thank you for the feed back.
 
I will answer each of the questions the best i can.

1. With the GT you have a factory rechargeable battery and charger plus the last one I got in had a alkaline pack too.Now I would charge up the rechargeable pack and have the alkaline pack for a spare if the rechargeable went dead so you can finish the hunt. When you go home charge the rechargeable and put it back in for the next hunt and same the alkaline pack to use later when needed. If the lithium batteries are 1.5 volts apiece they will work OK, rechargeable nickle hydrides are only 1.2 volts each is why they wont work in the alkaline pack. The factory pack has 10 cells in them.

2. To me the meter is important, but to some it is not. The meter helps me see with the digital numbers tones that are too close to tell with my ears. The meter will help me on many of the deep targets where I can see the numbers trying to climb where my ears cant tell it too. I find I don't look at the meter that much while swinging the detector, but when I hear one of the tones that is close to what i want to hear is where I look at the meter to double check if it is a signal I want or not. Save a lot of time digging trash that sounds close to a good target.

3. The Sun Ray S1 probe is a must for me now that I have used one for a while. This is actually a 1 inch coil that you turn on with a toggle switch on the switching box. It will do everything the main coil does, but don't go as deep but will go around 3-4 inches which is all you need. If the target is shallow I just turn it on and find it with the probe. Now if it is deeper target I will pinpoint with the GT and dig a plug, then go in to the hole with the probe and find the target. Many times the target is deeper so I have to dig more dirt out try again. Sometimes the target can be on the side of the hole as many coins at a angle will be off to the side of the hole, so this too is where this probe works so good. I find i can find my targets faster, those iffy deep ones I can go into the hole in all metal and get close to the target,then switch to disc and tell if it is a good one or not. Save so much time I have more time to detect and less time finding the target. I have found that many times when you open up a hole and if the target is deep you will not get another signal with the detector, but with the probe you will, so no more leaving a good target because you cant find it.
With this set up my GT is a little heavy, but i can hip mount my control box if I want or use a bungee cord to help with the weight, but in most cases I find targets fast enough so I am setting the detector down while retrieving the target.

Rick
 
Rick, when I hunt in the saltwater with my Excaliburs, I never seem to use all-metal as my main search mode. On treasure hunting vacations my time is limited, so I like to rely on discrimination and the tones. Were I to search in all-metal with Excal, then I might as well use a pulse detector. I have tried pulse machines in the water and have found far less gold and more bobby pins! I know with time on can learn and get good with a pulse, but when I want to find gold, I reach for an Excalibur and do find my fair share!

I've got this idea in my head that I want to do some beach hunting for jewelry, old coins and perhaps real treasure. I once owned an Excalibur with WOT, and found it a bit too much in the water and sold it. I now wish I hadn't! So I am looking for a beach machine and think a Sovereign might be the ticket in the VLF department. I feel I could learn a Sovereign quick, as it must be similar to an Excalibur? Plus I like the DD WOT coil option! Also I favor the Sovereign bag mount and plan on using a straight-shaft.

Do you Sovereign guys ever hunt the beach in all metal as your primary search mode and why? In all-metal I would think the GB on GT would be a better choice then. But if discriminate is mainly used, like I do on my Excaliburs, then I might go with an Elite, because I know of a good used one for sale. I really do not see the GT as my primary gold prospecting machine, so perhaps I do not need the GB function?

Finally and not to throw a wrench into this chain, I know a dealer who has a 2 month old Explorer SE at a bargain price. He tells me I should go with that over the Sovereign. I have told him I would pass on the SE, and asked for a new GT price- which he gave me... but again he is praising the SE over the GT. From what I have read here, I thought the Sovereign performed better for beach hunting? What do you think?

Thanks again for your help, CC.
 
I used a GT yesterday, and loved it. Being new to this I feel lucky that I was able to find what I found in less than two hours before beach got too crowded.

I am looking forward to a lot of detecting I feel that we have the right machine for what we want to do.
 
I am going to get the meter and the Probe I have a bag to hip mount the control box. I also have a item called a Swingy thing. so I can use that. But I wonder if I need a longer cord for the Sunrany prode if I have the controlbox hipmounted?:confused:[attachment 51036 frntskyhook.jpg]
 
If you are just hip mounting the control box and not the switching box for the probe you wont need a extension cable if you are using a meter. The meter has a long enough cable for hip mounting unless someone has cut off some of it. The coil wire goes to the probe switching box and the short cable on the probe switching box goes to the meter which is on the shaft right under the meter. Now the cable from the meter will go to you control box. If you think you want a longer cable from the meter to the control box Ralph at Sun Ray can make you a extension cable.
 
I just got an ext so I can setup a separate rod for use on the beach with only the probe. The meter is just too sensitive to water and moisture damage on the beach. HH Don
 
I saltwater beach hunt with the Elite/WOT in all metal. I run sens between 12:00 and "beach". I run a barely audible threshold and vol at 3/4 max. Depending on conditions, I can get a pretty stable threshold.
Once I locate a target, I use a remote all metal/disc switch to check for tone in disc. If null then move on, if none then dig alittle and check again in disc. Today, I got out at low tide and hunted for 5hr. Most of the targets were found 1/2 way up the draw in wet sand. The results were some costume jewelry, 25 zinc, 4 quarters, 3 nickles and 12 dimes. The tones are unmistakeable and insofar as GB/GT I cannot attest. If you setup the Elite threshold/sens properly for conditions, you will soon be finding targets in all metal that will produce no tone or null in disc mode. Dig em:cool:
 
Thank you very much for the info. There is a lot of information to be had in this forum .
Thank you to all that post here.
 
what is the advantage in hunting in all-metal and then checking every piece of iron that you hear in the disc. mode.
 
I feel you can get more info and depth in running in disc if you know your Sovereign plus cover more area too in a days time with a lot less wear on the switch.
 
Depends on what you consider practical. You can fiddle around with reverse discrimination all day without covering much ground.

If conditions make hunting in all metal for depth practical, you have to take time screwing around going back to disc on every target. That is unless you only want to accept "high shift" targets on the GT.Of course that will include some iron.

Call me lazy, but where I hunt, disc usually is equal or better than all metal. It's the loose or airy dirt that gives a significant edge to all metal. Then what to do? Dig a big hole to get the coil down enough to pick it up in disc to check the target?

The individual's sense of values must come into play somewhere along the line.

Often you have to choose a compromise. A game of give and take.

HH
 
I am now wondering if I should have bought a SE or is it just the learning curve of the Sovereign GT.

Seems like everything I dig up is junk.
Found 1 Penny and 1 Welding Rod. Lot's and lot's of bottle caps. and a few broken pull tabs, seemed like less pull tabs today. I am very seriously leaning more and more towards the digital meter sooner than later, but I feel that I probably need to learn the detector a lot better than I have so far. I know that the beaches are poor for stuff right now here in So. Cal due to no winter storms here.
So any thoughts?
 
You would really be pulling your hair out if you had gotten the SE. Explorers have a great many options and adjustments that would give you a terrible learning curve compared to a Sov.

I take it that you are beach hunting. Unless you are only looking for coins, then a meter will not do you much good....Jewelry can hit at any positive ID number, just like trash can.

Learn to listen to it. You will be able to identify some of the trash by particular kinds of response.

HH
 
While things are slow, I like to brushup on my bench testing and reading. I have read both of Clive's books on the Sov/Excal line and find them very helpful. I must admit that I only recently noticed the different up/down "shifts" (thanks art) in all metal. If you install a remote pinpoint switch, it will help. http://www.geocities.com/sovereignmods/mods.html
 
That should have been the first thing you noticed, other than the wild VCO audio.
Keep in mind that the shift (up/down) is at a predictable conductivity point ONLY if the detector is ground balanced.

HH
 
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