New/used sovereign on way

[Murphdasurf]

Ebay purchase at $475. Owner claims machine was used only a few hours and is still operating on its first battery charge. If so I have no misgivings about the money spent. Down side is I will have no reference as to if the machine is operating normally as this is my first minelab.

This is my third detector and return to the hobby. Finally gave up on trying to hunt the beach/wet sand with a VLF. Probably should have done this years ago but kept trying to keep cost down. Lesson learned on that.

Test garden is planted and awaiting detectors arrival. I am wondering how well the notch disc really works with this detector. Manual claims notch can be used to disc out tabs while still signalling on "most" other non ferrous. Sounds to good to be true and I have little doubt I will be adding to my pull tab collection or be constantly wondering about missed gold. I have a vary small gold item planted in the test garden. If I can notch out the tabs and still have this machine hit on gold I will be highly impressed.

 

[ejudasf]

Murph,

Most beach hunting will require the NON-use of DISC or Notch. Just get a good steady Threshold, and set to DISC and start hunting. I would also suggest getting the Sensitivety out of AUTO and into the 12:00 o'clock area, where the machine isn't falsing too much and you should be good to go.

For clad hunting in a park, the Notch and DISC system is pretty darn good, but a meter would be better.

If no meter, then what would do, for clad hunting, is set the DISC to knock out a nickel, and then back it off to allow the nickel through. Then set the NOTCH up pretty high, almost MAX, and back it up to, again, knock out the nickel, and then raise it to allow the nickel to pass. Like this would allow nickels to come in pretty good and still allow for other clad to come through. Everything else pretty much gets blocked out. Also, some good targets will get blocked out as well.

If you have a meter, then learn what nickels come in as, and also other coins, but you really should go with what the audio sounds like. Really smooth tones are usually good targets, and with a little practice, you should also be able to distinguish the difference between some pull-tabs.

Remember to swing slow and low. Really deeeeep targets will come with practice as well, but they will come when you learn what the machine is telling you.

And if you don't hunt for 3 weeks in a row, you might get into a rusty spell, where you have forgotten everything you learned previously. So hunt often, even in your back yard.

laterz

ed

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Murphy interesting,I just purchased a Sovereign GT on Ebay for a buy it now price $450.00 plus 25.00 shipping.I did pay with Pay Pal and received a confirmation number from the guy shipping via UPS on the way. alias anotherdayattheoffice..

 

[Murphdasurf]

Thanks for the advice. The vast majority of hunting will be at the beach. I hope to use some disc there but the main thing is to keep any falseing to a mnimume even if some depth has to be lost. Was also hopeing that the variable notch discrim would be capable of eliminateing most pull tabs while allowing most gold through. May be to much to hope for with any machine.

 

[Rick(ND)]

This notch the Sovereigns have only will notch out a small area and will not notch out all the pull tabs. What I have been doing myself is run no notch or disc and listen to the tones as this will give you all the info you need and if you use a meter it will tell on the close tones your ears may not tell the difference in. If I do use the notch which is rare I will just crank it up all the way as it will take care of the biggest share of them for me as they will be broken signals and nulls. The ones you want are those that will sound like a nickle as most fall into that category. I also see where a gold ring will have a smoother tone than a pull tab on those I have found. This is something you will learn with experience with it. Take the time and have the patience to learn the Sovereign and I think you will be glad you did.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

[Murph,I think you'll like the Sovereign.I have used different units, but this Minelab will give you a lot of information with the tones and meter readings.This is my first season using the Sovereign and I have been very impressed with the performance in the field along with the guys on our park hunts..

 

[jim/wpb]

I use the GT on the beaches of South Florida and there is nothing like it in the Wet or Dry Sand. Learn your sounds. They are very distinct and quite exciting when you get the right sound. I dig coins at 16=18" in the wet sand with my Wot coil, but I still get 12-14" with my stock 10" BBS.

The 8" coil is great in trashy beach areas that other hunters stay away from. I've found many golds with the 8" in dry sand trashy area's. In addition with the 8" you can pretty much run the Sensitivity wide open.

* They belt mount or chest mount with ease and that certainly helps for those long hunts. I've never have a connector or coil go bad as long as you put a stress loop on the coil wire. Look for a Leather Sun Ray bag in the classifieds...they are great....but they don't sell them any more.

* There are many Sovereign add ons sold in the classifieds here and that's what makes the machine great..... you can get a lot of stuff at a pretty darn good discount. I turned on a friend to the GT and he has over a hundred rings this year.

* Get yourself some toggle boots if you are sand hunting....they are important in keeping your toggles clean and working.

* Please keep in mind that these units never air test as well as they seek out in the sand.

* I also hunt with the Excal, and although it is based on the Sovereign Circuitry, it doesn't come close to competing with it in depth or sensitivity.

* Remember Ed "low and slow:"

* and do learn the Rick(ND) wiggle.


No Notch
No Disc
Sensitivity 10:00 - 12:00
Threshold til you can hear it

Turn on and go!