Show your SOV pride!

[Odanscoils]

This thread brings back some great, Sovereign related memories. Heck, modifying one was half the fun of owning one. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that one of you is swinging one of my old Gt's.
I have to admit that I miss them all. My first, to me, real detector was a brand spanking new Sovereign XS that I drove all the way to Kellyco to buy. I miss that detector.

Why did you part with them ?
Need to get another one.

 

[Odanscoils]

The XS was my first Minelab and with the coinsearch coil it did well for me after I got to know the Sovereign. I didn't have a dealer up here in ND, so I decided to become a Minelab dealer in order to have one back in 1996 to get a Sovereign. sold the XS I had to a good friend and got the XS2 with the 10 inch coil and my friend seem to do better than me with my old XS, so got a used coinsearch coil and did much better, so I swear by the 8 inch coinsearch and shorten the cable as it was long and didnt hipmount at that time and to me made that coil more sensitive and really did real good with it.
I have tried all the different model of the Sovereign and the 2 I didn't care as well was the original and the Elite and the 2 best to me was the XS and the GT.
Haven't use the GT for a while now, but keep hoping I will be able to soon as I am not able to get up and down and being the Sovereigns are heavy, I wear out to fast and been known to fall a lot. I wish Minelab would make a light weight Sovereign, but untill they do we will just have to do a few modes to reduce the weight and balance.
With my Sovereigns I like detecting those places that were considered worked out and show those that the Sovereigns will show what is left which are the deeper coins and those close to trash. Lot of good memories with the Minelabs.

Good luck to all

Rick

Sure hope to hear to hear you've found a way to get out. Anxiously awaiting new finds.

 

[Odanscoils]

Good to see all those posting about the Sovereigns, though everyone got rid of them as no real question ask like it used to be.
I have tried all the different models of the Sovereigns and different coils sinc3 1996 when I became a dealer myself. Didn't know what I got myself into as I had heard how great they were. It was different thats for sure, but once I got to use and understand it I found it to be the best detector out there and all those work to death spot were like virgins area as there were a lot of coins left for me. I used to show off and go to the areas I was told there is nothing left and show them what was still there.
All of the Sovereigns i used had the Sun Ray DTI meters and the S-1 probe on them and one of my favorite coils was the 8 inch Coinsearch coil and was the one I recommended to those learning the Sovereign as the signals seem bigger and easy to hear. The coils I liked were the 8 inch Sunray coil and the 10 inch Tornado coils and for the bigger coils the S12 of SunRay. I was ask to do a field test on the concentric coil someone was making and was very impresss with 2 of the 3 coils I tested, the 8 inch was very good and the 12 inch was the best in my opinion. the 8 inch was not as good for me. I fhese would have been made I would have had them, but this is the time the Explorers came out and Minelab was discontinued the Sovereigns so they never got made. I bought one of the 8 inch concentic coils that had never been used and tried it being the others were not being made and thought it was defective and sent back for a different one and it was the same so I returned it also and see now others that tried it also didnt like it.
The Problems with the Sovereigns were they were heavy and wore a person ot as you used them, but there was some straight shaft made and was able to move the control box back futher to balance it out more so it balance very good and didnt feel heavy. The contol box sat further back on my GT so changes the mounting bracket under the arm cuff so the box sat backward to it was easy to get at the controls when I need to be, On some of the older sovereigns I had a toggle switch to switch into pinpoint by the hand grip, but I never put on my my GT as I didnt want to take the control box apart.
I bought a 8 inch tornado coil and put it on a shaft, but never even used it yet as my GT has been sitting for a few years now as I have had 2 heart attacks and a tripple bypass and now both on my knees have been replaced so it hard to get down the dig and harder to get up and then fall over when I get up and still trying to figure out something that will work for me, maybe like a walker and use PVC pipe so it is not metal.
Keep on swinging the Sovereigns and keep this BBS forum alive.

George I have a Legend too and not used it yet and wonder what you think of it as it is not as simple like the Sovereign is i feel.

Still learning the Legend myself. Proving to be an interesting machine. Coming from the Sovereign I believe you'll prefer the one or two tone best.
Many adjustments on tones.
Prospecting mode is proving interesting.

 

[Cameraniac]

Why did you part with them ?
Need to get another one.

Way too many interests/hobbies, and way too little money to satisfy my collecting urges. I usually end up selling something in order to be able to buy something else.

Wouldn't mind having another Sovereign, but at this point in time, the electronics have aged, and if I remember correctly, Minelab no longer services them? I, too, would like to see Minelab bring back the Sovereign, but in a lighter weight package.

 

[Odanscoils]

Way too many interests/hobbies, and way too little money to satisfy my collecting urges. I usually end up selling something in order to be able to buy something else.

Wouldn't mind having another Sovereign, but at this point in time, the electronics have aged, and if I remember correctly, Minelab no longer services them? I, too, would like to see Minelab bring back the Sovereign, but in a lighter weight package.

Same here with to many interests and hobbies.
Fortunately I had to much overtime.
Though Rarely enough time to enjoy my hobbies.
Now recently retired hopefully that'll work out.
Shutterbug and astronomy hopefully I can enjoy more of. Detecting along the way.

 

[Cameraniac]

"Shutterbug"

Just one of my many guilty pleasures. It's possible that I might have sold one of my detectors to purchase a lens or camera body. Hah!

 

[Odanscoils]

Just one of my many guilty pleasures. It's possible that I might have sold one of my detectors to purchase a lens or camera body. Hah!

Last year I picked up a nice A6000 for Astro photography thru the scope.
Really loving the camera and remote phone control's.

 

[Cameraniac]

Last year I picked up a nice A6000 for Astro photography thru the scope.
Really loving the camera and remote phone control's.

I'd bet you ARE loving it. When I lived in Florida, I used to go out once in awhile with some friends to do a little photographing of the night sky/stars. It was a lot of fun. We'd drive an hour out of town towards the center of the state to an area where the Telescope clubs did their star gazing. God help you if you were to pull in with your headlights on. lol!!

I had always been a Nikon guy. Never had one of their high end cameras, though. My last Nikon purchase was a D700. I've still got it, but do not use it much because it needs a sensor cleaning. Plus, I'd since purchased a Fujifilm X-H1. When the model was discontinued, B&H had a good deal on the body w-grip so I took advantage of it. I like using it along with a 16mm f/1.4 lens. With that being said, I really do not do much shooting these days. I just do not enjoy shooting digital as much as I did shooting film. To me, shooting film seemed a lot easier to do. I've always felt intimidated by photo editing software.

 

[Odanscoils]

I'd bet you ARE loving it. When I lived in Florida, I used to go out once in awhile with some friends to do a little photographing of the night sky/stars. It was a lot of fun. We'd drive an hour out of town towards the center of the state to an area where the Telescope clubs did their star gazing. God help you if you were to pull in with your headlights on. lol!!

I had always been a Nikon guy. Never had one of their high end cameras, though. My last Nikon purchase was a D700. I've still got it, but do not use it much because it needs a sensor cleaning. Plus, I'd since purchased a Fujifilm X-H1. When the model was discontinued, B&H had a good deal on the body w-grip so I took advantage of it. I like using it along with a 16mm f/1.4 lens. With that being said, I really do not do much shooting these days. I just do not enjoy shooting digital as much as I did shooting film. To me, shooting film seemed a lot easier to do. I've always felt intimidated by photo editing software.

Yup. Loved film. Had a dark room with poster enlarger as a teenager. Miss that.
Here's a place where you can buy used near perfect equipment. Where I got the A6000 and a bunch of prime Len's.

https://www.mpb.com/en-us/category/used-cameras/dslr-cameras/nikon-dslr-cameras

 

[Blackflag]

Ultralight sovereign,down to a low 3 lbs with remote pinpoint/all-metal. Wireless from quest/deteknics are great for use on the sovereigns. I used Steve’s detector rod and lightened it more with aircraft fasteners and chopping weight that was overkill. Shorter cables too. Used LiPo batteries saves a lot of weight and run time is great. I think more people would still be swinging a sovereign if it was in a modern package. Working on an explorer now. Thanks for looking.

 

[Blackflag]

Another shot with business on the end.

 

[Ted S]

Looks great! I may be listing a Sovereign Mark I in the classifieds...

 

[Blackflag]

Red backlight in sovereign meter.