Sov GT Air Test?

[SurfPro]

I've had my Sov GT since the 1st of the year and have had good success with silver (5 rings) and a decent amount of clad as compared to what I average with my Dual Field. During that same time frame my wife, using our Dual Field has about the same take as me, with the addition of 3 gold rings. Having not found any gold so far I thought I try an air test with one of the smaller gold rings that my wife found. I laid my detector across our dining room table well away from any metal. Immediately after turning on the machine it just went crazy, very similar to what occurs when my wife gets too close with her DF. The response to the ring was very poor at best. Is this normal for the Sov to react like that in doors? I often read about folks on this and other forums performing air tests with their machines, I've never read anything describing what I experienced. Next time out on the beach I plan on placing a couple of different sized gold items in the sand to make sure that my machine sees them.

 

[Art (NWOH)]

TV, computer, dimmer control on lights, and a few other things will drive them crazy.

HH

 

[Jim Robertson]

I can tell you for a fact you can find Gold Rings with a GT. It has always been one of my top machines when it comes to gold rings on the beach. Either the 10 inch stock coil or the 15 inch WOT. I have dug them as deep as 14 inches. That is a great machine. I have never air tested the GT. Can't help you there. Sorry

 

[SurfPro]

Thanks, I thought that it may have been the electronics in the house causing it to go all buggy. I'll be happy when I get my 1st gold.

 

[Nauti]

Just done an air test with a thin gold ring.I have the little joey coil on my sov at the moment and although this coil is on the small side i still managed to pick the ring up at nearly 10" with the sensitivity in the 12 o clock position.I could not raise the sens any higher due to electrical interference.I think this shows the capabilities of the sov...even with a small coil.Happy hunting.

 

[SurfPro]

Just done an air test with a thin gold ring.I have the little joey coil on my sov at the moment and although this coil is on the small side i still managed to pick the ring up at nearly 10" with the sensitivity in the 12 o clock position.I could not raise the sens any higher due to electrical interference.I think this shows the capabilities of the sov...even with a small coil.Happy hunting.

Did you perform the test in or out of doors?

 

[Critterhunter]

What I've found is that the lowest manual setting will provide a more stabile air testing indoors than Auto. Auto is constantly adjusting sensitivity up or down based on random interference as well as (I feel) coil movement over the ground, resulting in less uniform ID numbers when testing targets indoors. In the field with the S-5 coil I found auto to remain stabil, and with more depth than setting manual to it's lowest position. I think the difference is the amount of electrical noise nearby. If it's really bad auto might adjust to a lower setting (don't know for sure) than manual is even able to go, but if the noise isn't bad auto will be much higher than the lowest manual setting. I also found the S-5 coil seemed to get more depth air testing in my garage set at auto than the 10" did set also for auto. Probably the bigger coil is picking up more noise and so causes auto to adjust much lower than it needs to with the S-5. I still need to test this more as I only noticed it by chance when doing other testing.

As far as rings gold, even very thin small ones, you might want to dig up the thread I posted below called "Splitting Hairs On Ring VDI #s" or something similar. Of the well over 100 true random rings we sampled, none of them had any trouble sounding off with solid smooth audio and giving a solid ID. I don't suspect the GT is going to have any trouble with any gold ring, so long as it isn't broken. Chains and very small earings might be a different matter.

 

[John(Tx)]

Your GT should do great on gold rings, just stay away from other GT's and any electrical interference....HH

 

[Nauti]

Just done an air test with a thin gold ring.I have the little joey coil on my sov at the moment and although this coil is on the small side i still managed to pick the ring up at nearly 10" with the sensitivity in the 12 o clock position.I could not raise the sens any higher due to electrical interference.I think this shows the capabilities of the sov...even with a small coil.Happy hunting.

Did you perform the test in or out of doors?

I did the test indoors.I find with the joey coil on i can raise the sensitivity a lot higher indoors than with the 10".Like you i find the machine to be erratic indoors with the larger coil fitted.I think i agree with critterhunter.....the biggger coils tend to pick up more interference.

 

[Steve from Ohio]

AIr tests in my opinion are a waste of time. They tell you nothing of what the detector will do in real world detecting.

There are so many variables in the ground and the only thing air testing will tell you is that the machine is working.

The best test is out in the field.

 

[midalake]

I could not disagree with you more Steve. Even though actual results, will vary in the field there is much to learned in Meter readings, sounds and what items do what when passed under the coil. If your a beginner it is a must and even a vet can use a tune up every once in a while.

Dave

 

[Steve from Ohio]

I could not disagree with you more Steve. Even though actual results, will vary in the field there is much to learned in Meter readings, sounds and what items do what when passed under the coil. If your a beginner it is a must and even a vet can use a tune up every once in a while.

Dave

I should have been more explicit with my comment.

You are right in that meter readings and sounds can be learned by air tests.

My comments were directed at the idea that depth can be judged by air testing. That is what I meant.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Not a lot of coins floating in the air. HH Ron

 

[Beachcomber]

None of the multifrequency machines air test well and the Sov series pick up a lot of 60hz electrical interference when you try to run them in the house. If you turn the sensitivity all the way down and use the frequency switch you may get it to run inside but having the sensitivity turned all the way down kind of defeats air testing to check depth capabilities. Though it could still be used for learning the tones. The machines that you can compare their in the ground depths to their air test depths are PI's. This is something that Eric Foster has mentioned on the PI Forums over the years and since he knows more about PI's than pretty much anyone I tend to believe him. That being said don't worry your GT can detect gold rings and to very decent depths. Just make sure you hunt with the Disc and Notch controls set fully counterclockwise, your Threshold just audible, and the Sensitivity set as high as possible while maintaining stability. Normally that is around the 11 o'clock position on the control here on NJ Beaches. IT may be different on your beaches. The GT takes some getting used to but it's definitely worth it as it is an awesome beach machine!

HH

Beachcomber

 

[SurfPro]

Thanks for all of the responses, greatly appreciated.

 

[Nauti]

AIr tests in my opinion are a waste of time. They tell you nothing of what the detector will do in real world detecting.

There are so many variables in the ground and the only thing air testing will tell you is that the machine is working.

The best test is out in the field.

It is true that a detector will perform differently in soil conditions,usually loosing depth compared to an air test.However,performing an air test with a coin for example will give an indication of the detectors full potential under ideal circumstances.If you waved a quarter under the coil of a detector and it managed to get five inches,would you choose that detector over one that gave ten inches??

 

[kered]

in my experience what you say is usually correct for normal single frequency VLF machines but with the BBS and FBS i find its the other way round, all my machines have been deeper in the ground than in air, to the point i phoned minelab as when i bought my etrac i thought it was duff, i could not get more than 38cm in air on a 2

 

[Nauti]

Under ideal circumstances,i.e no electrical interference etc an air test WILL show the maximum capability of a metal detector.A detectors magnetic field cannot be 'stretched' further by soil or any other medium.What people find is their detector air tests poorly indoors and when they take it to their field it gets greater depth.This is because indoors the detector will be picking up all sorts of electro magnetic interference even if it is not really that noticable.....this will greatly effect the detectors distance in an air test.The only way to do an air test is test it at the location you are about to hunt in,this way the prevailing conditions will effect the air test and ground depth in the same way to an extent.Also when air testing, the coil is pointing in such a way that electrical interference will effect it a lot more than when it's pointing at and close to the ground.It's actually acting like a tv ariel if it's pointing in the air....attracting all sorts of signals and interference. This is probably what the minelab technician was telling you when he said that your detector needs the ground....because this is where electrical interference will effect it less and the detectors field will be operating at it's most efficient.

 

[Critterhunter]

I think the real reason why FBS and BBS machines do not air test well is not completely due to electrical interference. I've read that the way these machines handle the ground signal is very different than all other VLF machines. Most detectors filter out the ground signal, allowing anything that spikes out of that range to sound off. FBS/BBS machines don't filter the ground. Rather they take a snap shot of what the ground looks like without a target present and then compare that to what the ground looks like with a target present. I might have the details wrong but the difference between how these machines handle the ground does exist in a very big way. Without the coil seeing the ground the Minelab doesn't do well at air testing, where as VLF machines can be "ground balanced" for air testing, giving maximum performance on most machines.

The above fits in with why some say Minelabs do not do as well with freshly disturbed ground such as plowed fields than some other machines. It's also the reason why Minelabs are said to ID true and proper to the extreme edge of their detection depth despite ground conditions, while other machines will often have unreliable target IDs at the edge of their depth or in heavy iron or mineralization. The same reasoning behind how Minelabs handle the ground is also one of the reasons why they get so much deeper. A deep target has to overcome more obstacles (the filter) on VLF units to sound off than they do on a Minelab. Again, the details might be wrong as this is all from memory but the outcome is the same for the performance differences above.

 

[kered]

I don't air test anything indoors or anywhere near interference.

Thanks critterhunter you saved me some 2 finger typing.
that is basically how the minelab technician explained things to me, i think they should know what they are on about, and since then i have found it to be true also in the field, Minelabs are deeper in the ground than in air, end of story for me.