Sovereign GT Hipmounting solutions.

[JASONSPAZ1]

Man I love my GT. But a neck injury from years ago has resulted in some damage that always rears its ugly head when I am swinging the GT for the day.
The Detector buddy and the other weigh reduction harness put the pressure on my right upper shoulder which also tweaks my neck.
I actually never liked a hip mount configuration as I do not like being tethered to the machine. I also worry about cable wear and I am always tired of having to hike up the webbed belt on my waist that holds the control box for the GT on my right, and my tools and find pouch on the left. I have see some guys in videos wearing some type of Harness's ( not the official Minelab harness) that seems to provide the ability to hip mount something but the weight falls evenly on both shoulders.
Has anyone found a solution to wearing a hip mount on their side without having to constantly pull the belt up.
I would love to see some pictures of your hip mount set up.
I just want to hear and see some solutions in order to achieve a comfortable hip mount set up with the GT.

Thanks in advance.
Jason

 

[GeorgeinSC]

I have never tried hip mounting the GT. You might try experimenting with a quality pair of suspenders. Attaching them to the web belt. Might give you some relief by spreading the weight around. .

I got the Pro Swing but have not yet tried using it. Seems that there at least 75 adjustments to get the thing to feel right. Minelabs instruction sheet is about as clear as three feet of Pluff Mud down here in the lowcountry.

 

[Rick(ND)]

I have tried a few different way with the Sovereigns. My XS after using it a bit when I first got it I knew I had to hip mount and used the Sun Ray leather hip mount bag and got a Sun Ray leather find pouch that worked good for my trash too. Like you I had a hard time keeping it was slipping down, so I used a pair of suspenders that was made for a tool belt as it was heavy duty. Did the job for me, but like you say you are tied to the detector. Later on I mounted the control box under the arm cuff which helped with the weight, but was hard to do any adjusting or switching to pinpoint, so I turned around the V clip so the controls now were right under my arm instead of behind my elbow. Then I bought a used Sovereign from a guy on the Internet as I was always having people looking for a used Sovereign after they seen what I could do with them and this one had a different shaft on it and when I tried it is was so balanced I didn't notice the weight at all and worked so nice. I found out this was one of Pluggers shaft he made and worked real nice as it just glided over the ground.
I got a shaft myself for my Sovereign and when I mounted my Sun Ray S-1 probe and the DTI meter it wasn't balanced as nice, so he made me a extension shaft so the control box sat further back on the shaft behind my arm and this did make a big difference. He gave me the idea to just run the shaft and meter and use a camera bag to put the control box in and chest mount it as it had enough room for my Sun Ray S-1 probe too. What I do is use a strap for the camera bag around my neck and then run another strap around my chest and hook it onto the bag too so when I bend over the control box stays on my chest and don't flop around. I know I have some adjusting to do with it as it is in the way a bit when I bend over, but still working with it yet as I only used it a couple of times so far because of health reasons and trying to learn my CTX, so I have to try hard not to use the Sovereign to make learning the CTX. Like I say it is hard not to use the Sovereign as we know what it is capable of.

Rick

 

[goodmore]

I chest mount with a strap around my neck and one around my back to keep it secure. You mentioned a neck injury so this is probably not going to help you. But I never liked hip mounting because I like to make sure the box stays out of the water. Plus I too was always pulling up my pants.

 

[JimmyCT]

That was my biggest issue as well. Can't tell you how many times I almost lost my pants lol. I think the only way to possibly fix this situation ( like GeorgeSC mentions) is to wear suspenders. - Jim

Man I love my GT....
Has anyone found a solution to wearing a hip mount on their side without having to constantly pull the belt up.
Thanks in advance.
Jason

 

[Ron from Michigan]

J those older blue Sovereign bags will work on the GT also.I still have one of these old hip mount bags I use on my Elite. Good Luck Ron

 

[xwyokid]

I also tried the hip mount...Once. I knew that wasn't going to work for me at all. I ended buying a fly fishing chest pack. On the chest pack I took off the neck strap because it bothered my neck. I went to Lowe's and bought some work suspenders. I clipped them to the top of the pack, over my shoulders down to the pack's waist belt. Works for me.

 

[JASONSPAZ1]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Rick
I love the Plugger rods.
This is my setup.
My beach set up is on the original pole assembly with the 12x10 SEF, that is where I want the hipmounting.
My inland set up here feels great and balanced.
The control box that sits higher when you swing makes all the difference than the under the elbow stock set up..

 

[jbow]

I use something similar to this:

It works well for me and I also have neck and upper spine problems. Only 15 bucks and it clips right onto the GT box cover.

Julien

 

[JASONSPAZ1]

THANKS JULIEN.
I suppose Lowe's or Home Depot might have them.
HHJason

 

[jbow]

Dick's Sporting Goods, Cabela's, Bass Pro Shops, maybe WalMart

Also, if it isn't wet or raining I use a small bungee cord, fold the clear face flap on the box holder back, and wrap the cord around the whole thing so I don't have to flip it up out of the way when I want to change something. It doesn't seem to hurt the clear plastic at all.

J

 

[penzfan]

Army Navy stores also have many types of pouches etc that work with the GT

 

[crazyjz]

I have a Sovereign and also have neck and shoulder problems. I use a hip mount system that I cobbled together from military surplus. It actually looks quite nice and to the untrained eye, looks like it was made for metal detecting.

From E-bay, the same guy, I bought a US Army tan colored 2 qt canteen bag for $6, it comes with the "Alice" clips on the back of the bag to attach it to a military web belt. My next item I bought from him was a matching tan US Army web belt with matching padded suspenders that hook to the belt. (GI's wore these in Afghanastan etc.) There is a cross strap that distributes the weight in addition to being tethered to the belt at four points. I paid a total of $18 for these items and it works great! I only wish I had done this earlier!

I thought I needed a straight shaft for my Sovereign but now that I have this, I don't think I'm going to need one. Being tethered to the detector is not the pain in the butt some think it might be. I have plenty of free cable and wireless headsets so it's really not that big of a deal.

Try it and it may work for you, if not, you're only out $18!