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Sovereign XS-2a Pro ?'s

Like anything new it takes some time and some experience with it to get real good with it, but this is like anything we do now days, if you want to play a piano you wont do too good at first, but the more you use it the better you will get. I like mine best in those worked to death parks and ball fields as all the loud and surface target are gone so I can spend more time listening to the deeper signals and those that are iffy and try to make them a better signal by doing the Sovereign wiggle. That picture I posted was from a park most had given up on and many still dont beleive I got them from the same area we have pounded for years. I learn a lot too on this one as my normal swing of the coil was too fast to see them and had to go even slower to get a slight tone change and work it to see it was a repeatable signal that was trying to climb, but just couldnt make it to the correct tones or meter reading, but sure were trying is why I dug them.
To help learn it I would take it to a place with a lot of new coins and get used to the tones and how this detector works before going to a well worked area trying to get some of the deep signals right away. Mine click more for me at a older park that was big and not full of iron and took the time to look at each signal I would get and if I wasnt sure what it was I would dig it up.
I could tell you many stories of some of the coins the Sovereign has got plus some older halfs in playgrounds that were not even very deep that others missed. I know of one guy out East I sold a used Sovereign too and didnt like it the first 4 or 5 times out, then it was questionable, then liked it a little and finally loves it when he was picking nice coins out of areas worked hard. His detecting buddies didnt like to hunt with him as he always was finding more than they were, in some cases he had more than both of them together. He told me he had been thinking on selling it after 4 time out and sure glad he stayed with it and didnt give or he would have missed so many good coins and jewelry.

Rick
 
Hi i use the white 12 sunray coil goes very deep and finds the old coins other people just walk over. Gets them on edge very well. Also the deep coins may just give a one way sound and the numbers are not high on the meter but jump around . Found many coins durning a null over iron. The SOV will sound off if a coin is over iron but give a short sound but high. Take a coin like a indian head and test it at the maximun distance from the coil and watch your meter jump all over and the sound will also sound a bit different and you will know how i get the old deep coins others have missed. When i hunt i go very slow and check out all good sounds even one way sounds. Also if you know your machine like the back of your hand you will forget what the manual says and find out real quick all coins are not equal and do not give a text book reading or sound. Once you learn that and start hunting your finds will be much better every time you go out. Hope this helps HARRY
 
n/t
 
harryo said:
This is in a month of detecting with the SOV. 2APRO in a hunted out park. If you do not like it i will buy it.
Click to expand...
It is for sale, I tried it out today & it is not my cup of teas. Heavy but balanced well, just a total different type of machine than I have ever used. I have it posted on the forums for trade/sale. Thanks! Steve.
 
SkiWhiz said:
harryo said:
This is in a month of detecting with the SOV. 2APRO in a hunted out park. If you do not like it i will buy it.
Click to expand...
It is for sale, I tried it out today & it is not my cup of teas. Heavy but balanced well, just a total different type of machine than I have ever used. I have it posted on the forums for trade/sale. Thanks! Steve.
Click to expand...

Hey Steve, yep, heavy and different are good descriptions of the sovs and explorers/etracs alike. They are the best performing detectors for what I do or I would use something else. Hopefully you got a good taste of it and saw what they can do as opposed to having no luck with it all. Thats where detectors can get a bad rap......someone trying them and having no success and the next thing you know they are making bad posts about them which can turn others off.
My sov gt is balanced but still heavy no matter how its mounted or hung, it will never feel like a Tesoro.
Good luck in getting a Tejon for your Sov, Ive got one of those, they are a nice machine:cheers:

Neil
 
Hay SkiWhiz,i only sold my sovereign because of money probs,it is a cool detector,i really had good luck with the 8" concentric coil(excellerator)i kind of miss the detector to tell the truth! it is a smooth detector,you might like it,there are so many coils and add on's you can get,like you can hip or chest mount,get tesoro or anderson shaft etc...give it a try,what do you have to lose!.Chuck.
 
Hey SkiWhiz, I think some of the guys posting will give you the wrong ideas. I am also an avid Tesoro user, but
I was instantly amazed at the depth that was attainable using the Sovereigns. I had purchased an older XS-2
sovereign last year, with the 8" coinsearch coil. I was consistently getting some coins at 8-10" in well-searched schoolyards and parks, so I
know the depth was good. My tesoro (which is extremely old, a golden sabre plus from 1989) couldn't touch most
of these coins, since they were found in ground I had previously gone over with it, in some cases several times already in the past. I admit there is a learning curve to the sovereign, as it is a totally different kind of detecting than Tesoro analog machines will provide - both soundwise and stylewise. When guys tell you that you have to swing really slowly and methodically (overlap swings) to get good, deep targets with the sov's - they are 100% correct.

But if people say that sov's are not accurate in terms of target id, they are wrong. Much to my surprise, the 180 meter you mentioned (as I also had this on mine) was quite accurate, giving a pretty consistent 179-180 on clad coins and silvers, with about 169-177 for zinc pennies, and usually 142-146 for nickels. It is true that mixed targets and targets on edge can and usually will deviate sometimes very far from these numbers. I will not say that there are not some drawbacks to the minelabs, they work best in relatively clean soil, not too much junk or iron around - since they are really designed to be coin machines. Using my sov in a really junky spot, which i did a few times, was not a fun experience and my finds in those type of sites were minimal. For those type of sites, the Tesoro's and other older analog type machines rule, hands down. My dad hunts with a fisher cz-7, and he can't hunt well in spots with really high junk levels either.

My advice would be to stick with the sov, and give it some time. It took my at least 1 month of using it to really start making some good finds. It would be nice to get ahold of another tesoro as a backup however. It's like being a golfer, using all his different clubs at different stages in the course. The same goes for detecting, one detector cannot do it all for every site, you need a bag of tricks, different detectors for different situations.

This is my take on things,

Best of luck in whatever you decide.

Mark
 
If the Sovereign works for you great but I wouldn't wish this machine on my worst enemy. I got it in the mail put it together went to the park fired it up and in 15 miutes turned it off and said to my wife lets go home so I can put this thing up for sale. The good thing was I had it sold in about as fast I put it up for sale. Some guy wants it to hunt the beaches in California. It was heavy but balanced pretty good, but how on earth can a man woman or beast find a coin with this thing nulling out like it does. Wicked sloooooow response, all I can say is get a Minelab Sovereign if ya want to take the fun out of detecting. I really appreciate everyones posts, but man this thing is not for me there isn't enough time on Earth for me to learn to like it. . Steve.
 
SkiWhiz I would highly recommend picking up the 8" Coinsearch coil. When I first picked up my XS2a-pro I was using the 10" stock BBS coil and I hated it, it nulled out like crazy in parks, and the target separation was almost non-existent. Everyone said to get the 8" Coinsearch, I did and I've made some of my best finds of all of my tectors with it. It's slow, doesn't do well in iron infested sites, but if your patient, and go slow it's a deep seeker. I originally picked mine up for beach hunting, and use the Sunray 12.5" coil for that, but after seeing harryo's great finds I want to test the Sunray at an old park and see if I can pick out some deepies with it.

hh,
Brian
 
Steve,every Sovereign user has made the same comment at the beginning.I'm glad I stayed with this detector.She sure is fat and ugly but the Sovereign (can cook) is one of te best performance detectors.Hey Art was right.LOL Later Ron
 
It takes time to learn a detector. Especially the sovereign or explorer. Detectors are like fishing rods, each one has a different purpose. For picking old coins out of a well hunted spot the sovereign and explorer is hard to beat. Look at the finds on the forum. Even an easy detector can take a year to get good with it. Fifteen minutes was not enough. Some detectors just don't fit certain people. I ran into the same thing with an old original Bandito. I bought it because of the reputation it had . I didn't like the balance or the way it hunted. I sold it after a couple of hunts. Was it a bad detector? No, but I was willing to put the time in to learn it. One day you may get curious again but be willing to invest some time. If you like a fast response the Tejon is hard to beat. JMHO
 
I am sure that it is a good detector, I could never get used to the weight though or the slow response. I would of loved it if someone that knew how to use the Soverign could of spent a day with me with it. I can't understand how any one could find a coin with it especially with the 10 inch coil. I am not doubting that it can be done, I believe all you that have learned the machine and have seen proof/pictures of all the goodies. Just not type of machine, maybe if it would of had the 8" coil it would of been better but I still don't think that it would be fun to use for me. Steve.
 
I firmly believe, If you aint having fun your wasting your time, no matter what your finding. Very few people get rich metal detecting.
 
The SOV has been around for a very long time and has proven to be a very successful product for Minelab.
It is a heavy beast and there are many like you that just dont like the way it works.

Thankfully, there are many other detectors out there and lots of people that will buy a used Sovereign.
Just a heads up ... the Explorer series, The Excalibur, the Quatro, and I think the X-Terra series all have multi-tone ID.
You wont like them for the same reasons.
 
Is the xs just like the xs2 as far as following the conductivity of a target? This is very interesting!
I have the xs model only.
 
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