The Sovereign is officially the deepest Detector I've ever used.

[plugger]

n/t

 

[crazyman]

I would think when using BBS or FBS the detector is choosing which frequency or frequencies that is best for that particular ground and/or the targets conductivity separately or in combo. One doesn't always go with the other. There's a lot of misconceptions when it comes to frequency choices for general coin and jewelry hunting. In general high frequencies will hit smaller lower conductive targets deeper but that doesn't hold true in higher mineralization. Ground conditions combined with the detectors electronics have a lot to do with the detectors sensitivity to certain targets more so than just the frequency. I have owned detectors in the 5 - 6.59 kHz. range that would hit jewelry size gold better and deeper than my detectors in the 12 - 14 kHz. range.. As ground mineralization goes up higher frequency detectors become less effective and lower frequencies become more effective. Some of the known popular high frequency high gain detectors that get good depth in good ground don't do well in bad ground. Some of Minelabs gold detectors have a switch to toggle between a low frequency for the worst ground to a high frequency for normal hunting conditions. The old Compass Gold detector had the same option. When I use to prospect for gold in Alaska I used a Whites 4900 at 6.5 kHz. in SAT mode in areas with bad minerlization that some dedicated gold detectors had a hard time with. Even though I think the Minelab Sovereign is one of the best detectors made for all around hunting they do have to much iron bias at the lowest discrimination range if your goal is hunting for the smallest gold targets.

 

[SurfPro]

Took the Elite for a quick hunt down the street to our old community club house that was built in the early 30's. The grassy hunting area is about 50X100 ft. I have taken just about every detector I've owned in the past 25 years down there and the last old coin I pulled from there was about 7 years ago with a Fisher CZ 6a. I was shocked when I got a faint but repeatable signal that sounded sweet when doing the wiggle and out pops the 42 Merc at about 8-9 inches. That is excellent depth in my mineralized ground and is the deepest dime I've ever dug on land. The silver Rosie and the rest of the coins where also in the 8 inch range. This was with the S-8 coil and I used the coil pump method to set my sensitivity which ended up between 12.00 and 1:00 with a steady threshold. I need to take the 10 inch coil down there.

I just got my Sov GT and am unfamiliar with the coil pump method to set my sensitivity. Is it something that I should do with the Sov GT? I'm mainly using it at the beach and occasionally on dry land.

Thanks.

 

[crazyman]

You can either slowly pump it or use short slow sweeps if there is no iron near by. Either one works. I just bob the coil because I'm used to ground balancing other detectors and it just seems natural to me. You can read more on how to do this below under the post made by Andy/Memphis.

 

[Critterhunter]

The general rule I've always read is that lower frequencies roughly below 6khz hit harder on silver/copper, with around 1.5 to 3 khz being the prime zone for best sensitivity to these items. Lower frequencies also penetrate the ground minerals better. Something around 14khz has always been said to offer the best sensitivity to gold jewelry while still being able to handle the ground most of the time, though not as well as the lower frequencies. That's one of the reasons why I left the Whites line. My primary target has always been silver/copper but the newer models such as the MXT are running at a higher frequency that is not optimal for what I like to do. I had looked at a XTerra in the field but the lack of a 3khz coil in the 10" or larger size to hit hardest/deepest on silver/copper turned me off to it. You would think that the DFX with it's tri-frequency design in these key areas would prove to be one of the deepest machines on the market but this isn't the case. I've seen this machine do well at pulling silver out of trash but the depth was always way subpar for the price of this detector. And, if you think something like the Explorer is a "high maintanence" machine in that it requires a good bit of tweaking to optimize, the DFX makes it look like child's play.

The GT of course does offer a wide range of frequencies all the way down to 1.5khz, but the Explorer has more at the higher end of the spectrum. For that reason you'd at least guess that the Explorer would hit harder on gold targets. Nothing I've ever read suggests this. It always seems to be the reverse.

 

[Critterhunter]

Made a mistake. Meant "dual" frequency design on the DFX, not "tri".

 

[comcat]

just wanted to say,that a lot of detectors are going to get down there with the sov, but most other detectors dont SEE the target,,the range of frequencies the sov.g,t, puts out from 1.5 kz-25 kz,,in 1.5 kz bands,,is surely enough to cover most targets responses,,in fact if you look at ,,detector info,,a european site ,you will see the tests carried out on a range of different detectors,and you will be surprised at the results,,,also a friend has an xp, goldmax power detector ,,designed for tiny silver and gold targets and is not cheap,,,he used it 2 weeks ago in a field for around 2 hours in a small area and found 5 coins,,he went back to the car and got out my old g.t.that i had previously sold him and used that for the remaining light time, around half an hour, in the exact same area,,and came out with 12 coins the xp did not see,,,wont part with my g.t. again,,,rgds comcat