Critterhunter
New member
It's been a while since I've had volume on a computer set up again. Only a few videos over the last several months have I watched when I had access to another computer with working volume. Now that I've got this one fixed I took the time to catch up on a few videas in the model sticky. Haven't watched them all yet, but the last video in the sticky I just watched all the way through. Noticed this guy is giving the wrong impression to people that you have to ground balance in all metal before hunting in disc. It's a shame a little note (Ron?) couldn't be sticked in that closed sticky above that video to say that there is no ground balance used in discriminate as it compensates for it via a special unique way used by BBS and FBS Minelab machines. It's not auto ground tracking like on other machines, which can track out targets at depth, but rather something very unique to Minelabs.
The only time the ground balance is set is in all metal. Track you just hunt in and it will track the ground. Or you can sweep around in Track or pump the coil to set it and then switch to Fixed. Fix will give you the best depth once ground balance is set right in Tracked. I'd only use track in very bad fast changing ground when using All Metal. Pin point mode is a form of all metal too but it uses no ground balance, so you don't need to set ground balance in all metal to use pin point mode when switching from disc to PP a target. And as said there is no ground balance to set for discriminate, so you'd only ground balance if wanting to use Fixed All Metal, and you do that by sweeping around for a few minutes in Track All Metal or by pumping the coil while in Track, and then switch to Fixed.
There is still a large debate on the web about PP or all metal giving you more depth than Discriminate mode. Some say it does while others say it doesn't. just like for the Excal debate on that. I think it might boil down to your soil or sand. My theory is high concentrations of microscopic iron might choke out a target in discrimination mode and so all metal or PP modes might get deeper. They are probably also far better to use when hunting for fine gold necklasses I would think as those might null in discriminate mode due to reading down in the iron range.
Some like PP or All Metal too because they say they can swing faster. And, I've read numerous times in the past where some guys who favor All Metal on the Sovereign say it has a unique audio to it that can tell you a lot about targets. Based on the high/low or low/high response of targets for one as you sweep past them, as well as a few other unique traits to it's all metal audio. I remember a while back one guy said there was a breaking point of conductivity around nickle where stuff above it would give one type of response and stuff below it another. Also remember reading of guys who said they could tell a nail from a coin by how all metal reacts. Seen too several say All Metal on the Sovereign was the best they ever used on a detector and was very deep and stable for them. One day I'll give it more time and see if it's deeper in my soil than Discriminate or if PP mode is, but in the few tests I've done here and there to me Discriminate seems deeper.
One other tip for newbies...Use Iron Mask ON in discriminate as it will pull coins out of iron better than Iron Mask Off in discriminate. Some in very bad ground will turn it off to quiet the machine down but I've never felt the need to do that. After always liking to hear the iron with discrimination zeroed out on all my prior machines having iron nulled out on the Sovereign is very quiet.
Anyway, I'm glad to see some of those videos are giving a good run down of the controls on the Sovereign for newbies or people interesting in getting one. I'd just warn people that the tones on the videos aren't nearly as good as they are with a good set of heaphones. The audio seemed to be kind of flat on stuff, such as coins, where as in real life you'll get a more richer and higher tone to them, as well as more distinct tones to various lower stuff to, and many for that reason don't even use a meter on the Sovereign. It has very rich detailed long audio as well as numerous tone alerts. Kind of the best of both worlds. The numerous tones of a Minelab but with the rich long detailed audio of the best of the analog machines of the past.
The only time the ground balance is set is in all metal. Track you just hunt in and it will track the ground. Or you can sweep around in Track or pump the coil to set it and then switch to Fixed. Fix will give you the best depth once ground balance is set right in Tracked. I'd only use track in very bad fast changing ground when using All Metal. Pin point mode is a form of all metal too but it uses no ground balance, so you don't need to set ground balance in all metal to use pin point mode when switching from disc to PP a target. And as said there is no ground balance to set for discriminate, so you'd only ground balance if wanting to use Fixed All Metal, and you do that by sweeping around for a few minutes in Track All Metal or by pumping the coil while in Track, and then switch to Fixed.
There is still a large debate on the web about PP or all metal giving you more depth than Discriminate mode. Some say it does while others say it doesn't. just like for the Excal debate on that. I think it might boil down to your soil or sand. My theory is high concentrations of microscopic iron might choke out a target in discrimination mode and so all metal or PP modes might get deeper. They are probably also far better to use when hunting for fine gold necklasses I would think as those might null in discriminate mode due to reading down in the iron range.
Some like PP or All Metal too because they say they can swing faster. And, I've read numerous times in the past where some guys who favor All Metal on the Sovereign say it has a unique audio to it that can tell you a lot about targets. Based on the high/low or low/high response of targets for one as you sweep past them, as well as a few other unique traits to it's all metal audio. I remember a while back one guy said there was a breaking point of conductivity around nickle where stuff above it would give one type of response and stuff below it another. Also remember reading of guys who said they could tell a nail from a coin by how all metal reacts. Seen too several say All Metal on the Sovereign was the best they ever used on a detector and was very deep and stable for them. One day I'll give it more time and see if it's deeper in my soil than Discriminate or if PP mode is, but in the few tests I've done here and there to me Discriminate seems deeper.
One other tip for newbies...Use Iron Mask ON in discriminate as it will pull coins out of iron better than Iron Mask Off in discriminate. Some in very bad ground will turn it off to quiet the machine down but I've never felt the need to do that. After always liking to hear the iron with discrimination zeroed out on all my prior machines having iron nulled out on the Sovereign is very quiet.
Anyway, I'm glad to see some of those videos are giving a good run down of the controls on the Sovereign for newbies or people interesting in getting one. I'd just warn people that the tones on the videos aren't nearly as good as they are with a good set of heaphones. The audio seemed to be kind of flat on stuff, such as coins, where as in real life you'll get a more richer and higher tone to them, as well as more distinct tones to various lower stuff to, and many for that reason don't even use a meter on the Sovereign. It has very rich detailed long audio as well as numerous tone alerts. Kind of the best of both worlds. The numerous tones of a Minelab but with the rich long detailed audio of the best of the analog machines of the past.
I can isolate a coin that is laying right up against a nail as long as I use proper coil technique, thanks to the advantages of DD coils, and that gets even easier with the laser like detection line of the 12x10.