Quote
Neil
[you have to reground balance from wet to dry sand and you dont with the BBS/FBS detectors. Thats a real plus right there alone, what a time saver.
My money is on the Sovereign or Excal as you do a test in various soil or sand types. BBS means it's going to cut thru the minerals and salt no matter where you are at, where as conventional ground balance can have real problems with certain ground matrixs. If the ground changes slightly then watch how the performance of any detector on the market will falter, unless you do a ground balance right there where you are doing the test on a buried target. I know some machines have ground tracking but I've found conventional tracking really had an impact in getting less depth on any machine I've used it on. As most of us know, BBS technology is not "auto tracking" in any sense of the word. It uses a very different approach to compensating for the ground signal, which is why they get amazing depth in the worst of grounds and a more true ID at depth.There's a reason why Excals and Sovereigns are known as king of the beach.
That test wasn't exactly apples to apples, either...being that the Fisher was using a larger coil. I've found the 12x10 is a good bit deeper than the 10" Tornado and is able to run at higher sensitivity settings. I'd like to see you do the test with that coil, and make sure you sweep the Sovereign or Excal around for a few minutes before testing it so the machine has compensated for the ground. I've found when testing buried dimes with my GT that if I go right to the target after turning the machine on the results are not as good as when I sweep the coil around for a little bit.
One other thing I've always harped on is that maxing out the sensitivity doesn't always equal best depth. There have been times when I found say 1:30PM on the dial was deeper, even though say 11PM was stabile. That's why I always stick a silver dime in the ground at about 7" and then play with the sensitivity until I get the easiest target ID. More often that not it ends up being about 1:30 to 2PM on the sensitivity dial. I've seen targets null at times when I've ran to edge edge of stability with the sensitivity dial.
Also, just like that CZ21 is probably deeper than the various older models of the CZ, the GT is said to be a bit deeper than older Sovereigns, which in turn I would guess means than the Excal too.
Think I'm finally home after a lot of years searching for my particular needs. Custom 1.5 lb lighter 
Sovereign GT (easy to do by just "building" lighter shaft) & SEF 12x10 as everyday coil. 8" Tornado (actually 7.25") as super heavy trash coil (Very deep & separates better than typical 8/9" true size coils). 13" Ultimate for large fields/beaches on certain days I want to grid faster than even the 12x10's nice improvement over stock for that. Stock 10" Tornado stays on water rig (stock shaft). 
ProPointer. Owned 15x12 & SunRay S-5 (5.5") at one time. Loaned a prior 13" Ultimate & SunRay S-12 (12.5").
Some Oldest Silver- 1835 Bust Dime, 1842 "O" Seated Dime, 1855 Seated Quarter, 1858 3 Cent Piece, 1891 Seated Dime, & another Seated Quarter too damaged to read date. Highest Value- 3 Cent Piece, Seated Quarter, & now 1921 F-12 Standing Liberty. Oldest Coin? Got to give large cents a good look & see. 2013 so far- 1 Seated Quarter, 1 Barber Quarter, 1 Standing Liberty, 2 Washingtons, 1 Barber Dime, 9 Mercs, 3 Rosies. 1 War Nickel. 19 silvers in total, & 1 1872 key date Indian, 2 Bufallos, 1 man's 14K gold medium sized ring & 1 gold chain, with possibility of few 8"+ deep mystery coins being Indians after cleaning.
What matters in life is the journey and not the desitination. How you handle that journey determines if you were a success, not so much what you achieved if and when you finally get there, especially if you made it by stepping on people along the way...
In loving memory of my long haired (wooly) husky Sky. She taught me just how beautiful and pure a soul can be, human or not...Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2012 12:41PM by Critterhunter.
