GT and trash?

[dewcon4414]

Id like a detector that will work well in city parks. Would the GT Disc or notch out the tabs and bottle caps without loosing the rings? Naturally i don't want to dig to china in a park after a pull tab. Is the GT easier to work with if it has the meter? Plus i want to detect around some old house that have a lot of old cans and nails etc. Is the GT what I'm looking for?

 

[Art (NWOH)]

You can't disc or notch out the trash without losing rings.........they fall into the same conductivity range for gold. Silver rings fall between zinc pennies and high coins and cannot be disc out. Screwcaps also fall into this range and will not be disc out.
Once you get used to the tones you can get some rings without digging too much junk. You will miss some and find some. You will dig some tabs.

Steel bottle caps and cans are not too bad. Steel caps will either be rejected as iron, or make a fart noise in general. Cans will either "boink" , null out as iron, or give a loose wide response.

The Sov does not hit on very many nails, and you will find many nails in the hole with a coin that you never knew were there.

I don't like the T-10 coil for trash. It's a pig for target separation. I like my little BBS 800 coil for the heavier trash. Very good separation and a whole lot better audio information. Rick would probably recommend the S-8 , or the S-5 if it is really bad.

Meters....
My unpopular preference is the older 550 style. Preferably the XS2 meter. There are tabs that sound pretty good and could be rings. After digging 2 or three, I will simply ignore any good sounding hit that gave the same reading on the meter.
Most would recommend a 180 meter, and some the Aim Pro.

HH

 

[dewcon4414]

I misunderstood that the GT would notch out JUST the tabs without loosing any valuable items. Would you recommend a meter to help verify the tones? How many tones does the GT make? With more numbers, wouldn't the 550 meter be more exact in identifying the item found? In good soil how deep can i expect to be digging items. Can you tell by the tone if the item is deep? That said, if i get a meter reading like a tap that appears to be deep its more likely a good target.

 

[Rick(ND)]

No detector will notch out the trash and just get the valuable targets, if there was then I could sell thousands of them.
Most gold rings and such read as trash items on a metal detector, now with the notch on the Sovereign or any detector will notch out some items that are real trouble targets, but some rings can fall also in that range. Now with the Sovereign detectors we have the tones and the meter reading to go by and we like to hear all targets and decide which target we dig and which one we don't. This you learn with the Sovereign by actual use of it and getting to know the tones and what sounds good and what don't. Myself I am more of a coin hunter and I am more interested in only a few different tones and when I hear those tones or any close to these will make me stop and check the targets out better. Those I know by the tones are not good I just keep right on a swinging the coil. This take time, patience and some practice and a lot of digging to begin with, but when you know the tones and verify these with the meter you will be able to dig more good targets while leaving most of the trash in the ground.
Like Art says the disc cannot be turned up to get rid on the zinc pennies or the screw caps, but at the max disc you will miss most of the gold rings and other misc items.
Now if I am going to be hunting in a area where I know may hold some gold rings I will dig a few pull tabs to begin with and see how they sound and what the meter reading is, then i will not dig these numbers if the tone sounds the same. Now I will dig the other numbers and tones and if I notice a weaker sounding pull tab reading those I will always dig too. Most of the gold rings I have dug sound smoother sounding than the pull tabs do and some will sound like a nickle, but read lower on the meter than a nickle normally would. Most of this will come with experience and knowing your Sovereign. With the Sovereign i find it gives you more info and lets you the operator decide if you want to dig or not with the tones, meter readings and how the tones will sound.
On the meter the 180 is my favorite as it don't fluxuate like a 550 meter will and will not over lap the readings. The numbers are more stable for IDing. My good copper and silver will be 179-180 while my zinc pennies and IH will be 176-177 and many of the screw caps will be 177-178. The nickles in most cases will read 144-145 unless it is a war nickle as they will have a tone of a nickle, but read from 144-151. My beaver tails off the old round pull tabs will read 140-141 which I also find many of the gold rings reads here too,but like I said before are smoother sounding signals.
The meter is just used basically to begin with to help put the tone to a ID number in learning the Sovereign, then after that helps to ID the close tones.

I hope this will help you decide if you have the Patience to learn this detector and be very successful with it.

Rick

 

[Art (NWOH)]

You pretty well covered that one Rick. Better your fingers than mine.

I don't always use a meter the same way you do so I have a difference of opinion as to the capability of different meters.
I like the precision of the XS2 meter, and it's fast response to very small changes in target conductivity. Also like the precision of the Elite meter, but hate the slowness of response.
Can't work the Elite meter all the same ways I can with the XS2 meter.
Some of the time I think that it would be better to mod the Elite meter to 180 so that I won't have to wait for the last couple digits to stabilize. Either way (550 or 180), I can't get a good visual response pattern out of that meter.

HH

 

[NamVetLesTreasureSeeker]

Hi Dewcon, RICK and ART have thoroughly explained the abilities of the SOV. This detector has a DEFINITE LEARNING CURVE, until you learn all the basic tones, and the little blips/fluctuations of the threshold in normal use. Once you learn this, it is basically a GREAT turn on a go detector. I've been using MINELAB EXCALIBURS for 5 1/2yrs., so I had learned all the tones and little quirks of the detector. My SOV-GT, is the same detector, just with a few more bells/whistles/ and a meter, I have been using it since Jan. 06., and I REALLY LIKE IT!! You definitely want to go with a meter,
but just so you know! This detector meter DOES NOT HAVE A DEPTH GAUGE!! It has really cut down of my trash ratio!! VERY INPORTANT, YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING TO PUT IN THE TIME AND BE PATIENT!! Hope this helps, hh

 

[Art (NWOH)]

Very nice ....... talks instead of beeps. Not like listening to a Nintendo.

HH

 

[dewcon4414]

Im not totally new to metal detecting. I have a cheepy and a whites coinmaster 6... old but you have to work at knowing the tone or you are digging trash all day. As far as time, i have nothing but time, im retired and travel full time. Im out about 20 hours a week and do find my share of odds and ends. I just want something that goes a little deeper. Ive never seen the GT work, but have been with several people who have the MXT. Nice machine, but im not sure its my first choice... still leaning toward the GT.

 

[Art (NWOH)]

You are not going to get much depth in heavy trash. Not with any detector. Target separation is the key. Smaller coils that can pick through the trash better.

I can get 6-7 inches in quite a few nails with a small coil, but not get crap with a larger coil.

Cleaner areas gives a great deal more depth with ANY coil.

If you get to know a Sov, you can sniff out coins by sound patterns and pretty much ignore the meter. Hunting by sound only.

Some can't stand the way a Sov produces target information through it's audio responses. They would rather have a "beeper" and spend all their time looking at the display to tell them what to dig or not to dig.

I really hate being meter dependent. Makes you crosseyed after a while.

Nice thing about the Sov....just listen to it .

You don't dig much trash unless you want to. Does take some time to get used to it. If you pay attention to the sound patterns and don't try to work it as if it were a different machine, you would perhaps start getting the feel of it in 30 hrs or so. If you are tone deaf, it would be pretty tough.

Rick is familiar with both the Sov and the MXT. Anyone on the forum can vouch for his straight up opinions concerning the two.

Both are good detectors, depending on what you want. You would want to get a good "trash" coil for either one for those nasty places. Stock coils just do not work too well in the trash. You get the feel for when you should switch coils as you hunt over the area.

HH