My new (to me) Sovereign Elite

[54shooter]

Hello, I'm new to this forum and fairly new to detecting although I'm totally hooked! I bought a Elite with the 10" Tornado coil because I wanted a deeper detecting machine than my Ace 350. I had some problems getting started but got some help from another member of this forum and got going on using it. My problem is that I don't have confidence in the machine because it doesn't perform that well in my coin garden. I have found a couple deep targets (7 to 8") but have yet to find a deep coin. I'm not really sure that there is any deep silver to be found in this park as I'm sure it's been hunted in the past. I read alot of stories about hard hunted parks giving up silver and I'm hoping I have the right machine for the job. I have tried to read some of the sticky's on the forum and to be honest it"s like reading a nuclear physics text book because I don't understand the terminology. I have alot of questions about the machine and want to do it right, so I guess I'll start with #1 Do all clad coins except a nickel make have the same tone? They all sound the same to me. I run the machine on Band #2, var. tone, disc. on, sensitivity to beach, disc and notch all the way to the left, threshold to where I can just hear a hum and on/off turned clear up. I have dug lots of targets and almost always find something in the hole. I think that the park I'm hunting is real trashy as the machine seems to always be making noise. So much so that I have a hard time deciding what is a real tone that I can dig. I think that I am passing up some dig gable tones because I'm not sure of them. It's also 100+ in the shade and the grounds rock hard. #2 should I make sure I have a tone both directions before I dig. Sometimes I get a real good high tone one direction and nothing the other. I hope I don't sound to stupid but I really love this sport and want to do well at it. I did find a Chinese cash coin my first time out and am finding clad all along. I have a 1860's church to go hunt in about a week that I found a 1838 seated dime and a 1950 Rosie and a dozen or so wheat's with my Ace 350 and I want to be as up to speed with the Sovereign as possible before I go up there cause I'm almost positive there's more to be found there!!!! Thanks for reading this and any help would be great.

 

[54shooter]

Nobody has any advice? My feelings won't get hurt if I'm asking stupid questions.

 

[Critterhunter]

ALL the forums for ANY machine across the web are pretty much dead as a stone right now due to the hot weather and dry soil. It'll pick up again as the tempertures/dryness of the ground goes away. Biggest advice is just don't give up and keep using the machine. The Sovereign has rich tones and detailed audio. If you want to tell the difference in coins this is the machine by audio alone, but it takes time and practice. If you don't have a meter it will help the learning curve, as zincs will read lower and various clads take longer to get up to 180 than others, while silver will tend to shock right up to 180 without much lag. You can often tell what a clad might be, or the potential for a silver, just by how the meter reacts, but the audio will also clue you to this by how "sweet" the sound is. The meter just helps with that process.

As for your worry about this being the machine to find old coins at hunted out parks, have no such worries. The Sovereign has pulled me plenty of old coins and silvers at "dead" spots that my other numerous machines didn't, and I'm talking about many machines and the "best" of whats out there in terms of old coin/silver killers I've owned. You just have to give it time and learn the tones and how to use the machine. Sweep speed is critical to pulling super deep stuff or ones in iron or other trash, so be sure to read the other new thread on this and play on your own to see what seems to work best in terms of speed for your soil. Most say slow is the word though, and even those of us who are still waving on that still think "faster" is a relative term compared to other machines. The Minelabs will ignore ground minerals better than pretty much anything out there, which means best depth and ID at depth over any other machine I've owned.

As for one way signals, dig them too, because they could be a deep coin, one on edge, or one masked. You'll only know what is "dig worthy" but digging the iffy stuff and then seeing what traits real coins might have versus a false from junk/iron. No better teacher than digging to learn that stuff. Words can only relate so much. If the high tone repeats from the same angle then dig, but if it doesn't from others then it could be either an iron false or a badly masked coin or one on edge or something. I've dug old silvers that would only give a high tone/coin ID from one tight angle, while they nulled or sounded like junk the rest of the way around them. And they did as well for my friend's top of the high flagship silver killer machine, so no better response for him either when we compared. One tool I use is just how "perfect" that coin signal is from that one angle. Iron falses will often give clues to not being a real coin when they do speak "coin" from that one angle, but you'll know it's a coin by how easy/perfect it is compared to the ghostly signal of iron from that one angle. No amount of talking can replace learning though, so dig all iffy coin hits for a while and you'll soon learn what is worth taking a chance on.

Far as depth an unmasking goes, all Sovereigns are said to be pretty equal on par, although some say the Elite is a tad better and others say the GT is a tad more. I will say I've never owned a deeper machine (and I've pretty much owned them all) than my GT in my soil, and I've never owned a machine (fast or not) that has pulled me coins out of iron or other junk as much as the Sovereign. It will work wonders, but it takes time to learn to use it and it's coil right. The left/right separation of a DD coil is your friend. Learn how to use it. Time is what will make the difference. I was ready to wrap this machine around a tree despite my years of using others. You can't rush time or experience. Wait for it. It will happen...

 

[Critterhunter]

One other remark....I've owned machines that could attempt to ID coin identities above copper penny. I've dug PLENTY of silvers that read like other coins (like say pennies) with those machines due to moisture, being worn, being on edge, being masked, depth, and so on. My reasoning is I don't want that ability. All I want to know if a coin is deep is that it's a coin and I'm digging it. Same deal with shallower coins in trash. Somebody could have missed an old coin that way too. Only coin I care to ID is zincs. Beyond that when old coin hunting I'm digging anything deep or shallow (but in trash) at "pounded out sites". Besides, a VDI with the kind of resolution in the higher than copper range will be bouncy, and that can talk you out of digging a coin because you think it's this coin or that one or might be trash. In terms of the foil to up to copper penny range, never owned a machine with as high of resolution as the 180 meter on the Sovereign. The high resolution in that range ain't bouncy at all. Far less fine "splitting hairs" than it is to try to separate coin IDs above copper pennies, so I prefer the super high resolution from foil to copper penny to split hairs on odd old lower reading coins or say gold rings from common trash (like tabs) at a site. That's when a super high resolution can be useful, and the Sovereign has it in spades in that respect. But in terms of old coin hunting, I just want to know it's a coin. Sure, avoid zincs by the millions, but deep coin signals or ones shallow but in trash and I just want to know it's a coin.

 

[54shooter]

Thanks for the advice, like I said, I'm hooked and I want to learn this machine. I'm headed out now to listen, dig, and sweat. I really am grateful for the words of wisdom. GL and HH

 

[robby4570]

Hi 54! Like we talked about on the phone the other night, GO SLOW with the swing speed. If you think you are going as slow as you do with the 350, slow down some more. I did notice that keeping a steady height and a smooth swing is way more crucial with my Elite than my 250.

I'm glad to see that you did some good with it. There is a thread in this forum about cleaning switches and how to tell if they are working. In that thread is a link to some rubber switch boots, I am getting some for mine as soon as I get the switches working.

Don't give up on that Sov, it's one great machine. It just takes time to learn what works and how to understand what it's saying.

Here's the link to that thread: http://www.findmall.com/read.php?21,1755142

 

[tvr]

I think that the park I'm hunting is real trashy as the machine seems to always be making noise. So much so that I have a hard time deciding what is a real tone that I can dig. I think that I am passing up some dig gable tones because I'm not sure of them.

My Minelab experience is with an Excalibur. Similar but not exactly the same. It does not like to be rushed with the coil sweep. Will find stuff with a faster coil sweep but at significant loss of depth. In my experience, "slow down" is generally good to remember and follow.

Couple of other thoughts:
-Is it possible the sensitivity is set too high and you are getting some falsing? I found it better to start with lower sensitivity and work up as I learned the site I was working.
-Try hunting in all metal for a little while. That is much less prone to falsing and gives you an idea of how trashy the area is. It does not give you much of an idea of what the target is, but can give you some confidence in how many targets the coil is going over in a particular area.
-If you find that it is truly a dense junk area, a smaller coil can help with separating targets and pulling good targets out of the trash.
-It takes time to learn the sounds. There are subtle differences on different but close to the same conductivity targets. The subtle differences can be masked or significantly influenced by nearby trash. Take time and, if you get frustrated, clear your thoughts before going back to listening to what the detector is trying to teach you about it's language. With observation and practice, it will teach you.
Cheers,
tvr

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Shooter,there is a learning curve required to get the best performance from your Sovereign.My advice only use the Sovereign for a couple of weeks no other detector.Important,the sensitivity increase is oppisite on the Sovereign compared with other detectors counter clock wise to increase and a click puts you in auto.The 800 Tornado or 8 inch Coinsearch coils are best for new users to learn the tone sounds and pinpointing for the Sovereign.If you learn the Sovereign you will see what a great detector should be.Excellent finds,Good Luck.Ron