Wow, I'm amazed at you guys saying that. I think the S-5 gets outstanding depth. It gets very near or about the same depth (7") on a silver dime in my soil that most other machines I've used using a 8 or 9" coil would get. Up until owning the Sovereign the QXT Pro got the best depth in my soil out of all the machines I've owned, which was about 7.5" on a silver dime. The S-5 gets right around that for me in both a buried dime test or doing an air test (about 6 to 8" depending on sensitivity setting). Maybe I've got a hot one or something. Next time I have it on I'll do the depth tests again and measure things to post.
Really anyway having good depth can actually hurt you when trying to sniff something out in trash. I often lower the sensitivity or stick it in Auto when using the S-5 in heavy trash so I'm not lighting up as much ground (targets) around the coil, and so I'm not perhaps seeing iron that is deeper than the old coin I'm looking for.
Enough people seem to love the 7 1/4" Minelab "Eight Inch" coil for great seperation yet good depth.