Dan,
I used many different detectors since 1973 and many I liked and some I dont, in 1996 I heard Minelab Sovereigns were kicking butt, so I tried one and at first I really wondered if I made a mistake, but after some time and with the help from those on this forum it took time and patience and learn a lot about this detector. Once I learned it I was unstoppable and going over many areas others have given up on and got many deeper and coins in with the trash in these well worked areas.
Its really a turn on a go detector and not all the adjustments many detectors have, but for the depth you have to go slow and listen close for the tones so it can report what the coil is seeing is where it is slow swinging , some run no disc and go by the tones and how repeatable they are. The Sovereign hates iron and a fast coil swing, I use a 180 meter on my Sovereigns to help tell the tones that may sound the same as some are close. The meter just tells you what you are hearing and going slow and doing the Sovereign wiggle over any iffy signal you can tell if it is good or bad. It does take a little time to understand, but to me it was so much easier than my Explorers as the Sovereign keeps the tone of the last target it see so I can tell if it went over a different target and for me with my bad hearing the Explorers the signal was too fast and could miss them easy.
now the models they made several that were upgraded, there was the original , then the XS which I started with it had a 8 inch coinsearch coil which help me learn mine better, but not waterproof, then they made the XS2 Which came with a 10 inch waterproof coil and a drop in battery pack, then Minelab nex model was the XS2a which added a toggle switch to go to single tone which defeated the purpose of the tones.. Next was the Elite and to me it just didnt as good as my XS, but some swear by them, for me everything sounded deeper that is really was and didn't get as much depth either, plus the controls were in different arraignment that what we were used to. The Last on they made was the Sovereign GT which went back to the original control set up plus added a couple more toggle switches, one was for silent search so the tone can be shut off if needed, didn't like it, but do see a purpose if in a area with a lot of iron as it is in a constant null of the iron, but soon as I got some reg signals I went back to reg disc.
The Sovereign will impress a person when you get to know it and sometime it will really surprise a person, 2 thing I remember is when I got a iffy signal, but with the wiggle and going around the target I could hear something good, but yet iron, when dug was a Franklin half with a big 3 inch rusty bolt on top of it. Was going where a ballfield bleachers were gone, and this was loaded with pulltabs and thought it was going to be tough, but tried anyway, got a couple of deeper Wheaties, lot of pull tabs signals and one that sounded like a nickel , but read as a beaver tail which number wise read as a 140-141 on my 180 meter and nickel reads 144 and sounded deeper for a beaver tail, dug down around 9 inches a popped out a nice gold ring. that was very old according to the jeweler. That why I say the Sovereign can really impress a person and why so many have them and wont give them up. If I have a place to detect for one day only for coins and not dig much I would run my Sovereign GT and pick out the coins and leave the trash.
I bet you can see why I like the Sovereigns
Rick
I went thru the FBS line all the way to the Manticore. I never did try a Sovereign and I'm wondering if it's even worth taking one for a spin. If I decide to get one, what can you recommend for a starter unit and which coil thanks for any and all feedback.