Questions regarding Sovereign GT vs minelabs fbs machines...

[mikezap]

I recently sold my Etrac after 2 yrs, and went back to swinging a t2. I also swung an explorer pro for a year. All 3 of those machines have their strengths and weaknesses...but the strength of the minelab fbs machines in finding deep silver is second to none. I've been thinking about a sovereign on and off for the past couple years, but I have some questions. I would be planning on using the sov in schoolyards, parks, etc. Basically areas that I feel have been hunted out, and most non ferrous targets are either low conductors, or deep. There are a few lakes in the area with small beaches, but i don't hunt them. How does the sov compare with the ground tracking abilities of the fbs machines? Does it need to be balanced often? I guess I'm wondering if user error would contribute to a loss of targets vs one of the fbs machines that does that for you. I know the sovereign is older technology, but does that neccessarily mean that it's inferior in all ways to something like the Etrac? One of the reasons I sold the Etrac is that I wanted to find more gold. With the explorer/Etrac I got so snobby that I was only digging high tones and passing everything else over. I know I won't have that problem with the Sov. I'm not worried about the recovery speed, weight, or lack of meter. I guess in the end, I just want to know the sov is just as capable as the fbs machines at the sites I plan to take it to. Sorry for the long-windedness... any info that anyone wants to provide would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance, Mike.

 

[kered]

I have been using the etrac for a couple of years too, i progressed to it from the sovereign via the explorer, I still have 2 Sovereigns, a GT and an XS2apro and still use them but mostly on the beach as i also have the excalibur and a change from the sand with Sovereign to the water with the excalibur is easy as they are very similar.

The Sovereign is just as capable as the etrac or almost, where the etrac takes over is in recovery speed in iron and seperation but the audio on the sovereign is much more discriptive in disc mode and with practice you can get an idea of shape of the target, even pick up the bridge in a modern pultab if its flat. You will probably have to go slower in amongst the iron than you did with the etrac especially if you ever used ferrous tones on a clear quickmask screen.
The digital filtering in disc mode is very good, going from bone dry never wet sand to the waters edge you wouldn't notice if blindfolded. The actual tracking only works in all metal.
Another plus for the etrac is tone id in all metal(quickmask clear screen)the sov is mono tone traditional all metal but again with practice you can sort out some good from the bad.

In my opinion i would say it takes longer to become efficient with the sovereign than it does with the etrac, not from the controls/menu point of view but learning the audio of the sovereign and what its telling you, its not just an electronic tone where every say dime is the same sound, similar yes but you'll get a slight dfference depending on the way its lying even if the meter reading(if you use one) is the same 180.
I've not had a T2 but an F75 yes and the sovereign for me is much better on deep oldies as you have to speed up your swing on the f75 to get a better lock on deeper targets.

If i had to choose betwen the Sovereign and the Etrac i would go for the Etrac as i have more sites that favour it but on a clean site they are hard to seperate, each has its good points
The above is just my opinion, i'm sure others will both agree and disagree so hang on in there for a few days to get other opinions before you decide.

Between the varios models of sovereign available there isn't much in it so an older model could help you decide if you like it or not and they hold there price too so you wouldn't lose if you decide its not for you, either way give it time.

 

[JimmyCT]

Hi Mike,



To answer your question in a nutshell, Yes. I feel It is just if not more capable to find the goodies then the ones with all the extra bells and whistles. I love it because there are no menus, sub-menus to play with and set-up, graphs,etc. I am spending more time swinging the coil and learning what the tones / numerical (180) ID meter is telling me. All that I do know is FBS machines have more frequencies and bells & whistles to play with. I didn't want all that. I wanted simplicity with power. ( and it has plenty of it) After having several single frequency detectors in my arsenal (and after tons of reading) I bought my first Sovereign GT this year. I went back to several of my old hunting sites that have been pounded for 50 years with all sorts of detectors and I am still pulling silver out. I am amazed at the coins that are still there and can sniff coins right out of iron. Are the pickings getting slim? sure they are but the Sovereign GT Technology is still pulling silver and copper coins out of these places and makes the sites like new again . I love the technology and personally for me, I wouldn't trade it for an e-trac or safari. I am not saying the e-trac / safari are not super machines because they are, they are just not for me. I also bought a Sunray DTI II Meter for my sovereign GT and for me, this is a great deadly combination with simplicity. The GT has ACCU-TRAK automatic ground tracking technology which is also used in the Eureka Gold metal detector. There is "no user error" as you state as it has automatic GB just like the e-trac you had. Basically, turn it on, set your controls and find coins, jewelry, gold etc. ONLY if you are in all-metal then you would have to ground balance the machine. This is a TONE machine. Learn the tones, find loot. No graphs, no programs to adjust, basically, just turn it on (for me I always use DISC) and go. (see below some of the info that is from the GT manual on Ground balancing & features)

Before I bought my machine, I was on this forum reading other posts from GT lovers. I really thought they had issues lol as it sounded like they had a love affair with their GT lol. But the more I read, the more I was intrigued. Reading about the machine is one thing, using it is another. (in a good sense) Soon as I started using the machine and learning its "whispers and soft talk " I found that "love affair" that the others were talking about lol - funny but very true. I never owed a machine quite like this - capability wise. The only other detector I would buy at this point or in the near future for serious hunting is a GT with a built in numerical 180 meter on the top of the handle. I would then continue to use the machine I have now and leave the other one as by back up unit. A GT backed up with a GT






The info below is out of the manual for the GT http://www.minelab.com/__files/f/4062/4901-0051-1.1%20Inst%20Manual%20Sovereign%20GT%20website.pdf


To Ground balance (all-metal mode) in mineralized soil:
To ground balance in mineralized soils When in the All Metal mode, place the switch into Track and raise and lower the coil between 2

 

[Neil]

I recently sold my Etrac after 2 yrs, and went back to swinging a t2. I also swung an explorer pro for a year. All 3 of those machines have their strengths and weaknesses...but the strength of the minelab fbs machines in finding deep silver is second to none. I've been thinking about a sovereign on and off for the past couple years, but I have some questions. I would be planning on using the sov in schoolyards, parks, etc. Basically areas that I feel have been hunted out, and most non ferrous targets are either low conductors, or deep. There are a few lakes in the area with small beaches, but i don't hunt them. How does the sov compare with the ground tracking abilities of the fbs machines? Does it need to be balanced often? I guess I'm wondering if user error would contribute to a loss of targets vs one of the fbs machines that does that for you. I know the sovereign is older technology, but does that neccessarily mean that it's inferior in all ways to something like the Etrac? One of the reasons I sold the Etrac is that I wanted to find more gold. With the explorer/Etrac I got so snobby that I was only digging high tones and passing everything else over. I know I won't have that problem with the Sov. I'm not worried about the recovery speed, weight, or lack of meter. I guess in the end, I just want to know the sov is just as capable as the fbs machines at the sites I plan to take it to. Sorry for the long-windedness... any info that anyone wants to provide would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance, Mike.

Mike your not going to find your answer here, sounds like you want to try one so just go for it. I prefer the FBS series myself both Etrac and Explorer and disagree with EPL on the bells and whistles because those adjustments are alot more than that on the FBS detectors.
The Sov has tones just like the FBS series but they are a little richer sounding, but also not as wide ranged. If you do with the Sov like you did with your Etrac by digging the high tones only your gonna pass up gold, thats not the detector, thats your decision. The Etrac hits the smallest of gold compared with the Sov and Explorer series so you had your best gold machine of the bunch in that one. And like kered said, with a Sov you will see how fast the Etrac really was.
The Sov in disc balances to the ground just like the Explorers/Etracs so you just tool along but you will have to make sens adjustments most likely. The Etracs auto sens is a strong point on that detector, the auto sens on the Sov just doesnt measure up to that.
The Sov is hipmountable/chestmountable which can make it more useful depending on how you plan to hunt it. Both series have a load of optional coils available to them.
I get the feeling your itching to try one so go for it and find out yourself if you like it. YOu might like it more, you might not, but only you will know. Id pick up a used one just in case you want to resell it, they are built really well and usually dont break down.
Whether or not the sov is as capable at your sites, well you might want to post where your located and you might get lucky and be able to hook up with someone who has one so you can try before you buy.
Neil

 

[kered]

Good point Neil made about the gold, i forgot to comment on that, most gold i have found comes in low to mid tones, from foil right through to aluminium, no pulltabs no gold

 

[hershey1]

Mike go ahead and get yourself a Sov. GT. After the Explorers and E-Tracs you won't be happy until you try one. That being said and you already know the people who talk about the E-Tracs bells&whistles have'nt used one much. The adjustments on the E-Trac give the operator the ability to dial in any target under the most difficult conditions most anywhere. I noticed you use a T-2. Do you hunt relics? I myself prefer my G-2 when hunting for civil war relics not because the ML's won't find them but in these mountains the weight and speed makes a big difference. Surely there will be someone close to where you live that give you some hands on advice. Good luck with your choice. HH

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Neil,makes a good point,The Sovereign is a great metal detector,but some will never like this unit.The Sovereign is a detector you will have to exclusively use for a month to get a good idea of its performance potential.By the way I have used Explorers and currently have an Explorer ll this is one of my favorite detectors but prefer the Sovereign for most of my hunting.If the time or effort isn't made to learn the Sovereign you will not like this detector.No magic bullet here just hard work and a learning process.Good Luck Ron

 

[Critterhunter]

I've owned three or four explorers over the years and they never got the depth *IN MY SOIL*, which tends to be medium to high in minerals, that my GT gets on coins. Yes, I set them up different ways, dug by sound, dug the worst of the worst, and still I wasn't seeing any silver past 7 or 8". My QXT Pro did just as well on silver and copper conductors. The Explorers did get things like nickles deeper, though. Now, with the GT I'm digging coins MUCH deeper than I have with any other machine. My deepest being a v-nickle in one hole and an indian in another that were both I think about 11" deep or close to that. They both gave perfect ID and good loud audio, and this was in a spot I had worked hard with my prior Explorers. I've also dug other silvers with my GT at spots that I gridded with my Explorers and wondered how in the world I could have missed them.

Why? Well, maybe it's specific to my soil but I believe the lower number of frequences on BBS machines (but still a nice span of numbers that will hit everything from gold to silver hard) compared to FBS machines and not as high of frequencies as the FBS machines (I don't see much point in frequencies above what the highest are on the GT...more than high enough to hit hard on gold and other low conductors)....all has something to do with it. Sorry for such a poorly constructed sentence. What I mean is that I feel the higher than needed frequencies on FBS machines to hit hard on gold do more harm than good. Perhaps they reflect off the minerals in my soil. I can say the GT runs more stable and is less finicky about sensitivity settings than my Explorers were.

The GT also gives me much more stabile ID at depth than my Explorers did and from what I've seen/used on the Etrac the GT is also much more stable in ID on a coin at depth than it too. What I don't like about the Etrac is how it compresses everything into the 12th line. Now you've got a scale of, what...0 to 50 or 0 to 60?....for the conductivity factor. In effect in a very real way you have less resolution on an Etrac than most machines on the market. The ferrous value is highly unstable on it making it pretty much useless on coins in trash or at depth. I feel I can split hairs on rings versus tabs like trash on the GT with it's much more expanded resolution in that respect (0 to 180) versus the conductivity factor on the Etrac. That alone will help your gold ring totals.

Then there is the audio. Didn't like it on my Explorers and I don't like it on the Etrac. It's much more processed on them. Not nearly as telling on targets as a good Whites like a QXT Pro in terms of length/traits. The only advantage was the multitones of the Explorer. The GT has the rich long drawn out detailed audio of a good Whites but with the extra info of multitones on a Minelab. This machine truely is the king of audio. That also means if you develop a good ear I feel you have a better chance of telling gold targets from trash on this machine than any other on the market that I've ever used or know of. If the sound is warm, round, smooth, it's going to be something good or at least round in shape. If it's harsh, tinny, hollow, bangy, jagged at the edges, etc....then it's more than likely an oddly shaped piece of trash.

Then there is the response time of the VDI display. On a GT it's tied very directly to the audio. What that means is you see what you hear, and you see that information much more instantly than it shows up on the Explorers or Etrac. There is a lag time where the audio can be saying one thing and the VDI is saying another. Not so on the Sovereign. You hear it, you see it....and it's much more stable IMO.

I've taken a lot of heat for this in the past but I'll say that in my view (others strongly disagree) the iron mask ON function of the Sovereign gives me better ability to find coins in trash than "Iron Mask" ever did on the Explorer. Have I dug coins in iron on the Explorer? Sure have, and some good ones....But in my experience and testing the GT does a better job of sounding off to the coin and ignoring the iron.

A friend owns an Etrac yet he still much prefers to use his 6000 Pro XL for ring hunting.

I've heard plenty people say (usually in private where they won't get their head cut off) that the GT is just as deep as the Etrac. One guy in this forum last year even noted that his Etrac wasn't giving stable signals at one location while his Sovereign did and as a result he made some great finds. I've heard something along those lines from others as well in the past...probably due to the ground matrix or something.

I've owned many of the machines on the market, watched or used others in the field or compared them head to head on stuff, and right now I can say I'm pretty happy using the Sovereign. About the only thing that interests me at the moment is perhaps a T2 SE or F75 LTD. Maybe an AT Pro, but I don't see myself selling off my Sovereign for any of those. If anything they'd be added to my line up for certain situations. When it comes to working worked out parks and such for old coins, hunting the beach or waiding the water for gold rings, nothing IMO compares to a GT. So long as you know this machine well and like using it the sky is the limit.

 

[Critterhunter]

By the way, the stock 10" Tornado is an excellent coil. MUCH better than the 10" Explorer coils in terms of seperation, pinpointing, and stability in my opinion. I feel the 10" Explorer coils were the worst coils I ever used on any machine I've ever owned. However, strap a 12x10 on the GT and it gets even better. Better seperation, stability, crisper tones, and deeper (it appears so far) at even the exact same sensitivity setting (I did tests on this but need to do more). So far my friend's Etrac has yet to find a deep coin or one in trash that the GT and the 12x10 couldn't easily ID. The stock 10" coil is fantastic and you'll dig some deep stuff on the GT, but I feel the 12x10 pushes things even more to the limits.

One more tidbit on BBS versus FBS....Sometimes more isn't always better. Three scoops of ice cream on a cone isn't better if it falls to the floor, so to speak. I have to wonder if FBS was more about marketing hype (more frequencies = better, right?) than any real advantage over BBS. Think about it, if Explorers and Etracs used the same BBS some buyers might have opted for the cheaper Sovereign or one of the many used older Sovereigns which for the most part go just as deep as a GT. I've got two words for BBS...SMOOOOOOTH & STABLE.

In the end, if you are a guy who likes to tweak settings and watch fancy LCD computer screens then the Etrac or Explorer is the way to go. In reality though you'd hardly change any settings on those machines once you found what you want. With the GT it takes far less tweaking to get it to "run all out", and with none of the worry while hunting in the back of your head thinking "Maybe I should tweak this or that?" Operator error is also far more at risk on those machines compared to a GT.

Based on your personality and wants and needs any one of these machines is a winner. I'm not knocking them because where are you going to go for top performance these days? Whites? Ha, they lost me as a customer when more bells and whistles became more important rather than actual performance. You just have to decide which Minelab is for you. The only real threat I see out there besides that is the T2 SE or F75 LTD. Fast recovery and good depth, at least in some soils. Maybe not mine.

 

[Critterhunter]

One more bit of pros/cons. With my GT I can chest mount it and waid waste deep water hunting. Some guys even throw it in a waterproof box. I like that diversity. That's why the AT Pro appeals to me...full sized LCD screen and a light weight machine that is as at home in the water as it is on land. Is it as deep as an Excal/Sovereign? Probably not in many soils, but you can't beat the price. And I have heard of guys getting silver with it thanks to it's recovery speed that they missed with Minelabs. But, recovery speed is over rated. Is the GT slow? Yep, but if you swing it slow and work between targets slow then recovery speed is a non-issue. You just can't swing it like you are launching a golf ball. Give the machine time to reset and recovery speed just doesn't matter. In fact, I feel when two targets become "one" in that they are touching each other the GT does a better job of sounding off to say a coin laying with a nail than a fast recovery machine does. Why? Because of whatever magic Iron Mask On is doing. It somehow isolated the iron signal, ignores it, and sounds off to the coin. Even with say a coin and a pulltab I find there is far less or even no averaging on the GT between the signals. On other machines they usually find a happy medium with a VDI number somewhere between the two. On the GT more often than not I still get a coin ID or a number only a few digits lower.

 

[mikezap]

Thanks alot guys, this is really great information. One thing I hate about the net is the amount of "disinformation" that is out there. I can tell from the posts here that these are honest opinions from real guys from their in the field experience. When you work a full time job, the time you spend in the field is precious, and you want to know that you are giving yourself the best chance to make good finds that you can. The old adage that if you don't walk over it, your not gonna find it is so true.... but if your machine doesn't give you some indication that something is there, your not gonna find it anyway. I have always been an iffy signal digger, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Where a good machine really shines, to me, is in the fringe detection zone. For my soil (normal auto +3 of about 18-22 on an etrac, 72 g.b. on the T2) that fringe usually is a quarter at about about 8.5 inches. I have seen fellow hunters find stuff at 9" or so...but never deeper than that (coin size anyway). From what I have been reading, it seems that the Sovereign will give me at least as good of a fringe signal as the Etrac, or my T2 , and that is probably good enough to give it a try. I have always liked the idea of hip mounting, so that's a plus. The only real negative I see is that I don't have a good pair of adjustable volume headphones. I am currently using some Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones (no volume control, but they have a long cord, are light, and sound great!). I guess I will just have to throw down another 100$ on headphones..and that will put me even closer to the price of a fbs machine...lol. I will keep checking this post, and this forum for more tips, but I think I have made up my mind to go ahead and work on getting a GT. Thanks for all the great information and help!

Mike

 

[JimmyCT]

Hey Mike,

I bought the sunray pro gold headphones with a built in limited switch for my Sovereign GT (so the blast from certain targets don't blow out my eardrums) I love them. You will certainly get some varied opinions on this as well. But for me and my hearing situation they are the perfect solution - they have volume control for both ears too. Best of luck in your hunting!

http://www.sunraydetector.com/sun_ray_pro__headphones.htm

 

[mesha]

Hi Mike
Save your $100 or it put towards a new coil. The GT is very basic but it does a volume control so your favorite head phones will work fine

Cheers Ron

 

[Rick(ND)]

Lot of good info from the guys and I will give you my info of a Sovereign user for the last 15 years plus used the all the different Explorer, the E-Trac and the T-2 and the F-75 both the reg and the LTD or SE.

Of all the Sovereigns I feel the XS, the XS2 and the GT work the best for me and got the better depth, the best one is the GT but can false on iron more and found by checking the signal from a different direction can tell you if it is iron more. The Sovereigns tones take a while to get used to and some don't spend the time to learn it and those that do really like them and do very well in many worked out area, I know I do. My Sovereign all have had the S-1 probes and the 180 meters plus my Timberwolf headphones because of my hearing as they are the loudest for us with the real bad hearing and find i can hear those real deep signals I had missed before. I also run the higher manual sensitivity and go slower then some as going slow to hear the weak small signals and then doing the sovereign wiggle will bring the tones up nice. going fast or lower sensitivity will miss those real deep ones, but will get most in the 6 or so range, some of mine have been 12 -14 inches deep, but something you learn from experience. I have a couple up here that have Explorers and do real good with them, but when hunting beaches or rivers for the gold jewelry they use a Sovereign because they sound so nice on gold.
Now on the E-Trac it is the best detector and like some say it loves good coins in with iron as many of coins we find are in the same hole as nails or beside a nail. The auto sensitivity is great and something I never would run on a Explorer plus I can run conductivity tones on the E-Trac, but on a Explorer I had to run manual sensitivity and ferrous tones to get any depth in trashy areas and not dig nail after nail, but some have no problem and can tell the difference, but like you I like the iffy signals and feel this make a difference of getting some of the good finds.
The T-2 did OK for me, but those with the Explorers got many good coins the T-2 didn't get a signal on, yet I did dig a walking lib half that was over 12 inches deep in trash they said was iron, so it has its good points too. The F-75 kicked butt in a construction site that had been worked over heavily by many detectors including the Explorers as within 15 feet I got a 1893 fish scale, a 1873 IH penny 3 or 4 Wheaties and a nice old diamond ring they had missed, but in park hunting they could do better then me. I tried the F-75 LTD and really like it, but money got real tight and decide it could go if I wanted to keep my GT and my E-Trac.
If i am going to do as person yard or a well taken care of yard and only want to dig the good coins and leave the trash the GT is the one I will take, now if it is a well worked park I know has a lot of iron than the E-Trac is what I will use. I will also use a E-Trac if I want to cover a area faster and want the depth for older coins as I can go a little faster with the E-Trac to get the same depth I can going super slow with the GT.
If not sure you want to spend the money for a GT a XS or a XS2 will do great for you and will work as good as the GT until you get to know the GT well than it can do better in my opinion. One other thing I will mention is the rechargeable battery pack for the XS2 and the XS2a are no longer being made so you can do a conversion and a rechargeable 2600Mha for the XS will work and still being made by one of the battery company as the Goldstriker uses the same pack.
I don't get out too much anymore because of heath issues, but got a AT Pro and used it a few times and it is good, but nothing like the Sovereigns or E-Tracs, but then it is not suppose to be.

 

[Critterhunter]

You asked about ground balancing the Sovereign. There is no ground balance in discriminate mode. Like the FBS machines, the Sovereign uses digital filtering to take a picture of the ground and then ignore it. This is why these FBS and BBS machines will get better depth in various grounds than any other machine on the market. Conventional VLF detectors use a different way to compensate for the ground by balancing or biasing the signal. For that reason a target needs to break through that signal in order to sound off. That's also why Minelabs ID better at depth. All Metal mode on the GT has fixed or tracking modes like conventional ground balancing on other machines. Use Track and sweep around or just pump the coil until the threshold remains stable as you approach the ground and vise versa, then throw it into Fixed for best All Metal Depth. The only time you'd want to use Track all the time is if the soil changes a lot such as disturbed ground or going from wet to dry and such.

In reality all machines on the market have pros and cons to them. Some are a little better at this while others are better at that. The trick is finding which machine is better at the things you want to do. I'm an old coin hunter so I want max depth and a stable ID. I also like to pull coins out of iron so I want that ability. The GT shines at both. Learn this machine well and you will out match ANY machine on the market finding coins at worked out parks. Now, if the Etrac or Explorer acts the way your personality wants it to relate to you then they'll do better for you. The trick is finding the machine you can best understand and relate to when pushing for the fringe depths or in trash. An Explorer or Etrac user who gets along well with and understands his machine will out do a Sovereign owner who hasn't learned and liked what his machine is telling him. The same can be said the other way around. Somebody who really knows, understands, and likes (or can relate to) a Sovereign will out do an Etrac or Explorer user who is not pushing his machine's limits. The difference between them in depth is non-existant IMO. It all depends on who is using which machine.

My friend with an Etrac has made a good many silver finds this year so far. He understands the machine and has enough hours on it to do well. On the other hand, I have yet to check a target he has found with my GT and not be able to easily hear and see the target in trash or deep. I see no difference.

Then there is hunting gold rings. The Sovereign IMO gives you the best chance at telling a gold coin is under the coil thanks to it's excellent audio. It's expanded resolution in the low and mid range of the ID scale also makes it able to split hairs on rings versus tabs and other junk a lot more easier. Like I said, my friend prefers his 6000 Pro XL for gold ring hunting over his Etrac. The audio and limited conductivity scale on the Etrac do not offer as much information about targets, or chances of trash versus treasure in that respect.

One thing about hip mounting the GT...I tried that and it was still not comfortable due to the unballanced weight of the shaft then. There is no leverage to take the weight off the coil end of the shaft so I found it made me tired. If you want to lighten up the machine I'd do what I and others have done. Use a lighter weight aluminum for the upper shaft and then use a Whites tall man carbon fiber rod for the lower shaft ($20). Use a aluminum bike end bar for the grip and put a nice soft rubber grip cover on that. Get rid of the coil cover and use spray on bed liner to protect the coil. You'll drop a lot of weight that way. To further lighten it up I'm running a 3 cell lipo battery in mine. I can't remember off hand but I think I dropped about a pound and a half off it's weight. Do a search for lightweight or light weight in this forum and you'll find threads on all this. Use Rick or Rich's trick to mount the meter on top of the grip with a copper pipe hanger from Home Depot.

What it all comes down to is what kind of personality you have. If you are sick of being a tech head with phones, car dash boards, and everything else in life then the GT will give you the power without the headache of learning and programming a bunch of features. I'm not opposed to technology but I've had a belly full of it. I want my cell phone to ring when called and make calls when I dial the numbers. I don't need Text, emails, games, or all that other garbage that just clogs the brain cells with useless information these days. I don't want my car telling me when my tires are low or Emailing me (some do now!) a computer report of how it's running. All that stuff is just more things to get in the way when trying to live life IMO. When I go hunting I want raw power and depth and I don't so much care about how many ways I can make the machine bark or act when it hits a target. Keep playing with that stuff and you never really get to know the machine set up on particular way.