Sovereign GT versus E-trac for prospecting

[johnno 481]

I live and prospect in Western Australia and wish to purchase a machine which is the most capable of discriminating rusted iron and yet able to handle mineralisation. I use a GPX4500 but some areas are unworkable with a Pi detector due to their lack of adequate discriminating capacity and the amount of old rusted tins from the "old timers". I have narrowed my decision down to the Sovereign GT or the E-trac but as I have no experience with either of these I would really appreciate some advice from those who have used both. I am unlikely to use it for coins etc. in parks or beaches but I would really like to be able to detect iron covered areas in the goldfields and hear only non ferrous targets. I don't even mind digging the bullets. Minelab tell me both of these detectors are not all that good at finding tiny nuggets (which doesn't trouble me) and can handle mineralisation but the E-trac needs to be waived slowly. Can you please help me spend my money wisely, the price of either machine is no problem but I don't want to spend it on the wrong one. Many thanks in anticipation.
Johnno

 

[synthnut]

Johnno,

http://www.minelab.com/usa/consumer/knowledge-base/product-manuals

Check out the manuals on both machines , and take a look at what each one offers ...... If I had to choose between these 2 machines , I would go with the E Trac without a doubt ..... There are SO MANY different ways to set the E Trac up to discriminate iron it's not funny ....You can even run in Ferrous 2 Tone and still hear all the iron in a low tone , and then hear your good targets in High Tone .....This way you don't have to wait for the machine to recover from a null in the threshold ..... If you want to discriminate , you don't have to notch out a WIDE area to discriminate if you choose not to ....The E Trac has a matrix system that you can notch each tiny area , or you can take out LARGE area's of discrimination .....You make the choice of what you want gone , AND you can tailor your tones to the way you hunt !!.... You can also tune your threshold pitch to what you want , and that , at the same time, willl change your target tones to suit the threshold , so basically you can raise or lower the tones of your targets to your style of hearing ......The list goes on .....You are better off checking out the manuals and comparing ......The iron discrimination in the E Trac is far superior to that of the Sovereign .....It goes wider, and is more adjustable , and is better all around ..... i've had a few Soveriegns , and have had only one E Trac .....I still own the E Trac , but sold the Sovereigns if that tells you anything .....The Soveregn is not a bad machine at all ....I still really like the Sovereign , but I have to give the nod to the E Trac for the advancement in technology .......Good Luck and Welcome to the forum ... Sincerely, Jim

 

[Barry NY]

have you looked into the X-Terra 705 outfitted with a DD 18.75kHz coil?
this may be exactly the machine you need with a balance of iron disc and sensitivity to gold.
Barry

 

[Critterhunter]

I'd shy away from the Etrac or the Sovereign for prospecting. A much better machine for prospecting would be the Whites MXT, and it can still be used for rings and coins (although it won't get them as deep as a Minelab). FBS and BBS machines aren't great for tiny gold found prospecting.

 

[johnno 481]

Hi Jim, Barry and "Critter Hunter". Many thanks for taking the time to reply. Very much appreciated. I will post the results some time in the future when it has cooled down enough for me to get back out there.
Johnno from down under.

 

[Critterhunter]

I can see your delima. You need a machine with discrimination for iron infested sites, yet you also need a machine that can handle the high mineralization. One would think that a BBS or FBS machine might be the perfect choice in terms of the minerals, but Sovereigns/Etracs/Explorers do not do very well on very small pieces of gold. If you are looking for larger nuggets then I'd say yes, because there ain't another brand that will detect them as deep and still handle the ground minerals. Gold rings, for instance...it get's no deeper than a Minelab if you are after those. If your target nugget size is leaning towards the very small size (much smaller than a ring), then I'd have to say I'd look into a machine that is meant to find gold that small. Check into the MXT. I hear it's prospecting mode is very good for a "general" coin shooter type machine, but again I suspect it would handle the ground minerals nearly as well. I'd ask in the Whites forum the same questions you asked here.

 

[jbow]

I don't know... if I were thinking of looking for gold in iron and minerals I would take a look at the G2 possibly the Gold Bug II, but I don't know how the GB II hunts in iron... the G2 is said to work very well in iron and it runs (IIRC) at 19khz so it should do the trick nicely and you can probably get a deal on a package with both an 11" DD and a 5" DD.

The Garrett Scorpion may do the trick too, but i'd ask on the Scorpion forum about your particular needs. From what I hear it is one of the only machines currently available that you can switch into a true T/R progressive disc, so it should ignore iron well... and find gold.

In the recent "gold rush" in Africa the Teknetics T2 somehow became to "go to" machine... but i'd still look hard at the G2 if it were me and I were looking to hunt gold in iron.

Julien

 

[Critterhunter]

Sorry, meant to say I suspect the MXT WON'T handle the ground minerals nearly as well as a Minelab.