Sovereign Gt vs Explorer XS

[travis1460]

Hey guys,

It has been a while since I have posted anything but I just was wondering some opinions. I have owned a sovereign xs-2a pro as well as and expolorer xs, garrett gtax550, bounty hunter quick draw II, Whites xlt, and a whites classic ID. I was very impressed that the explorer beat out all of these easily except the sovereign xs-2a pro was very comparable seeing as how its hot on nickels and the Explorer hot on silver dimes. I was in awe the other day when detecting with my buddy and his Sovereign Gt that he just purchased. I had a very choppy signal with the explorer and I had it in iron mask -6, ferrous tones, tone 1, sens semi auto 21, and I could only get a choppy signal. However having the knowlege of the sovereign I decided to test the gt. My buddy had it accepting a zinc, notching out pulltabs, and accepting nickels. I ran it over the spot and had a very clean repeatable high tone. I decided to dig and low and behold a 1930 wheatie? Is this possible that the gt could be a better machine than the outdated explorer I have? Anyhow I love the explorer and it has shown me nothing but pleasure. Anyone have any input?

 

[Rick(ND)]

I have both the GT and used all the Explorers too and have always like the tones of the Sovereigns as they are easier to hear for me. Now some of the reason I feel you didn't get as good of signal with the Explorer is if there was any trash beside this penny with the iron mask at a -6 you probably were nulling out the signal and you should have been running in -10 or more. Another reason is if it was at all trashy running in semi auto may have dropped the sensitivity lower then you may want it. I have seen semi auto run in 26 and it was a bit trashy and would not see a dime on top of the ground unless the coil touched it. Dropped it to 20 manual and it had no problem see it it at 6 inches.
Now I run my Explorers at 20-26 manual and the iron mask at a -14 to -16 running ferrous tones and normal audio, but I have a SE now and will be running it in pitch hold so I can hear the targets better.

Rick

 

[travis1460]

I just wanted to double check the signal with the sov and it was in semi auto sensitivity also, and as far as trash goes there was no trash in the areaof the signal. It was just very broken up with the explorer even in all metal mode, however the sov rang out loud and clear. The penny was recovered around 8" Do explorers tend to be more suceptable to the semi auto mode of not going as deep? Just curious. Thanks

 

[swingman]

I've used a Sovereign XS-2 for ~ 6 years, and guys in the club are impressed with the deep silver it finds (15" WOT coil). I, too like the Sov. sounds much better than the 'calliope' sounds of the Explorers.
Much as with the new SE I have, I almost never use the 'auto-sens.' mode. I'm never sure what it's actually doing - seems TOO quiet mostly. I'd rather have control, bumping up the sens. to just under where it gets noisy. Perhaps that's part of the problem you encountered?

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

I NEVER use Semi-Auto on my SE nor did I use it on my Explorer II or Sovereign Elite when I had one. On the Sovereign I would usually be running like 11 oclock, maybe 10 oclock depending on the coil. With the Explorer you would probably do FAR better at manual 18 to 20 than Semi-auto 21. Of course if the ground is clean then you could do better at maybe 24 manual or higher, but I can pull a 10" nickel in my test garden at 18. Also, was the Sovereign ON when you were testing? Had you run Noise Cancel on the Explorer? That could make a BIG difference too.

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Basically I feel and even Minelab U.S.A. will tell you in certain types of ground in sem-auto it will overcompensate and may have been the problem..A good rule of thumb run it as high as you can in manual and when it becomes erratic back off a number or two for Max. depth..
Although the Sov. is a piece of cake to setup and many prefer the tones to the flute like Explorer my vote goes to the Explorer for better depth in most situations...Many experienced operators do well with both so I guess its your call as both are excellent units..As far as an outdated Explorer I feel in experienced hands the original XS is as good as any and many are still being used and producing quite well....and yes the same goes for older model sov's...

 

[travis1460]

n/t

 

[Ronin]

Travis;
Sometimes the explorer will become unstable and needs to have a "cold boot" done by taking the battery pack out in the middle of the initial boot sequence when it is first turned on.
you will need to reprogram your preferences.


Rick (TN)