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Sovereign vs gold bug pro for iron infested sites?

M

machineman

Member
I have a Sovereign elite and a Gold bug pro. I only have large coils of the Sov because I got it to use at the beach. I have the 5" and 5"x10" coils for the GBP. My question is if I get a small coil for the Sov like the S-5 will it out perform the GBP in really bad iron? I dont want to wast my money on a new coil if it wont give me a distinct advantage. I have a really bad iron site that I have been working and am after anythine that may help. thanks
 
I have never used a Sovereign so cannot really comment on that detector,but i do own a use a T2 which is similar to the Goldbug,when using the 5'' coil it is in my opinion about as good a combination for iron infested sites as you will get.If you get the small 5;; coil for the sovereign i see that as duplicating what you have all ready.

The small 5'' coil is not only the best coil for the job but its also pretty deep as well.

My honest opinion is i dont think you will gain anything by buying another small coil,use what you have just take it slowly and this will allow it time to work out the good from the bad targets.
 
From what I have read one loses some depth on the Sovereign when using the 5 inch coil. I only use it in places like under bleachers at the ball fields etc where I only expect to find shallow targets and want to cut down on the interference of the metal bleachers. The Sovereign nulls on iron and one can miss good targets while the machine is nulled. I would give the Gold Bug an opportunity to do its stuff before purchasing another coil.
 
I have the Sovereign GT and and recently sold my GBP and replaced it with the Fisher F19. The F19 is basically an GBP with added features. I hunt Ghost town sites that are littered with iron of all sizes and the F19 is now my go to detector for those sites. My GT is reserved for hunting saltwater wet sand. The F19 is also my Dry Sand detector replacing the GBP. IMHO the Sovereign with a small coil can't compare with the GBP in iron infested sites. Just last week I sold my White's IDX Pro that was modified by Mr. Bill. It had been my number one choice for hunting ghost towns until I bought the GBP. For my type of hunting, I like the way the GBP (F19) works in the iron. I think the GBP discrimination is a little quieter in the iron and being able to set the Tone Break anywhere you want, really helps to bring the good targets to the surface.
 
Don't write the sov off in iron infested sites like a lot do,they actually work well in iron infested sites with the right coil.Yes they do null over iron but will still pick up a good signal while in a state of null.Most think that while the threshold is nulled the sov won't register another signal until the threshold returns.....this is not the case.I used the joey coil on mine on ancient iron infested sites over here in the uk and i've had great success with it.......it will pick out good targets from amongst the iron.
 
There can be a lot of confusion about what features make a detector work, or work better, than the competition. Some comment on using a slower sweep speed, and the Sovereign's are a slow-sweep detector .... but I've owned a few, and used the dinky coil [size=small](I prefer smaller-size coils anyway)[/size] in iron nail infested sites with poor success.

Then there are the other factors that are often discussed such as a detector having a 'quick-response' as well as 'fast recovery,' and that can also enter into the consideration of a detector choice. I have used many two-filter detectors that feature a 'quick-response/fast-recovery' circuitry, such as some newer Bounty Hunters, the Fisher F-75, F-5, Gold Bug Pro and F-19, Teknetics Delta, Gamma, Omega, T2, Euro-Tek Pro and G2.

All of these can respond quickly to a desired target, as long as there isn't a sufficient presence of closely-spaced iron nails or other rejected trash. Of them all, the only one that has worked the best, in a tough iron nail comparison test, is the Fisher F19. It worked better than the G2 I had or my friend's Gold Bug Pro, with all of them using the 5" DD coil or 5X10 DD coil. I use my Nail Board Performance Test to evaluate all detectors, and none of these, with a 5" or 5X10 DD coil, can match the performance I get on an Indian Head 1¢ positioned on the Nail Board, surrounded by the four nails the way some of my preferred detectors can.

Also 'quick-response/fast-recovery' are my Tesoro Bandido II µMAX I use with a 5¾" or 7" Concentric coil, my White's Classic ID that has either a 4½" or 6½" Concentric coil mounted, or my White's MX5 and MXT All-Pro which I also use a 6½" Concentric coil on when hunting dense iron littered sites. Places like logging and mining camps, old abandoned town sites, homesteads, railroad and stage stops and sidings, and many other old-use sites where there's likely to be an abundance of iron debris. All of these models will produce 8-out-of-8 hits on my NBPT, whereas the only one of the above mentioned models that comes close is the new F-19.

I would not waste my time shopping for a 5" coil for the Sovereign. Instead, if you are comfortable with your GB Pro and two coils, use them. Otherwise, I'd suggest shopping for a different detector in order to get improved performance in any dense iron nail site. Since you have the coils now, you might want to consider the Fisher F19. I know it out-hunted the G2 and GB Pro it was pitted against when all of them used the same Sensitivity setting and the Discrimination was set to just barely reject the iron nails.

A local guy bought one brand new, but didn't like the com finish and it didn't have multi-tone like the XLT he had, so he's selling it, unused, for $700, so I am sure you could shop for a clean used or lightly used F19 and mount that 5" DD to it and have improved iron nail performance over what you're using now.

Monte
 
Nail board tests are innacurate to say the least.Targets next to iron behave quite differently when they are actually situated in the ground and very few good targets are found in the same plane as iron targets like they are on a nailboard.The only way to test a detector's ability to pick good targets from bad is testing them on targets that are buried.When testing this way results can be quite surprising between detectors.
 
Well stated Neil. I have experienced this phenomenon with the sovereign too. Amazing machine with the slimline Tornado 800 (actual 7 1/4") coil.

Nauti Neil said:
Don't write the sov off in iron infested sites like a lot do,they actually work well in iron infested sites with the right coil.Yes they do null over iron but will still pick up a good signal while in a state of null.Most think that while the threshold is nulled the sov won't register another signal until the threshold returns.....this is not the case.I used the joey coil on mine on ancient iron infested sites over here in the uk and i've had great success with it.......it will pick out good targets from amongst the iron.
Click to expand...
 
Sounds like we have a consensus. Haha. I will probably get the small coil eventually anyway, and the site isnt going anywhere. I may have to try that f19. Im thinking of finding an old TR detector to try. Sounds like Compass made some good ones. Thanks.
 
The Nail Board Performance Test came about when I encountered an Indian Head 1¢ laying on top of the ground surrounded by four different sized nails. This was on memorial Day Weekend in '94 and I have used that actual in-the-field scenario to do some very valid tests of detector/coil performance. This was at the ghost town of Frisco, Utah on the old "school hill" which used to be densely littered with iron nails.

If you have a 'proper size' Nail Board and use 'proper sized' nails, then it is easy to see how your detectors and coils can pass-the-test. You simply lay the Nail Board on the ground. Sweep across the nails with the search coil about 3" above them, following the four directional arrows. Use slow, methodical sweeps to go completely across the nails from left-to-right then from right-to-left.

While doing this, carefully increase the Discrimination level just to the point where the iron nails are just barely rejected. Once you have Discriminated the nails from all directions of sweep, place an Indian Head or modern Zinc cent in the #1 circle and re-sweep the Nail Board from each of the four directions. Sweeping from both the left side and right side from four directions will give you a possible '8' hits on the coin amongst the nails.

You can go to ahrps.org and click on Tips & Techniques, then click on the Nail Board Performance Test.

If you are in the Portland, Oregon metro area on Saturday, November 8th, you're welcome to attend our monthly Detector Owner Rendezvous meeting. It will be a short meeting and then we will be doing a day-long metal detecting seminar. The cost is only $10 for non-members. I will have Nail Board Performance Test 'kits' at the meeting for sale. They are made to exact placement specifications as the original find and printed by a sign maker on vinyl on corrugated plastic sign board for a long and durable lifetime of use.

You are also welcome to shoot me an e-mail if you're not close and want more information about the Nail Board Performance Test.

Monte
 
Don't waste your time with them......they are a complete waste of time that show you nothing in REAL terms.If you want to see how good your detector works on targets next to iron you have to bury them like they are as if you were detecting a field.Some of the fastest responding and impressive nail board test detectors are mediocre when faced with real life in ground targets.
Some detectors that do badly in this type of test will pull targets that are close to iron when they are buried in the ground....its not as simple as a nail board test would have you think.
 
I have the Teknetics Omega, Garrett At Pro, Whites V3i, and the are Excellent Detectors, but the other machine I have Out Does these detectors in real nail infested sites and that's the Eurotek Pro with the 11" DD Coil, wish I had the 5" DD coil also. It's not as deep as the other machines I have, but gets the Coins out of the Highly Infested Nail Sites better. For $299.00 you can't beat it, but would'nt compete with the others for really deep coin in half way clean soil. This is just my opion.
 
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