The Sov on land....

[Ray Hogan]

See a lot of praise for the Sovereign at the beach. Who uses it as their primary "land" detector and why? Thanks, Ray.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Ray,its user friendly and gives confidence once learned,ton of accessories,gives the hunter excellent ID at a great depth.Still the best bang for the buck performance wise.To make this unit a top performer though requires a straight rod asm,Sunray 180 meter,Sunray probe,one small and large coil and patients.HH Ron

 

[plugger]

I agree with Ron, the Sov is my favorite detector anywhere! I have all the goodies for hunting grassy parks and that's where I always test my new stuff. I always use my 180 meter and either the Uni-Probe or my Sun Ray probe and usually my 8" coil. My knees just don't like digging 100 targets where I have to cut a plug, use a drop cloth and end up with mostly coins for all my effort. Thank God there's nothing wrong with my back so I can dig all day long at the beach, or until my knees give up. The Sov talks to us and helps us identify the target better than any other detector I have used and with the meter to confirm what we think we hear, our odds of digging trash are a lot less then most others. All of this is my own personal opinion, of course. If I could only have one detector, it would be my Sov GT.

 

[tony (Orlando FL)]

Hi Ray,

I have no doubt that my Sov is among the best out there on the beaches, yet, I just dont have the confidence or proof with my Elite on land. I have been using the sov since seemingly forever. I know what to listen for, yet I never detect anything to speak off in my usual sites. My hunch is that my soil is lacking in minerals or something the Sov needs to really get down deep.

I have the CoinSearch coil, 180 meter etc etc .

I truly envy the folks that do well with their Sov inland.

Tony

 

[chuck ky]

never used the sovereign on the beach but it got lots of silver and indian heads that i missed with the white's 6000di and the cz-5. finding a few that the soverign missed with the explorer xs now.

 

[JASONSPAZ1]

The Sovereign is a superb land machine. Get it out of your head that it is not. search for my previous posts in this forum and you can see some of the great land finds I and other sovereign users have found. The only thing that would make me get rid of my sovereign is a new sovereign model

Jason

 

[JASONSPAZ1]

Well I thought that my old posts where archived and could be seen. I feel silly telling you to search for my old posts of sovereign finds, and discovering that they are gone? Anyway, flying eagle, indians, large cents, and deep seated dimes have all benn found with my GT. You will just have to take my word for it. And yes it is a great beach machine as well as a great land machine. Take care and good luck with you sovereign


Jason

 

[rufus3898]

I have a sov gt that's being mailed to me now that I will be using as a land unit only. What type of depth would I expect to see using a s-8 coil in mild soil on silver and copper coins? What depth would give a solid signal and what depth would be at the fringe but still give a readable signal? I am really excited to give this unit a try! Thanks all.

 

[Rick(ND)]

I use mine only for inland hunting and have the 180 meter and the Sun Ray probe on mine. The reason I use mine is I cant find a better detector for coin hunting many of the trashy old parks that i can dont have to dig so much trash and yet get some very deep coins. I have a E-Trac too which is a great detector, but it seems like I get more trash than coins, but still better than my Explorer was. The secret to the Sovereign is learn it well and go slow or you will not see those real deep targets some of us do see. It takes patience too as it is not a beep and dig detector, but one that gives you more info with the tones and the meter reading and by going slow you can hear many good target close to trash others will null out over or average the signal and show a trash item.
Many the first few time out will hate it as it is differnt with all the tones and nulling, but the more you use it the better you will get with it.
I like using my E-Trac and my F-75 when I had it plus a few other ones, but for all around coin hunting and the best ID for me the Sovereign GT did the best for good target versas bad targets so this is the detector I always use for well looking lawns so i can keep it neat looking.

 

[plugger]

Depending on soil conditions (moisture, mineralization, etc) you should get be able to get a dime at 8" or more if the conditions are just right. At least that has been my experience here in So. California. You have to keep the coil to the ground and go slow and I seem to do better when the ground is wet from watering (it doesn't rain much here).

 

[cdsmith46]

I think that the reason that you hear so much about the Sov on beach is the fact that it one of the truly great machines for beach hunting, when so few machines are- it is truly multi-purpose. But let me add to the land side of the discussion. I found more with sovereigns than I did with Fisher 1266, Bounty Hunters, Garrets, or Tesoro's combined. The sov is simply a classic design that does more right out of the box, with simplicity, than most people can even imagine. The 180 meter is a big help, and the old coinsearch coil is a killer, but I have some advise: Forget most of whatever you learned before from other machines, don't use the meter for awhile, and just go slow and listen to the machine. It talks, if you are willing to listen to it. Have someone cover 4 or 5 objects with squares of newspaper (So that you have no clue what or where they are) and hunt it. Learn the sounds; they are everything. Then, and only then, should you turn to the meter for what it can add. There is very little that you can add to make the Sovereign better, except maybe the possibility of FBS over BBS. I would love to try an FBS sov...Chuck Smith
St. Francisville, LA, down the road from Port Hudson Battlefield.

 

[jbow]

The SovGT was my first detector and I have kept it. I have been through a lot of other detectors but I still use the GT. I like the E-TRAC and I like the new Spectra V3, I had and liked an F75, I still have and like the T2 and Tejon but... I have not found a a more stable machine, (except for maybe the Tejon). The GT will not give a good signal on cut square nails, it likes canslaw but you can usually ignore most of it. It has the best audio of any machine i've used. It loves round stuff and it is deep. It is quiet and is surprisingly well balanced and easy to use on turf of any kind. I chestmount it on the beach or in the woods but I can slide it on turf easily. I use the 180 meter. I had a SR probe on it but took it off because I wasn't getting the performance out of it that I get from the pocket uniprobe.

Bottom line, it is quiet in iron, ignores small iron, hits hard on anything round, and has the best audio TID ability ever. The ET an the V3 have a better visual TID but the audio is better on the GT and with the 180 meter the number will lock on if the target is shallow. If the target is deep it will give the proper tone and the number will try to climb... you can tell.

I am interested in trying the new Omega 8000 because I hear that it sets the new standard, (with the 11" coil), for stability in a detector. A quiet and stable T2 type machine would be a force to be reckoned with. The stability and quietness of the SovereignGT is one of it's biggest strengths, along with its depth and ID ability.

With the Gt you can dig a lot of trash if you think too much about iffy, one way signals, but once you learn to just dig good repeatable signals and only dig the iffys that are deep... you wont dig as much trash and you'll dig some treasures that others miss.

I will never sell my GT.

Julien

 

[Ray Hogan]

n/t

 

[CSA GHOST]

I've been using the Sovereign since they appeared in the US, and I still think they are in the very top of choices for land detectors. They are simple, yet extremely effective. Those that have mastered them tend to agree. One problem that remains; they are too heavy. I chest mount mine and use a straight shaft. For some time I have sold our own set up and it allows me to detect all day without feeling like my arm is going to fall off. The Sov holds the record for the deepest bullets I've ever dug, works on every saltwater beach I've hunted from the east coast to Mexico, and pulls coins, relics and jewelry out of massive iron trash like nothing else. It is hard to beat if you learn to use it.
Good hunting,
David

 

[Rick(ND)]

n/t

 

[babulin2002]

i use the sov primarily on land and i love it
a few days ago i went to the beach for the first time and was pleased with it there as well, although i didn't find anything nice.
hh