angellionel
Elite Member
I initially purchased the Sovereign GT for wet sand detecting at the beach and the occasional land detecting in trashy areas. Based on what I had read about the unit, I had no doubt that it would be a top performer, but nothing can convince a person more than actually using the machine himself.
One thing is for sure ? the Sovereign GT and the DFX are two very different animals, and they each require a slightly different approach in their use.
I love the DFX?s ability to quickly ?sniff? out silver or high conductive targets from open areas, or that are within the first seven inches of soil. The ToneID setting quickly isolates those desirable signals, making the machine a killer ?cherry picker.? Its fast recovery setting is ideal for such situations, but it does face a challenge when the site is heavily strewn with trash and iron. I had become spoiled with the DFX, and was ignoring many low VDI targets, having developed a bias for the higher tones, and I needed to change this fast!
With the Sovereign GT I had to slow down substantially, since, unlike the DFX, a fast coil sweep is counterproductive. Still, this has proven ideal for the sites I?ve been detecting recently. There is still a lot of tall grass and weeds in many areas, as well small trees, which impede the use of a fast sweep, and getting in between them while still getting maximum depth is crucial! I?ve been pulling coins with the GT from these otherwise hard to detect areas.
Another thing I like about the GT is that I don?t really have to worry about manually ground balancing it. I simply turn on the machine, make a few sweeps across the ground, and the machine processes and ignores the mineralized soil. It also has a setting to set the balance to a fixed position, rather than to continually ground track, which does prove to be ideal at sites where the mineralization does not change much from area to area. According to Minelab, this can increase the machine?s ability to go deeper. It?s the setting I?ve been testing in my recent hunts.
I am impressed with the machine?s ability to pick out good targets that are in very close proximity to iron or other trash. The colonial coin I picked up this Monday is an example of this. I have worked that very same site many times before with the DFX, but I had missed that coin because its signal was getting masked out by the iron targets on each side of it. With the GT, I received the null of the iron as I slowly passed the coil over it, but then in between I heard the unmistakable tone of a non-ferrous target. By limiting the coil sweep to an inch each way over the target, the tone became even more pronounced. I will mention here too that the tones in the GT are great! The tone on this target was not a crackle or growl, but rather a nice low but solid and repeatable tone. Impressive for finding a coin that was between nine and ten inches deep!
I did notice that, like the Excalibur, the machine did not air-test well. In fact, it was very poor at picking up a coin or gold ring just several inches from the ground. It seems that this runs across all the Sovereign versions, having something to do with its BBS technology, which really comes alive on targets buried in the ground or in sand.
I?m getting back to digging all non-ferrous targets, which improves my chances for finding gold rings. I have taken a liking to this machine, and will be using it often at sites where I may not be able to use the DFX as effectively as I would like. The machine may not be for everyone, since I?ve read that some do not like its tonal range. I for one, however, find it to be music to my ears.
Angel
One thing is for sure ? the Sovereign GT and the DFX are two very different animals, and they each require a slightly different approach in their use.
I love the DFX?s ability to quickly ?sniff? out silver or high conductive targets from open areas, or that are within the first seven inches of soil. The ToneID setting quickly isolates those desirable signals, making the machine a killer ?cherry picker.? Its fast recovery setting is ideal for such situations, but it does face a challenge when the site is heavily strewn with trash and iron. I had become spoiled with the DFX, and was ignoring many low VDI targets, having developed a bias for the higher tones, and I needed to change this fast!
With the Sovereign GT I had to slow down substantially, since, unlike the DFX, a fast coil sweep is counterproductive. Still, this has proven ideal for the sites I?ve been detecting recently. There is still a lot of tall grass and weeds in many areas, as well small trees, which impede the use of a fast sweep, and getting in between them while still getting maximum depth is crucial! I?ve been pulling coins with the GT from these otherwise hard to detect areas.
Another thing I like about the GT is that I don?t really have to worry about manually ground balancing it. I simply turn on the machine, make a few sweeps across the ground, and the machine processes and ignores the mineralized soil. It also has a setting to set the balance to a fixed position, rather than to continually ground track, which does prove to be ideal at sites where the mineralization does not change much from area to area. According to Minelab, this can increase the machine?s ability to go deeper. It?s the setting I?ve been testing in my recent hunts.
I am impressed with the machine?s ability to pick out good targets that are in very close proximity to iron or other trash. The colonial coin I picked up this Monday is an example of this. I have worked that very same site many times before with the DFX, but I had missed that coin because its signal was getting masked out by the iron targets on each side of it. With the GT, I received the null of the iron as I slowly passed the coil over it, but then in between I heard the unmistakable tone of a non-ferrous target. By limiting the coil sweep to an inch each way over the target, the tone became even more pronounced. I will mention here too that the tones in the GT are great! The tone on this target was not a crackle or growl, but rather a nice low but solid and repeatable tone. Impressive for finding a coin that was between nine and ten inches deep!
I did notice that, like the Excalibur, the machine did not air-test well. In fact, it was very poor at picking up a coin or gold ring just several inches from the ground. It seems that this runs across all the Sovereign versions, having something to do with its BBS technology, which really comes alive on targets buried in the ground or in sand.
I?m getting back to digging all non-ferrous targets, which improves my chances for finding gold rings. I have taken a liking to this machine, and will be using it often at sites where I may not be able to use the DFX as effectively as I would like. The machine may not be for everyone, since I?ve read that some do not like its tonal range. I for one, however, find it to be music to my ears.
Angel
