1st Accessory for Sovereign?

[BlackX]

I'm currently waffling between a Sun Ray 12.5" coil (or perhaps a WOT) or an S-1 probe. Kind of leaning toward the S-1 at this point since I've only been to the beach once and, while the 8"(?) standard BBS coil doesn't cover much ground, I'm not sure how much help the 12.5" coil would be during normal land searches. Any thoughts on this decision? (I already built a meter, so I'm good for that (though I may need to shield the wires).)

Suggestions for where to purchase online would be great too--been watching eBay ever since I picked up this Sovereign (XS-2) and haven't seen either of those coils or the probe up for sale. Everyone must be keeping theirs. Seen enough warnings on Kellyco but not any particular recommendations for others that I can remember.

Thanks,
_Rich_

 

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[Sandman]

Since you aren't going to the beach much, the S-1 is the clear choice. Don't sell the eight inch coil short, being a DD coil it covers about seven inches wide at it's deepest instead of 2 inches like other coils. This is one of the ways that Minelabs clean up.

As for were to buy, try Tony at http://www.tcmetaldetectors.com/

HH,
Sandman

 

[W6PEA]

I would like to know what you think of the Minelab Sovereign

 

[BlackX]

I would like to know what you think of the Minelab Sovereign

I've only been detecting since last fall when I picked up a Tesoro Sidewinder uMax--although, until the ground froze solid, I was detecting at least 20 hours a week--and I've only recently picked up the Sov on eBay. Thoughts on it so far off the top of my head:

Pros:
- Tone ID! I love the way it seems to "sing" over good targets. I'd not had tone ID before and that in and of itself is a huge improvement.
- A meter! I built a homemade one from a digital multimeter. If you get a Sov, I'd definitely pick up one with a meter or make a meter. (The meter linked-to on dlclark's Sov Mods site doesn't resolve but there's another, very similar (and cheaper!--I bought 4) meter at that harborfreight site that works just fine.)
- Finding more. When the ground has been at least partially thawed, I've gone back over my front yard 3 or 4 times and already found a lot I'd missed before. I think that's a result of both the non-cone-shaped pattern of the double-D coil and a combination of the tone ID and iron-masking, since I've been able to hear some little high blips peek out from near iron objects. So from that I suspect, like I've read elsewhere, that I'll have decent success still when hitting sites that have already been hit pretty hard.
- I read that I'll get good depth if going slow but I haven't been able to test that very well yet with the frozen soil I've been digging in. I'm excited about seeing that in action as the ground thaws over the next week.

Cons:
- Still trying to figure out the balance issues with it since I've yet to find a set-up that feels comfortable. I currently have the housing mounted under the armrest--I've tried hip-mounting and may go back to that--but, without a remote pinpoint switch, that makes it a bit of a pain to toggle the disc/all-metal switch, and it still doesn't balance quite right. I also may test out a counterweight extension out the end of the arm to see if that helps a bit. (Might be a place to put a stand as well--to make the weight a useful weight.)
- One thing that bugs me is that the discrimination and the meter reading both seem to cut out where coins start and I get no further information about what I'm reading above that point. In a reply on another thread someone said they can hear some variation in the tone ID above that point but I sure can't yet. That can be pretty frustrating, particularly when so many unwanted objects will read just below that point. Sure would be nice to see/hear something like a silver coin clearly sing out higher-pitched than some of the junk objects that read/sound just around that cut-off point. (I'm still hoping to find a mod for that but have had no luck finding one so far.)
- I'm getting some bad interference in my front yard where there are a lot of wires around but, from some testing I suspect that's either the non-shielded wiring I have running to my meter or something about the coil or wiring itself. (If I unplug the wire from the control box, the interference goes away.) I wonder if the freq. switch that's on the GT would resolve that issue.
- I'm also getting unbalanced sound in my headphones, which is a bit irritating, but I suspect that's a product of this particular detector so shouldn't reflect on the entire line.

All I can think of at the moment, although I'm sure there is--and will be--more.

Overall, I have no regrets at all at having picked up a Sov (although I kind of wish I could have afforded an Explorer). I think I'm going to quite enjoy this machine. The only other detector--that I've read more about since--that may have been somewhat comparable for the (used) price range is the Fisher CZ-5. (But from what I'm seeing on eBay, they're a bit rarer and, likely consequently, reselling for a bit more.

_Rich_

 

[W6PEA]

Thank you for your input...Any one else out there have any thoughts about the Soverign.

Pat

 

[BlackX]

Re: 1st Accessory for Sovereign? (S-1?)

Couple of more questions:

1) If I have my homemade meter wired into my cable coil, will I get meter readings from the probe?

2) All locations, including the factory site, seem to be selling the S-1 for the same price. Is that the case or am I missing something obvious?

(That practice seems prevalent in the detector industry--and doesn't seem fair to the resellers if consumers can buy the product factory-direct for the same price.)

(Just realized in searching that there are two online detector stores w/ "Dixie" in their name.)

_Rich_

 

[Mike(Mont)]

An 8-inch coil, 5 inch coil, 12-15 inch coil, it depends on where you are hunting. A probe can speed up recovery, especially on the bigger coils. If you want to hunt real trashy areas, the 5-inch coil is a better first choice than the probe. If you hunt beaches, the bigger coils are better first choice than the probe. In moderate trash, the probe is a good first choice, but so is the 8 inch coil.

As for the Sovereign, get to know how it works. A gold signal comes in solid and there is no delay, the signal is directly over the target from both directions. Look for books by Clive James Clynick.