DaChief
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2007
- Messages
- 1,035
- Reaction score
- 36
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Middle Tennessee
- Detector(s) used
- -------(Water)------- Garrett Infinium (Relic and Coin) Minelab Sov. Elite
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
- #1
Thread Owner
Got a really great deal on a used Sovereign Elite off Craig's List. I guy wanted to trade for a used set of high end golf clubs and I had what he was looking for. I didn't use the clubs anymore and I know I got the good end of the deal. I got the Elite, two coils, Ni Cad Pack, Pinpointer, Hipmount Case, ID Meter and Carry Bag all for a set of clubs I probably could have sold for only about $200.00 max on EBAY.
Took my kids to a local elementary school just to test the Elite out and see what it could do in those conditions and was really impressed.
Operation
Took a little getting used to the variable tones but I really like them and they are consistant. I didn't use headphones and my kids got a kick out of the farty tones that trash was throwing out. I learned the varied tones fairly quickly.
I used all stock equipment and had everything mounted on the shaft but was still impressed with how comfortable the arm rest was and the how the weight of everything on the shaft was tolerable. I will convert the configuration for long hunts to the hip mount.
Depth
I used the stock 10 inch coil and WOW! I was really surprised at the depth of the machine and it's ability to find even the small items deep. I pulled a very small little charm, not silver or gold, that gave a good repeatable signal from about 8 to 9 inches down in a sandy wet soil. It read in the low 400's on my meter I had calibrated a clad quarter at 500. I had pulled another little charm just before that one from a shallow depth. These things were really small but gave a good quality signal. I also pulled three clad quarters out of the same hole at over 12 inches in the same type sandy wet soil. I was careful when digging to insure I found the items at their true depth. I am really impressed. I pulled several more coins from good depths. I could determine either shallow or deep in most cases by the volume of the signal. I eventually started ignoring the meter and going only by sound once I became comfortable with the varied tones. Aluminum foil and small pieces of cans were pretty obvious but I dug everything in this learning process.
Discrimination
I was quickly able to determine items the majority of time by sound without looking at the meter. I will most likely not use the meter in the future for this reason. I kept the threshold audible and that allowed me to hear when iron was blanking out the circuitry. When that happened, I went back over that area slower to insure that the machine had time to recover. I didn't have the luck of picking an item from underneath a piece of iron but I am sure that will happen with more use and when that combination presents itself.
I could clearly tell a bad item from good with the bad items having a very unstable tone. These were small pieces of foil, pieces of very small trash metals, etc. that didn't have a shape that interested the machine. Anything with the possibility of being good, (metal shoe lace eyelets, metal sleeves of pencil erasers, the small charms and other items that had definite shapes that could have been something good), all came in with a steady repeatable tones.
Conclusion
What a great machine! I am looking forward to buying a couple of specialty coils for it like the small 5 inch Excelerator, the WOT and maybe the 18 inch Excelerator. I have to do more research on them all but I am sure that I will have to have a couple of them to add to the stock 8 and 10 coils I got with the machine.
I can't wait to hit a couple of "hunted out" locations that I always take new machines to. That tells the tale of the effectiveness of any new machine over my older models.
All in all, I got a great trade for an old set of golf clubs. I proved again that patience is a virtue. I did exhaustive searches of Craig's List and EBAY daily looking for that offer that was too good to be true and found it once again.
Took my kids to a local elementary school just to test the Elite out and see what it could do in those conditions and was really impressed.
Operation
Took a little getting used to the variable tones but I really like them and they are consistant. I didn't use headphones and my kids got a kick out of the farty tones that trash was throwing out. I learned the varied tones fairly quickly.
I used all stock equipment and had everything mounted on the shaft but was still impressed with how comfortable the arm rest was and the how the weight of everything on the shaft was tolerable. I will convert the configuration for long hunts to the hip mount.
Depth
I used the stock 10 inch coil and WOW! I was really surprised at the depth of the machine and it's ability to find even the small items deep. I pulled a very small little charm, not silver or gold, that gave a good repeatable signal from about 8 to 9 inches down in a sandy wet soil. It read in the low 400's on my meter I had calibrated a clad quarter at 500. I had pulled another little charm just before that one from a shallow depth. These things were really small but gave a good quality signal. I also pulled three clad quarters out of the same hole at over 12 inches in the same type sandy wet soil. I was careful when digging to insure I found the items at their true depth. I am really impressed. I pulled several more coins from good depths. I could determine either shallow or deep in most cases by the volume of the signal. I eventually started ignoring the meter and going only by sound once I became comfortable with the varied tones. Aluminum foil and small pieces of cans were pretty obvious but I dug everything in this learning process.
Discrimination
I was quickly able to determine items the majority of time by sound without looking at the meter. I will most likely not use the meter in the future for this reason. I kept the threshold audible and that allowed me to hear when iron was blanking out the circuitry. When that happened, I went back over that area slower to insure that the machine had time to recover. I didn't have the luck of picking an item from underneath a piece of iron but I am sure that will happen with more use and when that combination presents itself.
I could clearly tell a bad item from good with the bad items having a very unstable tone. These were small pieces of foil, pieces of very small trash metals, etc. that didn't have a shape that interested the machine. Anything with the possibility of being good, (metal shoe lace eyelets, metal sleeves of pencil erasers, the small charms and other items that had definite shapes that could have been something good), all came in with a steady repeatable tones.
Conclusion
What a great machine! I am looking forward to buying a couple of specialty coils for it like the small 5 inch Excelerator, the WOT and maybe the 18 inch Excelerator. I have to do more research on them all but I am sure that I will have to have a couple of them to add to the stock 8 and 10 coils I got with the machine.
I can't wait to hit a couple of "hunted out" locations that I always take new machines to. That tells the tale of the effectiveness of any new machine over my older models.
All in all, I got a great trade for an old set of golf clubs. I proved again that patience is a virtue. I did exhaustive searches of Craig's List and EBAY daily looking for that offer that was too good to be true and found it once again.
