Question about the sovereign?

[beachboy]

What machine would be better to use in the park and tot lots? Prizm 3 or Sovereign...

 

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[jeff of pa]

What machine would be better to use in the park and tot lots? Prizm 3 or Sovereign...

What age are these Parks & Tot Lots ?

Do you own & Use Both ?

I'm Not real up on the Prizim 3

but if it is a very old park I'd wager the Sovereign has the Edge.
especially in expierenced hands.

wood chip Tot lots, I Think either one would do the job.
This will work

 

[Deepdiger60]

A Sovereign in a very old park would work great if the targets are deep 8+ a Sov. in a tot lot ? that is like driving a Porsche 911 GT2 RS to 7-11 for a coffee Jim

 

[Sandman]

A Sovereign in a very old park would work great if the targets are deep 8+ a Sov. in a tot lot ? that is like driving a Porsche 911 GT2 RS to 7-11 for a coffee Jim

The Prizm is OK for the junk you'll find in the tot lots. For anything more the Sov GT is the way to go.

 

[liftloop]

The sovereign would be good for the junk you find in a tote lots but in old parks were you need the power to go deep for the old silver the prizm is what you want.

 

[beachboy]

Thank for the comments. I have both detectors. If I use the sovereign in the parks, these are parks that are used alot in the summer, am afraid that I will dig big wholes that are sometimes hard to fill completely. I guess that I'll try both and see how things go....

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

The sovereign would be good for the junk you find in a tote lots but in old parks were you need the power to go deep for the old silver the prizm is what you want.

I use the Sov GT and I did deep targets in parks when I use it........

 

[fwcrawford]

I don't have a Prism, but I do have a Sovereign and for parks with potential for old coins, the Sovereign is my choice between the two.
As far as tot lots, I normally just use a beep dig detector and set the disc very low.. no need for visual ID as the woodchip areas are easy digging.
I wouldn't use my Sovereign in the tot lots due to the iron play equipment causing too much noise for me.
I agree with Deepdiger.... the Sovereign is out of place for tot lots!!

 

[LuckyLarry]

I think Sandman got it right, in fact the MOST correct. Sandman is a Sov expert - in my view.

The Sov IS NOT a machine one should use in a trashy area where items are close together. The coil windings and it's inherent slow retuning dictates that. Using a Sov in cherry-picking type of applications is a lot like using a D-4 to dig a small 4" diameter hole. It is not designed to find targets close together, it is in fact designed primarily for use on wide-open salt beaches where targets are far and wide, not close together, and it does well at that too, although it's a detector that by design needs to be swung at a rate of about 2-3 feet per second to be at it's finest. Anything faster or slower than that will rob you of your targets, and for very complex reasons. .

The Prism 3 though (IS) designed PRIMARILY for tot lots, and for people who take metal detecting not very seriously. I have the big brother to the Prism3 and I've owned the Sov too. Both are fairly cheap now because the newer machines just plain work better.

Good luck,

Larry (AKA EasyMoney)

 

[jeff of pa]

I think Sandman got it right, in fact the MOST correct. Sandman is a Sov expert - in my view.

The Sov IS NOT a machine one should use in a trashy area where items are close together. The coil windings and it's inherent slow retuning dictates that. Using a Sov in cherry-picking type of applications is a lot like using a D-4 to dig a small 4" diameter hole. It is not designed to find targets close together, it is in fact designed primarily for use on wide-open salt beaches where targets are far and wide, not close together, and it does well at that too, although it's a detector that by design needs to be swung at a rate of about 2-3 feet per second to be at it's finest. Anything faster or slower than that will rob you of your targets, and for very complex reasons. .

The Prism 3 though (IS) designed PRIMARILY for tot lots, and for people who take metal detecting not very seriously. I have the big brother to the Prism3 and I've owned the Sov too. Both are fairly cheap now because the newer machines just plain work better.

Good luck,

Larry (AKA EasyMoney)

Sorry I Have to disagree with You Larry.
(But not about Sandman )

The Sov can be used in a trashy area where items are close together.

With the DD Coil it can get right in there
if you use Extremely Slow Moves.

Even in Disc the Sovereign is almost a Non Motion Machine.

Bad part, & Maybe What your trying to say
The sovereign with a large Coil, in Disc will Find the Good
targets & Block the Bad Targets (Iron) at the same time.

So when you switch to All Metel, many times you will
realize there is Trash & Good within inches of each other.

Again The Sovereign is Almost a Non Motion Detector.

Hence the term "Sovereign Wiggle" to get those
amazing Deep Signals to Scream through.

They are Much deeper in Sand !
Almost need a Miners Lamp in Volley Ball Courts,
& Sand Boxes

Been using a Sovereign for 12 Years

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I also disagree with you Larry, I have used my Sovereign GT with a WOT coil, in many trashy city and county parks and found lots of nice targets with it. I have even recovered pocket spills with it where I had more then a dozen targets under the coil and that was with a WOT coil. It is amazing what you can do with a Sov..

 

[Sandman]

If you really want the best of both worlds you need to get a inline Sunray S-1 probe for the Sovereign. It has a +4" depth for the best cherry picking in the worst trash you will run into. Like a one inch coil with full disc or all metal pinpointing. I thought of taping it to my cane for poking in along the sidewalks.

The Sov GT is like using a sports car to go to Wal-Mart.

 

[LuckyLarry]

Ooops!

Sorry guys, the statement says:

"What machine would be better to use in the park and tot lots? Prism 3 or Sovereign...

Beachboy said Sovereign. I did too. A Sovereign is exactly what I owned, and it worked exactly as it was designed to,, for salt water beaches in and around the world, especially in Australia.

The question of which coil came up, including a "Sunray s-1 probe". And the the statement of DD coils rose up too. The Sov GT is different than the standard Sovereign XS-2a Pro, and so is the Sovereign Elite Pro, but the Elite Pro is only (slightly) different than the earlier Sovereign. The GT is different than either of those two.

The standard Sovereign Elite and XS-2a are NOT good cherry pickers, they weren't designed to be. I ran several different tests by placing copper pennies 3" apart in a row, then 4" apart in a row, and the Sovereign Elite Pro (not the GT) would only give one signal one direction, and one signal on the return swing. It couldn't separate those pennies lined up in a row if I tried 3000 times. But it did work very well in open fields and salt beaches. The Sov "GT" is a different animal, like the difference between a wolf and a domestic dog. Sometimes we need to cherry-pick other's statements, myself included. None of us are wrong, we just didn't differentiate between three different types of metal detectors which all had the name "Sovereign" labeled on them.

Y'all have a nice day.

LL (aka EasyMoney)

 

[Yellowhouse]

Appears the Prizm is being phased out by Whites anyway. Another problem if you did buy one is the abysmal choice of optional coils. If tot lots and occasional huntings your bag it might do you well with the Prizm and ought to find a really good deal. My choice would be an Ace 250 anyway or equivalent anyway.

Got rid of my Prizm IV, bought an MXT, and never looked back.

 

[Keppy]

Well i have used the Sovereign since they first came out about 1992........ And i will say that Lucky larry...aka..Easy money.. has the fact's on the Sovereign... So i will go with the fact's and easy you see i got 19 years behind the wheel of the sovereign ................ but i don't have all the fact's but easy does......... He don't speak from being a brand fan but from fact's..........

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I can only speak about the Sov GT since it s the only SOV model I have used, I have hunted with it in city and county parks using the WOT coil and found many pocket spills where I had multiple targets close together under the coil and I got multiple signals from them. Earlier models of the Sov may not have reported them, but the Sov GT does.....

 

[jeff of pa]

I can only speak about the Sov GT since it s the only SOV model I have used, I have hunted with it in city and county parks using the WOT coil and found many pocket spills where I had multiple targets close together under the coil and I got multiple signals from them. Earlier models of the Sov may not have reported them, but the Sov GT does.....

I Have only used the XS2 Pro

With the same Results.

Several Times Using the WOT In Trashy Parks,
I would get a Silver signal.

Turn to All Metal & Relize there are Multiple Signals under the Coil,

& Have to Dig several Pieces of trash before Getting the Piece of silver Out.
Sometimes the Trash was in the same Hole, But the sovereign
Knew the silver was there & Let me Know.

I could Still Guess where the silver was, Compared to the Other Trash,
But Usually Took the Long way to it
by Cleaning out the Rest First.

Long Live MINELAB & The SOVEREIGN

 

[dirtscratcher]

My Sov is uselles in tot lots, can't get within 3 feet of poles. Kicks butt in the turf .