Sovereign #2

[MrMikeJackie]

I started detecting the beach with a Sovereign Elite and fell in love with it. It did very well for me until I noticed my hunting buddy could pickup on deeper targets with his CTX. So I purchased a 3030 and never looked back.
Came across another Sovereign Elite for $250 so I bought it. Being I haven't used my first one in a while I decided to take this one out today to the beach. Set it up like I always did and headed out. My first target sounded like a zinc penny not too deep not too shallow. 4-5 scoops later out comes a crusty zink penny, wth? Next target is another zinker, loud and clear. Took out a scoop, nothing, another 3 scoops out comes a zink penny.
So here I have 2 penny's that I thought where going to be shallow(2 scoops?) and where much deeper than anticipated. Can same model detectors vary that much? My original Sovereign would never have sounded that loud on a target that deep. I then proceeded to scoop various deep targets that sounded awesome.
My CTX might be spending some time in the closet this summer. Any thoughts?

 

[OBN]

Yes detectors can vary in performance from one to the next, I can swap out coils on my Excalibur and I have several 10 inch coils that I can use. Most are similar but a few of them will give a different sound to deep targets in PP, from a slow rampup then slow down the ramp, and another will give a chirp on these same targets. SO anything is possible..coils, machines, headphones.... I would hunt in PP with that sovereign and you will get better depth with it. And the old XS2's were very easy to put a remote PP hook up..

 

[MrMikeJackie]

S

Yes detectors can vary in performance from one to the next, I can swap out coils on my Excalibur and I have several 10 inch coils that I can use. Most are similar but a few of them will give a different sound to deep targets in PP, from a slow rampup then slow down the ramp, and another will give a chirp on these same targets. SO anything is possible..coils, machines, headphones.... I would hunt in PP with that sovereign and you will get better depth with it. And the old XS2's were very easy to put a remote PP hook up..

Thanks, I missed the old sovereign. Looks like I'll be using her more often.

 

[claire]

Mike were you down at Jones Beach?

 

[MrMikeJackie]

Mike were you down at Jones Beach?

Nope, long beach.
How you doing Claire? Arent you the one that found the gold band at field 6 last year? You use a whites machine, the purple one?

 

[claire]

Not purple, but yeah. I was talking to a guy the other day with a 3030, so I thought it might have been you

 

[adamBomb]

Can same model detectors vary that much?

Yes. Machines are generally not hand tuned so one can be set to peak performance 'hot' and some are not based on just the slightest variations. Add different coils and such and yes it absolutely will. Its kind of like my android phone - it can be set run faster, have more range for wifi etc but it requires me to jailbreak it to get that performance. Factory settings are not always the best and not alway the same from device to device. Its one of the reasons that if a manufacturer came out with a high end machine, that was tuned by hand and bench tested for max performance, it would destroy the models out there right now.

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

Yes:

I would not expect see much difference in performance between different CTX 3030 detectors as the detected signal is digitized in the search coil. That is as long as the connectors to the head phones and search coils do not build up corrosion and kept free from sand.

In contrast, much of the Sovereign is of Analog where the returned analog signal is not digitized until it gets to the Control pod.
The specification of analog components are not as tight and the tolerance of those components and factory adjustments may drift over time,
especially when exposed to heat. Analog components, such as the potentiometers and switches wear with usage and resistance may build up from exposure to salt in the air at the beach.

More simply put, some detectors within the same model are hot (more sensitive) while others are not.
If the performance of you earlier Sovereign Elte turns out to be a not, you might consider selling it and replacing it with a hotter one.

The same can be said of the performance of Excalibur detectors as they are based on earlier Sovereign technology which was dumbdowned for diving and redesigned to fit into a control pod for diving. As a result it is not as sensitive to salt in the air and can be submerged when diving, shallow water hunting, or accidently dropped.

 

[SouthFLdigger]

Interesting, this is why i airtest all my machines just to check they have proper gain and calibration. For example my Safari airtests to 13" on a nickel and 14" on a quarter at max sens (20) . From my previous testing on an E-trac this seems about right for these machines with the stock 11" coil at max sens. I believe the Sov were just a bit deeper if not the same. Manufacturer related electrical variations exist but should be no more than 10%, however couple this 10% to a mis-calibration of the DSP circuits and you'll have at times significant variations.

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

Interesting, this is why i airtest all my machines just to check they have proper gain and calibration. For example my Safari airtests to 13" on a nickel and 14" on a quarter at max sens (20) . From my previous testing on an E-trac this seems about right for these machines with the stock 11" coil at max sens. I believe the Sov were just a bit deeper if not the same. Manufacturer related electrical variations exist but should be no more than 10%, however couple this 10% to a mis-calibration of the DSP circuits and you'll have at times significant variations.

The repair philosphy also makes a big difference: The CTX 3030, Safari, Etrack have digital interfaces and are repaired by replacing a
defective board with a good board. As a result all of the components on the new board are new, with tight tolerances.

In contrast Detectors like the Sovereign and Excaliber with knob (switches, and potentiometers) interfaces are usually repaired by isolating to the failed component, unsoldering it from the circuit board, and soldering in a good component. After the repair, you have a mixture of new components (those that were replaced)with tight tolerances, and older component (still good -but worn with looser tolerances from use (wear and tear, exposure to sun) plusyou could have cold solder joints and heat damage from soldering iron. Repair at the component level requires a higer skill level - have to be able to isolate failed component, soldering skills, also have to be careful of static electricity which if not grounded could damage other parts on circuit board.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Be careful with the sov on the beach, be sure you use environmental covers, the Minelab repair center tells me they see a lot of sovs come in with corrosion on the IC chips from beach hunters who didn't protect the sovs from the salt in the air..

 

[NeilinFR]

You may have just been narrowly missing the target on each scoop and the penny kept falling back in. It happens, even with the bigger scoops. There can be a slight variance in detectors but Ive never seen it vary as much as your saying. And honestly Ive had all the Sovs many times over.....loved that machine until I discovered how you can trim back on the iron mask with the Explorers and now I use the Etrac at the ocean....even better. A sovs iron mask is just to biased to iron. The all metal/pinpoint is the deeper mode on a Sov.

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

Do you have any recommendation(s) on which environmenatl covers are best to buy,
Or ways to protect Sovereigns from salt in the air - especially for on shore winds.

Be careful with the sov on the beach, be sure you use environmental covers, the Minelab repair center tells me they see a lot of sovs come in with corrosion on the IC chips from beach hunters who didn't protect the sovs from the salt in the air..

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

There are several, just have to do a search. I use one that was made by Minelab and came with my sov gt detector..It is a bag with clear cover on top and hole in bottom to feed coil cable through. I hang it from my neck when in use..

 

[Auriemma]

I was going to say, using a Sov on the beach is great, but the salt air will cause corrosion and degrade performance. Whether you see it or not, its there. Having it cleaned and checked every few years may go a long way to it remaining a deep hunter.

That being said, I took my Sov XS (with S-12 coil) out for a dirt hunt. I was very happy with how it performed. I like it better than my E-trac (I know.. sacrilege!).