Sovereign can still hang with the flagships

[Deft Tones]

No photos....you want to see dirty foil?

I am actually very pleased with the new Sovereign GT I picked up last fall and here is why.

Took the GT w/10" tornado coil around a wading pool in a city park for a hunt last fall. Deus had already circled the pool twice in the past cherry-picking with the 11" coil. The Sovereign was brought in and ran at disc around 7oclock if I remember correctly. All I found of note with the Sovereign coming in after the Deus was a very small silver ice cream cone charm and a few nickels on edge.

Yesterday I was at the same park with my V3i and 8x6 sef when I thought, let's see what was missed or masked. I found one open hoop earring next to the slab bouncing like a crusty zinc cent (rebar probably masked it- it was a badly mixed signal) and I found nothing else but foil. Nothing masked by foil and nothing hiding among the scattered iron grunts. Foil, foil, folded foil, wadded foil...nothing but foil! (this is why I think the disc was set to around 7)

IMO, the Sov. mopped that spot up very well. I am now confident the machine works exceptionally well and have no reservations about taking it on vacation to the seashores.

Very happy. This Sovereign is still a very capable and excellent metal detector that can hunt with the newer Dogs right out of the box!

Two thumbs up for old tech.

 

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[jeff of pa]

yep ! I still think it was a big mistake to remove the
Sovereign from Production. even with the Excalibur still being Produced.
The Sovereign had more bells and whistles
like the ability to add coils easily and add a meter.
and was more economical .

Perhaps that is the real reason for it's Demise.
all the after Market items Minelab was not Getting Paid for.

an of course in my opinion , BBS still performs above all on gold Jewelry

 

[Deft Tones]

Minelab is making a mistake killing this machine off. I understand now why it's nearly legendary. It just works good!

 

[NeilinFR]

I hunted with the Sov for a lot of years, had them all and they found me my share of gold. Wonderful machine. FBS is clearly a step up with being able to adjust the iron mask alone, plus some other features, but they put it in a clumsy awkward housing.
Minelab to me, would have had a clear knock it out of the park winner if they just put the Explorer/Etrac series guts in the Xterra housing. You could still wade with it, you would have a much nicer/easier to read screen, full adjustability and so on. I haven't tried a 3030 but it looks like they keep improving the electronics but they keep getting the packaging all wrong.
Learn to hunt your Sov in 0 disc, the iron mask is superb but on the heavy side from the start. Learn the all metal/pinpoint mode, very deep precise hunting.
And take good care of it, it looks like they are becoming really rare so when they break I would imagine its disposable not repairable.

 

[Keppy]

Yes as i always said they never made a detector as good as the Sovereign not before it and not after it . Sovereign Wiggle Click on the coil to see the wiggle

 

[Deft Tones]

I was surprised how deep it punched the first time I took it out to a trashy park. I was consistently digging plugs at the depth I thought the target was, then digging them 2-4 inches deeper.

Is there any other machine that has similar audio as the Sov.? Long drawn out tones took an initial adjustment but lately they seem to speak to me like slow motion words on certain targets. It's almost like cheating a little bit.

And my favorite feature that I've fallen in love with is the pitch hold threshold! It just makes me giddy....lol.

And because of the status as discontinued and my box has no protective cover yet, this is the only unit I own that gets somewhat babied.

I'll probably get another Minelab if/when this one dies. Who am I kidding? I will get another Minelab if/when this one dies!

 

[beerguy]

Nuthin wrong with the CTX packaging, IMO.

I haven't tried a 3030 but it looks like they keep improving the electronics but they keep getting the packaging all wrong.

 

[jeff of pa]

I hunted with the Sov for a lot of years, had them all and they found me my share of gold. Wonderful machine. FBS is clearly a step up with being able to adjust the iron mask alone, plus some other features, but they put it in a clumsy awkward housing.
Minelab to me, would have had a clear knock it out of the park winner if they just put the Explorer/Etrac series guts in the Xterra housing. You could still wade with it, you would have a much nicer/easier to read screen, full adjustability and so on. I haven't tried a 3030 but it looks like they keep improving the electronics but they keep getting the packaging all wrong.
Learn to hunt your Sov in 0 disc, the iron mask is superb but on the heavy side from the start. Learn the all metal/pinpoint mode, very deep precise hunting.
And take good care of it, it looks like they are becoming really rare so when they break I would imagine its disposable not repairable.

I used to think the x-terra housing would be a Better choice for the Sovereign
and Explorer Series also. however......

I had a Brand New unused x-terra 305.
I gave it to my Nephews Kids &
first year of use the Coil Ears


actually Shattered into Pieces. Worse then These
found online



So I'm guessing the Higher the Price the more they want to be sure the Housing lasts.
which I'm now believing Heaver is a Good Thing