Sovereign GT, or the Safari?

saltfisher · Mar 2, 2010

I do alot of beach and land hunting. Mostly coins/jewlery. Which machine would be better for my needs? I hear great things about both. Which would do a better job at the beach/land? I am moving up from an ACE 250 as my 1st machine. I already sold my ACE, so its time to move on to a better machine. I couldnt hunt the wet sand with my ace, so I think that hurt me.

Thanks

EZrider · Mar 2, 2010

saltfisher said:
I do alot of beach and land hunting. Mostly coins/jewlery. Which machine would be better for my needs? I hear great things about both. Which would do a better job at the beach/land? I am moving up from an ACE 250 as my 1st machine. I already sold my ACE, so its time to move on to a better machine. I couldnt hunt the wet sand with my ace, so I think that hurt me.

Thanks

I think both machines will work for you. Although i think the Sov leaves more room to "grow into". These detectors are completely different animals than what else is out there. The Safari would be more easy to learn. The Sov is just amazing once you get used to it.

saltfisher · Mar 2, 2010

Im worried the sov will not be as good on land as the safari because of the lack of modes and a LCD screen. BUT.... I see they make a optional screen to attatch to the sov. So that would help on land. I think the Sov will work better at the beach because the beaches we hunt are not trashy, and i always dig all metal anyways, so no need to have a fancy screen, and all the options. BUT... I also hunt on land and thats where the extra modes and the LCD screen on the safari would come in handy. I never used either, so those are my guesses. Only detectors I used are my old ace 250, and my dads whites prizm 5.

How is depth/performance on both the sov GT and the safari? I see the safari has a wider freq. range over the sov gt also. What would the advantage of that be?

Sandman · Mar 3, 2010

I think the wider freq range is for better id'ing of the targets for the screen. The screen is actually a hinderence as you become attached to only retrieving targets that show up as coins and don't investigate the others. Your ear is a better at telling you what is down there.

The extra modes the Safari has in nothing as it is only preset disc. settings that block certain VDI numbers. The use of the Notch control on the Sov GT can do this too if you want or you can just adjust the disc knob manually. The Sov GT does it all and is a cheaper price, plus it can be hip mounted so this saves lots of weight off the arm. You can use the meter on the GT either on the shaft or carried hanging from your neck with the control box. I also have the S-1 inline probe too, but the pics are of the Elite and not the GT.

JohnnieWalker · Mar 17, 2010

Less pulltabs, foil and junk in the wet sand.

I have the Safari but have never used a Sovereign. I believe the Sovereign is essentially the same as the excallibur but not waterproof. If that is the case then from what I have seen all three are very good for beach use. However I would bet the Safari will out perform the both the Excal and the Sovereign in wet or dry beach sand. Maybe because it is FBS or maybe because of its 11" coil but really, how deep do you want to dig?

This is me pulling a bullet shell out of slightly wet sand about 18" down

^ advance to the 4 minute segment

Maybe if I didn't waste my time here with this I would have found a diamond ring shortly after instead? Hey but I'm new.

First thing you will notice going from an ACE250 to any of these Minelabs is going to be the weight. You might not like it, better try one first. I'm in decent shape and work out 4-5 times a week but even still after a full day of swingin the Minelab and walking many miles on the beach I'm kinda wiped out.
But if you are going to do a lot of beach detecting the best is the excal II cause it's waterproof lets you get in the water and will take you to the real good stuff. Sorry you sold the ACE, could have kept that for the parks where you dont need to dig that deep.

But since you only want one machine, then get the Safari. I don't always look at the Display but is sure is nice to have when I want it.

RiverRat3 · Mar 18, 2010

I love my safari. It's easy to learn and I do not go off the pictures on the display screen. I beach hunt and hunt many farms for CW relics. I have never had a problem. Three days this past October in the Outer Banks I found well over a hundred coins, rings and other jewlery with no problems. My mother has a safari and found a Spanish Cob 10 inches down in the sand with no problem. You quickly learn the tones and get over the learning curve.

Monty · Apr 13, 2010

I have been told that the Safari used the Etrac mother board without all the bells and whistles. I have a newer Safari and coming from Garret machines it was very difficult to learn for me. Now I think I may be getting the hang of it? Monty

Keppy · Apr 13, 2010

JohnnieWalker said:
Less pulltabs, foil and junk in the wet sand.

I have the Safari but have never used a Sovereign. I believe the Sovereign is essentially the same as the excallibur but not waterproof. If that is the case then from what I have seen all three are very good for beach use. However I would bet the Safari will out perform the both the Excal and the Sovereign in wet or dry beach sand. Maybe because it is FBS or maybe because of its 11" coil but really, how deep do you want to dig?

This is me pulling a bullet shell out of slightly wet sand about 18" down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI63NiTcOzg
^ advance to the 4 minute segment

Maybe if I didn't waste my time here with this I would have found a diamond ring shortly after instead? Hey but I'm new.

First thing you will notice going from an ACE250 to any of these Minelabs is going to be the weight. You might not like it, better try one first. I'm in decent shape and work out 4-5 times a week but even still after a full day of swingin the Minelab and walking many miles on the beach I'm kinda wiped out.
But if you are going to do a lot of beach detecting the best is the excal II cause it's waterproof lets you get in the water and will take you to the real good stuff. Sorry you sold the ACE, could have kept that for the parks where you dont need to dig that deep.

But since you only want one machine, then get the Safari. I don't always look at the Display but is sure is nice to have when I want it.

No the Safari will not out preform the Sovereign & Excalibur on the beach .

Treasure_Hunter · Apr 16, 2010

The Sovereign GT is a work horse on the salt water beaches.....I own 2 of them, one has been custom waterproofed for use in the surf with a WOT coil, the other I use with either a WOT or the SEF 15"x18" Butterfly coil in the wet sand and up to knee deep on occasion........It is a virtual beach vaccum, and just as fantastic on land.......Don't need a screen....

A word of advice, I would not pass on the Sovereign GT if I was you till you researched it further......Talk to those who actually own a Sovereign and use it, see what they say....JeffofPA uses one.

I bet my Sovereign GT with the 15 inch WOT or 15 x 18 inch SEF Butterfly will out hunt the Safari............ :icon_thumright:

Both of my Excals are customized, one has the 15 inch WOT coil on it, they other has the Sunray S-12 (12.5 inch) Intruder coil on it.....I can hunt from neck deep water to the parking lot with them...... :wink: