The Sovereign

[Smudge]

Anybody purchased a newer generation one lately?

Are you satisfied?

I'm just kind of worried because of all the quality control problems Minelab seems to be having with the new generation of Excals.

 

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[Smudge]

Hmm. I guess everybody hates their Sovereigns. Ok, thanks for the warning.

 

[Montauk3]

My Sov is about 7 months old. No problem as yet.
I had a problem with my Excal2.(after 2 years) sent it in and had it back in 30 days.Satisfied!

Sometimes I wonder if some of the problems are results of rough handling and storage.

 

[Smudge]

My Sov is about 7 months old. No problem as yet.
I had a problem with my Excal2.(after 2 years) sent it in and had it back in 30 days.Satisfied!

Sometimes I wonder if some of the problems are results of rough handling and storage.

Good point. It might be.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I own two Sov GT's one is customed waterproofed with a WOT coil, and two Excals, one Excal has WOT coil hard wired on, the other currently has the Sunray S-12 hard wired on, I recently bought a 12x15" SEF Butterfly and will be putting it on the Excal that currently has the Sunray.....

 

[Sandman]

I have a Sov GT with the Sunray inline probe and have had not one lick of trouble with it. Solid built and expect the newer modeled Excal II's are either just touchy or rough handling like Was said. My older Excal 1000 has not had all the problems I am hearing with the newer Excal II's an mine must be about 6 years old or so.

 

[Dixie Digger]

iv had 8 Sovereign's and never had a problem with not 1 of them..i had 4 GT's made last year and before not a problem iv owned 6 Excal's..the last one new in April 2010.knobs were loose and they sent the wrong lower rod.they sent a lower rod for the GT,the adjustment button is on the bottom of the GT and side on the Excal.i just drilled it on the bottom rather than sending it back. i now have 2 Elite's and 1 CZ20...i saw little diff in the new GT's as to any of the Sovereign's..but i must say that one of the Elite's iv got is way deeper than anything iv ever owned..i dont have a clue why . i guess its just one of those things in life where you have so many to try and find that just one is the best! i hope this one never goes bad as i dont ever want to send it in for repairs and have it come back with less performance . so far i dont think you can go wrong with a Sovereign! the Excal on the other hand,id rather have one made before 2010.

 

[crazyman]

I was thinking about getting a new/used Excalibur but I'm leaning towards getting another GT and doing the waterproof mods. I haven't had any problems with any of the Sovereigns I've owned.

 

[Smudge]

Thanks for all your input folks. I'm thinking about getting a GT and waiting until Minelab gets their Excal II issues under control. Maybe a future generation.

 

[Sandhunter]

Hey Dixie Digger, I couldn't agree more with the comment that you made below.

"but i must say that one of the Elite's iv got is way deeper than anything iv ever owned..don't have a clue why"

I have a Sov GT with the stock Tornado coil that I bought new last December. Prior to that I had been using the Whites DF and was very impressed with the depth that I got with it. I never expected the depth of the Sov to rival the DF, but I became convinced that it was in fact a MUCH deeper seeker than the DF. Once my wife got a hold of my Sov I couldn't get it away from her. I purchased a barely used GT with a 12.5" Excelerator for her so I could get mine back . I put the Excelerator on my machine and bought a 12.5" Sunray for her's. The difference between the 2 machines is dramatic. My Sov is 8-10" deeper than my wife's with the Sunray, and she's getting to 10 - 12". I'm digging 20" plus in the wet sand, hunting in all metal pinpoint. When checking the target in disc it's definitely there. I flagged my wife over to test one of my targets and she didn't hear anything on her machine. I'm convinced that I have a one in a million Sov GT. I'd be willing to bet that no 2 are identical and that everything came together when mine was made as with DD's Elite.

iv had 8 Sovereign's and never had a problem with not 1 of them..i had 4 GT's made last year and before not a problem iv owned 6 Excal's..the last one new in April 2010.knobs were loose and they sent the wrong lower rod.they sent a lower rod for the GT,the adjustment button is on the bottom of the GT and side on the Excal.i just drilled it on the bottom rather than sending it back. i now have 2 Elite's and 1 CZ20...i saw little diff in the new GT's as to any of the Sovereign's..but i must say that one of the Elite's iv got is way deeper than anything iv ever owned..i dont have a clue why . i guess its just one of those things in life where you have so many to try and find that just one is the best! i hope this one never goes bad as i dont ever want to send it in for repairs and have it come back with less performance . so far i dont think you can go wrong with a Sovereign! the Excal on the other hand,id rather have one made before 2010.

 

[Smudge]

Well, I'm sold.

I've bought my first Minelab Sovereign GT! I'm picking it up on Friday and hitting the beach on Sunday.

If anyone has any words of advice, I'm all ears!

 

[bottlebum]

Read the manual, read the manual again, swing low & slow and learn from lots of practice what she is telling you.

Congrats on your new machine. It's a fine one.

HH, Bottlebum

 

[Adrian SS]

Had my Sov XS 15 years. No faults constant use, uncountable finds, great machine.
Almost perfect beach machine and excellent everywhere else except extreme iron mineralisation.
Adrian SS

 

[Keppy]

When i used a Sunray coil they were never as as deep as any other coil i used on my Sovereign for some reason i never got good depth with Sunray....... And i never had a problem with a Sovereign never had to send a Sovereign in for repairs..............

 

[Deepdiger60]

Hey Dixie Digger, I couldn't agree more with the comment that you made below.

"but i must say that one of the Elite's iv got is way deeper than anything iv ever owned..don't have a clue why"

I have a Sov GT with the stock Tornado coil that I bought new last December. Prior to that I had been using the Whites DF and was very impressed with the depth that I got with it. I never expected the depth of the Sov to rival the DF, but I became convinced that it was in fact a MUCH deeper seeker than the DF. Once my wife got a hold of my Sov I couldn't get it away from her. I purchased a barely used GT with a 12.5" Excelerator for her so I could get mine back . I put the Excelerator on my machine and bought a 12.5" Sunray for her's. The difference between the 2 machines is dramatic. My Sov is 8-10" deeper than my wife's with the Sunray, and she's getting to 10 - 12". I'm digging 20" plus in the wet sand, hunting in all metal pinpoint. When checking the target in disc it's definitely there. I flagged my wife over to test one of my targets and she didn't hear anything on her machine. I'm convinced that I have a one in a million Sov GT. I'd be willing to bet that no 2 are identical and that everything came together when mine was made as with DD's Elite.

iv had 8 Sovereign's and never had a problem with not 1 of them..i had 4 GT's made last year and before not a problem iv owned 6 Excal's..the last one new in April 2010.knobs were loose and they sent the wrong lower rod.they sent a lower rod for the GT,the adjustment button is on the bottom of the GT and side on the Excal.i just drilled it on the bottom rather than sending it back. i now have 2 Elite's and 1 CZ20...i saw little diff in the new GT's as to any of the Sovereign's..but i must say that one of the Elite's iv got is way deeper than anything iv ever owned..i dont have a clue why . i guess its just one of those things in life where you have so many to try and find that just one is the best! i hope this one never goes bad as i dont ever want to send it in for repairs and have it come back with less performance . so far i dont think you can go wrong with a Sovereign! the Excal on the other hand,id rather have one made before 2010.

That is good to hear about the Sunray Intruder S-12 coil is that the one you mentioned ? ive yet to try mine Dd60

 

[scubaozzy]

i wanted a excal. 2 also but have put it on the back burner for now until the isues are fixed. is there someone on here that will waterproof the new sov. gt? i know it will void the warranty but that is ok. thanks