Post by ricknd on Nov 23, 2009 15:58:56 GMT -5
What I have learned with the Sovereign series of Minelab detectors
The Sovereigns are a different type of detectors and not like anything most have ever used. These do take some time to get used to and the biggest tip I can give it DON’T GIVE UP. These detectors with the different tones, nulling may confuse many to begin with, but the more you use it the more you will understand its language and the better you will get with it and see finds that will make many a believer the Sovereign may be if not the best detector you have ever used.
With the Sovereign you can never go too slow, but you can go too fast and miss alot of good targets that are deep or close to a trash item. Most find running no disc or very little will get you less nulling and you can hear everything there is other than the iron which is disc out with the Sovereigns and will null when it sees iron. The speed depends on where you are hunting as you don’t want to go as slow in a park that only has surface targets, but want to very much slower in area where you know holds deep targets or where there is a lot of trash as it has to see every target. I find in most areas I want to hear the threshold coming and going and changing to different tones. If this is doing this in most area I know it is working good as it is seeing what I want. Now if this area is old and could hold deeper targets I will want to go even slower then normal in some of the area where I know would be the deeper targets, such as around some of the bigger and older trees in a park where people sat many years ago and lost coins. You want to go very slow and listen close to that threshold changing and wiggle the coil over any signal a couple of time to see if you can get the tones to start climbing and number too, you may not be able to get to the correct tones or numbers, but they will be trying to climb and not locking on. These I will check out as they could be so deep the Sovereign sees them, but being so deep can no t get a good signal to ID them. Like I say when doing the wiggle they will be trying to climb, but may not make it. If they lock on to a number nice than that is the ID of that target, but if they cant quite lock on and want to climb is the ones I am talking about. With the Sovereigns you have to go slow normally and going for the deep ones at the fringe of detection is where going super slow will make a difference. I learned some of this by accident when I was forced to stand in one spot on the back side of a tree as some young people were playing Frisbee golf and I was in their way. I was moving the coil every so slightly and could hear the threshold change tones indicating it was seeing something. I did the wiggle and seen the numbers bouncing around and the best I could get was up to a 165 on my 180 meter, but I could see it was trying to climb along with the tones. I dug down a good 8-10 inches and with the help of the Sun Ray S1 probe (best investment for the Sovereign) I found a deep Wheaties. I went around that tree real slow after that and dug 3 more older Wheaties, a merc a IH penny and a gold plated heart with not one of these giving me the correct meter reading, but they were trying. Up until then I had only found new coins and some trash, after that I dug many of older coins from 8-12 i inches and less then 10% read like they should have, but they all were signals that were trying to climb, but just couldn’t make it. This is why I say go very very slow in those areas you feel has some very deep targets in. It also help that others have worked these areas hard and took out all the surface targets so I don’t have to listen to all the loud signals and can hear the deep and weak ones easier.
Now another tip I can offer is some of those iffy target you can’t tell are good or bad. I will try to get the target to the tip of the coil by moving the coil back to me with the short side to side until I lose it, then move the coil forward until I get the target. Now I will know about right where it is so I will come at it from a different angle and see if it is there or moved. I may come from a different angle all the way around and find if I can only see it one way it is probably a false off of iron, but if I can get it several ways I will be digging. Now I will go to all metal pinpoint and pinpoint it doing the 90 degrees turn as I find on the deeper targets this works great plus to do my test to see if it is good I have to have the target centered right on. I will switch to pinpoint and go side to side and center the target, but don’t go forward or backward, just side to side. Now when you have the target centered I push the coil to the ground so it will not move off that spot and turn 90 degrees and then swing the coil side to side again until you have it centered, but make sure you don’t go forward or back-wards with the coil. Now you have the target right under the very center of the coil and if it was a iffy one because it was deeper and want to get a better ID I will hold the coil very still and switch back to disc mode, now once this is done I will wiggle the coil every so slightly, if it nulls it is trash, if it is a positive signal trying to climb I will be digging and even if the threshold don’t change I will wiggle a little more and chance are it wont null so you want to dig this one too to make sure. I found with the GT it is harder to do this for some reason as I get a null first, but by wiggling it a little more it will ID it. I also find that the GT seems to be more sensitive and will false on iron more, but by coming at the target from a different angle it is easy to tell it is iron as it will move or null.
Now the next tip is with using the S1 probe of Sun Rays finding the deeper targets. Once you know your Sovereign and have used it a bit you c an tell the depth just the way it act and sounds like in more cases than a depth meter will. When I get the deeper signals and some that are more iffy I will do my pinpointing using the 90 degree turn and dig my plug as I know it is deeper and while in the all metal pinpoint I will switch to the probe and stick the probe in the hole trying to find any kind of a signal, when I do and dig close enough to the target to get a good signal then I will switch back to disc and see if it will null, or if it is a good target. If it nulls I know it is iron and will try to see if I can find another signal or I will take out the iron and try again. This has helped finding those targets that are close to nails and other trash. It is nice to have this probe as most of the time I can get the nice signal of a good target and even some of the iffy ones tying to climb I dig I can see once I am close to it if it is a good target by the tones I get. The S1 probe has really help me find those deeper than normal target, those at an angle and find I find more since I use this probe as I know right where to dig and not put a big scratch across a coin.
This is some of the tips I have to offer at this time and I am sure I know of more and think of them when I am out detecting. One thing is always be willing to learn with the Sovereign as it seems like most every time out you learn something else. As you will see from the forums that most that have stuck with the Sovereign and learned it well may try other detectors, but seem to always come back to the Sovereign or keeps one while using a different detector. I bet most that know it may use a different detector, but has a Sovereign in reserve.
Good Luck to all and their Sovereigns.
Rick
The Sovereigns are a different type of detectors and not like anything most have ever used. These do take some time to get used to and the biggest tip I can give it DON’T GIVE UP. These detectors with the different tones, nulling may confuse many to begin with, but the more you use it the more you will understand its language and the better you will get with it and see finds that will make many a believer the Sovereign may be if not the best detector you have ever used.
With the Sovereign you can never go too slow, but you can go too fast and miss alot of good targets that are deep or close to a trash item. Most find running no disc or very little will get you less nulling and you can hear everything there is other than the iron which is disc out with the Sovereigns and will null when it sees iron. The speed depends on where you are hunting as you don’t want to go as slow in a park that only has surface targets, but want to very much slower in area where you know holds deep targets or where there is a lot of trash as it has to see every target. I find in most areas I want to hear the threshold coming and going and changing to different tones. If this is doing this in most area I know it is working good as it is seeing what I want. Now if this area is old and could hold deeper targets I will want to go even slower then normal in some of the area where I know would be the deeper targets, such as around some of the bigger and older trees in a park where people sat many years ago and lost coins. You want to go very slow and listen close to that threshold changing and wiggle the coil over any signal a couple of time to see if you can get the tones to start climbing and number too, you may not be able to get to the correct tones or numbers, but they will be trying to climb and not locking on. These I will check out as they could be so deep the Sovereign sees them, but being so deep can no t get a good signal to ID them. Like I say when doing the wiggle they will be trying to climb, but may not make it. If they lock on to a number nice than that is the ID of that target, but if they cant quite lock on and want to climb is the ones I am talking about. With the Sovereigns you have to go slow normally and going for the deep ones at the fringe of detection is where going super slow will make a difference. I learned some of this by accident when I was forced to stand in one spot on the back side of a tree as some young people were playing Frisbee golf and I was in their way. I was moving the coil every so slightly and could hear the threshold change tones indicating it was seeing something. I did the wiggle and seen the numbers bouncing around and the best I could get was up to a 165 on my 180 meter, but I could see it was trying to climb along with the tones. I dug down a good 8-10 inches and with the help of the Sun Ray S1 probe (best investment for the Sovereign) I found a deep Wheaties. I went around that tree real slow after that and dug 3 more older Wheaties, a merc a IH penny and a gold plated heart with not one of these giving me the correct meter reading, but they were trying. Up until then I had only found new coins and some trash, after that I dug many of older coins from 8-12 i inches and less then 10% read like they should have, but they all were signals that were trying to climb, but just couldn’t make it. This is why I say go very very slow in those areas you feel has some very deep targets in. It also help that others have worked these areas hard and took out all the surface targets so I don’t have to listen to all the loud signals and can hear the deep and weak ones easier.
Now another tip I can offer is some of those iffy target you can’t tell are good or bad. I will try to get the target to the tip of the coil by moving the coil back to me with the short side to side until I lose it, then move the coil forward until I get the target. Now I will know about right where it is so I will come at it from a different angle and see if it is there or moved. I may come from a different angle all the way around and find if I can only see it one way it is probably a false off of iron, but if I can get it several ways I will be digging. Now I will go to all metal pinpoint and pinpoint it doing the 90 degrees turn as I find on the deeper targets this works great plus to do my test to see if it is good I have to have the target centered right on. I will switch to pinpoint and go side to side and center the target, but don’t go forward or backward, just side to side. Now when you have the target centered I push the coil to the ground so it will not move off that spot and turn 90 degrees and then swing the coil side to side again until you have it centered, but make sure you don’t go forward or back-wards with the coil. Now you have the target right under the very center of the coil and if it was a iffy one because it was deeper and want to get a better ID I will hold the coil very still and switch back to disc mode, now once this is done I will wiggle the coil every so slightly, if it nulls it is trash, if it is a positive signal trying to climb I will be digging and even if the threshold don’t change I will wiggle a little more and chance are it wont null so you want to dig this one too to make sure. I found with the GT it is harder to do this for some reason as I get a null first, but by wiggling it a little more it will ID it. I also find that the GT seems to be more sensitive and will false on iron more, but by coming at the target from a different angle it is easy to tell it is iron as it will move or null.
Now the next tip is with using the S1 probe of Sun Rays finding the deeper targets. Once you know your Sovereign and have used it a bit you c an tell the depth just the way it act and sounds like in more cases than a depth meter will. When I get the deeper signals and some that are more iffy I will do my pinpointing using the 90 degree turn and dig my plug as I know it is deeper and while in the all metal pinpoint I will switch to the probe and stick the probe in the hole trying to find any kind of a signal, when I do and dig close enough to the target to get a good signal then I will switch back to disc and see if it will null, or if it is a good target. If it nulls I know it is iron and will try to see if I can find another signal or I will take out the iron and try again. This has helped finding those targets that are close to nails and other trash. It is nice to have this probe as most of the time I can get the nice signal of a good target and even some of the iffy ones tying to climb I dig I can see once I am close to it if it is a good target by the tones I get. The S1 probe has really help me find those deeper than normal target, those at an angle and find I find more since I use this probe as I know right where to dig and not put a big scratch across a coin.
This is some of the tips I have to offer at this time and I am sure I know of more and think of them when I am out detecting. One thing is always be willing to learn with the Sovereign as it seems like most every time out you learn something else. As you will see from the forums that most that have stuck with the Sovereign and learned it well may try other detectors, but seem to always come back to the Sovereign or keeps one while using a different detector. I bet most that know it may use a different detector, but has a Sovereign in reserve.
Good Luck to all and their Sovereigns.
Rick
