Sovereign GT vs AT pro which to buy

[goldmanmike]

Hi, I'm looking to get a coin/ beach hunting machine. Which one is better. I see a lot of you have a AT pro, some seem to love them,some not. I do have a Whites M6, only got about 1 hour behind it. Is it comparable to either machine? I do a lot of gold/ meteorite hunting with my minelab 3000, and whites GMT but not sure about coin/ beach hunting. What to start to hitting some parks/ beaches wet and dry and to hit some old homestead around southern CA. Any info and advice would be appreciated.. Thanks Mike

 

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[SurgTech57]

I purchased an Excal II after reading tons of post here on Tnet. If the beach i.e. ocean is where you're going to be in the water you'll find here that AT Pro people will say it doesn't work well in saltwater.

 

[Sandman]

This is such a no brainer it's like comparing a Hog with a race horse. The ATP sucks at most saltwater beaches it being only a single freq. unit while the Sov GT is called the king of the beach above the Excal II. https://new.losttreasure.com/Home/FieldTestDetail/5984 I believe the GT was dropped to make way for the $$$ CTX 3030. Sov GT operates with 17 freq and excels in all environments except water proof. Your M6 will work well in dry sand.

 

[goldmanmike]

Thanks for the info,I'm seeing the only real draw back to the sov gt is that its not water proof and they don't make them any more.
A plus I see to the sov is that it goes deep, the at pro doesn't go as deep,but can go faster. Being a gold guy my self, slow
and low is what I do already.Definitely leaning towards the sov gt. What about the older sov, i assume there better than the at pro to?
Any at pro guys chime in, I'm not brand loyal. Need pros and cons

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

The Sov GT may not still be manufactured, but they are still doing warranty work on them and will for years to come. I live in Florida and can't imagine not having one to go with my Excals...

 

[goldmanmike]

That's good to know they still work on them since I will have to buy it used.
Thanks for the info treasure_hunter.

 

[HighPlainsHunter]

Any of the Sovereigns will excel in a salt water/beach environment. They work great in fresh water too...

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

That's good to know they still work on them since I will have to buy it used.
Thanks for the info treasure_hunter.

No problem!

Minelab will support Sov GT for another 7-10 years...

 

[Detector Wars]

Hi, I'm looking to get a coin/ beach hunting machine. Which one is better. I see a lot of you have a AT pro, some seem to love them,some not. I do have a Whites M6, only got about 1 hour behind it. Is it comparable to either machine? I do a lot of gold/ meteorite hunting with my minelab 3000, and whites GMT but not sure about coin/ beach hunting. What to start to hitting some parks/ beaches wet and dry and to hit some old homestead around southern CA. Any info and advice would be appreciated.. Thanks Mike

Sovereign GT or any Sovereign by miles.

 

[RustyGold]

Plus 1 for the Sovereign!

 

[bigfoot1]

I have an at pro and love it.The obvious choice here is the sov gt.If its for the beach/wet ya gotta have the specialized machines to excell in that environment.personally I would prefer an excal and not be limited to very shallow water.besides a wave could end it all for the gt

 

[johnnycat]

The GT is a great machine. There is a bit of a learning curve. But, it will reward you. For me, it was kind of heavy so I had a chest mount for the unit. Good Luck finding a good used one!

 

[goldmanmike]

Went out with a buddies original sov to hunt the Beach. Found two rings one 14k and one titanium ring in the wet sand. 15 quarters, 2 nickel, 1 dime, 16 pennies and a big hand full corroded pennies. Will post some pic when I figure out how to do it. Can you post pic straight from your iPhone?

 

[goldmanmike]

 

[goldmanmike]

Please let me know if you can see pics I think I did it right thanks

 

[goldmanmike]

Gold ring is stamped 14KP Dason.
Titanium ring says titanium black II and a EM in a circle.
I think the original sov worked great, and would imagine the GT would be even better. Anyone got a sov GT for sale looking to buy one now.

 

[HighPlainsHunter]

Please let me know if you can see pics I think I did it right thanks

I think you did too as the photos came out great. After more than 20 years, the Sovereign is still hard to beat in the wet salt sand/water...

 

[SocalJim]

Some say the older Sovereigns are actually better than the newer models. I'd buy either the Sovereign or Excal as they're virtually the same machine. It's nice to get in the water on those hot days and not worry about your machine getting fried.

 

[dirtscratcher]

Went out with a buddies original sov to hunt the Beach. Found two rings one 14k and one titanium ring in the wet sand. 15 quarters, 2 nickel, 1 dime, 16 pennies and a big hand full corroded pennies. Will post some pic when I figure out how to do it. Can you post pic straight from your iPhone?

It's easier to post from phone than home computer at least for me.

 

[LuckyLarry]

Anybody who lives on the west coast near the seashore and searches salt beaches here - probably already knows that the Fisher CZ's have a slight edge on depth (about 1 inch) over the Sovs. Neither are the best pinpointers but they both do handle salt and black sand better than any other multi-frequency detector or vlf in a mixed bag of wet and dry salt/black sand here. I'm not talking about PI's though, that's an entirely different subject altogether. The eastern seashore is different, but there too the CZ's shine over the Sovereigns (slightly) for cherry picking because the Sovereign has a much wider search pattern and retunes slower than the CZ's. I own a CZ and I owned (notice I said "owned" as in past tense) a Sovereign. Notice too that I'm really splitting hairs here, but in this case it is necessary because neither is perfect and neither is the same as the other. The CZ3D is a better overall detector and works slightly better in our high Fe soil (inland) over the Sov too, count on it. However, the Sovereign (very slightly) beats the CZ if a coin is placed on top of a solid granite bolder though, for what it is worth. I've had both of them in my hot hands and I like the balance of the CZ better. The Sovereign is still a fine detector though, especially for salt beach hunting, and a much better bet here than any of the AT's, including the AT Gold. As a third choice alternative, the Gold Bug PRO would be my pick, and according to what I interpret from Dave Johnson's writings it is even a better bet than an F75 for salt beach hunting. I have never seen an Excal used in all my life on our beaches here, not in California, Oregon, or Washington. I'm not saying they are not used here, it's just that most are Whites (because they are built here), then (cheap) BH's, then Fishers, then Tesoros. A Tesoro Silver uMax works fairly well here, and much better than one would expect. In fact, I have found more goodies on our beaches here with an old Tesoro Silver Sabre than with any other metal detector, and mostly because it cherry picks so well, and not because of its depth capabilities, because they are/were not a deep machine.