Anyone use only the Excalibur?

[Steve from Ohio]

I was wondering. I have two Minelabs. An E-trac and an Excalibur. I like the E-trac a lot. It really goes deep and I like hunting land. The only problem is land hunting is not anywhere as near as profitable as water hunting. Seems tons of folks hunt the land and far fewer hunt the water. And the water finds seem to be far better...more rings and jewelry and less coins, at least for me anyways.

Here in Ohio, the water is cold until around memorial day so water hunting is tough...unless I get a dry suit. All Ohio state swimming beaches are closed until memorial day. So I use the E-trac a lot more than the Excalibur. I do like the Excalibur a lot as a land machine, but the 8 inch coil is in many cases too small for the coverage I need when land hunting. So my Excalibur ears are not up to par when it comes time to use it.

I am in Florida for several months in the winter so hunting gets better for me in the winter at the ocean beaches.

Might I be better off selling the E-trac and use the Excalibur and update it with a larger coil? Use it all the time so my Excalibur ears will be at their peak for water hunting in Florida and in the summer?

I am asking, should I specialize in the Excalibur in order to be the best I can be while water hunting?

 

[aushunter]

Gudday Steve,
I have been using the Excalibur now for 13yrs and have used it all over the place.
But now I am considering a new Soveriegn as a second machine, as I find the Excal can get a bit heavy over a period usage time.
Also I try not to go from dive configuration to std land mode to much as I dont know how much those cables can take it being
stressed, so the old Excal is mainly in Dive mode so I can go snorkelling with it.
I would recommend keeping the E-trac as a land machine and/or backup, so don't be to hasty to get rid of it.
Just my thoughts on this.
HH and goodluck
aushunter

 

[Willee - Texas]

Steve, IMHO ... you have the nut setup for water hunting with your Excalibur.
The 8" coil is a good trade off ... depth for ease of pinpoint without switching modes every time.
However, dont think the 8" coil is a depth slouch.

The E-TRACK machine is a bit of overkill on the beach unless you are searching the wet sand at low tide for old items.
But then, you might do that better with a PI type machine.

I am mainly looking for recently lost jewelry when I beach and surf hunt and extreme depth is just not needed.
Good smooth ground balance, ability to handle wet salt sand, Tone ID, and reasonable depth is what I want in a beach / surf machine and the Excalibur with the 8" coil is the perfect fit.

School and park hunting is a completely different thing and requires a completely different machine.
There, I am looking for old coins ... preferably silver ... and the heck with the clad stuff.
The White's new V3 machine has a deep silver program just for that.
However, that is a lot of money to pay out for a detector ... but you already know all about that as you have an E-Track.
I doubt that I will ever find enough silver coins to pay for the White's V3 but my Excalibur II at the beach should help cover that in time.

You could go to a 10" coil and get an Anderson rod to help balance everything.
Then you could use the Excalibur for all the types of hunting you do.
But ... I think you would be better off keeping the nut set-up you have now.

You have two of the best metal detectors ever made for the type of hunting we do.
You seem to have learned how to use them so all that is needed is for you to get out there and claim your share!