Calling all Excalibur users - Help!

[LIDigger]

Hi All,

I've been posting lately about issues that I have been having with my Excalibur. Today it became official that I have a problem with my Excalibur. Let me give you a bit of background and then y'all can help me decide what I need to do.

I purchased my Excalibur about 2-3 weeks ago. I used it once on the beach and once in ankle-high water and finally today in waist-high water. The Excalibur that I bought was used and it was the first Excalibur made, which was serialized and has the horseshoe-shaped coil. Most everyone has told me that this is the Excalibur to have due to the horseshoe coil being able to get reel deep.

(BTW, I took the Excalibur to our monthly meeting the other day and I had quite a few members drooling over it, not only for the fact that it was an Excalibur, put also for the fact that it was in such good condition and had the original coil).

Although used, this Excalibur looks like new. From what I understand the gentleman who had it previously only used it a few times and had to retire from metal detecting - (I know, a good story for a salesman to tell an anxious buyer). Although, I have heard the story a few times at this point from people in my local club who knew the previous owner. When the store first got it they tested it out, put it under water to see if it had any leaks, cleaned it and ordered a new battery pack.

The first time I was out on the beach, I found quite a few targets - nothing amazing, but at least I was finding everything I targeted. The second time out, I was unable to control my threshold and eventually could not adjust it at all. It remained constant, was a bit loud and caused me to loose a good amount of hearing for a few days. (That was only a few days ago). Everyone, (including myself), expected that the batteries were in need of charging. I charged them for about 20 hours and went out again today.

Today I was in the water about waist-high and I found my first target within two minutes or less. (It turns out that it may be half of a gold bracelet, although that's not what I am writing about). Shortly after, my Excalibur started acting up. I was getting very warbly (?) signals. Everything was very inconsistent. Once again it was hard to adjust the threshold. Nothing seemed to work. I finally got myself out of the water and called it the day with the Excalibur. (Thankfully I had a Prizm IV that I used for beach hunting so the day was not a total loss).

Anyway, a friend of mine from the club was with me. He's been MD'ing for 17 years and he took a look at the Excalibur. He pointed out that there was condensation inside the machine. There also seems to be a small bit of sand inside as well, (although that was not from today, I had seen it). He thinks that it may have a leak, and even if it is not a major leak, condensation is getting in.

I let the Excalibur sit in the car for a few hours as I used the Prizm. Later in the day my daughter came down to the beach and I let her use the Prizm and I gave the Excalibur a shot again strictly on the beach. I found two worthless targets right off the bat, but then it started acting up again.

The times that the Excalibur has worked thrill me as it finds everything and is a no-brainer to use. I do (now) have the settings correct as recommended by nearly everyone who has the Excalibur. This is definitely a machine-related error and not user-error here.

So here are some questions for me to ponder.

1) Do I bite the bullet and put more money into this Excalibur to have it repaired, since it is the one with the horseshoe coil and I hate to lose it? (I paid $750 + tax for it and then bought a coil cover and a new set of knobs).

2) Do I go back to the store I bought it from, return it and use the money to buy a White's water detector if they do not refund my money and just give me store credit? (They are a White's dealer and not Minelab).

3) Do I get a refund and put in additional money and buy a new Excalibur? (I need a water and beach detector and plan to start diving again with whatever I have next spring).

4) What would you do? I am cash-shy these days and have put way more money into metal detecting than I ever thought I would at this stage. Of course now that I am using a better machine, I do not want to step down. If I have to get my $750 + tax back (I lose the money for the coil cover and new set of knobs), do I just put in an additional $200-300 and get something new?

Help, I am getting so frustrated with my new hobby.

Chris Jett / LI Digger

 

[kered]

As it seems to work ok at the start of each trip I would open it up(take off both end caps), dry it out thouroughly and replace the end cap seals, put in some silica bags to absorbe any remaining moisture when you close it up and try it again. You will need to be able to solder to replace the seals, you may be able to rejuvenate/seal the existing ones with a bit of silicon spray/grease which would save on the desolder/solder part if your not happy doing it but its probably only a temporary solution(at least you'll know if its ok) You could also send it in to minelab and get all seals replaced including the ones on the knobs and they will give it a going over, but it seems to be working ok to start with so it can't have that much of a problem.

 

[DukeOBass]

If you can return it for a refund, I would do that and order a new Excalibur. You can't beat a properly working one!

 

[synthnut]

" If you can return it for a refund, I would do that and order a new Excalibur. You can't beat a properly working one!"

From all the Excal II posts that I've seen , I'm not sure that " a properly working one" are the right words ....A machine that is under warranty ? ...Yes !!!.....

If you are in an area where Winter is going to stop you from hunting , I would give the machine back to the dealer , and you then have all Winter to raise the money for a new one come Spring .....By that time Minelab should be on track wth their customer service .....Hopefully the dealer gave you at least a 30 day or so warranty on the machine ...Jim

 

[Willee - Texas]

Return that detector as quick as you can.
You paid too much for an obsolete machine. (that coil is really not all that hot either)
Minelab announced last year their service department will NOT work on the older Excalibur as they have no parts for them.

Get a refund (if you can) and buy a new Excalibur II ... it will have a warranty and Minelab has parts to fix them.

If you want to keep it and are handy (and brave) you can remove the end caps, dry it out real good, replace the chemical drying packet - any desiccant packet will do, replace the "O" rings, Silicone grease them good and put it back together. Not really a hard job but you need to have some skills with a soldering iron as the wires need to be disconnected to replace the "O" ring on the coil end of the detector.

Dont get me wrong here, that detector is a good one and if you could get service and repair work for it it might be worth the money you paid.
But as a disposable detector that can not be repaired it isnt worth much except to someone for parts.

 

[Tony in FL]

I agree with Willee - get a refund and buy an Excalibur II which will have a one year warranty and parts available for (hopefully) many years. To me such peace of mind is worth some extra money.

 

[Sanddigger]

A few years back I wanted a second Excal for a back up and purchased it on Ebay. When I got it, the entire control pod had sand in it. That made me wonder how it was compromised and if the sand was in there, water had to flow into it also.

Thank goodness it was returned with no problems. It didn't have the coil you spoke of so it wasn't the same machine. I wish you luck in getting the problem resolved.