CZ 21 vs The ECALIBER II

[Aaron]

Hi Guys,
I want to get a new water machine and I am trying to decide between a cz21 and a ecal II . I have a cz 3d and had a cz 70 so Im very familar with the cz's sounds. Most of my hunting will be in fresh water. I realize the opinions on this forum will be biased toward the cz but I would like to hear your opinons anyway.
Thanks, Aaron

 

[1seeker]

Im in the same boat ,saw both machines ,im going with the excal11 ,the choice hasnt been made on the 8 or 10 inch coil yet ,also have a cz70,f75 Earl

 

[ivanll]

I have no CZ-21 nor an Excalibur II.
But I do have 3 x CZ-20's with 8" and 10.5" coils and a CZ-7a Pro, same coils; and a GT with 10" and 15" coils.

Both the 21 and Excal II, have their followers and both are excellent units, I just got started on the Fisher when they came out in the mid 90's
and never needed to change, also I wear my CZ chest mounted, which the first Excal's could not do, due to a short coil wire.

I also use my CZ-20 for beach and water hunting at night and therefore make use of the 2 red LED lights and excellent pin pointing ability.

In short I got what suits my style of hunting.

 

[garwha]

When fresh water hunting your depth of all machines increases dramatically due to the saturated soil, I have a cz20 for salt water, but for fresh water I much prefer a Tesoro Stingray II or a Tigershark. They are fairly light water machines, have smallish housings, and thin coil, so they swing thougth the water much easier than my cz.

They are also very quiet, and sift out nails, bobby pins, fish hooks, and steel bottle caps that are thick in fresh water, they don't rust away like they do in the salt.

 

[Aaron]

Funny you should mention the Tiger Shark, thats what I really want but my dealers distributor is backed up 50 units due to some defect regarding leakage. And then I heard people complaining about similar problems with their Tiger Sharks too.
Thanks, Aaron

 

[Cal_Cobra]

One thing to keep in mind is the Minelab uses a DD coil, and the CZ a concentric. The DD will get better coverage, and probably handle iron a bit better. I have a Sovereign I use at the beach, and have been very happy with both salt and fresh water beach hunting, as well as a little turf hunting with it. The Excal is effectively a waterproof Sovereign. The tones between the ML and the CZ are completely different, you get a lot more audio data from the ML. I have a CZ70, but haven't used it at the beach yet, although I would like to give it a spin. I suspect you can't really go wrong with either machine, but if I had to pick, and I'm a Fisher fan, but I'd pick the Excal with the 10" coil.

 

[garwha]

I have not heard of a leakage proble on the tigershark. I do know in the past there very few problems, and most of those were related to the original stingray. The nice thing is the Lifetime warranty, fast service, and no questions asked.

Regarding the tones on the other machine, I hunt my land and water CZ's wide open all the time, and the CZ to me has the perfect number of tones. Hay, this is water hunting where most of recover most everything exept iron anyway.

 

[tvr]

The Tiger Shark back log is because the coil / unit connectors that were being used are no longer available and Tesoro has been working to get a form, fit and function replacement manufactured for a reasonable price. They want to make sure they get it right.

I've got a CZ20, bought used, and it does well in salt and fresh; though I use it mainly in salt water.

In my opinion, of the three (CZ, Excal and Tiger Shark) I'd feel better picking up a used Tiger Shark than the other two used. I've seen a number of lightly used Tiger Sharks available for surprisingly good prices considering they are backlogged new.

All three should give you good results in fresh water, if you learn them.
tvr

 

[1seeker]

Aaron just bought 2 excaliburs if that tells you anything ,not the excal2, both used 1 is hand made from Garry storm 1993Ny model hand tuned by him with the seasearch coil a gem sword decal ,the other is a Blue model get the 800 dont get the 1000 ,the excal 2 ,has the same technology as the older models ,so save some money, get an older used model and wait for new technology to come out ,just like im waiting for the after the ltd series and by the way The second run on LTDS has started guys YEP mark my word Its happening !!!! So go spend some more money cause MARK my word thier is a new better machine on its way LOL Earl Maryland