E-Trac or Excalibur II 1000 (beaches and land mainly)

[jjbond]

(Note, please forgive me if double posting is forbidden. I was not sure where to post this so it is also in the Excalibur forum).

Hi folks, this is my first post to this forum. I used the search engine which was useful but didn't really help with my decision... I was going to get an E-Trac till I noticed the Excalibur II 1000 were reasonable in price on the used market. I compared the two and noticed that the E-Trac is a wider frequency range (up to 25 as opposed to up to 100 on the Excalibur) and am torn on which to get. I don't ever plan on doing any scuba (completely submerged) use of the detector. Mainly it would be for on the beach, in a couple feet of water, on land in parks and perhaps on the occasional trip to Australia for gold nugget trips.

So what I'm curious about is this... is it worth giving up the extra frequencies of the E-Trac for the submerisability of the Excalibur or are they totally different beasts? Is the E-Trac worth spending a couple hundred more to buy new than a used Excalibur II 1000 on E-Bay for the above mentioned uses?

I do like the idea of not being worried about getting an LCD display wet in the rain (am in the Pacific NW) but the smaller frequency range concerns me (but may mean nothing, I'm totally new to detectors).

Thank you all for any suggestions.
Jennifer

 

[Steve from Ohio]

I have both the E-trac and the Excalibur 800 Jennifer.

Here are the differences and advantages of each.

The E-trac----

Both visual and audio ID of targets. Allows for a more informed choice on weather to dig or not dig.

The E-trac is more versatile on land than the Excalibur. The E-trac has several modes. Those modes are used for whatever you may be hunting such as coins, relics, beach, etc. .

The E-trac has a quick mask that allows for programming in the field to allow for discriminating certain objects that you may come across that you do not want to find, such as 22 shells, Zinc pennies, etc.....

The E-trac has a depth gauge that will give you a good idea of how deep the target is.

You can also accept or reject objects with the E-trac.

The E-trac is a full band spectrum machine. It automatically adjusts itself to transmit the frequencies required to match the ground and type of hunting that you are doing,. The E-trac has a range of 1.5 to 100 khz. which will allow for detecting in many places other machines may have trouble in. The E-trac picks the frequencies automatically.

The E-trac has more adjustments on audio, discrimination, and tons of other things that can be made to fit the type of hunting and the area you are hunting.

The E-trac has several coils that can be quickly changed for the type of hunting you are doing.

The E-trac has the E-trac exchange where you can share and save preferences and settings with other E-trac users. If someone has a great program that they use for certain objects or areas, you can download those settings from them and use them yourself.


The Excalibur------

Has BBS---broad band spectrum technology. The Excalibur transmits on 17 frequencies simultaneously all the time ranging from 1.5 to 25.5 khz. in 1.5 khz steps.

Can be used underwater or on land.

Is a sound machine. No Visual indicators available.

The Excalibur automatically compensates for ground mineralization.

The Excalibur has only a few adjustments....threshold, discrimination and volume.

The Excalibur is very rugged.

The Excalibur in the discrimination mode will null out iron.

Now the little problems with each.

The E-trac issues.....

Can be overwhelming for someone just starting out detecting. Lots of bells and whistles that can be a little much for some.

The screen scratches easily. There are covers that can be bought to stop this problem but it is a problem none the less.

The armrest is uncomfortable. Best to get an aftermarket arm rest.

Weighs a bit much for some. Can cause a sore arm at first but after a while, it becomes less of a problem.

Cannot get it wet especially at the ocean beaches. Best to stay away from the water with the E-trac.

The price. Yes it is worth every penny. But, it does cost more than almost any other high end detector available today. Will pay for itself but you have to use it.

The 11 inch DD coil is a bit much for really trashy areas. A smaller coil is needed for the really trashy parks and areas with lots of pull tabs and junk. But that is true with almost all detectors.

Now the Excalibur issues.....

The factory shaft is very uncomfortable to use. The ergonomics of the Excalibur can be improved by getting a balanced straight shaft. Those run around 100 dollars or you can hip mount the Excalibur.

The headphones are not the best. Should be upgraded to Gray Ghosts or other waterproof headphones. The Excalibur has to be modified for that because the headphones are hard wired into the control pod.

The coil is what you get and in stock form cannot be changed. You can modify the Excalibur to accept other coils but the waterproof integrity of the machine will become an issue. Modifications are available to allow for coil changes but it is a bit costly.

The Excalibur is not for tone deaf people. Takes a little while to learn the language of the Excalibur. After you learn it, you will be able to identify what you have detected by the sound. It really is kind of neat to be able to hear the differences of say a dime to a penny.

So that's about it. I would say that the main factor in your decision is weather you would do any water hunting at all. If that is the case, you cannot go wrong with the Excalibur.

If you would be doing land only detecting, then I would say the E-trac has the edge. I like being able to see how deep I have to dig and having the visual to ID what I am digging. It is not perfect, but in all my years of detecting, the E-trac has been the most stable and easiest to use detector I ever owned. The Excalibur has found some very deep stuff for me on land and it is my backup for my E-trac if I should ever have a problem with it. I do also hunt in the water and the Excalibur is perfect for that.

Either machine is a winner.

 

[jjbond]

Thank you Steve... that was an excellent write up and GREATLY appreciated of your time. I think I'm going to get the E-Trac, paying so much for waterproofing (Sovereign in a bathing suit) makes no sense to me. I'm new to detecting so the E-Trac may be overwhelming but I'd rather have a good machine from day one and be VERY careful around salt air with the E-Trac and then buy an Excalibur later if needed.

Thanks again.
Jennifer

 

[Neil]

Take a look at the Sov GT also. It has an all metal tracking mode that might be useful to you. Also it can be hipmounted, the Etrac/Excal/Sov are all heavy machines so that can be helpful also. The Sov is a little more adjustable than the Excal but no where near as adjustable as the Etrac but in all honesty one could say the Etrac and Explorer have to many adjustments or better to say more adjustments that are necessary for most. You can also wade with the Sov without fear of water shooting up the shaft since its a different design than the Etrac.
Also FBS or BBS, not so sure it really makes a difference. I wonder what the Explorer/Etrac would be like with BBS versus FBS.
HH
Neil

either way, look around, try different forums for different opinions.