EXCAL COIL & HEADPHONE MODIFICATION

[Delmarva Sandman]

I have an all stock EXCAL with a 10 inch coil. I was thinking about grey ghost underwater headphones, and a larger coil say a 15 inch WOT, or sun ray S-12. I do 90 to 95% of my beach hunting on dry sand and am interested in a set up that would provide better depth, and cover a larger surface area with each sweep. I have heard both good and bad issues with the 15 inch WOT coils ( sometimes erratic ). Does this sound like money well spent. I would appreciate any feedback on this issue. Thanks in advance from the DELMARVA SANDMAN.

 

[cabochris]

I have had all 3. I did not like the Excal S-12 combo at all! Minelab hardwired it for me. Just did not seem to work right. Neither did the S-8. But I did like the WOT hardwired to Excalibur. But in water tough to swing! I found the WOT to be sensitive to small targets. Plus if you use a balance rod, WOT can swing all day on land. So the WOT is a go! The GG Headphones are very comfortable, but I thought the sound was a bit brash. The headphones can also be wired by Minelab. I hunt mainly in the water and sold my Excal/WOT combo because of drag in water. Now I wish I had kept it.

I think you would be happy with the WOT and GG. I have tried many detectors over the years and love the Excalibur. But in all fairness the Excalibur is a slower machine. I feel for covering ground on the beach there are some other detectors to think about. The CZ21 10 inch would be a faster responding machine, and cover more Real Estate quicker. If you do not mind digging more junk, Whites PI Pro is a very fast machine, nailing targets even with a fast sweep. Both go pretty deep. I recently purchased an older Whites Surfmaster PI, had it modified my Mr. Bill for more gold sensitivity, along with Gray Ghost Headphones... because Whites factory headphones pinch my ears too much! It too is a fast pulse that one can choose to cover more ground quickly. A slower but good pulse machine is the Garrett Infinium. You can hip or chest mount it, and with the 14 inch Mono Coil, was the deepest detector I have ever tried! Yes, even deeper than my WOT Excal. Yet I always tend to find more in the water when I cover more ground. Covering ground is more important to me that raw depth alone.

So the WOT coil does cover more ground per sweep, but the Excalibur requires a slower sweep to process all the frequencies.

But again, I think you would like the WOT Excal. Just make sure to tune to a low and steady threshold... even if that requires lowering the sensitivity way down. Then keep your sweep slow and steady. If you like your Excal now, then you should be happy with the WOT. CC.

 

[Gulf Hunter]

I have never used a larger than 10" coil, but have the Gray Ghost Underwaters now. They are nice to wear, hardly even know they are on your head. The tones are a bit higher pitched, than stock, but much sharper too. I can hear the deep whispers better than ever, especially in Pinpoint. I think they were money well spent. I am not a fan of the larger coils, because the majority of my hunting is in deeper water and I have trouble controlling larger coils.

 

[Delmarva Sandman]

I thought I would have a waterproof connector wired by Minelab so I could switch between 10 inch stock coil ( for water hunting ) and 15 inch WOT ( for dry sand ) so that drag would not be an issue. Straight shaft should correct any issues from added weight with larger coil. Have owned the excal for 5 years and am happy with performance I was just hoping to get a little more out of it. I found that the stock blue Minelab headphones are uncomfortable, and seem to be easily affected by wind. Have heard alot of good things about the Grey Ghost headphones, and think this would be a nice setup. Gulf Hunter and Cabochris thanks for all of your valuable input, your feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[cabochris]

Sounds like a good set-up. You could also add an 7" BBS coil to your arsenal. Gee, I just might have one for sale! Go for the Gray Ghost. You can always switch back to factory phones yourself. Just have Minelab wire up GG and send you old factory phones back wired to detector housing end-cap. Once the set screws are removed, end cap comes off and 2 headphone wires are slipped off/on. Very easy. Good luck, CC.

 

[OUTATIME]

I have 2 Excals one all factory with a 10" coil and a straight shaft, and the other is has a Sunray S-12 Intruder straight shaft with standard blue headphone.
Each has it's strengths and weaknesses.

The 10" coil is great for working in the water and also near the surf, where the S-12 falses too much in the surf and would be next to impossible to operate in the water. On the other hand the S-12 is great for covering large areas quickly and the S-12 coil is Very light making it a breeze to swing especially with the straight shaft, also I've found that the S-12 is better at picking up VERY small pieces of gold.

For Example... [attachment 78462 Dec12007008a.jpg]

The question is, where do you find most of your gold? If you find it near the waters edge or in the water, I would stick with the 10" coil; if you find it on the dry and wet sand I would say go with the larger coil. Or do like I did and get both!

As for the Headphone I'm afraid I'm no help there at all, I've never used anything but the factory headphones. Ignorance is Bliss...

Happy Huntin
OUTATIME