Took the Excal to a favorite park I used to coin hunt. Definitely not for coins. 67 targets dug in two and a half hours. A few nickels, and pennies, all new, the rest bottle caps, pull tabs. There are lots of wheaties, indians, and silver in this park, ground was soaked. At least I know now. Keep her for the water, where she belongs, and shines. Des in Buffalo
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Excal on Land
- Thread starter desmond
- Start date
Des, I disagree! I have been land hunting with my excal 800 for over a year now. It discriminates equally as well as a SOV. I found it actually MORE stable than my SOV (which I have since sold) in the soils where I live. Land hunting, I have found 2 gold rings, numerous silver rings, other silver items and many many coins with the excal. I have been way more satisfied with the way my excal performs on land than any other detector (besides my TDI) I have owned to date. I would give it another try....just my opinion however.
I can see it finding gold rings, but it didn't pick up one wheatie or silver coin, and before my DFX was stolen, I could get 2 pieces of silver there per trip, plus at least 15 wheaties. I'm using no pinpoint, sens at 6, and discrim at 1. Didn't even find new quarters, lots at this park. Love the Excal in the water. Maybe I'm missing something. Have had the Excal for one season. Coin hunted before that for 8 years, all with DFX. Found lots of silver with that machine, and I know the Explorer and E-trac are better for deep silver. Maybe shoot me a PM. Must be doing something wrong with the machine. Des
desmond, I would have to agree with you. I find the Excal to be annoying to use on land sites (especially turf, for instance, when trying to angle for deep silver). So I suppose the same would go for the Sov, since they are so similar. However, there's no shortage of people who have adjusted quite nicely to their Sov's on various land sites. But for me, I found the pinpointing (which is absolutely no problem on the beach, since holes are not an issue) to be very annoying.
It admittedly goes deep, but unlike the beach, where targets are spread out, some (most) land sites can be an utter symphany of signals. And with that long tail that the Sov and Excal gives (target sound continues for a moment even after passing over the target), it just doesn't seem like a machine to use in a junky environment. You'd have to creep way slow.
So it seems that the Explorer (which goes equally as deep as the Excal) is the choice for land sites. It has a much more pronounced target separation.
JMHO.
It admittedly goes deep, but unlike the beach, where targets are spread out, some (most) land sites can be an utter symphany of signals. And with that long tail that the Sov and Excal gives (target sound continues for a moment even after passing over the target), it just doesn't seem like a machine to use in a junky environment. You'd have to creep way slow.
So it seems that the Explorer (which goes equally as deep as the Excal) is the choice for land sites. It has a much more pronounced target separation.
JMHO.
I find the Sovereigns to be excellent in most land sites I have seen and that included some very trashy site that is littered with Pull tabs and the old rusty bottle caps. To begin with I hated those trashy sites as many were for me, but once I got to know the Sovereign I was picking out coins in with this trash with no problem. I use the tones first and you have to go slow and use the 180 meter and use the right coil for the area. The coil I do the best with in these sites is the older 8 inch coinsearch coil and the S-8 of Sun Rays which seem to even work better in the trash, but signals seem to be smaller and linger lees than the coinsearch coil.
With a Sovereign and the Explorers and E-Trac you have to swing slower and listen to what the detector is telling you and if you don't you will miss some great stuff. To me the Signals are harder to hear on the Explorer, but find the E-Trac is better for me with the pitch hold. I have used many different detectors over the 38 years of detecting including most top of the line detectors of Garrett, Whites and Fishers plus some others too like the Teknetics (Mark 1) and find a lot of deeper coins and coins close to trash in these same spots now with the Sovereigns I was unable to get before. I have even got signals of a deep coin others try with their top of the line detectors and tell me there is nothing there or iron only for me to dig a deep wheatie or silver coins.
The secret is knowing the Sovereign or the Explorer or E-Trac and getting to know what it is telling you, then you will see why so many swear by the Sovereigns, Explorers and E-Tracs for coin detectors and picking out so much more others have missed.
Myself if I was going to do land hunting I would not use a Excal and buy a Sovereign even if it was used as I feel by using a meter to go along with the tones it is great for coin hunting and dig so much less trash and able to pick up those super deep coins better. I also feel the Excal is heavier to swing in the stock configuration plus feel the chance of doing something to the seals might make it leak if used for water hunting.
Does anyone else notice used Sovereign prices have went up and hard to find compared to a few years ago. Could it be others are getting to see what these Sovereigns can do and keeping them and those that do sell want good money for them?
With a Sovereign and the Explorers and E-Trac you have to swing slower and listen to what the detector is telling you and if you don't you will miss some great stuff. To me the Signals are harder to hear on the Explorer, but find the E-Trac is better for me with the pitch hold. I have used many different detectors over the 38 years of detecting including most top of the line detectors of Garrett, Whites and Fishers plus some others too like the Teknetics (Mark 1) and find a lot of deeper coins and coins close to trash in these same spots now with the Sovereigns I was unable to get before. I have even got signals of a deep coin others try with their top of the line detectors and tell me there is nothing there or iron only for me to dig a deep wheatie or silver coins.
The secret is knowing the Sovereign or the Explorer or E-Trac and getting to know what it is telling you, then you will see why so many swear by the Sovereigns, Explorers and E-Tracs for coin detectors and picking out so much more others have missed.
Myself if I was going to do land hunting I would not use a Excal and buy a Sovereign even if it was used as I feel by using a meter to go along with the tones it is great for coin hunting and dig so much less trash and able to pick up those super deep coins better. I also feel the Excal is heavier to swing in the stock configuration plus feel the chance of doing something to the seals might make it leak if used for water hunting.
Does anyone else notice used Sovereign prices have went up and hard to find compared to a few years ago. Could it be others are getting to see what these Sovereigns can do and keeping them and those that do sell want good money for them?
Rick(ND) said:
Rick great post. I was using a top of line metal detector from another company and I wasn't happy with it and I felt I should be finding a lot more with it. I was reading in the treasure magazines about the Minelab Sovereign and was impressed with what I was reading and bought a new (at that time) Sovereign XS that has the 8" coinsearch coil. It took some getting use to because I went from a machine that had a TID and fast recovery to no TID and slow sweep machine. When you can under stand what the tones are telling you, man you can find some good stuff. When I compare the two detectors the Sovereign would always come out on top. The one instance that comes to my mind is when I heard the sweet sound of silver from Sovereign and my other detector would not give a good signal and it turned out to be 1914 barber dime. I was wondering how many of these coins I passed up with the that other detector?
Since 1997 I made some great finds with my other 2 Minelab detectors and the Sovereign XS that I still own and use. I doubt that I will ever sell my Sovereign.
John
Tony in FL
Member
Although most of my hunting is in the water or wet sand, I would also disagree that the Excal should not be used on land. From a technology point of view it is more or less a water proof Sovereign and of course the Sovereign is regarded as an excellent land machine. Granted the Sovereign gives you more flexibility to change coils, headphones, add a meter, etc. I could certainly be wrong but I would expect in the right hands both the Sovereign and Excal (when using the same size coil) should be able to hit on nearly the same targets. Of course I will be the first to say that the Excal with stock shaft can be tiring to swing. I am using a straight shaft on both of mine.
Maybe the Sovereign idsdifferent then the Excal 2. I have my disc on 1, pinpoint off, sensitivity on 6, and I was going slow, real slow Much different then in the water. Suggestions Rick, I've seen your posts. I didn't get one wheatie. Someone suggested putting the machine in pinpoint, but don't you lose all of the sound pitch, high for silver, lower for gold? Des in Buffalo. Also, I know the E-trac and Explorers are amazing, I'm just talking about the Excal 2 on land. If I had the cash. I would just buy an E-trac for land, right now I don't. Love the Excal in water.
Tony in FL
Member
desmond said:
Someone with a Sovereign can correct me if I am wrong but I don't think they would ID differently as they both use 17 frequency BBS technology. I even think they use the same 8" / 10" Tornado coil (just the one on the Excal is hard wired while the one on the Sovereign can be changed). If your Excal is not hitting on older pennies and silver then I suspect your coil was not over any, the targets were too deep, the settings not ideal, etc. I suppose there could be a malfunction with your machine as well so you may want to run some tests.
I mostly hunt the wet sand and water. I may change my mind in the future but at this point I plan to simply grab an Excal for land hunting. Since the Excal is basically a waterproof Sovereign it should be plenty capable for land hunting. I would try hunting that park again. It may have been just an unlucky day.
Finderskeeper
Active member
This is a Ford vs Chevy vs Mopar argument.
Some like it, some don't.
I like using the Excalibur II on land. After all, isn't sand land?
The Excalibur takes some learning and I see that as a problem for some people. Not saying you guys but for someone who is just starting out, they will be lost. It is not a machine for beginners.
I hunt land while up in Ohio. I find lots of things. Lots of change. Lots of rings. Lots of almost everything. I even dig up pull tabs once in a while.
It took about a full season before I got good enough to be proficient with the Excalibur. If I could have only one machine, the Excalibur would be it. It is good on almost everything.
There are arguments that Excalibur in pin point has the characteristics of a PI machine. I tend to agree with that statement. I found it to be deeper in many areas than my E-trac.
I also use the discriminate mode quite often on land where on the beach not so much.
The Excalibur can change coils easily if you wire it up with the plugs. But I found that by hard wiring a coil, it makes it a bit more stable. Not sure why.
I've had many high end machines in the past but I always seem to gravitate back to the Excalibur.
So my advice is to use what works best for you. Don't worry about depth. Don't get excited about bells and whistles. Just get the best machine you can, learn it and be the best at what you can do with it.
Some like it, some don't.
I like using the Excalibur II on land. After all, isn't sand land?
The Excalibur takes some learning and I see that as a problem for some people. Not saying you guys but for someone who is just starting out, they will be lost. It is not a machine for beginners.
I hunt land while up in Ohio. I find lots of things. Lots of change. Lots of rings. Lots of almost everything. I even dig up pull tabs once in a while.
It took about a full season before I got good enough to be proficient with the Excalibur. If I could have only one machine, the Excalibur would be it. It is good on almost everything.
There are arguments that Excalibur in pin point has the characteristics of a PI machine. I tend to agree with that statement. I found it to be deeper in many areas than my E-trac.
I also use the discriminate mode quite often on land where on the beach not so much.
The Excalibur can change coils easily if you wire it up with the plugs. But I found that by hard wiring a coil, it makes it a bit more stable. Not sure why.
I've had many high end machines in the past but I always seem to gravitate back to the Excalibur.
So my advice is to use what works best for you. Don't worry about depth. Don't get excited about bells and whistles. Just get the best machine you can, learn it and be the best at what you can do with it.
That is when I started with the Sovereign too (1997)and it was the XS with the 8 inch coinsearch coil. I didn't like it when I first used it and this forum had just started up and had so many told me don't give up and said to stick with it as they too didn't like it when they first got it as it gave more info than any other detector they used. Once a person got to understand it from experience with it, things sure changed in a hurry.
I got the XS2 in 98 and switched to the 8 inch coinsearch coil and found it did better than the 10 BBS coil so my main coil was the 8 inch coinsearch with the Sun Ray 180 meter and with this set up is the one I used in a well worked park in 1999 on a challenge to get one old coin out of this one area a guy worked out and said if i could get one old coin he would believe the Sovereign was better than his top of the line detector. I got around 70 total that were old and less than 15 new ones with depth from 6 inches to around 12 inches. I had to swing very very slow and work each signal that the tone was trying to change higher.
Rick
I got the XS2 in 98 and switched to the 8 inch coinsearch coil and found it did better than the 10 BBS coil so my main coil was the 8 inch coinsearch with the Sun Ray 180 meter and with this set up is the one I used in a well worked park in 1999 on a challenge to get one old coin out of this one area a guy worked out and said if i could get one old coin he would believe the Sovereign was better than his top of the line detector. I got around 70 total that were old and less than 15 new ones with depth from 6 inches to around 12 inches. I had to swing very very slow and work each signal that the tone was trying to change higher.
Rick
Those I have helped around here with the Sovereigns and having a problem I find most don't swing slow enough to hear those deep coins and those close to trash. They will go right over them and not hear them, or if they do they don't know they are good signals. After I get a deep one and they try they get nothing unless they slow down and they will hear the slight tone change, so I tell them to swing back and forth only over that small area they get the signal and see if they can get that tone climb or as steady signal they can. Targets 3 and 4 inches you can hear going faster, but the deep one you have to go slower with some decent sensitivity. I am not sure on the Excal where the sensitivity setting are, but if like the Sovereign counter clockwise all the way until it clicks is auto, then when you turn it clock wise until it click is max sensitivity and the more clockwise the less the sensitivity is. I run my Sovereigns a little less then max most of the time once I got to know my Sovereign and listen to all the chatter from the ground and when that right tone comes up it will stop me in my tracks and will swing over it again to make sure it is in the same spot and work that tone.
I only run the disc because of the tone ID and the trash that is around and find I get deeper signal here in disc than all metal, so by going slow and listening I can hear every signal of every metal item in the ground, iron will null or will move on every swing of the signal. Low tones that are not smooth I move on as nickle have a smoother tone to them like a gold ring can. Any signal that has a different tone to it than I have heard before is one I like to check out if it is repeatable as you never know what it can be.
I only run the disc because of the tone ID and the trash that is around and find I get deeper signal here in disc than all metal, so by going slow and listening I can hear every signal of every metal item in the ground, iron will null or will move on every swing of the signal. Low tones that are not smooth I move on as nickle have a smoother tone to them like a gold ring can. Any signal that has a different tone to it than I have heard before is one I like to check out if it is repeatable as you never know what it can be.
bootyhoundpa
Well-known member
ive had fields where the gt and excal out performed several whites machines including my own and a mile or two down the road is another field where the whites 5900 seems to have the advantage over the gt and excal...... all of these sites seem to have simular soil and the main trash is iron,very little aluminum.... point being just because you had poor results compared to your whites doesnt mean you wont find a spot where the minelabs out perform the whites......thats why its good to have a few different machines if possible.....no one machine seems to do it all.....
Rob in (Ca)
Active member
The Excal II worked fine for me, hunting my sports fields, the issue's I had was the Excal was so darn fragile, it did not take long before I had to ship it off to Minelabs Repair center
Yeah Neil, I'm confused as well. The machine for me any way, is completely different on land. Probably because there is so many more targets? Also, I'm a bit concerned about breaking the machine on land? Not sure what could happen but quite a few people on the forum have either had this happen (Rob in Cal). The headphones are always being pulled from my head as the machine is desogned for the water, and not for taking putting machine down while headphones still on ears. Des in Buffalo
Neil
Well-known member
Hey Desmond I was referring to the performance, not about whether it will break easily or not.
Whats confusing is a silver dime in the water is gonna sound like a silver dime in a park so I cant see how it can be completely different on land. thats what confusing to me.
excals are good detectors, Ive got a couple of them, but dont land hunt them, sometimes I will wet sand hunt them but mainly they are for in water hunting.
sure hope you get it figured out.
Whats confusing is a silver dime in the water is gonna sound like a silver dime in a park so I cant see how it can be completely different on land. thats what confusing to me.
excals are good detectors, Ive got a couple of them, but dont land hunt them, sometimes I will wet sand hunt them but mainly they are for in water hunting.
sure hope you get it figured out.