Excal to CZ21

[pistolpete]

Hi guys. I am looking for some hardcore feedback from anyone who has made the jump from the Excal to the cz21. what do you like better on the cz, where is the excal better, would you do the swap again. I have to make a new water machine purchase and have used my excel 800 for 10 years so it would be great to hear any excal to cz reports. thanx....

 

[Reeseb]

I have both machines. I like the CZ21 much better when iron is present because it is faster (recovery delay) and I can hear and work around the iron looking for adjacent targets. You can't do that with the Excal because it nulls on iron and the audio cutout/cutin increases recovery delay. The CZ21 is noticalbly deeper, too. If there are a lot of hot rocks, the Excal with its DD coil shines.

 

[tvr]

Both detectors here too; CZ-20 with 8 inch coil and Excal with 10 inch. Also have a CZ-6a with a compliment of coils. I also find the CZ deeper. The DD on the Excal sweeps more area than the 8 inch concentric on the CZ-20 and the DD can separate two targets next to each other a little better if you are sweeping across the targets in the right direction.

In black sand, I think the CZ handles it a lot better. I always run either auto tune or discrimination 0 with the CZ. If CZ starts to sound on heavy black sand, slow down a little and it detects well through it. Excal nulls on heavy black sand and takes a lot of turning down the sensitivity and even slower coil speeds to start being able to work it, at least it does for me. Or; I'll just run all metal and dig it all working the real heavy black sand (for either detector).

I've not had problems with hot rocks with either detector; although I have other detectors that love making hot rocks sound very good! It takes a little time on the CZ to learn the iron signals that bounce to high tone. Once you figure that out you won't dig iron unless you want to get it out of the way to make sure it isn't masking something else. I don't dig any more iron with the CZ than I do with the Excal. The iron bounce with the CZ is very related to coil speed. If it bounces low to high tone, slow down and see if it still bounces.

CZ's are built solidly. Significantly less maintenance for the CZ in my experience with the two.
Cheers,
tvr

 

[PowerDetecting]

I use a CZ-21 My uncle uses his excal. He likes my CZ-21 I like his excal but I still love my CZ... There is alot of black sand here on our beaches and he says he nulls all the time and I do not seem to have a problem with black sand. I hit a /12 gram toe ring at 15" Dry sand he couldnt hit it at 10. His excal hit the ring at around 10" in wet sand I could not hit it at 4" full throttle settings. So needless to say the excal is hotter on tiny gold in wet sand but dry sand the CZ-21 blew excal out of the water.

 

[brobox]

The first of this year I purchased the newer CZ 21 for the sole reason of comparing it to my Excalibur. I had hunted with the older model CZ 20 for about 10 years so I was familiar with the CZ's and still own a CZ 6a.

So for those interested, this is my opinion of the two machines in an equal comparison. I own both machines and will keep both machines.

Hunting comfort right out of the box......CZ 21
Factory shaft quality....CZ 21
Headphone sound quality.......CZ 21
Coil size and ground coverage (with the CZ in autotune(all metal)) ....CZ 21
Ease of control settings for hunting.....Excal
Weight and comfort of control housing...Excal
Abilty to relocate the control housing for personal choice...Excal
Target type ID by tone....Excal
Targets sizing and shape by tone....Excal
ID of bottle caps....Excal
Iron elimination.....Excal
Abilty to manually tune or de-tune....CZ 21
Depth......Equal, one is not deeper than the other.
Reliability and build quality.....CZ 21
Over all hunting comfort and tones....Excal
Battery recharging...Excal
Price......CZ 21
Customer Service, repair costs, availability of replacement items....CZ 21

Overall opinion, I like the tones better with the Excal, but if I was a dig it all hunter, then the CZ would be fine. If I was a new hunter wanting a quality VLF machine, would I spend the extra $500. for an Excalibur?....no.
The Excal is the Cadillac of the two machines when it is working right, however the CZ 21 is going to do the same job at a lesser price and will probably last longer. Just this users opinion, others may vary.

For those interested, this was a backyard air test of the two subject machines, both setup the same way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc0Ac8hUwTk

 

[John (Ma)]

I have both and think you are pretty much on BroBox. I was fortunate and got a good deal on an older Excal, but would have trouble spending the new dollars for a new one. So I wanted a back up water detector and with an 8" coil and the CZ had a fair price and I am not dissapointed one bit. Both great units, but as you mentioned the Fisher seems built better.

 

[icurabeachguy]

I'm with Reeseb, the CZ is noticeably deeper than my Excal and the CZ is built like a tank compared to the Excal. I've been primarily a CZ user and bought a used Excal blue to see if it was any better...for the money, the CZ is hard to beat. *Note: I bought both my CZ20 and 21 used and also the Excal. The CZ20 is still running strong after 7 years and the 21 had to be sent in once to get a new coil. The Excal coil cracked after 3 months usage in the same environment that the CZs lasted for years. The Excal runs great with the new S-12 coil though...