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excalibur 11 versus 3030

S

sugar

New member
please can you excalibur guys help which is better for water and why thankyou for your time this is a serious enquiry
 
Obviously we are going to say Xcal. A lot will depend on your patience to learn the 3030. It also depends on where you are hunting...... fresh water or salt, mineralization or not. I have a guy i hunt with occassionally that uses the CTX. Its taking him a lot of phone calls to get it right for hunting in salt water here in Fl.... where mineralization is very light. He also has started to rely on the TID screen NOT the tones..... which causes a BIG problem in the deeper water. The machine just hasnt been out long enough IMO. There is going to be a LONG learning curve to KNOW this machine..... at a hefty price. Im a firm believe simple is still the best in the water...... and the Xcal gets good depth, good target id and is simple to use out of the box.... ANYWHERE. Just because a machine is water proof dont make it the best choice..... yes you can MAKE it do the job. For the price i can get an Xcal and PI and still have money left. At that point the CTX cant touch the PI for depth...... and id bet i there is little the CTX will find i wont. Hows that for a logical choice?

Dew
 
I do not own a CTX and the only thing that I know about it is from what I've read in the CTX forum. Obviously it's a nice machine and will find the goods, but if I had to choose, I would pick the Excal and as Dew said above, throw in a PI machine on top of it. The Excal you can take anywhere in the water up to 200 ft and the CTX is water proof only up to 10 feet and I've heard that the CTX is having some issues with falsing in the surf and the occasional leaks around the battery seal. For beach hunting, I do not need all the bells and whistles that come with the CTX, just give me the Excal with all of it's simple adjustments and you'll find just as much as the CTX for more then 1/2 the price IMO.
 
Sugar,years ago Cross Country Ski manufactures were making combo skis good for skating or classic.One of the best ski instructors I had said these combo skis did nothing really great.The ski just got by as a useful skate ski or classic not equipment for a serious classic or skate skier too much of a compromise.My point these all terrain detectors too heavy and awkward for the land and not made for serious water hunting,example depth and an ID screen for underwater?Just my thoughts.Good Luck Ron
 
You need to search for the words "Excalibur, Excal, Sovereign" ANY WORDS ANY DATE in the CTX forum and see what others have to say in comparison who own them and the new machine. I've read some real interesting comparisons in there. Also search this forum for "CTX 3030" EXACT WORDS ANY DATE and you'll find some of their views on it compared to their Excals for beach/water hunting too in this forum too. Might want to do the same search in the beach forum and the main detecting forum as I've seen posts comparing their Excals to their new CTX in those forums as well. Plenty of input can be had that way to form your opinion on which to get.
 
Wish I could tell u about the 3030 but I've never used one, can't afford it. But I do use the excal and I can tell u it has paid for itself several times over with the jewelry I have found. If u get the 3030, just learn it and I'm sure it will be just fine. HH
 
The Excal is made for salt water and fresh water hunting , CTX in salt very risky my friend has one now 3 months and no where close to the Excal,s depth and stability enough said :detecting: Jim
 
If the comparison is for water hunting and I assume it is....the Excal II hands down is the better machine and about half the price. I do own the CTX-3030 and though it is a very deep machine, it is NOT as deep as the Excal. It is waaay more complicated, and the screen is worthless once submerged to you still hunt by sound. The 3030 is nice as a waterproof land hunter, but if your primary use will be water then get the Excal. I'm going to get rid of my 3030 by next Spring and replace it with an Excal II(for water) and a XP Deus (for land). The boys in the 3030 are VERY bias toward the 3030, its hard to get an honest opinion over there. I made my expensive mistake decision based on their early hype of the machine...very disappointed I fell for the hype.
 
Well I had my first shaft jam on my CTX 3030 and I only been in fresh water about 5 times because I am sick right now. And let me tell you it was jammed pretty well and my detector is real clean. I now make it a point to wipe it down real good after detecting.
The ID numbers still are throwing me a curve ball they seem to jumpy and sometimes the numbers are the same for targets. EX a quarter,penny and dime all came in at 12-46 the other day when hunting a local beach?
But the CTX does find targets but I am willing to bet my old EXCAL could of found them too.
If I had my choice and only water hunting I would buy another EXCAL.
 
thankyou for your HONEST REPILES and i will let you into a secret my 3030 has gone sick so took back and have been given a new replacement BUT left it with the dealer to resell as a new machine REASON loss of confidence i suppose as i wanted it for some water hunting NOT TOO DEEP but kept reading the same thing over and over again
of course i have regrets as it was a well built machine but think that the new ultimate coil on my etrac and an excalibur will give me what i am looking for had to post on this site as dont think i would get an answer anywhere else so what do you guys think have i made a GOOD DECISION THANKS
 
sugar said:
thankyou for your HONEST REPILES and i will let you into a secret my 3030 has gone sick so took back and have been given a new replacement BUT left it with the dealer to resell as a new machine REASON loss of confidence i suppose as i wanted it for some water hunting NOT TOO DEEP but kept reading the same thing over and over again
of course i have regrets as it was a well built machine but think that the new ultimate coil on my etrac and an excalibur will give me what i am looking for had to post on this site as dont think i would get an answer anywhere else so what do you guys think have i made a GOOD DECISION THANKS
Click to expand...

That's my combination of machines and I'm a real happy camper. An Excal and an E-Trac with the right arsenal of coils will find everything you want.
 
I do this to my Excal everytime I finish hunting salt or fresh water because it will freeze up on you, I also found out the hard way, had to buy a new lower rod for mine. HH
 
All very great points. I have the 3030 and have just over 180 hrs using the machine. Very difficult to go from a non computer detector to the 3030. I am not yet convinced that it won't be a great beach machine. It has 3 gold rings so far and several gold earrings lots of clad. Like said above the Excalibur or GT would have found them also. I am not sure its able to go the depth do to the poor stabilization with salt water. I have a big issue with the target sounding shallow reguardless of the depth. I also have issues with telling the machine what I want my targets to sound like. I first thought great but now not so great. I want gold to sound like gold cause the machine thinks it does. Not because I said gold should sound just like a nickle and can slaw. With the GT and Excal. I can tell foil can slaw and nickle from a piece of gold. Ya,I know I still dig the trash as one never knows. But with the 3030 you really don't know the tone is always the same based on the mathematical number it falls in. There is no doubled tones or dragging tone indicating two or more metals. (bottle cap) it is a great dirt machine so it will always have its place on my wall! And it has nearly paid its way as they always do in a year or so!
BCNJ
 
I just got the CTX 3030 for water hunting and I have been happy with it. Just had my finds for the past 4 weeks appraised at over $1,000.00. Last find was a gold band with eleven diamonds! Anyway, on my CTX, I set my sounds up how I want them so I don't ever have to look at the screen in the water. I can tell by the tone what range the target is in. I found that in water hunting you must use manual sensitivity if you want depth. The manual specifies to use manual at the beach. I use the 17 inch coil in the water and run at 25 sensitivity. I can get a gold ring (or a nickel) at 18 inches through water or air. I have never used an Excal - but perhaps someone can tell me - Can the Excal top that?
 
Nickel at 18"......you will need to video that....:blink:
 
Do a search in the CTX forum for "Excalibur, Sovereign" ANY WORDS ALL DATES and you'll find some comparisons. Also search this forum for "CTX3030, CTX 3030" ANY WORDS ALL DATES and you'll find stuff in here too.
 
mswarbrick said:
OK...I will see if I can make an air test video of it and I'll post the link
Click to expand...

Really needs to be buried. Use a length of PVC pipe (cut off to a certain length).
Place item in bottom of pipe and fill with sand and then bury in the same beach sand so the top of the pipe is flush with the surface.

If possible, leave it for a few days so that everything settles uniformly.

This is a great way to determine true detector performance on the beach.

Air tests are meaningless. I had a powerful detector that could air test a nickel at 20" but only 10" when buried in white beach sand.

Tony.
 
If you do the search I said, you'll find it's not as cut and dry of an issue as some would like to believe. Many oposing opinions. That's all I'll say.
 
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