EXCALIBUR DEPTH ???????

[ixlr8]

Took out my new Excal II this weekend... Kinda disappointed in the depth, or lack of it! Tried several different settings including those recommended by CJC. Best I could get was 6". I was lead to believe it could find Quarters @ 17". I guess I'm wondering what I did wrong ? Charged the battery for almost 18 hours, air tested and buried coins in the sand. Beyond 6" nothing could be located. Hopefully someone on here can set me straight on this machine. I really want to love this detector and don't plan on giving up on it! Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve

 

[OldBeechnut]

Where are you hunting, tell us about your conditions, wet, dry, sand, saltwater, inland?...location and the matrix of the underlying can adversely affect the depth along with settings, coil size, hearing.

 

[ixlr8]

Old beechnut,

Hunted at Zuma beach in southern California(moderate mineralization).using detector in the dry and wet sand with 10" coil. I used a program from CJC'S book: "Advanced Field Methods for the Excalibur II." Sens. & Vol. at max. Disc. On 1 with the Thresh. Just clicked on.

Thanks.

 

[hershey1]

Start out with your Sensitivity around 12 o'clock Disc. 1 Vol. as loud as you can stand it. Threshold barely audible. CJC' is without question an Excallibur expert but his settings may not help you at all in your location. Play with your sensitivity as it will help maintain a good threshold in the environment you are hunting in. Sounds like your Sensitivity was to high. Don't question the Excalls ability just take your time don't swing too fast and you will be posting finds before you know it. That machine will probably pay for itself by July 4th or sooner. Lot of black sand where you are hunting so have patience and that machine will reward you. HH

 

[John(Tx)]

I tried that setting you are talking about and for me at my beach, it was lousy, I get better depth with sens at 11-12 o'clock, disc 1 and a slight threshold. I have dug coins at 12"+ many times. Find what works for you at your beach, go to a different area and you may have to experiment to get the best setting. HH

 

[GONGA]

The xcal is a great machine ixlr8 ...however it is a multipurpose detector in a sense ,it has good discrimination and I personally believe that it is tuned for wet sand and underwater conditons .yesterday I went for a short hunt at a beach doing only the wet sand and I was pulling out aluminium discs about 5mm diametre at 8 to 10 inches (my faith in the excal is kind of getting restored slowly).The depth is not the greatest in air tests and dry sand or soil however it a lot better in the wet sand ...Dont worry about air tests coz they can be very misleading...Try full sensitivity ....3/4 volume and turn the threshold so you can hear it clearly(the deep targets are the ones that changes the threshold tone sometimes it can be a very slight change ) and go and hunt in the wet sand or in water you will notice the difference...otherwise use a land detector on dry sand
On the other hand if you want depth power then you have to go for a pulse induction detector like the whites dual field ....and just to let you know when I first got my Df I was very dissapointed at the air tests and other tests I did hear and there....but thanks to the guys here I realised that the learning had to be done at the beach and not on the bench.

 

[Mel Parker]

and keep the sensitivity as high as you can and still keep stability.

 

[Buried Crap NJ]

And when you ask this kind of question expect as many different answers as there are post. I read CJC books also and if you reread that portion that was one hunter that used that setting. I took it as he used it on a beach that he had problems with and it produce for him. I had also tried it and my results were less than great! Now the dials are there for a reason and your reason will be different from all of us. Change them to meet your needs to set your machine for your hunting area, and the way you hunt. What I mean by the way you hunt is the Excalibur and the Sovereign Gt are slow motion detectors! But if you are a scooter and want to be able to cover more ground than you need to set it up for that! I hunt with the Sensitivity around 4 and as high as 7 during one hunt depends on where I am hunting at that time. Wet sand, water, dry sand, iron fresh, salt.
The threshold is key here as CJC says its not a low buzz setting
Its a very, very, very low buzz setting.
Give your self time with this new technology you have. When you are hunting play with the nobs and when you get the threshold right one day you'll just know it and from there its a piece of cake doing it again and again. DON"T fall into the trap of unplugging you battery to keep you threshold set correct. I see about a dozen guys doing this and this is such a bad habit, and it doesn't work! Remember the volume controls target sound not threshold. If you keep changing it your targets will all sound a little different. I set mine and kinda leave it at about 3/4 and then I can tell whats under the coil before I dig.The headphones suck! And I changed them about three months after I got the machine. Did I void the Warranty maybe but I did not cut the wires so maybe not. But the amount of the return has been worth it.

 

[Bling]

i set up my Excal and Sov the same...every time....Vol 1/2 way and never change it as you get used to the ID tones and it will change some if you change your Vol...Sen..always Manual ! and as high as you can without getting false readings! if it hits false just back Sen down until it quits falsing! Threshold to where i can just here it! and Disc at 0 but on! i find many dimes/quarters at 15" .remember the Excal or Sov will not air test worth a crap! but unless your ground is full of iron ore it should have no problem hitting a coin at 12/15" with the 10" coil.

 

[Gerry]

I use pretty much Bling's setting and have found the machine to be awesome. I am thinking on buying another for spare just in case I have a problem. When in doubt I lower the sensitivity and find "stuff" regularly at 10 in to 15 in.
I keep a journal of my finds depth, beach, conditions and total hours hunting etc. I was showing a newbie who was complaining he wasn't finding any rings , I showed my journal, particularly the page at the 42 hour mark where I had wrote "I am finally getting comfortable with the Excalibur". Swing slow, listen for the faint signals, be patient and your finds will come.

Gerry

 

[ixlr8]

Thanks to everyone who responded. Some really good advice on here! I'm printing out all the posts to study so I will be ready this weekend.

Thanks again,

Steve

 

[Gerry]

Steve, let us know how you make out. Gerry

 

[OldBeechnut]

Let me give you another side of the Excalibur, first since your excal is still under warranty, take silicon and plug the 4 little holes, 2 on each yellow cup, top and bottom. That will help with the faints. Later down the road, go with the Peltor Headphones, Zuma Beach is noisy, they will cut out 75% of all the ambient noise. Since there are not alot of swimmers right now, water temp being 58....Not alot of Targets.. I would try PP mode. AM {allmetal}, Reverse discrimination hunting. The good is, you can run it full bore (9:30 to 10am on the sensitivity) and have no problems in the wet sand and get maximum depth in the PP mode. .............................Volume I run at 80% to full when targets are far apart n deep. ...Threshold as low as you can hear it, and still make out any type of disturbance of this steady hum.............................................Discrimination...1

Give it a shot before the beach get jumping.....get a target, switch the knob to Disc, check it, if it's not there, move some sand, try until you get a discriminating tone. Then go back to PP mode to continue the hunt...........

 

[jyt2017]

I just got a new one too. What little holes are you talking about...at a glance I am not seeing them. Thank. -Joe HH

Let me give you another side of the Excalibur, first since your excal is still under warranty, take silicon and plug the 4 little holes, 2 on each yellow cup, top and bottom. That will help with the faints. Later down the road, go with the Peltor Headphones, Zuma Beach is noisy, they will cut out 75% of all the ambient noise. Since there are not alot of swimmers right now, water temp being 58....Not alot of Targets.. I would try PP mode. AM {allmetal}, Reverse discrimination hunting. The good is, you can run it full bore (9:30 to 10am on the sensitivity) and have no problems in the wet sand and get maximum depth in the PP mode. .............................Volume I run at 80% to full when targets are far apart n deep. ...Threshold as low as you can hear it, and still make out any type of disturbance of this steady hum.............................................Discrimination...1

Give it a shot before the beach get jumping.....get a target, switch the knob to Disc, check it, if it's not there, move some sand, try until you get a discriminating tone. Then go back to PP mode to continue the hunt...........