Excalibur II or BeachHunter 300?

[psyvad]

After reading the great posts on this forum for the past several weeks...
the two final candidates in the running for my first water detector are the Excalibur II and BeachHunter 300.

- About 90% of my hunting will be fresh water rivers & lakes
- The other 10% will be salt water in southern california
- The detector will also used to hunt the dry sand (I don't want to have to pack my land detector and a water detector)

Is there any reason why one would be better for me than the other?

Is the Excalibur worth $300 more than the BeachHunter 300?

If I hold off on the purchase for a bit, will the SE Pro Coil end up on the Excalibur?

Can the volume be adjusted on the BeachHunter 300?

Thanks for any Comments!!!

 

[Bling]

iv owned both and id give $600 more for the Excal if i had to! BHID has depth limmit of 25' Excal 200' i dont dive but it must be sealed better to stand 200' V 25'....the Iron mask of the Excal is awsome.and the null on iron sure saves a lot of digging.the NIMH batts on the Excal last 100's of recharges.and on the BHID the volume is pre-set. good luck.

 

[BEACH HUNTER]

it will get smaller gold....and gold the EXCAL will not....the depth on the 300 is proving to be deeper than the EXCAL....If you put it in tone ID mode for the dry sand you can swing fast and not miss targets.....plus the 300 has the 12" coil it will cover more ground!!! save some cash!!! buy help suport a fellow American

 

[diggindirt]

iv owned both and id give $600 more for the Excal if i had to! BHID has depth limmit of 25' Excal 200' i dont dive but it must be sealed better to stand 200' V 25'....the Iron mask of the Excal is awsome.and the null on iron sure saves a lot of digging.the NIMH batts on the Excal last 100's of recharges.and on the BHID the volume is pre-set. good luck.

Did you own the BHID or the BHID 300? I had my BHID updated with the Super 12" coil and it's like a different machine.

In fact, it's now my favorite "all around" beach and water hunting machine.

Yes, the volume is preset. However, I spent less than 10 minutes adding some rubber gasket material (adjustable) to each ear cup and now have the the perfect turn on and go levels for both ears! I never have to change the setup and it works perfect (simple solution)!

It hits hard on the small stuff, pinpoints great, is very "DEEP" and as Beach Hunter said, you can hunt fast (quick recovery) on the dry stuff too.

White's has "Super service" if needed and the build quality is solid on the BHID!

 

[dfxmatt]

I use the old beachhunter i.d. model with the floating coil and i still am averaging a gold ring once every 3 to 5 hunts. Which detector you use doesn't matter. I think it's the hunter more than anything. The main thing in this game is patience. If you go out thinking gold ring every time, this game isn't for you. Be patient, swing the right way and the gold will come. But since this isn't the point i can only offer my advice on the beachhunter cause i've not owned a minelab. I can only imagine how much more better the bhid is now that it has a super 12. I have one on my dfx land machine and i'll never need another land detector again. But the thing is i don't even think i need the super 12! I'm digging coins now with the old bhid model at 8 to 10 inches sometimes. Both machines offer limited warranties which sucks i know. However if you'd like a lifetime warranty (which is sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet on a water machine) tesoro's water models and some of the fisher's still have it. I guess pick ur poison, cause both units are killer and deep. But like i said in the beginning patience is key.

Beachhunter i.d. also features discrimination like the minelab just a little different system which uses a red, yellow and blue light system that you can hip mount, chest mount or whatever u desire. If you ever hunt at night this feature is sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet as you can see the lights under water and still swing your coil. With the super 12 feature, you shouldn't have to worry about the coil floating anymore now that you'll have all those holes in the coil. Ground balancing on the bhid makes you go ???????? when you first get it and try it out. But after you do it one or two times, you'll remember it for life. I believe the minelab would be better in salt water conditions though, as it uses so many more frequencies than the bhid. But if your gonna be in freshwater most of the time that really wouldn't matter until you went to california. Good luck in ur choice and may u find many treasures. - Matt.

 

[R-n-R Magnolia SpringsAla]

If your going to hunt in drysand you will HAVE to chest/hip mount the Excal it works wonderfully but it's just too heavy in my opnion.PRO's and Cons..... Excal = battery pack, charge it the night before or your toast. If it dies while hunting = go home. You can buy extra packs(+$$) to make sure you have enough juice. If your going to go to all that trouble you'll prob want a SUNRAY charger too(+$$$) (works in house or car) Then there's the choice of what size coil 8 inch,10 inch or greyhound bus steering wheel..or whatever else is out there now. Everyone trys to make it more comfortable by using a stright shaft set up (+$$$) Then theres the headphones. The warr is I don't know for sure, but I've seen great comments and scathing ones and horror stories. So in the end you've changed everything excpet the controlbox (batt,coil,rod,headphones) for that extra 10-20 horsepower?? Now the great thing about the Excal is the auto GB is topnotch it acts the same if in salt or fresh. The multi-tones are great 17 i think??? I may be wrong. There is no doubt the machine works.


With the BHID 3 tones only iron/ foil&gold&tabs/ coin. three leds which are pretty cool. ID's in AM mode so you get the wide view of the ground.(lead in on targets) Batts are 8 aa's you can get a recharge pack but with 30-40 hours on a set why?? I have the 9.5 coil it's not a depth demon(8-10 on a qtr), at some point I'll prob. upgrade to the 12. Two year TRANSFERRABLE warr on the unit which is cool. Wish it was longer but not everyone is TESORO. Also the BHID has NO disc knob to adjust you hear everything and that's how 100% of the guys hunt anyway just look at the pulse users. The audio could be louder but I think from being a gun bunny I'm half-deaf. I don't dive so it could be water proof to 1000m as long as it water proof to 4-6 feet im happy. BHID is solid in salt or fresh. So far so good with mine.

If your concerned about a warr go with the Tesoro..... lifetime.... hard to argue. I have a Stingray2 for that reason as well. I could have bought an excal but i did not.

I'm hoping I showed what I know (and don't) in a fair light, just my 2 zincs.

 

[psyvad]

Thanks everyone for the helpful feedback.

I saw a barely used Excal II with a long beach scoop and a straight shaft for the same price as the BeachHunter 300, so I went for that one. If it wasn't for that deal, I was leaning towards the 300. Hope to show you all some good finds in the near future!

 

[R-n-R Magnolia SpringsAla]

n/t

 

[Bling]

i had the BHID not the 300.i was told the only diff is the coil? the BHID i had false ID iron a lot.and the new 12" would kill my arm in the water with the resistance.i have to say iv not dug 1 piece of iron with my Excal,but then again i might have left several watches too.lol!

iv owned both and id give $600 more for the Excal if i had to! BHID has depth limmit of 25' Excal 200' i dont dive but it must be sealed better to stand 200' V 25'....the Iron mask of the Excal is awsome.and the null on iron sure saves a lot of digging.the NIMH batts on the Excal last 100's of recharges.and on the BHID the volume is pre-set. good luck.

Did you own the BHID or the BHID 300? I had my BHID updated with the Super 12" coil and it's like a different machine.

In fact, it's now my favorite "all around" beach and water hunting machine.

Yes, the volume is preset. However, I spent less than 10 minutes adding some rubber gasket material (adjustable) to each ear cup and now have the the perfect turn on and go levels for both ears! I never have to change the setup and it works perfect (simple solution)!

It hits hard on the small stuff, pinpoints great, is very "DEEP" and as Beach Hunter said, you can hunt fast (quick recovery) on the dry stuff too.

White's has "Super service" if needed and the build quality is solid on the BHID!

 

[BEACH HUNTER]

with ease!!! you can swing it all day!!!

 

[diggindirt]

The new coil makes a noticeable difference in the performance and stability of the machine. The weight is around the same as the stock coil, but actually feels lighter with the straight shaft. As Beach Hunter said, it does cut through the water with little resistance and is really a joy to use!

If you ever get the chance to give one a try, I think you'll be quite pleased with the performance!

Thanks and HH!!!!

i had the BHID not the 300.i was told the only diff is the coil? the BHID i had false ID iron a lot.and the new 12" would kill my arm in the water with the resistance.i have to say iv not dug 1 piece of iron with my Excal,but then again i might have left several watches too.lol!

iv owned both and id give $600 more for the Excal if i had to! BHID has depth limmit of 25' Excal 200' i dont dive but it must be sealed better to stand 200' V 25'....the Iron mask of the Excal is awsome.and the null on iron sure saves a lot of digging.the NIMH batts on the Excal last 100's of recharges.and on the BHID the volume is pre-set. good luck.

Did you own the BHID or the BHID 300? I had my BHID updated with the Super 12" coil and it's like a different machine.

In fact, it's now my favorite "all around" beach and water hunting machine.

Yes, the volume is preset. However, I spent less than 10 minutes adding some rubber gasket material (adjustable) to each ear cup and now have the the perfect turn on and go levels for both ears! I never have to change the setup and it works perfect (simple solution)!

It hits hard on the small stuff, pinpoints great, is very "DEEP" and as Beach Hunter said, you can hunt fast (quick recovery) on the dry stuff too.

White's has "Super service" if needed and the build quality is solid on the BHID!