Excalibur Reliability History Survey

[Bleaver]

"How long have been using your excalabur service free, or since the your last repair".

Example: Excalibur 800 - 4 years (means using a Excalibur 800 for 4 years without problems),
or Excalibur II 1000 - 2 years (means you've used an Excalibur II for the past 2 years with no problems).

If a good number of Excalibur users reply with they model they are using and the length of service free usage we may generate some useful data.

I've heard a lot of negative comments concerning Excalibur reliability; BUT then there seem to be a lot of detetectorists that have had good experiances and have used machines over 10 years with no issues! I'm thinking that bad news is much more likely to be reported than good. So lets hear from both satisfied and not so satisfied users.

 

[JoeinMemphis]

n/t

 

[John (west central FL)]

I hope it keeps working because Minelab won't repair it now.

 

[Bling]

n/t

 

[Lou from downunder]

Excal 1000. Headphone wire broke where it leaves the unit after about 10 months of serious use.
Fixed under warranty.
No issues since, about 8 months ago.

Lou.

 

[Gulf Hunter]

Well, I have pretty much broken every brand of water detector I've ever used, so it is no fault of Minelab. The 1000 was bought about Jan. '06, spilt the headphone bracket (1st 6 months) on the old blue style and replaced under warranty, then split a coil, about a year, battery was discharging, warrantied. May have split another coil? They took care if it. Had some switch defects on 1000 and 800 and all taken care of. Fact is, it is GUNNA break, if you are a serious hunter in the water. Minelab has stood by the product, fixes it right and when I get it back, my issues were taken care of. I am HAPPY! The units do, what I ask of them. NO matter what you use, it is a good idea to have a back-up, if you don't like down time, of your favorite detector. I had 3 Excals, but just sold the 1000. The wife hunts the other 800.

 

[Bleaver]

Thanks for those who have responded to date. I think initial responses are trending toward demonstrating Excalibur's similar usage as is seen in other water models.
I hope other owners will also add there comments here.

Barry

 

[S.TexasKevin]

Love my Excal 1000 had it for four years but I do need to send it in at this time.
On the other hand I have had to send the X-Terra-70 in at if I remember correct 4 months, but it needed to go sooner I just could not convince the wife at the time. I have another Excal 1000 I bought used with serial numbers close to my four year old and it was sent for repair before I purchased it. All in all, except for the X-Terra, I believe they make a damn good detector, but I believe they should break less.

 

[S.TexasKevin]

Update from my previous above post. I did send my Excal-1000 in for repair. It would need a total make over to the quoted sum of $525+ dollars. I believe the Whites PI DF or the Infinium LS will be my next machine. If I had to do it all over again the Excal would still have been my choice, but paying $1100.00 initial and over $525 for repair of a four year old unit, I think not. I still believe they are very good units, but I guess you will continue to pay and where I live my finds are not worth that much.

 

[Scotto's Excal]

I have had my Excal 800 for at least 10 years (Blue headphones) without incident. I`ve also added the 15" WOT coil to it since then. The plastic tube started to crack on the waterproof conector, so i machined a new one out of aluminum. Problem solved. Excal unit has been flawless. Scotto

 

[aushunter]

Bought mine in 1997 and still use it.
Red headphone model and still going strong.
aushunter

 

[JOHNMARKHAM]

I have an Excalibur 2 1000 that I bought last October and it
seems to be working just fine, I've found plenty of stuff with it so far.
thanks
John

 

[Barry NY]

Excalibur II 10" - received 7 weeks ago - solid use - just needed full headphone replacement under warrenty.

 

[jimmie]

Purchased my Gary Storm model in 95 and has never been sent back for repair .

 

[chuck ky]

n/t

 

[Beachcomber]

n/t

 

[Rockpile]

I go back pretty far with the Excal. first one an 800 new in 90 was at minelabs for more time than in my hands the first year. It would get unstable and i would send it in for warranty work. It came back to me worse than when it left,. Returned it and it came back working but had knobs that had steel inserts. they became little blobs of rust within a month. sent it back and when returned it ran for 3 months pretty good. I began to like it and again it just quit working. I guess over the next few years I used it 150hours total. It again became unstable and was outta warranty. I just hung it in the garage for a few years. After it was 9 years old I dug it out and talked to Minelabs. they were real good and even though it was way beyond warranty, they did know of my previous problem, they decided to fix it for free. It came back, I used it a few times and sold it.

a few years went by and I bought a new Excal II 800. I had it a month with 10 hours of use and had to return it for stability work. The board was replaced and I got it back working OK. I have used it maybe 15 hours and it is still running. so it is now 2 years old and has 25 total hours of use with one repair.

I think it would be good idea to include hours of use between repairs. I have other water machines that I seem to average 300 to 600 hours between repairs and i treat them rather harshly in adverse surf conditions. I am currently having big problems getting one of my other machines repaired. Actually, it is in for it's forth consecutive repair/rework in 3 months. total use about 3 hours. so, you can have problems with the best and worst of them. the ocean can be a cruel environment .

 

[grumpyolman]

Excalibur 1000. Bought it used. Has been back to the factory 2Xs in 2 years. Owned a Garrett Sea Hunter...20 years and no problems. Fisher 1280-X Aquanaut 6 years..no problems. Tesor Tiger Shark 2 months and no problems. Have a Dual Field PI enroute. We;ll see on that one. Jim