Finally broke down and bought an Excalibur :clapping:

[UtahRich]

Been meaning to do this for years and just never pulled the trigger on it. Early last summer I thought I had my ducks in a row and then Minelab decided to move out of the desert and up to the Great Lakes and I couldn't lay my hands on an Excalibur, just plain hard to find.

Anyway, I picked up the Excalibur II 1000 today, brought it home and got everything put together, I can see why the after market straight shafts are so popular. Plans are to do some diving with it, plus some shallow water and beach hunting during vacation along the west coast.

Made a quick trip over to a local park to see how well I remember my sovereign tones and target sounds. Park was frozen but not quite frozen solid. I did manage to pick up a whopping 7

 

[ratpack]

A lot of answers you will find in the SEARCH area. Just hit search it will take you to another page and add a key word in there it will take you a boat load of answers that other people have asked

 

[UtahRich]

SEARCH was very helpful in reading through a couple years worth of input from hunters on the various detectors. It was very helpful narrowing and then finalizing my decision of which detector to start with. Based on input from other hunters and my previous experience with a sovereign I felt the excalibur was a solid choice to get started water hunting.

I'm having more difficulty selecting a scoop. Seems like one of those things you needs hands on experience with. Needs to do some freshwater pea sized gravel, salt water beach sand and and muck.

Rich -

 

[OldBeechnut]

Good Move Rich, Keep us up on your adventures on your vacation to the West coast......Good Luck..joe

 

[Dig]

Rich...welcome to the fold my friend! The Excal is great machine and I have used mine with decent success. If it hadn't been for this forum, I would not have started off as well as I did. The guys on here make up a Stupendous amount of experience and knowledge...plus off the cuff humor to boot. Any questions....fire when ready!

 

[ratpack]

Start with this Rich,
http://www.findmall.com/search.php?26,search=recommend+scoop,author=,page=1,match_type=ALL,match_dates=30,match_forum=ALL,match_threads=0

 

[pamlicopanther]

Welcome to the water world. I just started water detecting last summer and I love it. Me and my Excal have spend a lot of time in the water and have made some nice finds. I think you will have a great time.