GT, Quattro, Exp II question for Rick...

[cabochris]

Hi Rick and thanks for your help. I know this is a Sov forum but I would like your thoughts. I just recently purchased 2 new Excaliburs to replace my used ones. I like the Excaliburs and will stick with them for my water hunting until ML upgrades them. I have not made my mind up on keeping the Sov GT though. Thanks for your input on that. My thinking now is if I am going to learn a ML for land hunting, then perhaps I should go right to the top and get an EX II? I think I would prefer to put my trust in ML technology and learn the machine. Originally I was interested in a Quattro because of the depth reports users were giving at the beach! For that matter I was even interested in a 3500 for the beach. Now I'm sure that would go deep!!! But since I have to travel for most of my beach hunting a 3500 would be quite an expense for such limited use. Over the years I have tried many detectors and now own too many! I'm going to sell many of them. One I have mixed feelings about is my Infinium. I think it would make a great beach machine if I gave it a chance?

My question is, weather I keep the GT or not, should I buy a Quattro or EX II? I have asked this before and was leaning towards the Quattro. But now I am leaning towards an EX II. The EX II concept of conductivity plus inductivity intrigues me! So my thoughts are sell all my other detectors on ebay except my GB2 , buy an EX II for most of my land hunting, perhaps keep the GT for beach and as back-up, and my Excals for water? Wow then I guess I would qualify as a Minelab Guy? Good idea Rick, or should I get the Quattro? Which would you get of those 2? I need to act quick so I still might be able to get the free 2 yr extended warranty either way- Thanks, Chris.

 

[Rick(ND)]

Chris,

You have the right idea on the Excalibur's if you want to beach hunt because they are sealed so salt water wont bother them or if you drop it in the water it will not hurt it.
Of the Quattro, the GT or the Explorer the GT is easier to use and understand as it is more of a turn on a go detector. The Quattro and the Explorer take longer to understand and you have more adjustments to adjust or misadjust. I found the Quattro has less adjustments on it so it is easier to use then the Explorer in one way, but the Explorer you can do more with. The dislikes on the Quattro is the tones are not adjustable and like many with age our high freq is not as good as it used to be, mine is real bad so the high tones of silver was hard to hear for me and is not adjustable like the Explorer is.I also didn't like the slow recovery of the Quattro when I first used it as when it seen a good target then any metal target after that would also give the same high tone of the good target until the threshold returned. I seen where this can cause some of the deeper target to lock on better too on the Quattro verses the Explorer. I found when I thought I had a good target I would lift the coil and let the threshold return then go over that target again to see if the tone stayed the same. If it did i would be digging,but many time it would null or the tone would be a lot different.
Any one of these 3 has a learning curve, so how well you learn it or how much you have the time to spend with it will be how well you do.
For me I have or had the GT and will have one back in the spring along with my Explorer XS II do the job well. I like the GT for most of my hunting needs, but sometimes you need just that little extra edge on depth and feel the Explorer can give you this, but also find I dig more trash with the Explorer too as it has many iffy signals you hate to pass up that could be good where as the GT I know the good from the bad much better with the tones it makes.
If you can afford it I feel the GT and the Explorer XS II would be the way to go for land hunting along with the Excalibur for water hunting. I feel the Quattro is a good detector too, but can not do what the Explorer can or the GT in my opinion.

Rick

 

[cabochris]

Rick, thanks for your help. I have made my decision and just ordered an Explorer II. I'm glad that is over! I have owned several land detectors in the past but most saw little use as I mainly water hunt. But I have tested them often side by side in my yard. So I find out fairly quick which features I like best and those I do not. Lately I tend to lean more towards better technology. But I am somewhat torn between that too. Like for water hunting I love Excalibur technology and make the Excalibur my first choice, as I have had much success with them! Yet I know that in saltwater, my pulse machines will go deeper and hit more metal than my Excaliburs. Despite this I simply have found more gold with Excaliburs. Not sure why, but perhaps it's because I tend to cherry-pick with Excalibur technology and cover more ground? Surely I must miss some gold doing that? Since I do several vacation hunts each year, my time is limited, so cherry-picking might be my best option anyway?

So I realize it would be a mistake to rely only on technology, such as EX II tech. I guess some still dig everything! But I think it will be exciting to use the EX II, learn it, then try to guess what's in the ground! I think for general treasure hunting I have made a great choice with the EX II. For prospecting I'll stick with my GB2 and may purchase a 3500 down the road?

If anyone wants great deals on some detectors, I will be posting several good ones on ebay in the next few days- several brands listed by cabochris, me! I may sell the new GT there too. I'm not quite sure yet. Rick, again thanks for your help. I'll try to get around to posting some of my Excalibur finds and talk more Excal talk here! Chris- Sequim WA.