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I'm Torn....

S

Smudge

New member
...but in good way.

Tomorrow I'm going to buy my first detector exclusively for beach use in a long, long time. I've narrowed it down to two: the Fisher CZ-21 and the Minelab Sovereign GT.

Now, I realize comparing the two is a bit like making a Ford/Chevy comparison as they are absolutely first class detectors. Both of them. No trashing either unit here! :clapping:

As for my hunting habits, I do not see myself going into the surf past my waist when I go into the surf at all (the wave action round here tends to get pretty rough).

When I look at the CZ-21, the biggest advantage I see to it is that it is waterproof. The only downside to the detector I can find is that you have to keep ground balancing the machine when you move between wet and dry sand.

On the Sovereign GT, its just the opposite. Little to no ground balancing, but not waterproof.

Is there anything I'm overlooking? Thoughts and opinions would be appreciated. I have run the forums quite a bit looking at past posts, but I'm still stuck between the two and might end up having to decide it with a coin toss. :biggrin:
 
MInelab Excalibur. Best of both worlds.
 
Well here is one thing. IF you go into the water with the Sovereign, sooner or later acidently it will get wet. I drowned a Whites Spectrum AND a Whites DFX. That can get pretty expensive.

I was in Florida for 3 weeks and thats the ONLY time I was near salt water with my CZ-21. I don't remember having to ground balance it LOL BUT I also don't remember hunting the dry sand that much!! I do know I found a wheat cent in dry sand. 688 coins and one gold ring. But most were in the water.

Also you can hipmount the CZ and its SOOOO much easier to swing and I had First Texas disable the pinpoint, after you use it for a while you KNOW where the target is. I don't know a thing about the Sovereign. Good luck with whatever you chose.
 
I hear you, but its too far out of my budget right now.

I know the CZ and the Sov both have their advocates, and there are many subtle differences between the two.

The final decision is mine, but I guess I just didn't want to overlook anything.

Which, of course, I always do. :blink:
 
Tom Slick said:
MInelab Excalibur. Best of both worlds.
Click to expand...
I concur 100%:thumbup:
 
The CZ is waterproof. Based on your statement of how and where you will hunt, I can't say anything more.

Waist deep water, rough waves, salt water.

Please don't subject a Sov GT to that ! You can never give a Sov GT a fresh water dunking to get off all the salt and sand. If you only planned on wet sanding then the GT is a great option.

If you like the Sov GT's features and options, then get an Excal.

I always point out the 4 main differences between the CZ and Excal ( since using both, I have found no overall differences in depth or sensitivity to targets. A lot depends on conditions, but taking conditions out of the equation, they are pretty much equal). The differences are more preferential than anything.

Excal - DD coil design, auto ground balance, multi tones. threshold based in discrimination mode

CZ - Concentric coil design, manual ground balance, 3 tones, silent search in discrimination mode

So...depending on what you like best, go for one or the other.
 
I think the gt has a slower recovery time than the cz but it is a deep machine, for water or around water I would get the cz!
 
I took my ACE 250 into not quite knee deep water a few times but one time I hit a hole or a pocket of quick sand or something. Before I knew it I was midbelly deep holding my ACE as high in the air as I could. I will never go deeper than ankle deep and RARELY at that again with a non-waterproof MD. My vote is for the CZ...
 
I boought a CZ21 two weeks ago and just had it at South Padre two evenings in a row. Firsdt time ever hunting saltwater. It worked great, depth was outstanding and I had the sensitivy maxed out with no chatter. GB takes a second.

It's heavy though. I forgot my hipmount attachment.

Its a tank
 
First, I have to say thank you all for the posts.

To be honest, I was kind of surprised. I was expecting everybody to shout "Sovereign"!

I appreciate the honesty. Or is this reverse psychology? :stars:

Anyway, just curious about the coils on the CZ.

I realize pinpointing will be more diffcult, but how does the 10" coil perform compared to the 8"?
 
Now here is personal prefrence. A 10" lets you detect faster and I swear by mine. MOST waders prefer the 8 cause it causes less drag in the water. I have waded with my machine BUT mostly dive. I also have a friend that wades with his 10" and loves it. HOWEVER you will hear from MOST waders that there is less drag and a lot easier to swing. If you go with the 10" be prepaired to have to build up your arm mussles to use it constantly. BUT you can cover more ground and they say go a little deeper but I question that. I sold both my 8" ones.
 
Both nice machines.My wife uses the GT while I use the CZ21, for awhile we were checking each others target trying to see what machine goes deeper.Truth is we never should each other up.Both machines are so close in depth I can't tell you one is deeper then the other.I do know that the GT will false more in the surf.Yes you can drop the sense way down, but it's never as quiet as the CZ.We hunt mostly on the wet slope and a little dry.It's prolly a coin toss for me if I had to pick just one. We're waiting for our new 3030's to arrive now.I can't wait to compare them with our current machines.

GL

Ken
 
Excalibur would be my choice. There were a couple at a good price in the classified, you could save some big money.

BCOOP
 
Smudge said:
When I look at the CZ-21, the biggest advantage I see to it is that it is waterproof. The only downside to the detector I can find is that you have to keep ground balancing the machine when you move between wet and dry sand.
Click to expand...

With the CZ I can walk from the salt water to the dry sand and leave the GB alone with very good results and very little if any change to the setting I first set it at when I started hunting in a particular area.

I wade into the water and like scubadetector indicates, I prefer a 8 inch coil for work in the water and in trashy or iron infested areas of the wet sand. If there is not a lot of trash or iron in the wet sand, I like the CZ6A that I have with the FZ-12 coil.

OK ... so I have an Excal too, and it kind of depends on the beach as to whether I prefer to go with the Excal or the CZ's or a PI detector. If I could only have one beach detector, kind of a toss up for me between an Excal with the 12 inch coil and a CZ21 with the 8 inch coil. If money were tight, I'd lean towards the CZ with the 8 inch for a couple hundred less than the Excal. As much as I like the CZ6a and the ability to change coils, if I were limited to only one beach detector, I'd go water proof.

Good luck with what ever you choose.
tvr
 
Sorry for the miss-type; will no longer let me edit ... Excal with 10 inch (not a 12 inch) or CZ with the 8 inch.
Cheers,
tvr
 
Since I have owned the Excal(submersible SOV)and a CZ21-10, I feel like have something to contribute here. I ran the CZ21-10 for over 50 hours before finding my 1st gold using the settings of a pro and to make matters worse it loved iron. The Excal/SOV series hate iron and null over it(silent threshold with VERY few exceptions). In contrast the Excal fetched a loser on the 1st hunt, silver on the 2nd and on the 3rd hunt triple header gold! I would expect you would have similar success with the Sov, given that the conditions permitted. I have owned a LOT of different brands and types of submersibles and there is nothing that compares to the performance of the Excal/SOV series. I would PROBABLY own a SOV myself, but I like to hose off units when I get home and it is just TOO high maintenance trying to keep it from getting wet and blasted by sand. I'm NOT going to put it in a box either and those who hunt it that way without being able to adjust their controls are kidding themselves. I'm SURE I've stirred up a hornets nest here, but oh well. Take it as you will.....I've lived it and I know.
 
GH...you can never stir up a hornets nest with your input. You are far too good a water hunter and have too much experience. I have been beach hunting for over 20 years and always take your input as positive. Good to see you chiming in.

Glad you mentioned the hose down thing. That's a huge plus for me, being able to give a unit a fresh water bath after a salt water hunt. That's why I put that in my post. Maintenance on a beach hunting unit can be a chore. And a salt water environment can be nasty. A water proof unit is more impervious to the elements and you don't have to worry about them as much when hunting.

No matter what question a person has about getting a new beach hunting unit (especially a salt water beach), my first response is always get a water proof unit. Then worry about what features fit best.
 
to make up his own mind with the knowlege we give here. Nice to see you in these parts every once in a while!!

smiley7.gif
 
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