Question for Fellow Excalibur Users

[Tony in FL]

Hi everyone! I got into MD

 

[Tony in FL]

(double posted by accident - does not appear to be any way to delete this one)

 

[kered]

Sensitivity that is usable changes from place to place, some places i can use 11 o'clock others i need to be down to 2 or 3 oclock, all depends on the beach, also check your coil cover for sand inside it. i don't know the area so can't compare but someone will answer fronm that area i'm sure

 

[hershey1]

I just got back from North Reddington beach area including Clearwater down to St. Petersburg and my machine worked great. The threshold changes after going over iron or other objects that are discriminated out. Like Kered said my sensitivity goes from 10 o'clock to around 3 o'clock whatever it takes to maintain a good threshold. I hunt in all metal or pin-point alot so the threshold runs the same. Just because the threshold sound changes in discrimination does'nt mean the machine is falsing that means it is working. If your machine is saying target and you have pinpointed and there is no target then there is a problem. Try some targets trash and good on top of sand to make sure your machine is hitting them correctly. If not you may have to send it in for service. I hope this helps. Sorry about you having problems in prime hunting season. Try and get through a couple more months if you can then send it in. HH

 

[sandman256]

Tony you are just going to have to adjust your thinking that some beaches are different and require different settings even on the same beach due to changing mineral content. It also might help if you didn't carry a cell phone or car keys with a chip in it as some guys have reported a more stable machine when they didn't carry the cell phone. Other people on the beach can affect the detector if their phone receives a call. There is a page on the Fisher website that explains this interference that bothers the detectors.

 

[Tony in FL]

I just got back from North Reddington beach area including Clearwater down to St. Petersburg and my machine worked great. ron or other objects that are discriminated out. Like Kered said my sensitivity goes from 10 o'clock to around 3 o'clock whatever it takes to maintain a good threshold. I hunt in all metal or pin-point alot so the threshold runs the same. Just because the threshold sound changes in discrimination does'nt mean the machine is falsing that means it is working. If your machine is saying target and you have pinpointed and there is no target then there is a problem. Try some targets trash and good on top of sand to make sure your machine is hitting them correctly. If not you may have to send it in for service. I hope this helps. Sorry about you having problems in prime hunting season. Try and get through a couple more months if you can then send it in. HH

Thanks for the update. Basically on those beaches even with the sensitivity turned to its lowest while hunting in discrimination mode in the water I get ghost signals pretty much constantly. On the next swing over the same spot there is nothing (or the ghost signal has moved to a different position in the swing). Of course no problem in the wet sand or dry sand (and no problem in some other beaches in the water). This is why my suspicion is that the machine is simply running too hot from the factory which only becomes an issue while in the water, and then only at a subset of beaches. Anyway I'll try hunting in pin point mode next time to see if it is any better. If you get back to those beaches anytime soon perhaps you can check discrimination mode to see if you are hearing much falsing. I am going to give Minelab a call to see what they say. Before I send it in I'll make sure I have another detector on hand as I have heard turn around time can be long. I have been considering getting a Sovereign GT which could serve a number of roles - backup detector, land detector, as well as allowing me to take a visiting friend or relative hunting who does not have a machine.

 

[skinard]

Tony,

How loosely have you wrapped the coil wire near the coil. I've seen it before where the water was causing the wire to move which generated false signals as the coil is detecting the wire. Just a thought.

skinard,
http://twistedpens.com/

 

[OldBeechnut]

I had the same problem on the west coast of Florida a few years back with the 10 inch excal, 2005 model, had to hunt in almetal/PP ...impossible to hunt in discriminate, to much falsing........
My last trip to florida, same detector, had no problems on the south eastern coast. I believe Some excals are hotter then others and it does not take much to change the way they react to different conditions. I would try the Am/PP reverse hunting in these locations........joe

 

[erikk]

IMHO U have a problem with your detector. I hunt & live in SWFL, have 3 excals and one is in Vegas now because it started doing just what yours is doing. I am now in upstate NY hunting lake Ontario & some of the finger lakes that have so much iron and black sand that when I take the scoop out of the water my magnets look like porcupines but the detector runs smooth. I am using both an excal 2 and an excal 1000 with a WOT coil with no problems with false signals. If you are having problems in FL with no mineralization I would start thinking about sending it in for repair. A back up detector or 2 isn't a bad idea either

 

[don tyler]

The way to find if you have a problem with your machine , go to a pond or lake with fresh water. most of the time machine runs perfect, When I go to the Tropics I turn my threshold down , run my sen about noon lower if I can , will get falsing , but you will not miss the gold. you have to be able to deal with some falsing. If you can't stand it run all metal in the high mineral areas. Just my opinion Don CoCo Tyler

 

[Tony in FL]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I think my Excal is simply running too hot for some of the beaches near me. Anyway I have a trip to Grand Cayman coming up soon and Excal is definitely going with. Once I get back if I still notice the falsing at some of my local beaches I will send it in to Minelab (but I am considering buying a Sovereign GT to back me up during the repair time).