New Water Hunter!

[twistidd]

Hey guys, glad to be here. I'm an experienced land detector, been at this since I was 13 years old. I often post on the Illinois forum. I just received my first water machine for Christmas from my girlfriend (Excal II). I live in Chicago so I've got about five months before I even think of getting in the water! I know a few locals who use the Excal II but I will most definitely bug you all with tons of questions in the coming months. I really like the idea of being out on the beach or in the water on a nice day, and trust me, I know I won't find rings or jewelry every day. It's being out that really matters to me. A nice change from the woods hunting I usually do in spring/fall. Have a great day and Merry Christmas to all!

Joe

 

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[Northern Lights]

welcome aboard & merry xmas, I'm a newbie too, to the forum, joining late fall, been hunting for many years. I also have about 5 months to wait till ice out, so we are soaking up the sun down here in Arizona bidding our time with tennis & pickle ball and hiking.

 

[rehless]

Damn. Nice Christmas present. That lady knows the way to a man's heart.

 

[Marty-Graw]

awesome present....does she have a sister? lol dont forget that the excal can be used on land also....little heavy but it will be great for you to learn all the tones so you will be ready for the water when it warms....happy hunting and good luck

 

[GuerillaBill]

Joe,

Congratulations on the great detector!

Before you hit the beach, get a second battery, get a long handled scoop, and consider belt mounting the detector so you won't tire out when you get treasure fever.

Bill

 

[Sand Scoop]

Hi Joe,
I started out with a Fisher 1260 I think it was.My wife gave it to me for Christmas Many,Many years ago. That started the whole thing off. Today I have an Excal II and a Sovereign GT that I use when the water gets to cold here in Myrtle Beach. A wetsuit is next on the list.I go out mostly everyday and whether I find a ring or two or a few dimes,nickels and a green penney or two, its just great being there. Digging the sand is much easier than digging down through the roots anyway. Happy Huntin

 

[SC_hunter]

All I can say is...That gal is a keeper.... I'm sure you will be well pleased with that one. GL and HH.

 

[FloridaBill]

Awesome machine you will love it and you will find the goodies. Do your research during those winter months on old forgotten swimming area etc. and you will have some awesome finds come spring, which I cant wait to see.

 

[Sandman]

Congrats on finding a great girl friend!!! She is indeed a keeper.

while you wait for spring, start saving for wet suits or waders for getting in the water. Make a list of all the beaches near you too. Invest in a good sand scoop or two. I like the Sunspot for the water and a screen sifter type for the dry sand. A Larger basket screen sifter would do both areas, but I haven't found one.

Study up on beach hunting at http://thegoldenolde.com/ You'll learn alot about water hunting fresh and salt. There is a lot of time for learning the settings, but you should start with Volume as high as you like it. Disc only at ONE or Two. Since Excal nulls on small iron anyway you won't need any more disc. Threshold where you can barely hear it. Sensitivity set in Auto till you have some experience. Mode I run in Disc most of the time to let the detectors Iron Mask work. Make sure you can hear a pull tab.

Don't worry about the funny sounds so long as you definitely dig the pull tab sounds which are very close to gold rings. Coins and silver rings sound higher.

Give the first ring to that great girl friend.
Sandman

 

[twistidd]

Thanks for the great replies, guys. I will do a lot of research online and whatnot but I will still come here because you guys are the real seasoned pros. Sandman, in particular, I've noticed you are prolific on the forum.

In regards to a sand scoop- ideally, I'm looking for something that can be used in and out of the water, i.e. on the dry sand and in the water. I understand this might be difficult to accomplish, and I realize that the most subtle differences in scoops can make the biggest differences. A couple guys here use the Diamond Scoop- supposedly, it's a very good one. A local dealer here sells them. What do you guys think? I'll be hunting freshwater almost exclusively (exceptions being occasional trips to the ocean, and I mean occasional). I'm also interested in the concept of wearing the control housing on a belt as opposed to keeping it on the detector, as I've noticed the Excal is fairly heavy. Is this an aftermarket item or does Minelab manufacture these as well?

I will undoubtedly be back with tons more questions. Thank you all in advance!

Joe

 

[GuerillaBill]

Joe,

I made my Excalibur belt mount using a $4.95 nylon tool belt from Sears and a 6 inch piece of 3/4" pcv pipe, and some plastic screws from lowes.

I drilled screw holes in the pvc and belt to match the mount holes on the excalibur, and then mounted the excalibur controls to the belt. The PVC pipe keeps the belt stiff where the controls mount to the belt.

Total cost to build it was under $10.

Have used it for a year with no problems.

Bill

 

[Sandman]

I like to hang my controls from my neck. It is like Bill's waist mount except I mount a camera strap to the pipe. The cable is taped to the side of the shaft. Secure the top of the shaft to your belt with a bungee cord. The pic is of an earlier mount made with a piece of wood to hold the controls. It worked like this for 3 years.

The Diamond Head scoop is nice too, but the Sunspot is made by a local guy. The pix of the neck mount is of a wood piece that has the holes drilled for the ears of the controls.

I hang around this forum cause I don't have a wife to think of chores for me.

 

[twistidd]

In regards to the disc mode vs. pinpoint mode, what are the pros and cons of each setting? Again, I'm going to be hunting freshwater mainly.

Joe

 

[Marty-Graw]

disc is the discrimination mode you can set it to reject as much or as little as you want ...pinpoint is all metal mode and i only use it for pinpointing if i am having trouble............if you run in pinpoint all the time then you will get bobby pins and nails ..... they way i set mine is on lowest level of disc...that way you should pick up everything that isnt iron

 

[twistidd]

disc is the discrimination mode you can set it to reject as much or as little as you want ...pinpoint is all metal mode and i only use it for pinpointing if i am having trouble............if you run in pinpoint all the time then you will get bobby pins and nails ..... they way i set mine is on lowest level of disc...that way you should pick up everything that isnt iron

So if I'm running disc mode and keep my discrimination all the way at, say, 1, what am I effectively discriminating out?

And, if I want to pinpoint a target, do I just switch from disc to pinpoint on any target I want to pursue?

Joe

 

[time4me]

Congrats on a great detector! I started out with the Excalibur 800, and quickly moved to a 1000 (keeping the 800 for backup). I love turf detecting, but now I equally love shallow water / surf detecting.

Nothing better than seeing the shiny glint of gold in your scoop after working hard in chest deep water.

Jim

 

[Marty-Graw]

keeping the disc at 1 (where i keep mine) you pretty much discriminate out all iron targets....although large iron will sometimes still pop up and sound like a quarter or silver...nuttin you can do about that........and yes if you are having trouble with a target you switch over to pinpoint and it will be a shorter crisper tone that will help in finding the target.....pinpoint sounds off on all targets......if you get a broken signal in pinpoint mode then you are over a large object like aluminum can or bigger....although some bigger jewelry charms give broken (large) pinpoint signal...hope this helps and if i missed anything keep asking....either I or anyone of the other more knowlegeable hunters will be glad to chime in and help

 

[therover]

Twist,

First off...great present !

Second...get out there and use it...even on land. Don't wait for the water. Keep the discim at it's lowest setting and swing slow. To pin point in discrim mode, once you get a nice tone, sweep slow and slowly walk backward until the target goes away. Then move a little bit forward and when you hear that nice tone again, the target is right under the tip of the coil...where the soild band meets the round coil. You will get used to it, although you may want to use the pin point mode on land since its harder to dig and you want to zero in on the target. In the wet sand and water, I never use pin point since I have a Sun Spot scoop ( like the picture)

Last...HAVE FUN !!!

JC

 

[twistidd]

Thanks for the awsome tips, guys. I'll definitely try it on land in the spring before using it in the water in summer.

I've got a concern I can't quite remedy myself. I've got the Excal balanced in such a way where the controls are on a table and the coil is out in the middle of the room where there is no metal around. I wanted to air test it with various coins and jewelry, so I turned it on and set the threshold to where I can just hear it. All is good until I wave a coin or other metal object past the coil, it detects it but then gets all crazy at that point and the threshold doesn't smooth out. It keeps doing the "wah!!! wah-wah wahhh!" response even when there is nothing there. The only way I can get it to stop doing that is by turning the machine off and then on again. I thought I had tried all combinations of sens/volume/threshold to stop it but it won't. Any of you guys experience this problem?

Joe

 

[GuerillaBill]

Joe,

The excalibur is not really intended to be used indoors.

The wiring in your home, your cell phone, your computer wireless network, and anything metal or transmitting on frequencies the detector uses can cause it to produce the 'wah wah' wave sound.

Take it outside to test it. And test with the test object on the ground, not in the air.

Bill