Tiger Shark vs Excal

Hag730

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Apr 29, 2012
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Dam, finally got out yesterday.....first time in two months. Targets were few but I managed four earings (junk) and some clad. It was just good to get out.

I'm looking to buy another beach detector in about a month. I've been using a Sand Shark for about 8 months now and plan on keeping it, but I plan on doing some fresh water hunting this year also. I wont be diving with with it. Obviously there is the price difference and the warranty difference.......but I'm looking for some input from experienced users that have used both detectors possibly. Reading what I can find on the internet, the TS performs really well and has the sensitivity to small gold, but I've been really wanting to pull the trigger on the Excal. Just wondering what the drop off would be and should I spend the extra money?

Thanks for input. Learning curve is not an issue, I'm willing to put the time in.

I posted this on the head to head section.....but it doesnt look like that section gets much use.
 

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Treasure_Hunter

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Nails, fish hooks and other pieces of iron last for decades in fresh water, you want dig any them with excal.
 

bigscoop

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Jun 4, 2010
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Look at sales. There's a reasons why the Excal is the industry leader.
Browse the experienced beach & water users on this forum, see what machines they use. I'm betting you see lots of Excals VS other makes.
 

Acquisitor

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Jan 6, 2011
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these detectors are very different, excl goes way deeper while tiger shark is much more sensitive, you should combine them
 

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Hag730

Hag730

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Apr 29, 2012
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Saint Marys Georgia
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Excal II, Garrett AT Pro, Tesoro Compadre
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Look at sales. There's a reasons why the Excal is the industry leader.
Browse the experienced beach & water users on this forum, see what machines they use. I'm betting you see lots of Excals VS other makes.

No question this is true...I pretty much have my mind made up, just continuing to research.

Thanks for the responses.
 

hamiddetecting

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If i were you i buy Excalibur with eye closed, We are vote of minelab.com, in other hand minelab increases the price:BangHead:
 

Terry Soloman

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In FRESHWATER, the Tiger Shark is going to be just as efficacious as the Excalibur, for a lot less money. It is just as deep, and may be more sensitive to small gold than the Excal. As the others have said, do your homework!
 

lookindown

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AT pro is a killer freshwater machine.
 

Jason in Enid

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In FRESHWATER, the Tiger Shark is going to be just as efficacious as the Excalibur, for a lot less money. It is just as deep, and may be more sensitive to small gold than the Excal. As the others have said, do your homework!

Efficacious? Are you making up words or is this from a "word of the day" calendar? :laughing9:

Wish I had some experience on the Tesoro machines. The excal is a great machine but it is also very pricey. As long as you are hunting FW, you have a lot of options. SW only has a few choices of detector in my opinion. If you plan on hunting in the saltwater and you want to avoid lots of iron then the excal is the only choice.
 

Terry Soloman

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Efficacious? Are you making up words or is this from a "word of the day" calendar? :laughing9:..

Google

I use this word a lot in my line of work Jason. Glad I can help you expand your vocabulary.
 

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Treasure_Hunter

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No doubt about it, Tiger Shark will have you digging 1000 times more nails and fish hooks and tiny pieces of iron, it wins that contest hands down.

I have dug several pieces of gold with excal less than half gram so it has no problem seeing gold that size either.
 

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Jason in Enid

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Google

I use this word a lot in my line of work Jason. Glad I can help you expand your vocabulary.

I will have to try to include that word into my normal daily use. Learned my new thing for the day!


TH, I have also dug some TINY aluminum pieces from the beach with my excal. If it can find those, it can find most gold items. I'm sure there's a lot of tiny chains it can't find, but neither can the others while still handling salt and beach mineralization and eliminating iron.
 

chuckie

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Nov 12, 2012
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I've found my Excalibur II to be efficacious in finding gold and silver at beaches in both water and dry sand!
 

Jason in Enid

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My blue excal was efficacious in the finding of 2 gold rings on my last visit to the Bahamas.
 

firemac

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all of y'all have efficaciously made my evening! and ive got an excal ll being shipped as i type. thanks guys
 

dewcon4414

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If you are buying a water machine buy the one you think is the best without considering the price.... its going to pay for its self. I prefer the Xcal.... and you are right you should listen to people who have USED them both. Personally i hope Terry convinces everyone to use something else.

Dew
 

Sandman

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A word of warning to anyone that buys the Tiger Shark........When installing batteries and setting it up with Volume, Threshold, DO NOT adjust the Sens. thinking you'll get more depth. You will screw things up and it is very hard to turn it back to orginal settings. It was different when you had the choice of 3 different coils but now the Tigers are all hardwired an matched to the coil you had ordered.
 

Terry Soloman

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In FRESHWATER, the Tiger Shark is going to be just as efficacious as the Excalibur, for a lot less money. It is just as deep, and may be more sensitive to small gold than the Excal. As the others have said, do your homework!

I'm not really sure what all the smack talk is about fellas, but in freshwater, as I said the first time - the Excal is not going to give yo any advantage over a Tiger Shark.
 

Jason in Enid

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I'm not really sure what all the smack talk is about fellas, but in freshwater, as I said the first time - the Excal is not going to give yo any advantage over a Tiger Shark.

Not sure what "smack talk" there is, but the OP seems to be asking about detectors to use in the ocean (current use) as well as some fresh water sights in the future.
 

Treasure_Hunter

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Terry that is not true, it is not smack talk, the fact is you will not dig any tiny pieces of iron with the excal that you will dig with the Tiger, trash iron in fresh water lasts for decades....Tiger will find every lost nail or fish hook that has been lost the last 20-30 years in a lake..... If it is a lake with no trash iron go with the tiger, but good luck finding a lake with no trash iron.... I have never seen a hunter with a PI that did not have a pocket full of trash iron with them they found.....
 

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