Comparison: Excal 1000, Tiger Shark, Whites BH, Detector Pro Wader, or old CZ20

[Skinny Puppy]

Mostly for fresh water hunting, but will be used in saltwater vacation trips. Wont be diving, mostly wading in waist high water. I don't want a PI unit because I want descrimination. I think in terms of preference I think most people like the
Excal + CZ20 then
TigerShark + BH-ID then
DetectorPro Wader last I think because of depth issues

Any thoughts?

 

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[spez401]

Id go with the excal... then the beachunter ID. While i haven't used the beachunter, i spoke to one of the guys at Whites and it uses the same technology as the DFX, which is one of my favorite machines.
steve

 

[Sandman]

I'd go with the Excal 1000. CZ20 was my favorite detector till Fisher stopped repairing them even if you had a lifetime warranty. Excal has it beat on depth and features too. It's hard to argue against the IRON mask feature.

BH ID was nice, but I didn't like the floating coil and I had to hold it under. Instead of weighting it, I gave it away.

Tiger Shark is my back up. Howerver if I have a huge amount of sand or water to cover in a hurry it is my first choice due to a faster sweep speed and a Clean Sweep coil, which Tesoro doesn't make any more. At 18" X 3" DD, it covers the ground fast and there is no need to over lap. It is the only water machine I know of that you can change coils. It is also very good at finding thin gold chains.

Please note, the ability to find gold chains means it can also find bird shot and small nuggets. Gold chains are usually broken and have no weight so the time spent retreiving them is hardly worth it. Egad, what am I saying! I'll spend 15 minutes trying to recover a tiny thing that falls through the scoop holes. It's all in the fun you have finding anything.......

 

[TonyinCT]

I'm with Sandman on this one. If not a PI then the Excal then the Tigershark. The Whites is right in there but the Excal can outperform it even under salt conditions. Ive used them all on the beaches here in CT and that is the results. If I can be of any assistance on your purchase please let me know.
TonyinCT
www.tcmetaldetectors.com

 

[Skinny Puppy]

Anyone ever heard of the Garrett Infinium, Pi w/discrimination?

http://www.garrett.com/hobby/products/infiniumls.htm

 

[Sandman]

I've use the Infinium LS and it's discrimination doesn't come close to a VLF. It is however very deep. It is a good detector for the young, strong backed dudes. LOL......

 

[BEACH-HUNTER]

Like I said on the other ..

BEACH HUNTER ID PRICE/QUALITY...IS GREAT FOR THE HUNTING YOUE GONNA DO...THE FLOATING COIL IS NOT A ISSUE WHILE WADING...AND IS SOME TIMES VERY HELPFUL..IF YOU GET A HEAVY COIL YOU WILL NOT BE HAPPY TRYING TO HUNT BEACH OR OUT OF WATER! THE DETECTORS YOU LIST ARE ALL OF GOOD QUALITY....THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS YOU MUST TAKE THE TIME TO LEARN IT WELL!!! ITS 90% HUNTER 10% DETECTOR..WHEN YOU CHOOSE ANY OF THE ONES YOU TALKED ABOUT..GOOD LUCK!!

 

[ThTx]

I had a BH ID - great machine for salt water but I was very disappointed in fresh water and on land. From what I read (I'm thinking of getting another wading machine) I am leaning toward the DetectorPro wader with the 10"coil. The guy at www.saveyourmoneystore.com is offering me a great deal on it.

 

[BEACH-HUNTER]

I have done great in salt and fresh

I also hunt parks and fields with very good results...got a nice 1834 1/2 dime out of a old cellar hole this fall..its the same as the dfx should be great in water or land??

 

[Skinny Puppy]

Ok, narrowed it down to the Excalibur 1000 and Tesoro TigerShark. I hear the Excal has great iron discrimation and the tigershark is sensitive to small gold. Any other variables someone can mention. Down below is a comment from Findmall.com from Dennis(Wi). He has both. Maybe someone can add more to this.

"Hey Visceral I got both the Excal & a backup Tiger Shark. Both are good machines. The excal has a few minor faults.
The excal is fairly heavy & out of balance. The florida straight shaft solves the balance problem. The knob centers easily fall off the excal so going to radio shack solves that problem. The headset on the excal comes apart easily and is a nuisance(a better headset is available through Minelab). The excal eats batteries pretty quick & charge time is long. Going to alkaline battery pack solves the long charge time. For all the little faults I haven't used the Shark much as I think the excal is still the best for water. The shark does have a very long battery life(it seems at least 30 hr) but ya gotta take it apart to change the batteries and some of the controls are adjusted from inside which is kind of a pain(lubing the gasket seal and getting it back together straight). Have never had either one in salt water. I have run into a couple of guys that have the detector pro diver and the cz20 and they seemed happy with them. It's really what you get used to. Happy Hunting."

 

[Sandman]

Ok, narrowed it down to the Excalibur 1000 and Tesoro TigerShark. I hear the Excal has great iron discrimation and the tigershark is sensitive to small gold. Any other variables someone can mention.

With the Tiger Shark you can change coils to suit the type of hunt. Weight is no problem to those that hipmount or hang Excal from their necks. With rough use, knobs can come off, but they are easiely replaceable from 6 mm. knobs from Radio Shack. I mainly use the Excal for wading and diving and have the Tiger Shark as a back up. I am lucky in having the Clean Sweep coil for it so I can retrieve more finds per hour by covering more ground faster. The old "dirt Method." The coil works well in the water, but sucks in heavy surf for coil control.

HH,
Sandman

 

[Skinny Puppy]

Sounds like I'm geared up for the Tesoro Tigershark.

Pros: Sensible to small gold finds, hip mount, one can change coils, use of cleansweep over sand and in surf(a bit rough in chop), long battery life, Cheaper price, lifetime warranty, I would get it with the 10.5 coil then later get the Cleansweep.

Cons: bit too sensitive to smaller objects, changing batteries a hassle, 2 internal setting adjustments, but then set and forget. That's life.

Overall pretty confident about the Tesoro. Are the headphones screwed in or hardwired? I assume hardwired. How's the quality? Can Gray Ghost Underwater Headphones be adapted or wired in? Are all cleansweeps the same, I know there are ones for the Umax line which I assume is what the Tigershark uses and then there is the Pulse Cleansweep (wrong one.) Is the machine balanced in regular configuration or does it have that imbalance of the Excal? would it be better to hipmount and does one have to worry about the connections getting abused being setup that way? or can it be setup as the excal has with a balanced rod for less fatigue issues for the user and cables ends or is it a nonexistant issue? Sorry for the run onnnnnn.......

 

[Skinny Puppy]

Related to my last post about balanced shafts and different mounting points.

There's Florida Straight Shafts

http://www.andersondetectorshafts.com/

Balanced rod when hitting the sand of course. What's better when wading though = hip/chest mount or balanced rod?

 

[Skinny Puppy]

Hey Sandman, can you compare the differences in first hand experience in discrimination when going over iron with the Excal or Tigershark. Trying to make my final decision. I'm leaning more towards the Excal. Thanks in advance.