Need help finding a good beach machine.

jeepGold

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Sep 7, 2014
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Luv my excalibur 1000. Bought used and in MINT condition on Craigslist for 750.00. Went to a chest mount, knob protector, carbon fiber straight shaft, and currently sent out for a remote pin point and my gray ghost amphibian headphones installed. Lot's of people like the Excal and there are plenty of mods you can do to it. Repair shops know how to work on them and they are beach monsters. A Sovereign is a great machine to if you can find one for the right price.

I don't know where you're located but I went to allofcraigs.com and found this for 1050. comes with a 15" WOT coil and a scoop.... very good deal. Minelab Excalibur 1000
 

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frogmaster-riviera

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Oct 22, 2014
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Greece, French Riviera, Switzerland, North Italy
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Luv my excalibur 1000. Bought used and in MINT condition on Craigslist for 750.00. Went to a chest mount, knob protector, carbon fiber straight shaft, and currently sent out for a remote pin point and my gray ghost amphibian headphones installed. Lot's of people like the Excal and there are plenty of mods you can do to it. Repair shops know how to work on them and they are beach monsters. A Sovereign is a great machine to if you can find one for the right price.

I don't know where you're located but I went to allofcraigs.com and found this for 1050. comes with a 15" WOT coil and a scoop.... very good deal. Minelab Excalibur 1000

+1 Excalibur 1000, 800 and Excalibur II are great machines for beach hunting.
 

Sandman

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Aug 6, 2005
13,398
3,992
In Michigan now.
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Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
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Excalibur II or the older 1000 or smaller coil 800. There is also the CZ21 or CZ-20, and BHID, all more than one freq. I am assuming you mean saltwater beaches. Any thing works okay on the dry sand, but soon salt spray will get to the guts. For PI's I recommend the Sand Shark.:icon_thumleft:
 

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lookindown

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Mar 11, 2010
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Excal or CZ21...cant go wrong with either one...they are very close to each other in performance.
 

Roadrunner007

Sr. Member
Feb 23, 2015
260
91
Kentucky
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Minelab EQUINOX 800 BHID300, Spectra V3i, TDI Pro, 6000Di Pro
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Good suggestions from all of these folks.
 

MrMikeJackie

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Nov 3, 2013
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That's it, I'm done.
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Excalibur if you plan on going in the water, any older Sovereign if you plan on just doing the wet sand and shallow waters edge. Mike
 

Sir Gala Clad

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Jul 9, 2012
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I agree that you cannot go wrong with either one, but disagree that they are close to each other in performance.
Both are excellent detectors. However the engineering tradeoffs are very different.

My research indicates that You can cover more area with the CZ21 as it has a faster recovery.
It will also detect deeper as it uses a concentric search coil (cone shaped search pattern) will detect deeper but requires more overlap.
Its discrimination is conclusive. IIRC 3 tones and it needs to be ground balanced.

My experience is that You will cover less area with the Excalibur as it has a slower recovery speed and it works better with a slower sweep speed of the coil. It requires less overlap and it has a narrow worn meat cleaver like pattern which does not detect as deep as a similar size concentric search coil. You will need a wider stand up scoop as it is more difficult to pin point. However, it requires less overlap and works well in mineralized/conductive soils. As it uses a multivariable tone, it will provide more information, which takes quite a bit of time and experience to be able to interpet. You do not have to ground balance an Excal.

From what I have read, I would love to get my hands on a BHID.
Especially, if I was starting out as the light indicators (Red, Yellow, Green) work in all metal mode as well as in discrimination mode.
Once you learn to tweek it, it detects fairly deep and you buy one at an affordable price as it is less popular.










Excal or CZ21...cant go wrong with either one...they are very close to each other in performance.
 

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Treasure_Hunter

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Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,450
54,861
Florida
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Minelab_Equinox_ 800 Minelab_CTX-3030 Minelab_Excal_1000 Minelab_Sovereign_GT Minelab_Safari Minelab_ETrac Whites_Beach_Hunter_ID Fisher_1235_X
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I agree that you cannot go wrong with either one, but disagree that they are close to each other in performance.
Both are excellent detectors. However the engineering tradeoffs are very different.

My research indicates that You can cover more area with the CZ21 as it has a faster recovery.
It will also detect deeper as it uses a concentric search coil (cone shaped search pattern) will detect deeper but requires more overlap.
Its discrimination is conclusive. IIRC 3 tones and it needs to be ground balanced.

My experience is that You will cover less area with the Excalibur as it has a slower recovery speed and it works better with a slower sweep speed of the coil. It requires less overlap and it has a narrow worn meat cleaver like pattern which does not detect as deep as a similar size concentric search coil. You will need a wider stand up scoop as it is more difficult to pin point. However, it requires less overlap and works well in mineralized/conductive soils. As it uses a multivariable tone, it will provide more information, which takes quite a bit of time and experience to be able to interpet. You do not have to ground balance an Excal.

From what I have read, I would love to get my hands on a BHID.
Especially, if I was starting out as the light indicators (Red, Yellow, Green) work in all metal mode as well as in discrimination mode.
Once you learn to tweek it, it detects fairly deep and you buy one at an affordable price as it is less popular.

The deeper the cone of concentric coil goes the smaller the area coverage is.. At 10 inches deep how wide do you think your search pattern is on a 10 inch concentric coil? How much overlap is needed on each sweep, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70% to get same coverage a 10" DD coil....
 

jeepGold

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Sep 7, 2014
585
579
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CTX3030, Nox800
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I don't know but I can pull a gold ear ring deeper than I care to dig. I use a TRex 9.5 and can go about 4 scoops down. Pretty much 2-2.5 ft and recover pennies, ear rings.. whatever...The only thing I don't care for with my excal is that sometimes I will have a SOLID target signal and start to recover it and then it's magically "gone". I've learned to dig in and around for another scoop or two and then it's magically "back". I ONLY hunt in pinpont and when I hit a target I switch to discrim. if it signals or doesn't null, I dig .
 

Sir Gala Clad

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Jul 9, 2012
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I agree that you cannot go wrong with either one, but disagree that they are close to each other in performance.
Both are excellent detectors. However the engineering tradeoffs are very different.

My research indicates that You can cover more area with the CZ21 as it has a faster recovery.
It will also detect deeper as it uses a concentric search coil (cone shaped search pattern) will detect deeper but requires more overlap.
Its discrimination is conclusive. IIRC 3 tones and it needs to be ground balanced.

My experience is that You will cover less area with the Excalibur as it has a slower recovery speed and it works better with a slower sweep speed of the coil. It requires less overlap and it has a narrow worn meat cleaver like pattern which does not detect as deep as a similar size concentric search coil. You will need a wider stand up scoop as it is more difficult to pin point. However, it requires less overlap and works well in mineralized/conductive soils. As it uses a multivariable tone, it will provide more information, which takes quite a bit of time and experience to be able to interpet. You do not have to ground balance an Excal.

From what I have read, I would love to get my hands on a BHID.
Especially, if I was starting out as the light indicators (Red, Yellow, Green) work in all metal mode as well as in discrimination mode.
Once you learn to tweek it, it detects fairly deep and you buy one at an affordable price as it is less popular.

TH: IIRC the required overlap of the search coil would be 25% for the DD coil and 75% overlap for the concentric coil in the discrimination mode to detect a dime size clad or silver target at ten inches deep or a quarter size clad or silver target at 12 inches.
 

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dewcon4414

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Mar 22, 2006
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I guess it depends on what you call covering more ground. If you are talking deeper perhaps..... but for the first 6 inches the Xcal will cover more area and not miss much. during recent drop times this is an advantage. As far as the recovery..... you dont have coil shut down unless you are running over targets. Also a good many people hunt with the CZ in AM..... so it takes time to check targets. Ive got a MODed Xcal so i hunt in AM..... AM isnt affected by recovery like using Disc. Everyone has different styles of hunting. Some dont bother with anything going thru the scoop.... some want to find everything so they use a PI.... some grid.... some cover want to cover more ground..... some use small coils while other use large ones. So you choice may welll come down to how you want to hunt a beach.
 

lookindown

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Mar 11, 2010
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Florida
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I don't know but I can pull a gold ear ring deeper than I care to dig. I use a TRex 9.5 and can go about 4 scoops down. Pretty much 2-2.5 ft and recover pennies, ear rings.. whatever...The only thing I don't care for with my excal is that sometimes I will have a SOLID target signal and start to recover it and then it's magically "gone". I've learned to dig in and around for another scoop or two and then it's magically "back". I ONLY hunt in pinpont and when I hit a target I switch to discrim. if it signals or doesn't null, I dig .
30 inches on a penny?...hhmmmm.. :tongue3:
 

dewcon4414

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Mar 22, 2006
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Gulf Coast, Fl
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Surely 2 ft is a misprint? Pennies to me are the hardest targets to get out of a hole..... yes i can make a 2Ft hole but the target was just moving around. Target depth is hard to determine, especially in the water.
 

lookindown

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Mar 11, 2010
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ACE 250,AT PRO, CZ21...RTG pro scoop...Stealth 720
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Surely 2 ft is a misprint? Pennies to me are the hardest targets to get out of a hole..... yes i can make a 2Ft hole but the target was just moving around. Target depth is hard to determine, especially in the water.
I thought it was just me that chased pennies around the hole...I feel better now.
 

frogmaster-riviera

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Oct 22, 2014
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Greece, French Riviera, Switzerland, North Italy
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In the water depth is hard to tell, but when you get a loud clear signal : the target is big or close to the coil.
 

jeepGold

Hero Member
Sep 7, 2014
585
579
Vegas
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CTX3030, Nox800
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Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
I've dug close to the depth of my knee is high. Not in water but the wet sand. I'm 6'. My brain seems to hone in on pennies. I can't seem to recognize the penny tone and dig dig dig. I should make a small video of a recovery and show just how deep my Excal can pick up a dang zincoin.
Since we are on topic explain this question. Sometimes I get a signal in the wet sand. It might be a faint or a medium. I dig, it gets stronger. I dig more it stays strong. Next thing you know I'm digging to China. The signal is always there but the target is never found and I just give up pissed and walk away after covering the newly dug passage to Ho Chi Minh. What gives?
 

frogmaster-riviera

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Oct 22, 2014
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Greece, French Riviera, Switzerland, North Italy
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:BangHead: It's what we call "a false signal". Same with every VLF detectors, including the CTX..... it's time to lower sensitivity!
 

jeepGold

Hero Member
Sep 7, 2014
585
579
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CTX3030, Nox800
Primary Interest:
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is it just ground mineralization or what? It's not spuratic or comes and goes. It's a solid sig
 

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