Excalibur, CZ21, Whites DF Air and Ground Tests

adamBomb

Hero Member
May 30, 2014
645
551
Wilmington NC
Detector(s) used
Nox 700;
Past: Nox 600; CTX; CZ21; Excal II; White's DF;
920i Stealth Scoop
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
Since I just got a new excal I thought I would do a few air and ground tests. The results were a little surprising. To begin my tests I charged the battery to the excal and replaced the batteries to the other units. So all new batteries. Then I tested a place in my yard with no metal and no EMI. I have a high end emi detector that I used to determine the EMI. I used a nickel, and quarter clad via air and ground tests. My experience with these units - I have used the CZ21 for several years now, the Whites DF for about a year, and I literally got the excal yesterday. So yea I am a newbie with the excal. For each of tests I played with various settings, especially for the excal since I was new to it. I know how to get the most out of the DF and CZ21 already.

Ground test

For the ground test I used a quarter and taped it to a ruler. The ground at my house is a mixture of sand and soil. It was also damp from rain. It is a bit salty too. I live about 1 mile from the coast and about 300 yards from the intercoastal waterway.

Whites DF

12 inches - Nothing
10 inches - Nothing
8 inches - Break in threshold. I may of stopped but it would of been easy to miss.
6 inches - Yes

Excal II - 10 inch stock machine

12 inches - Nothing
10 inches - Nothing
8 inches - Maybe a very faint tone. Not sure I would of stopped but sometimes I pick these up. In Disc it would null and then ring but then I couldn't repeat the ring very easily.
6 inches - Yes

CZ21 - 10 inch stock machine

12 inches - Nothing
10 inches - Nothing
8 inches - Maybe a very faint tone. Not sure I would of stopped but sometimes I pick these up. It rang as iron in disc 0.
6 inches - Yes

Air tests - I know people do not like these but they do tell the max depth the detector can expect to get. Yes there are some instances where it can go further if certain conditions are met but in general they cannot detect more depth than they can in air. And yes soil makes them detect less than air. For example, heavy mineralized ground will cause units to detect much less than they air test. If you don't like air tests at least post scientific reasons why they are wrong before dismissing.

Whites DF

Nickel - 10-11
Quarter - 9-10

Excal II

Nickel - 10-11
Quarter - 11-12

CZ21

Nickel - 10
Quarter - 10-11

What did I learn? Overall all 3 detectors are about the same depth in air/low mineralized soil. Now, how they handle mineralized soil/water is a different story. My beaches have very little mineralization so I dont expect different measures at my beaches. In the water, I expect the CZ/Excal to begin to drop off but the DF should stay the same.
 

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Treasure_Hunter

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Jul 27, 2006
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Detector(s) used
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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Well known that Excals do not air test well. I routinely test them and in the ground in all metal on stock coil I have no problem hitting 12-13" buried targets in dry ground.... In discriminate I get about 9-10 inches on buried targets in dry ground...
 

Backwoodsbob

Silver Member
Nov 12, 2013
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So is dry ground better than wet ground?

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adamBomb

Hero Member
May 30, 2014
645
551
Wilmington NC
Detector(s) used
Nox 700;
Past: Nox 600; CTX; CZ21; Excal II; White's DF;
920i Stealth Scoop
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
Well known that Excals do not air test well. I routinely test them and in the ground in all metal on stock coil I have no problem hitting 12-13" buried targets in dry ground.... In discriminate I get about 9-10 inches on buried targets in dry ground...

Are there any video tests that show a machine going deeper with the same object in ground vs air? The test I just did found the air test to be much deeper on the excal than in ground. And this is what I would assume should happen. The excal was a tad deeper than both the other machines in both air and ground test.

So is dry ground better than wet ground?

Its just another variable. These machines are all made for beach - wet salty sand and ocean water. But even beach to beach these tests can be different for each machine. One may be 4 inches on one beach and 10 inches on another due to various things.
 

Last edited:

Treasure_Hunter

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,462
54,905
Florida
Detector(s) used
Minelab_Equinox_ 800 Minelab_CTX-3030 Minelab_Excal_1000 Minelab_Sovereign_GT Minelab_Safari Minelab_ETrac Whites_Beach_Hunter_ID Fisher_1235_X
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Are there any video tests that show a machine going deeper with the same object in ground vs air? The test I just did found the air test to be much deeper on the excal than in ground. And this is what I would assume should happen. The excal was a tad deeper than both the other machines in both air and ground test.



Its just another variable. These machines are all made for beach - wet salty sand and ocean water. But even beach to beach these tests can be different for each machine. One may be 4 inches on one beach and 10 inches on another due to various things.

I don't have any video at moment, just 9 years experience hunting and testing with Excals. I have no problem hitting 12"-13" buried targets with stock 10" coil in pp mode using manual sense....

So is dry ground better than wet ground?

Yes wet is better....What is even better is hunting a beach during or after a hard rain, the rain dilutes the salt content as it sinks in the sand.
 

Backwoodsbob

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Nov 12, 2013
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Thanks for the 411

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Irishgoldhound

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Surprised that the dual field could barely see the quarter until 6 inches in depth in moderate soil.
 

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