Need to know about Minelab units and how they are to use??

[neil]

Hi. I am an underwater detector with a Garrett from 1980. I am looking to work on land and was told the Minelab was the one to get by a freind of mine. How easy are they to use? What one to recommend. I know how to eliminate minerals etc. on the Garrett because I have found many things. Are the new ones similar? I have no clue on the matter, and have never seen one to compare. Any help would be appreciated.
Gayle

 

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[jeff of pa]

HI GAYLE ; I'v used both the SOVEREIGN & the EXPLORER. of the 3 Multi Frequency units produced by Minelab, The Simplest to use is the Sovereign. The Explorer Is far more Advanced & does take some getting use to, all tho there is truth to the saying, "It Can Be As Simple As You Want, Or As Complicated As You Want" I ended up Getting rid of my Explorer & sticking with my Sovereign. That's not saying it was a smart thing to do, just saying Thats what I did. The New Quatro from what I'v read is is an in-between model. there is also the Musketeer, which is a lower price , simpler machine, which alot of Relic hunters swear by & the Excalibur, which is the underwater version of the Sovereign. <> I hope this helps some, and I'm shure others here will be more then happy to give you their opinions on each. ; Good Luck & Happy Hunting ; JEFF

 

[neil]

Hey thanks for the info. I am putting my garrett up for adoption on ebay this week. Questions: I belevie my garrett is a pulse unit. What is the difference? Is the minelab a pulse? I am clueless. Also, how heavy are the minelab ones? I think I will stick with a topside unit for a while. I have been very fortunate with the underwater one and gotten alot of items, but wondered how heavy the land ones are in comparrison. Gayle

 

[jeff of pa]

Not absolutely shure on the Pulse Thing, I'v read of people saying they are Technicly Pulse, But again I'll have to defer to someone else to say for shure. ON WEIGHT they are not light and balance could be imprived on, However, they are Excellent Machines, and well worth getting use to.

 

[billinstuart]

Just bought a used Excalibur as my first detector. All I do is beaches, and have been very pleased with the unit. As factory configured I found it heavy and poorly balanced, but with a little reconfiguring (moved the control unit behind the carrying point) it is fine. The discrimination feature that rejects ferrous metals is useful, and the unit is unaffected by transition from dry to salt water. Haven't used other units, but don't really need to at this point.

 

[Cladius]

B-stuart, I just saw a holder for the excaliber that is a hip mount in the new Kellyco cat. was short money like 24$ Cladius. The excaliber has I beleve the same multi freq. that the soveren has. 17 and is not efected by salt minerals. Cladius.

 

[dragonsbreath]

Thought that some of you might like a Minelab Quattro report?
Have used an Explorer one and still use an elite with Detech 14 1/2 search head
The Quattro is very well balanced and easy to use-a switch on & go machine.
I have been searching in relic mode mainly.
Is very sensetive to small items at great depth.
The recovery time is quite fast.
Pinpoint is very easy owing to the new graph system
when graph is full item is under the part of coil that connects to lower stem.
Metal identification is very good (please note aluminium cans come in at no.37)
within the Silver range.
Handles mineralised ground superbly both in auto and in high manual setting.
Ergonomically is great everything within easy reach.
You do need good batteries the minelab high value NIMH are best.
All types of batteries tested and with all types when fully charged the battery indicator
drops from three full bars to two about 25 mins after switch on.
Then dependant on batteries used up to 9 hours before change needed.
Its main value is its simplicity coupled with raw power.
Is it as good as the Explorer two?
If you can use the ex2 properly and input a specialist programme then probably not.
But in factory settings is at least equal.
To sum up i like this machine and it has become my first choice tector over my Elite.
Any further questions then please ask away.
*Am eagerly awaiting the new book from Andy Sabisch on this machine due out shortly.
Regards to all & HH Paul.