First hunt with Excal II...

[The Beep Goes On]

...not including the 20 minute fiasco in Jamaica.

I was going to hunt Memorial Park with some friends, but it was still raining this morning so I decided to hit the beach. The fact that it was a -1.35 tide with a 20-30 mph offshore wind also factored into my decision.

It was pretty nasty out, but I was warm enough. It cleared up around 11AM. Pic is from 7AM.

The chest harness worked great. The scoop is awesome...really like it. I torqued on it big time without any problem. (Reference: http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,135348.0.html)

I was pleased with the Excal...

• Response time was fast.
• Depth was great...strength or faintness of signal indicated depth, generally speaking.
• Was able to find very small objects...it really sounds off on foil which gives me hope for its ability to find small gold.
• Discrimination is probably the best I've seen in a beach detector - I had it wide open and iron was never a problem. Sometimes on the beach I want to dig ferrous items - they could be knives, watches, etc. When I got an iron null, or "growl", I would switch to pinpoint and, if it was a solid signal, I would dig it. The knife in the pic below was ferrous and very deep - I was kind of shocked to see that big blade staring back up at me.
• Pinpointing was OK, but it could be improved. The pinpoint signal was faint until the target was very close to the coil. Even though it is faint, it had decent depth. The pinpoint signal also seemed to fade unless the coil was moving.
• Stability was outstanding. I had it maxed out and it never falsed, except when the waves washed up onto the wet sand under/over the coil. Galveston beaches are low-mineralization, so Galveston is not a good place to test stability, but compared to other machines I've used it was as good or better than most.
• Controls were a no-brainer - set it and forget it, except for switching back and forth from Disc/Pinpoint.
• Although it didn't bother me much, the Excal II has the same feature as its predecessor in regards to the threshold pitch changing to a deeper tone when a ferrous target was detected...the iron growl. I would just swing it by my scoop to clear it.

All in all, I am happy with the machine.

I didn't find a lot, but that beach has been picked pretty clean. The little vase was so deep I won't even tell you...I'd just get flak There were a lot of big shells on the beach...much bigger than usual, so I collected some.

HH!
TBGO

 

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[bbqbull]

Thanks for the report Beep. Finding that knife had to be kinda scary on a beach for sure. Glad nobody stepped on it.
Cant wait to get to the beech w/my Excal ll . Balmy 6.1 degrees here right now.
Please post more about the Excal ll aftery your next hunts also. Thanks
Mike

 

[Sandman]

Any time you can get out on the beach is a good time. Thanks for the update on the Excal II. I won't bother to get one as I already have to many water detectors. Excuse me while I wash out my mouth with soap.

 

[The Beep Goes On]

Any time you can get out on the beach is a good time. Thanks for the update on the Excal II. I won't bother to get one as I already have to many water detectors. Excuse me while I wash out my mouth with soap.

Lol...I told myself that I would never have more than two detectors...now I have three...oh well. I find that the more experience you get on different units, the better you become with all of them.

HH!
TBGO

 

[DaChief]

Great post. Your description of operation sounds much like my Sovereign. Your finds were similar to mine Friday. Can't wait for the warmer weather. Kind of like golf and winter time. Everybody goes out and hits a few in the winter just to remind themselves that it is still winter.

 

[rsc]

Congrats on the Excal II. Warmer weather is coming soom. I bought an Excal 1000 in July last year, and it has paid for itself ALREADY. Another 10K ring fron East Beach this AM. HH Gayle

 

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

TBGO,

sounds like a good time; neat finds.
Neat photo.

Hope that Excal II finds you a bunch.

have a good un...................
SHERMANVILLE

 

[TreasurdiggrNY]

Hey TBGO,
Great test run/ review on the whole new set-up. You did real good on the harness I'm glad it works for you. Hope you enjoy the rest of your time there.
Glenn

 

[cival war hunter 2 !]

I wonder if somebody kill someone with that knife, i would check for blood,LOL,



[email protected]

 

[China-Clipper]

You can never have too many detectors

 

[NeilinFR]

You can never have too many detectors

Can you tell me how that Surfmaster PI compares to the Excal? Ive got an Excal and would like to pick up a pulse unit and the whites is the one Im looking at the hardest. Seems to have a real decent battery life and whites is a good company so I would suspect its made well. Ive used a HH PI before so Im familiar with one pulse detectors performance.......but what about the whites??
Thanks,
Neil