Smudge
Bronze Member
- Jul 9, 2010
- 1,532
- 44
- Detector(s) used
- A Propointer tied to a stick
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
Ok folks, here's the situation:
I want a detector for the salt beaches here in Florida. I also plan to spend a lot of time in the surf and on the dry and wet sand. I will be hunting almost exclusively on the east coast of Florida.
I cut my chops using the Sand Shark so I know what I'm in for with pulse induction machines, especially in trashy areas. In my area, the iron/bobby pin/ twisted wire pieces makes up about 20% of my day's finds with the Sand Shark, so it wasn't a terrible ratio. Bottle caps are my biggest nemesis!
I sold the Sand Shark and am ready to buy a White's Dual Field, mostly because of the greater depth and the sensitivity to small gold. I'm not worried about the "neutral buoyancy" (read that: floating) coil at all. I have a way to work with that.
But I hesitate. There are a lot of folks out there who love their Excals, in spite of some reported malfunctions and a long history of terrible Minelab customer service (maybe that's starting to change?).
I realize I'm comparing apples to oranges, but neither of these detectors are cheap and while I imagine one day I'll own both, for now it has to be one or the other.
I know of the Excal's superior iron masking capabilities, but like I said, iron makes up only about 20% of my finds on any given day. I wish the Excal could do something about all those blasted bottle caps without knocking out all the other targets, but I know I ask too much.
I can't help but feel that the Dual Field might trump the Excal on depth and small gold sensitivity.
I'd really like to hear the thoughts of dedicated Excal and Dual Field users out there. There's a lot of people who post on this section who opinion I respect greatly.
If anyone thinks I'm ignoring another good beach detector, let me me know too!
I'm going to buy one or the other come Friday.
I want a detector for the salt beaches here in Florida. I also plan to spend a lot of time in the surf and on the dry and wet sand. I will be hunting almost exclusively on the east coast of Florida.
I cut my chops using the Sand Shark so I know what I'm in for with pulse induction machines, especially in trashy areas. In my area, the iron/bobby pin/ twisted wire pieces makes up about 20% of my day's finds with the Sand Shark, so it wasn't a terrible ratio. Bottle caps are my biggest nemesis!
I sold the Sand Shark and am ready to buy a White's Dual Field, mostly because of the greater depth and the sensitivity to small gold. I'm not worried about the "neutral buoyancy" (read that: floating) coil at all. I have a way to work with that.
But I hesitate. There are a lot of folks out there who love their Excals, in spite of some reported malfunctions and a long history of terrible Minelab customer service (maybe that's starting to change?).
I realize I'm comparing apples to oranges, but neither of these detectors are cheap and while I imagine one day I'll own both, for now it has to be one or the other.
I know of the Excal's superior iron masking capabilities, but like I said, iron makes up only about 20% of my finds on any given day. I wish the Excal could do something about all those blasted bottle caps without knocking out all the other targets, but I know I ask too much.
I can't help but feel that the Dual Field might trump the Excal on depth and small gold sensitivity.
I'd really like to hear the thoughts of dedicated Excal and Dual Field users out there. There's a lot of people who post on this section who opinion I respect greatly.
If anyone thinks I'm ignoring another good beach detector, let me me know too!
I'm going to buy one or the other come Friday.
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