One question:Excalibur vs Dual field Pi

Who's the boss

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Jun 30, 2008
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goodmore

Full Member
Nov 12, 2008
125
15
PA
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX / XP Deus
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Usually the PI Units have better depth on targets. They do not discriminate ( some have Hi Low) and can be a handful or totally useless at a junky beach. Saying you get get 18" on a ring sounds like a stretch also. Definitely not a woman's fine ring. Put it this way if your Excalibur hits a target the leading PI units probably will also. But some of those fine ladies rings with big stones that a PI unit got a whisper on your Excal will never hear. But the trade off is you didn't dig the iron. A good beach hunter usually has a VLF and PI unit. I use my PI in the Salt Water. Less trash there as the salt water tends to eat it rapidly.
 

stevemc

Bronze Member
Feb 12, 2005
2,121
279
Sarasota, FL
Detector(s) used
Whites Surfmaster PI Pro and Whites Surfmaster PI, Minelab Excal NY blue sword. 2 White's Dual field pi, Garrett sea hunter pi II (but don't use it for obvious reasons) 5' x 3 1/2' coil underwater Pi
Primary Interest:
Shipwrecks
I agree, the Excal discriminates, and a PI doesnt-and a PI will go deeper, but if you are always digging iron crap, then you are missing stuff. I have 3 PI MDs, and I just recently got an Excal, because my buddies would be finding gold, while I was digging pins, crab trap parts, and nails and little iron stuff. I plan to start using the Excal much more. I got tired of digging everything. Now I pass by all iron. I still found rings with the PIs, but still dug lots of iron. Iron and aluminum doesnt corrode for many years. So dont think that because its in salt water it will corrode away fast, it doesnt. Iron lasts a long time underwater. When you take it out, it will fall apart. I have found aluminum and steel beer cans( both steel and aluminum in the same can) and that must have been 35-40 years ago, when they were around, at least, and I found some in the ocean, under the sand. Still whole and readable.
 

Smudge

Bronze Member
Jul 9, 2010
1,532
44
Central Florida
Detector(s) used
A Propointer tied to a stick
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
The PI will go deeper, but gives no discrimination.

However, there is at least one after market coil (the WOT coil) that if you replace the stock coil on the Excal, is said to give you depth rivaling that of a PI.
 

Silver Surfer

Bronze Member
Oct 6, 2009
1,212
2
Florida- Somewhere in the middle
Detector(s) used
MXT 300/Excal II/Surf Dual Field
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
goodmore said:
Usually the PI Units have better depth on targets. They do not discriminate ( some have Hi Low) and can be a handful or totally useless at a junky beach. Saying you get get 18" on a ring sounds like a stretch also. Definitely not a woman's fine ring. Put it this way if your Excalibur hits a target the leading PI units probably will also. But some of those fine ladies rings with big stones that a PI unit got a whisper on your Excal will never hear. But the trade off is you didn't dig the iron. A good beach hunter usually has a VLF and PI unit. I use my PI in the Salt Water. Less trash there as the salt water tends to eat it rapidly.
I had a surf dual until recently and although a short ride, I found the dual to be considerably deeper. Found the big ladies ring (blue topaz) at at least 18" down. Strong solid tone and in salt. Also found 1 /2" SS washers over two feet down in fresh water. It was just TOO DAMN DEEP a machine for my stamina limit. But found my success on gold was equal, time constraints considered. Butthe machine that's been my B&B machine has been my Excalibur... love that machine.
 

petersra

Hero Member
Apr 26, 2006
577
14
a few miles from the ocean
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Tiger Shark + Cheap Radio Shack + Whites DF PI + Aquasound
I mostly use my dual field PI and it will not touch 18" on my local beaches. Maybe 14" max air test. Of course every machine and beach is different, but if you are getting 18" with your excal, I think you are about as deep as you are going to get with any machine out there right now. HH.
 

ron lord

Bronze Member
Apr 2, 2007
1,301
1,621
Zephyrhills Fl
🥇 Banner finds
3
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6
Detector(s) used
excel 1000 with 8 inch coil, Garrett AT MAX and a silver U MAX
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The Infinium LS and the sea hunter Mark2 by Garrett both are PI's with Discrimination . they both go very deep . I have dug Pennies at 18" all day long.I use mono coils with mine ,they go deeper than the DD coil.
 

Treasure_Hunter

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,490
54,978
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
The only problem with the mono coils is the coverage narrows as it goes down so at the max you have a very narrow band of search where the DD keeps the width of the search as it goes down.....I have a WOT on one of my Excals and a SEF 15x18" Butterfly on my Sovereign, I dig very deep targets with both.......The problem is at the moment, the East coast is sanded in so darn bad everything good is deep...If I am not getting many nulls I know it is sanded in real bad.

Was out hunting this weekend at New Symrna, got some green coins and a piece of junk jewelry that looked good in my scoop till I cleaned it up. You can see that the beach is sanded in real bad, There is at least 2 feet of new sand on the beach, it was the same way when I last hunted Daytona Beach.. I can see land marks on the beach where the sand is 3 feet higher than it was last year... We need a couple storms to drag some of it off the beach......

It should get better in another month, Spring Break eye candy ;D and fresh drops will be here.... :icon_thumright:
 

OBN

Gold Member
Dec 30, 2008
6,530
7,014
Maryland Waters
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
"Excalibur"..
"AQ" Impulse
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Other
Bossman, what are your AM settings to hit that deep, pic of mine below

Is the Excalibur deeper, in the hands of skilled almetal hunter I would say very close, but if you run up against a DF Pro hunter...like (Cfmct-PI)
Then I would say it would be Very site dependent. Each have there own place in the field like the Infinium w/10x14 mono which is deeper then both, but it can be, a love hate relationship with the infinium. I have dug a few honkers (19gr) in the 17 inch range, amazingly with the excalibur 800, most rings I find are smaller and hit between shallow and 12 inchs. Having a deep detector is great, but it always seems the good stuff is a foot deeper.

Did a little learning about each of my detectors a month ago on freshly buried rings, found out later the ladies ring cracked during the pull from 14 inchs, results could be different at your beach..and all the detectors were run on Hot settings, like I run on this beach all the time, basically a tune up before hunting season starts here in OC this summer.

And, I am still considered a rookie with the DF
The Df did average on both, 10 in (man) and 4 inchs (womens)

Size 13 Mans 14k, 7.5 grams ............16 inch's........none.......................14 inchs.... Garrett Infinium PI, Doc's Amped excal..........rest came in between 10 & 12 inch's
Size 6 1.5 gram 10k women's ring......14 inch's....... none.........................6 inch's......Garrett Sea Hunter PI, rest of the pack started hitting at 4 inch's

So the Ls has the depth on the larger rings (10x14), the SeaHunter does better on the smaller ladies ring, small (8 inch) coil hit mans ring at 10 inchs
 

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erikk

Hero Member
Jan 6, 2007
908
1
Punta Gorda FL
Detector(s) used
EX2',CZ7a pro,Excaliburs 1000 & 2, F-75's ,Garrett Sea Hunter & Infinium LS PI , 1235X
Re: Bossman, what are your AM settings to hit that deep, pic of mine below

OldeBeechnut said:
Is the Excalibur deeper, in the hands of skilled almetal hunter I would say very close, but if you run up against a DF Pro hunter...like (Cfmct-PI)
Then I would say it would be Very site dependent. Each have there own place in the field like the Infinium w/10x14 mono which is deeper then both, but it can be, a love hate relationship with the infinium. I have dug a few honkers (19gr) in the 17 inch range, amazingly with the excalibur 800, most rings I find are smaller and hit between shallow and 12 inchs. Having a deep detector is great, but it always seems the good stuff is a foot deeper.

Did a little learning about each of my detectors a month ago on freshly buried rings, found out later the ladies ring cracked during the pull from 14 inchs, results could be different at your beach..and all the detectors were run on Hot settings, like I run on this beach all the time, basically a tune up before hunting season starts here in OC this summer.

And, I am still considered a rookie with the DF
The Df did average on both, 10 in (man) and 4 inchs (womens)

Size 13 Mans 14k, 7.5 grams ............16 inch's........none.......................14 inchs.... Garrett Infinium PI, Doc's Amped excal..........rest came in between 10 & 12 inch's
Size 6 1.5 gram 10k women's ring......14 inch's....... none.........................6 inch's......Garrett Sea Hunter PI, rest of the pack started hitting at 4 inch's

So the Ls has the depth on the larger rings (10x14), the SeaHunter does better on the smaller ladies ring, small (8 inch) coil hit mans ring at 10 inchs

Stick a WOT on one of those excals and you an sell the rest
 

OBN

Gold Member
Dec 30, 2008
6,530
7,014
Maryland Waters
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
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Detector(s) used
"Excalibur"..
"AQ" Impulse
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Been there done that....4 years ago....when BB Sailor was pushing the wot on CJC........haven't sold anything yet.
 

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Surfmaster

Jr. Member
Jun 10, 2004
26
0
Southern California
Detector(s) used
CTX 3030, Minelab Excalibur 1000 & 800, Sovereign Elite & GT
I think it also depends on the type of sand you're hunting. The Excals are better on heavy mineralized black sand than the PI's. Conditions of the sand /soil
are a big factor to consider
 

goodmore

Full Member
Nov 12, 2008
125
15
PA
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX / XP Deus
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
When it comes to finding a small woman's ring in the wet sand nothing beats a PI. And a small woman's ring is what we are after. Yes there are beaches where a PI unit is not practical. That is why there is no do it all detector. I wish there was. I would love to only have one detector. But conditions change and so does my choice of detector to hunt with.
 

Treasure_Hunter

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,490
54,978
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
goodmore said:
When it comes to finding a small woman's ring in the wet sand nothing beats a PI. And a small woman's ring is what we are after. Yes there are beaches where a PI unit is not practical. That is why there is no do it all detector. I wish there was. I would love to only have one detector. But conditions change and so does my choice of detector to hunt with.

I found a .06 gram 14k gold ring at about 8 inches with my excal and WOT in wet sand, it was a really small target.

Detectors are like golf clubs, different detector for different situtations.....
 

Craig-PI

Full Member
Feb 19, 2011
142
32
Connecticut
Detector(s) used
Whites Dual Field PI Minelab Sovereign GT Teknetics T2
Surfmaster said:
I think it also depends on the type of sand you're hunting. The Excals are better on heavy mineralized black sand than the PI's. Conditions of the sand /soil
are a big factor to consider


Sorry but this is not true... a PI will punch deeper than a VLF in the black sand...
 

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