Which water detector??

[can]

Looking at the "best water detector" out there. For those with experience what are your thoughts for water detecting and why. I am looking at the excal II or the 3030. Thanks for your thoughts

 

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[Sandman]

Both those are fine, but if being used in only freshwater the Tiger Shark is less than half the cost.

 

[Fletch88]

Excal 2 if you want to really water detect and not worry about leaks. Especially if you are in heavy surf

 

[ScubaDetector]

First of all what kind of water are you in, fresh or salt? Second what do YOU feel is best, the ones that go the deepest or the ones that discriminate. Third, what kind of water hunting are you doing, wading or diving?

Nobody can really answer your question until you let us know your requirements and thoughts.

 

[can]

First of all what kind of water are you in, fresh or salt? Second what do YOU feel is best, the ones that go the deepest or the ones that discriminate. Third, what kind of water hunting are you doing, wading or diving?

Nobody can really answer your question until you let us know your requirements and thoughts.

I will be hunting in all of the above. salt water fresh water wading and diving. Secondly it is not a matter of how I feel, I asked the question about your experience. I feel I want one that goes deepest and and discriminates best. Stit I want the one that I step in the water or on the beach and the machine pulls me to where the gold is. lol. Thanks for your reply

 

[can]

Both those are fine, but if being used in only freshwater the Tiger Shark is less than half the cost. View attachment 1292590

Thanks for the reply and help

 

[can]

Excal 2 if you want to really water detect and not worry about leaks. Especially if you are in heavy surf

No one wants leaks. A leak will ruin your day.

 

[Fletch88]

I will be hunting in all of the above. salt water fresh water wading and diving. Secondly it is not a matter of how I feel, I asked the question about your experience. I feel I want one that goes deepest and and discriminates best. Stit I want the one that I step in the water or on the beach and the machine pulls me to where the gold is. lol. Thanks for your reply

Then as I stated before the Excal is what you want hands down

 

[ScubaDetector]

You really only have TWO choices if you want fresh and salt, diving and wading.

The Excal and the CZ-21. BOTH are pretty equal in performance. BUT BOTH are locked into salt mode and will not pick up small gold chains. So do you want a silent search machine or a machine that makes lots of noise?

IT IS a matter on how you feel. If you want the deepest get a PI but be prepared to dig everything in both environments.

A BHID is an underwater choice however it only goes 25' down. No Tesoro is good in all the above conditions.

And I disagree with anyone that says the Excal is better than the CZ-21.

 

[can]

You really only have TWO choices if you want fresh and salt, diving and wading.

The Excal and the CZ-21. BOTH are pretty equal in performance. BUT BOTH are locked into salt mode and will not pick up small gold chains. So do you want a silent search machine or a machine that makes lots of noise?

IT IS a matter on how you feel. If you want the deepest get a PI but be prepared to dig everything in both environments.

A BHID is an underwater choice however it only goes 25' down. No Tesoro is good in all the above conditions.

And I disagree with anyone that says the Excal is better than the CZ-21.

What do you mean its locked in saltwater mode?? Are you saying it does nt work in fresh water or are you saying something differant? How can a $1500 machine miss gold? Dang man I want a machine that is quiet until it makes lots of noise when it hits something. Not following what you are saying about the noise. Please share.

 

[ScubaDetector]

The CZ-21 is a silent search machine. I absolutely love it because I want to hear boats that invade my 200' boat free zone here. It has three beeps. One low tone for iron, a mid tone for lead, gold, aluminum, brass, and a high tone for silver. A bell tone for large items.

The excal, well, go to Youtube and you can hear the sounds it makes. It just doesn't make a crisp clear beep. I don't know how to describe it. I have hunted side by side with them. I have never detected a target they didn't and vice versa.

The nature of gold is different than most any other metal a detector hits. A gold chain for example is not found by mass, like a silver chain. A machine will only pick up a pendant or the largest link. Gold rings with broken shanks give scratchy signals at best for the same reason. So in fresh water the best machine for gold chains you can dive with is the Tesoro Tiger Shark.

However both the CZ and the Excal will do great on rings in fresh water. I have both the CZ-21 and the Tiger Shark. I know my Shark picks up nickels and gold my CZ misses. I like to clean out spots the best I can with the CZ and then play with the shark.

Some do that in salt water also. Play with a CZ or an Excal and then go to a PI afterward. Just be prepared for every piece of iron down there.

As I said there are only TWO reasons why I like the CZ better than the Excal. First is cosmetic. I think the Excal is ugly. I can hip mount my CZ and I feel I look professional.

Second reason is the noise. I want silence underwater so I can hear stupid boaters.

I do not want to become propeller bait. Hope this helps.

I also have found plenty of gold chains. Unfortunately most have been eyeballed digging other targets while diving

 

[gamiller]

Looking at the "best water detector" out there. For those with experience what are your thoughts for water detecting and why. I am looking at the excal II or the 3030. Thanks for your thoughts

There may be one best for you. Opinions will vary.Think of these as tools with varying strengths and weaknesses. I believe a more balanced approach could be 1 vlf and 1 pi unit.

 

[can]

The CZ-21 is a silent search machine. I absolutely love it because I want to hear boats that invade my 200' boat free zone here. It has three beeps. One low tone for iron, a mid tone for lead, gold, aluminum, brass, and a high tone for silver. A bell tone for large items.

The excal, well, go to Youtube and you can hear the sounds it makes. It just doesn't make a crisp clear beep. I don't know how to describe it. I have hunted side by side with them. I have never detected a target they didn't and vice versa.

The nature of gold is different than most any other metal a detector hits. A gold chain for example is not found by mass, like a silver chain. A machine will only pick up a pendant or the largest link. Gold rings with broken shanks give scratchy signals at best for the same reason. So in fresh water the best machine for gold chains you can dive with is the Tesoro Tiger Shark.

However both the CZ and the Excal will do great on rings in fresh water. I have both the CZ-21 and the Tiger Shark. I know my Shark picks up nickels and gold my CZ misses. I like to clean out spots the best I can with the CZ and then play with the shark.

Some do that in salt water also. Play with a CZ or an Excal and then go to a PI afterward. Just be prepared for every piece of iron down there.

As I said there are only TWO reasons why I like the CZ better than the Excal. First is cosmetic. I think the Excal is ugly. I can hip mount my CZ and I feel I look professional.

Second reason is the noise. I want silence underwater so I can hear stupid boaters.

I do not want to become propeller bait. Hope this helps.

I also have found plenty of gold chains. Unfortunately most have been eyeballed digging other targets while diving

Thanks for your thought and sharing from your experience

 

[can]

There may be one best for you. Opinions will vary.Think of these as tools with varying strengths and weaknesses. I believe a more balanced approach could be 1 vlf and 1 pi unit.

Thanks for the reply

 

[FLORIDA KEYS PIRATE]

Just get the Excal II. You can't go wrong with it.

 

[Fletch88]

I have had 2 Cz-21's and 3 Excals over the years. I have found I much prefer a background threshold and the only way to get that on the Cz is to go into Autotune (all metal) and crank sens to almost max. I also did not like how the cz was buoyant while diving with it.
The other thing I like better about the Excalibur is the ability to rear mount the control and still be able to reach pp knob or even do pp mod to mount the switch in the handle.

 

[can]

I have had 2 Cz-21's and 3 Excals over the years. I have found I much prefer a background threshold and the only way to get that on the Cz is to go into Autotune (all metal) and crank sens to almost max. I also did not like how the cz was buoyant while diving with it.
The other thing I like better about the Excalibur is the ability to rear mount the control and still be able to reach pp knob or even do pp mod to mount the switch in the handle.

Thanks for your thoughts and opinions. I am very new to this. Could you explain back ground threshold. Thanks

 

[Tenderfoot]

If you are brand new at this the Excaliber will take MANY hours (60 &) before you begin to understand what it's telling you about the target. Not sure how long the others take to understand.

 

[Fletch88]

Here is the actual manual. Page 22 explains threshold and gives a pictorial example. One other awesome feature that is not mentioned is what is called "pitch hold". If a target is too deep to give a target response but strong enough to slightly elevate the threshold the Excaliburs (and sovereign) threshold pitch with change to match the targets conductivity. It is why I prefer a threshold when beach detecting because targets generally sink very quickly and getting max depth is always a plus.

https://www.minelab.com/__files/f/38964/Excalibur II Manual 110414 (web).pdf

 

[Fletch88]

Here is a good video that shows the different sounds of a Sovereign GT which is basically a non waterproof Excal. Some people love the audio others hate it. It is all a personal preference.