Welcome!
Well, you've picked a couple of great beach detectors to decide from: White's Dual Field or Minelab's Excalibur II.
I have used pulse induction and I have now used the Excal also.
I sold the Excal and am going back to a PI machine, very likely the Dual Field. The Excal, I was surprised to find, was not the detector for me.
The Excal is a great multi-level frequency (MLF) detector. You can go from dry sand, to wet sand to the surf without altering the settings (though the surf will sometimes require an adjustment to your sensitivity). Users love the Excal because you can eliminate a lot of junk and the detector will, in air tests, mask iron and pick up on a coin underneath it. Other junk, like bottlecaps, will give you a different tone. Learning the tones on the Excal is the biggest challenge. The Excal is largely considered the best beach detector made so far.
The Dual Field will offer you amazing depth. Targets 2 feet deep are not unheard of. This can be a real advantage in dealing with sanded in beaches. It is also a benefit because the PI will go deeper than the Excalibur will, often twice as deep. This means you can go behind all the Excal users and get everything they missed: trash and treasure. You will get tones on the Dual Field, but identifying a target will have more to do with the length and crispness of the sound than it will the actual tone. A PI detector is a beep-and-dig machine. Any target you don't dig might be a missed find of a lifetime. Or another tie wrap.
So what you need to decide, and this can be tough one because I didn't figure out my answer until I used both, is which strain of the metal detecting disease you have: PI or MLF.
"MLF +" detectorists have an aversion to digging junk. In their mind, there is no bigger waste of time or energy. They'd rather sacrifice some depth and just stick to digging targets that they're almost positive are worthwhile, even if that means they will swing their detector for a hour and never get a single signal. They look at the PI detectorist who digs 18" only to come up with a burnt sparkler wire as borderline psychotic behavior. You will often see MLF+ detectorists saluting one another at the beach or grouping together at parties. Some are thought to light candles and burn incense in front of their Excals, but this has never been confirmed. They are the Cary Grant's of beach detecting.
"PI+" detectorists have an aversion to missing any target, especially those deep ones. It's ok with them if they have to dig 100 pulltabs at 18" if that means finding one worn gold ring at the same depth. Put an MLF detector in their hands and the whole time they'll be in a panic wondering: "Is this thing masking a good target?", and "What kind of targets is this thing missing because its not going deeply enough?" PI+ detectorists will often be seen using a sand scoop that's bigger than your head. They look at anyone who doesn't finish their day with a bag full of junk as total sissies. They tend to avoid other people at the beach, dress strangely, and will clean out the buffet and then leave the few parties they get invitied to. They are the Danny DeVito's of beach detecting.
But one thing is for sure: digging at the beach beats digging on land by a country mile. Just keep scooping sand til you hit your target. No plug cutting, no root cutting, no laying out towels for excess dirt. Just kick the sand back in when you're done and move on. My advice: don't be afraid to dig.
I discovered I'm PI+. Both strains are ultimately fatal, you just need to figure out your poison. Remember, everyone in this hobby is nuts. We dig madly for a penny that most people will walk right past if its laying on the surface. There's no hope or cure. Once you're truly infected, you're done.
Good luck and hope to see you at the next group session!
