Excal rocks!! New totals

birdman · Sep 6, 2010

I talked Crack Badger out of his excal and man what a machine. He did not want to sell it but I am glad he did. :icon_pirat:

Everything I had heard or read is true about this machine. We did a hunt today and I found two gold rings and a silver thimble and a nice stainless steal watch with a broke band!! I am in awe of this machine . CB found a bunch of gold with his etrac and another hunter over here dug 3 gold rings with his excal. I still have a lot to learn with this machine but I will say that it knocks out iron and goes deep. I was shocked how deep some of the coins were that I pulled out of the ground. The excal is a keeper for sure. :headbang:

Update..Total digs thus far.

Sandman · Sep 6, 2010

Re: Excal rocks!!

Glad you like it. Many falsely claim that their detector finds more, but the fact the Excal will ignore iron and still report on a gold ring or coin instead of masking it out is reason enough to make it a keeper. :thumbsup:

Dixie Digger · Sep 7, 2010

Re: Excal rocks!!

the only iron (1) nail iv ever found with my Excal was in the hole with a Gold Ring! iv found a few brass tacks and they make the low tone as Gold...but i can safely say,if it nulls,its Iron! iv never dug not 1 bobby pin with my Sovereign's or Excal's...in 5 years! iv got an Elite that i wouldnt take $2000 for it and thats a fact! when someone makes something better i will buy and try it as i have with over 200 detectors from 1968 to date...iv got a new Excal ll (made in Ireland) that is almost as good,but not quite.

birdman · Sep 8, 2010

Re: Excal rocks!!

I got extremely lucky with this one.Crack Badger did me right on this machine and threw in several extras. Carrying bag, extra battery pack ,straight shaft and a hip mount kit. I am going to do the hip mount next time around for sure.After about 3 hours my arm was about to break off. Man, I was shocked at how many good vs bad targets were coming out of the sand. I did not dig a single nail!! Best beach machine I have ever used.

JoelB · Sep 25, 2010

Re: Excal rocks!!

Any tips ----just received my excal II and am heading to the Outer Banks for two weeks---have an etrac but a rogue wave almost turned it into junk---hence the excal II was purchased. Appreciate any input.

birdman · Sep 26, 2010

Re: Excal rocks!!

Hey Joel set your Disc. on about 2 and sens on about 6-7 and I would say chest mount of hip mount it if your going to be out for a long time. The excal is the machine I have been looking for for a long time. Good luck :icon_thumright:

This is this weekends take.

JoelB · Sep 26, 2010

Re: Excal rocks!!

Where does platinum get knocked out in discrimination mode. Just want to be sure. Also why set on 2---what exactly does that knock out? If i am going to dig it all couldn't I just leave it on 1 or even 0? I dont have a platinum ring to test.

birdman · Sep 26, 2010

Re: Excal rocks!!

Pretty much knocks out iron only. I have never dug a platinum ring and I do not know where they disc out. Knock out iron and then dig everything.

Treasure_Hunter · Sep 27, 2010

Re: Excal rocks!!

I use no descimination at all on my Excal, if your hunting beaches I wouldn't.....Too many different kinds of base metals used in gold, why take a change descriminating out a nice gold ring with diamonds standing on it's side.

Dixie Digger · Sep 28, 2010

Re: Excal rocks!!

i never run any disc! the Excal and Sovereign will automatic null on iron. and Platinum comes in "low" tone as Gold....i just dont dig any tones above Silver.....only quarters that make the Wowoo sound. after about 3 months you should be able to tell the diff items and how many scoops deep just by the tone. i make it a habit to try and guess the ID of each item before i dig.and im right about 98 % of the time. its the other 2 % that will come back to bit you in the a$$...LOL!

49r Relics · Oct 1, 2010

Re: Excal rocks!!

Treasure_Hunter said:
I use no descimination at all on my Excal, if your hunting beaches I wouldn't.....Too many different kinds of base metals used in gold, why take a change descriminating out a nice gold ring with diamonds standing on it's side.

Same here . . . I often hunt in reverse (All-Metal Pinpoint) with my headphones cranked carefully listening to any change in tone. I routinely dig coins at 10"-14" in this mode. I run my sens at around 12 o'clock but I spend a few minutes moving it ever so much until it is as high as it can be without falsing. Disc 0 and dig (scoop) everything!

Best of luck, HH, Mark :icon_pirat:

birdman · Oct 4, 2010

Re: Excal rocks!!

I set my Disc. on 2 and dig everything .I am going to turn it to 0 on my next hunt and see what happens. I sure hope I have not been passing anything up. I have dug some really small bands but no chains with the excal..

JoelB · Oct 5, 2010

Some help please--I am currently at the Outer Banks and am having a blast with my e trac and having a litttle learning problem with my excal II. I received my excal II one week ago but could not charge the battery. I tested the charger---not working. Minelab sent me a new charger in 2 days. I tested the charger and it was working--hooked it up to the battery pod for 10 hours---no charge in the pod and the charger did not work anymore. Told Minelab that I was heading south soon and needed a charger and new battery pod ( pre-tested of course ) and they did just that. They requested I send them my faulty charger and battery pod so they could find out what the problem was. I commend their service department! Problem is that I didn't get to try the machine out until I got to the Outer Banks. I charged the battery up and hooked it to the excal II and heard a sound coming from the headset before I turned it on. Not really comprehending what was going on I headed to the beach. I turned the threshold up to the appropriate level along with disc 0, sens 6, vol max and hunted in disc mode. Beach is kind of sterile of good targets but does have a fair amount of iron targets ( mostly wire from old dune fencing ). When I adjust the threshold for the first time there is a nice-easy to listen to hum--when I hit an iron target the hum nulls out ( like it is supposed to ) and returns as a low semi-irritating tone. When the coil goes over a target other than iron it reverts back to a nice higher pitched hum as before. I tested the machine with good targets along with the low hum and it picked them up fine--along with changing back to the more peaceful hum. The machine also switches to a hum in the middle of the two every now and then--not sure why--but as soon as a non-ferrous target is encountered the hum goes back to the higher pitch. The ability of the machine to find good targets does not seem to be affected. What does this difference in tones mean? I must send it back due to it not being able to shut off. OUT OF SPACE

Treasure_Hunter · Oct 5, 2010

What your are describing is a normal condition that happens sometimes and it happens on the Excals and Sovereigns that I personally know of as I have both. It has no affect on the functionality or the ability for the Excal to see good targets. You can reset it by passing it over your scoop or just keep hunting....

birdman · Oct 6, 2010

Joel, you pretty much described how mine acts. The hum comes and goes as I move around but when I walk over a good signal she sounds off . The tones I do not pay much attention to as I dig all but iron. I thought I had pull tabs figured out the other day but when I dug ,it was a small gold band.

Treasure_Hunter · Oct 6, 2010

birdman said:
I thought I had pull tabs figured out the other day but when I dug ,it was a small gold band.

When your discriminating out pulltabs either by ear or by dial on your detector your walking away from gold, and even small gold has diamonds. My wife wears a size 3 to 4 ring, depending on which finger it is on, her sister has the same size fingers and my ex had the same size fingers. Lot of women with smaller fingers and they all wear gold, platinum, and silver jewelery and a lot of that jewelry will come in as pulltab under descrimination on a detector or sound just like a pull tab to your ear....

Don't worry though, the good news is the gold, platinum, silver jewelry and diamonds that hunters who descriminate are walking away from will be found by those of us that don't....

birdman · Oct 7, 2010

I agree TH , I dig everything but I thought I could predict a pull tab then the gold ring came to light. :icon_sunny:

Blind Squirrel · Oct 7, 2010

Congrats on the Excal finds :headbang:

Looks like it's doing a good job for you. Some of your finds from the weekend look like they have been down for quite a while.

Treasure_Hunter · Oct 7, 2010

birdman said:
I agree TH , I dig everything but I thought I could predict a pull tab then the gold ring came to light.

I could tell you do by the way you posted, :icon_thumright:

my comment was at those who try to descriminate out the pulltabs and aluminum trash thinking it is saving them time and digging......It is only saving the goodies for those who know better...