Excalibur II 800

ArkieGold · Mar 1, 2009

Just have had my Excalibur for a few days and some preliminary thoughts I will expand on as time and use goes by.

Front heavy for land use. Took the advice of others and put it on a straight shaft. Would love one of the Anderson Shafts but for now pieced together some shafts from other machines with the control and battery pack mounted side/side under my forearm. Much better balance. A 3/4" PVC "T" with about 5" of PVC pipe for hand hold fits fairly snug on the tubing with hole drilled in the side of the "T" for a bolt through existing hole in tubing for vertical handle.

Why all the length of cable? Just seems way too much winding involved when switching shafts. No big deal I guess.

No arm strap on the arm cup? Seems they would pad it and provide a velcro strap for the cost. But I find that the machine being front heavy causes the arm to stay in the arm cup alright without a strap so I guess it saves trouble from having to deal with a strap. Not meant for land use I guess so the bottom supports on the cup to hold the machine off the dirt doesn't very well. So I attached a piece of cut PVC pipe with rivets so it sets about 3" off the ground now when set down and is sturdy/stable. Also provides a nice place to wrap the headphones when not in use.

Have only used a couple of times on land. I find pinpointing easy in Disc, no need to use pinpoint mode just as others have said. Just wiggle the coil over the target forward or backward and the target is right in front center or behind center of coil when the signal is lost.

Got some time off work coming up and the weather outlook is improving. Going to some swimming holes and do some more land hunting soon. Stay tuned...

Oh BTW I love it so far

Edited to add pic...

72cheyenne · Mar 3, 2009

You did a nice job on that straight shaft Arkie. Totally different machine from the first day you got it till now. Gonna be in the 70s this weekend buddy :hello2:

I'm sure your headed to the water huh. :thumbsup:

ArkieGold · Mar 4, 2009

Maybe but I'm kinda liking this land hunting with it! Vacation time coming up though and we'll sure get wet. My secret admirer that bought me the charter membership has sent me an Anderson SCUBA Shaft! Way COOL :thumbsup:

72cheyenne · Mar 4, 2009

Scuba Shaft......hehe....lol. Lucky

steve from ohio · Mar 24, 2009

Try detecting in less trashy areas in the pin point (all metal mode).

You will find that the depth is superior and you will be able to toggle between pin point and discriminate to figure if you want to dig or not.

I have been watching the youtube video by oldbeachnut and he has two videos that show how it is done.

Excellent video.

OD_hunt · Aug 21, 2009

Hey this an old topic but WTH.

Archie, nice simple work done on your Excal! Steve, I'm loading those oldbeachnut vids now...

Why I post is to ask about the Excal 1000's (or 800 for that matter) abilities to hunt on land. I'm waiting for my 1000 (new) to arrive. I know it'll be a nice water machine, bt since posting here, how have your machines performed on land? Any hints? Am I right to say that in Disc mode you hear a varying tone for different metals and in Pinpoint mode you only hear one tone? Preferred method on land?

Thanks for sharing and waiting to hear!
OD

Sandman · Aug 21, 2009

Nice work on the shaft. The reason for the longer cable is many of us hip mount the Excal or hang it from our neck to take weight off the arm. Why do you need to change shafts? I don't like a strap on the arm rest because of the taking the arm out and putting it back in at each find unless you use one of them toy one handed scoops instead of a Sunspot or Diamond Head.

The Excal is the water version of the Sov. GT only without the extra features the Sov GT has. The Sov GT is a hot land unit where you can change coils, add a inline Sunray probe and meter if you want one. It too is hip mountable.

Treasure_Hunter · Aug 26, 2009

ArkieGold said:
Just have had my Excalibur for a few days and some preliminary thoughts I will expand on as time and use goes by.

Front heavy for land use. Took the advice of others and put it on a straight shaft. Would love one of the Anderson Shafts but for now pieced together some shafts from other machines with the control and battery pack mounted side/side under my forearm. Much better balance. A 3/4" PVC "T" with about 5" of PVC pipe for hand hold fits fairly snug on the tubing with hole drilled in the side of the "T" for a bolt through existing hole in tubing for vertical handle.

Why all the length of cable? Just seems way too much winding involved when switching shafts. No big deal I guess.

No arm strap on the arm cup? Seems they would pad it and provide a velcro strap for the cost. But I find that the machine being front heavy causes the arm to stay in the arm cup alright without a strap so I guess it saves trouble from having to deal with a strap. Not meant for land use I guess so the bottom supports on the cup to hold the machine off the dirt doesn't very well. So I attached a piece of cut PVC pipe with rivets so it sets about 3" off the ground now when set down and is sturdy/stable. Also provides a nice place to wrap the headphones when not in use.

Have only used a couple of times on land. I find pinpointing easy in Disc, no need to use pinpoint mode just as others have said. Just wiggle the coil over the target forward or backward and the target is right in front center or behind center of coil when the signal is lost.

Got some time off work coming up and the weather outlook is improving. Going to some swimming holes and do some more land hunting soon. Stay tuned...

Oh BTW I love it so far Edited to add pic...

weight.....Use a shoulder harness with bungee, I use one for all my detectors except the Whites 6000 XL PRO

Length of cable......You can't change coils so wrap it up like you like it in the longest position on the shaft and just collapse shaft when you want, no problems been doing this for years. The cable length is so you can hang it around your waist, or even from your neck, which I have done many times with out stress on the cable...

No arm strap on the arm cup.....My straight shaft came with the arm strap on the cup....

Not meant for land use.......... I used mine for a long time on land, the harness supported it, when I needed to lay it down while digging, no problem, you can hose the entire unit down, after all it's water proof..

ArkieGold you got an excellent water and land machine in one unit...Remember the Excal is the same as the early Sovereigns

Good luck and good hunting.......