Excalibur II or CZ21 Tough decision

[Slimpickins]

After reading practically everything ever written on this and other forums, I'm still no sure what would be the best choice. I have been using the DFX for 11 yrs. Since I live in Cape Cod now with ponds and saltwater beaches everywhere I need a water detector. Is it possible that new Excals are designed to fail . Are they inspected during the manufacturing process? It seems that it is common for the knobs to break or the coil wires to crack or coil manufacture defects. Isn't it reasonable to expect that each unit be tested before it's packaged. Are the new units made in China? My DFX has never had one problem in all these years and I paid around $1200. back then. Has anyone who purchased an Excalibur II within the past few years experienced major warranty problems and wished they didn't buy the Excal? Like the Whites DFX the Fisher CZ 21 is made in the good 'ol USA. For that reason alone I'm leaning toward the CZ 21 but I've never used a detector without a threshold sound. The nice old lady who owns J&E Enterprises in W. Yarmouth sells both brands among others and insists that the Minelab is a superior machine. Decisions,decisions... There is "Black Sand" here and there on the East facing outermost beaches and a lot of Iron in Cape Cod Bay beaches. What would you guys and gals do? What should I do? HELP!!!!!!!
Thanks,
Tom from Mass

 

[gamiller]

I have had both and felt like I found more with the excal.Keep in mind that you'll probably want to replace the factory shaft and invest in a knob guard, if you get an excal . By my way of thinking I think the Excalibur is a little delicate . Truth be known I might still be using it had I done a better job in maintaining it. The wire starting cracking. A problem I never had with the old cz 20. I guess I'm just too much of a hack for an Excalibur. I believe every machine can stand some preventive maintenance. I believe the Excalibur needs a little more TLC. Expensive lesson learned too late.

 

[Higgy]

I own neither, but here are my perceptions for what its worth.

CZ-21 looks more rugged than the Excal. The CZ-21 looks more tasteful, with black and no weird colors. The CZ-21 looks way more ergonomic than the Excal. The CZ-21 can be used as-is, with no knob guards, or different shafts, or chest straps needed. Also, Casper likes the CZ, and thats good enough reason for me.

The Excal looks... well... gross. I'm a visual person, so looks DO mean something to people like me. The Excal may have better electronics inside it, but why cram it into a cheesy piece of pvc (sic)? Why jam some big dorky knobs on the outside to be constantly fiddled-with, or break off, or drift out of tune with the slightest brush from a piece of seaweed? To me, the Excalibur is like putting a Corvette engine into a Yugo. I'm not crazy about dropping a lot of cash on something thats clearly not as good as they claim.

My plan is to buy two new detectors after Christmas to augment my AT Pro. One will be a Deus and the other will be a CZ-21.

 

[R.Danneskjold]

I have owned both and have two excals and have used them well with 0 issues. So have many others. A brush of sea weed is unlikely to break any detector and wont change the knob settings. There are some upgrades that make sense and protecting the knobs is one. Once that is done......your done. Take care of it and you will have it for many years............its all about what suits you and many many people find the excal finds the most valuables compared to other detectors they have used......myself included. I did not like the CZ but you may......so questions are good. I would rather have a machine with good electronics than a machine that looked good while i took it for a walk.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I love my excals, it's ability to skip the iron targets and yet still see gold when it is next to iron is a HUGE advantage.....

Add the reverse discrimination mod and a custom coil and the Excal becomes a totally new detector.

 

[OBN]

Are they inspected during the manufacturing process? It seems that it is common for the knobs to break or the coil wires to crack or coil manufacture defects. Isn't it reasonable to expect that each unit be tested before it's packaged. Are the new units made in China? My DFX has never had one problem in all these years and I paid around $1200. back then. Has anyone who purchased an Excalibur II within the past few years experienced major warranty problems and wished they didn't buy the Excal?

I would say No on them being inspected before shipping, I believe they leave that up to us...(which is wrong)

Made in Malaysia

Your DFX never had a problem because you never used it in saltwater, any machine used in the saltwater will have issues in time, and that would be if your DFX was water proof.

Have a friend that put over 700 hours on his CZ21, in the saltwater.. only issues, one of the potentiometers gave out. I used my Excalibur over 700 hours since May, had one head phone issue

His gold count, 5 gold rings, my count 193 grams of gold...and it is not all about the machine, part of it is being in the right place at the right time. I feel he is as good as me, and we hunt the same beach's during the summer.

I was just there to find it. If I knew my CZs as well as my Excalibur I believe I could have found the same.

I do feel you have to baby the Excalibur a little more then most but I know I feel lost without mine when using anything else, and that would be the CTX, CZ20s, DF, SeaHunter, and the Infinium. But they find the stuff also..

And a quick story, I used a LiPo all of those 700 plus hours, well last week the Excalibur died, 16.8 volts instead of the stock 14.4 fully charged just to much and burnt out the board finally. I feel this strongly about this one machine I pulled the PCB (electronics) and going to have it framed...I guess you might say it was my favorite Gun...

 

[Fletch88]

OldBeechnut, what was the count on the 193grams? I'm trying to compare 5 apples to 193 grams of oranges

 

[RustyGold]

Excalibur II is the perfect choice for me. Bought used and have had zero problems.
Mounted to a straight carbon fiber shaft with knob guard!
I love the way it handles and I'm comfortable with it!
The charger adapter came semi broken and I did replace it!
Now I'm learning the CTX AND I'm loving it!
Both are great Minelab detectors IMHO

 

[TheSleeper]

Tom, there is "NO", sure fire answer here guy.
A detector is like a person, no two are alike, nor respond identically to the same thing.

This hobby is all about "the mind" between the ear phones, someone who knows their machine can hunt hard and find those elusive targets, someone umbrella swinging and listening to the sounds without knowing what his detector is saying to them, well they leave the targets for the rest of us.

I have been doing this since the 70's, do I know it all, NO WAY, not going to try claiming I do, do I find great targets, YES.

I have owned 2 excels, neither of them ever gave me any problems, have they paid for themselves, yes many times over.

If you have the chance ask the lady who runs the detector shop if she has a store machine you can rent, borrow or beg so that you can try BOTH brands out, then let your mind, your brain tell you which one to go with. You will be the one using it, so for me to try telling you to get an excel, or to get a CZ, I can't your not me.

Get what suits you, then learn the heck out of it and let those blings roll in.

 

[TheRingFinder]

Tom - Just a FYI - People around these parts call the CZ21 " Shoebox on a stick". Just the facts.

 

[CASPER-2]

I love my excals, it's ability to skip the iron targets and yet still see gold when it is next to iron is a HUGE advantage.....

Add the reverse discrimination mod and a custom coil and the Excal becomes a totally new detector.

I hit spots hammered by no less than 6 guys - vets with Excals
I hunt in all metal with CZ and get gold next to and under iron these guys miss - usually old gold

most of the gold from 2012 - mostly old gold - was found at spots hammered and deemed "cleaned out"
by many Excal users - some of these spots were hit by 20 or more guys - Ive live 2+hrs from these spots
where they live right down the street - I always tell people - you live right down from a spot - go all metal and get it all
in fact youre better with a dual field to clean out spots close to home

 

[Fletch88]

Casper, your last statement is exactly what I'm thinking of doing. The closest beach for me is 1:45 min away and is hit to death by Excal's, CTX's and Sovereigns. I'm going to dig it all with DF and see what happens! Do you ever hit a target with CZ in Autotune that reports as iron in disc that is not iron? Just curious.
PS: I'm always amazed at your finds.

 

[dewcon4414]

Ill raise my hand high on having a really bad taste in my mouth that i bought an Xcal II. If it could break i broke it. After my last repair ML told me i HUNTED TO MUCH. BUT not many would be putting in the hours i did either. I tried to like the CZ because of that very reason. The CZ doesnt have a lot of common problems.... it is made well and Fisher does a good job of taking care of people if there is. I will say they arent all tuned the same and watch when changing those batteries. What i ended up doing was switching over to BLUE Xcals...... ive still had problems, but ive got a LOT of confidence in these machines and they have been paying off. What ive found is you can hone your skill with either and be very effective. Either will pay for its self..... but with either one..... id still consider a back up at a later date. Nothing stinks more than getting on a streak and have your detector go South. Ill also add..... i think bringing Kelleyco on board for repairs has been a very good thing.

 

[TheSleeper]

Casper, my disc/pp knob on my excal has been broken for a number of years. I don't use disc so I don't worry about getting a new knob.
Think she is bout 7-8 years old now, wasn't minelabs fault knob broke, I accidently smacked it against something on a cold as heck day after being in the water, yeah I was in a hurry to get in the van and warm up.

But anyway I agree with you, all metal all the time, to many targets get missed with disc.

 

[SouthFLdigger]

My vote goes for the CZ-20/21, used an Excal for a short time.I find the CZ to be a better unit.

 

[lost items recovery]

I have had both and felt like I found more with the excal.Keep in mind that you'll probably want to replace the factory shaft and invest in a knob guard, if you get an excal . By my way of thinking I think the Excalibur is a little delicate . Truth be known I might still be using it had I done a better job in maintaining it. The wire starting cracking. A problem I never had with the old cz 20. I guess I'm just too much of a hack for an Excalibur. I believe every machine can stand some preventive maintenance. I believe the Excalibur needs a little more TLC. Expensive lesson learned too late.

I can install a new coil on your excal if you decide to purchase a replacement.
Dave

 

[lost items recovery]

Casper, my disc/pp knob on my excal has been broken for a number of years. I don't use disc so I don't worry about getting a new knob.
Think she is bout 7-8 years old now, wasn't minelabs fault knob broke, I accidently smacked it against something on a cold as heck day after being in the water, yeah I was in a hurry to get in the van and warm up.

But anyway I agree with you, all metal all the time, to many targets get missed with disc.

Have you considered a after market or factory replacement knob? Another option would be installing a pin point/discrimination mod to override the factory switch.
Dave

 

[zigzag]

I'm sure people hunt behind you and find gold too. No one gets it all.

 

[ARC]

SO WHAT DID YOU DICIDE ON ?
?
?

 

[bigscoop]

I would say No on them being inspected before shipping, I believe they leave that up to us...(which is wrong)

Made in Malaysia

Your DFX never had a problem because you never used it in saltwater, any machine used in the saltwater will have issues in time, and that would be if your DFX was water proof.

Have a friend that put over 700 hours on his CZ21, in the saltwater.. only issues, one of the potentiometers gave out. I used my Excalibur over 700 hours since May, had one head phone issue

His gold count, 5 gold rings, my count 193 grams of gold...and it is not all about the machine, part of it is being in the right place at the right time. I feel he is as good as me, and we hunt the same beach's during the summer.

I was just there to find it. If I knew my CZs as well as my Excalibur I believe I could have found the same.

I do feel you have to baby the Excalibur a little more then most but I know I feel lost without mine when using anything else, and that would be the CTX, CZ20s, DF, SeaHunter, and the Infinium. But they find the stuff also..

And a quick story, I used a LiPo all of those 700 plus hours, well last week the Excalibur died, 16.8 volts instead of the stock 14.4 fully charged just to much and burnt out the board finally. I feel this strongly about this one machine I pulled the PCB (electronics) and going to have it framed...I guess you might say it was my favorite Gun...

I've got to be honest....I have had absolutely ZERO battery issues since going back to the standard AA pack. The convenience of the rechargeable packs just wasn't worth all the times one went dead or bad on me. With the standard AA pack I always know how much hunting time I have on a new set and I simply change them out when required. $5 buys 20 alkaline AA batteries at dollar general.

 

[TheSleeper]

Have you considered a after market or factory replacement knob? Another option would be installing a pin point/discrimination mod to override the factory switch.
Dave

Dave, I honestly haven't switched out of PP in years, so I don't worry about that one knob being broken, I am strictly the type that if I hear it I dig it. Plus with the knob broken it prevents me from getting lazy and nit picking my targets