Newbie

[Henry hill]

Newbie here. Have used a m/d screwing around when I was younger. Almost 50 now and would like to get into the hobby. We have a cottage in the tip of the thumb here in Michigan with mile of beach to hunt. Have been doing a lot of reading and watching videos. The 2 M/D I'm trying to decide on are

Mind lab Excalibur
Or
Mind lab Safari Deluxe
Will be doing a lot of dry and wet beach hunting and also some fields schools and so on.
My buddy swears by the Excalibur and said you need to go way out in the lake to find the good rings. I do like it but I have a big fat German head and I've heard a lot of complaints about the headphones. I really don't care for the headphone and I'm leaning toward the Safari with all the extras. What is your opinion? Thanks in advance for any help and Imput!! Chris.

 

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[SD51]

Welcome to TNet. The Excalibur is pretty much a water detector. I would lean towards the Safari. I expect you'll be doing more land searching than water searching.

 

[Henry hill]

Welcome to TNet. The Excalibur is pretty much a water detector. I would lean towards the Safari. I expect you'll be doing more land searching than water searching.

Is the coil on the Safari able to go into the drink? If so, how deep? I would think you could at least go in just below the controller?

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

Yes, the Safari coil is dunkable. I hunted mine in ankle deep Atlantic waters until I ALMOST dropped the control box into the drink. I think I literally lost my heartbeat for a instant. If you hunt it in/at the water long enough, you will have an accident.

Now that said, what do you do? 2 choices as I see it (and assuming you want to go Minelab);
1) get the one that you would hunt the most- Excal for water or Safari for dirt.
2) get a CTX and hunt both shallow water and dirt with complete peace of mind.

I guess an alternative would be to get the Excal (there is no better water machine) and an inexpensive but very good detector like a Garrett ATPro. But if you do that, then you are back in the CTX price range (rem that dealers cant advertise their REAL prices)

As my profile shows, I have the 3 ML machines. I use the CTX unless I KNOW I am going to dunk my machine that day, in which case I take the Excal. The Safari (my first modern machine, my last one was a Whites Coinmaster from the 80s) serves as a backup or a loaner detector. I'll probably sell it one day if my wife ever decides which detector she wants to use.


OH, and WELCOME to TN and to the obsessed side of the hobby!

 

[Henry hill]

So tell me about the CTX over the Safari. My last obsession was salt water fish tanks! Lol

 

[De.Digger]

Minelabs are great machines. I totally agree with SD51, that Excaliburs are pretty much under water machines. The safari is better for land hunting, and to answer your question; the coil on the safari is waterproof. You can submerse it, just dont get water into the control box. For just a little bit more money I would recommend the Explorer SE pro. Its a better machine. If money is no option the etrac is great. Theres also a CTX3030 which is considerably more pricey. I cant comment on the 3030 as I have not used one.

 

[coinman123]

I agree, I haven't heard almost any bad things about minelabs. I want an etrac very bad but I am happy to stick with what I have. I would get a Safari (one of my first options when getting my first more pricey metal detector).

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

I think it really comes down to 3 things:
- what is your budget
- what kind of hunting will you be doing (%ages of dirt v shallow v deeper water)
- are you the kind of person who dives into a hobby and immerses himself for a long time or do you go rapidly from hobby to hobby. (theres no wrong answer to that)

 

[Henry hill]

$2500 CTX looks like the basic price? Love to buy quality but that may be out of the price range right now. Really think I will be doing a lot of beach hunting and along the edge of the H2O, maybe a foot or two into the water. Plan on doing some field around home (dry land). Tell me about the Explorer XE Pro? How much. I can get away with $1500 no problem. I guess I'm looking for an all around upper mid entry level detector.

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

Safari will certainly do all that, but you absolutely cannot let water into the control box. And if you tilt the detector beyond horizontal and there's water in the shaft, it head right into the box.

I would suggest you go with FBS. Check out the Minelab site for specs comparison. And the last time I was at Kellyco, they had a good machine comparison tool that was very handy.

(yes. 2500 is msrp, but not the Real price)

 

[filthylucre59]

I like the Tesoro Sand Shark if the Beach's are fairly clean.Works real good in the water,dry sand and in the fields and woods.Just wouldn't be good for a city park with a lot of trash.I compared my Sand Shark side by side with an Excal using a small 4" gold chain and the Sand Shark picked it right up but the Excal didn't sound off even a little.A Whites MX Sport is another good choice.Waterproof to 10 feet and this unit will pick up that small chain.Good luck hunting!

 

[SD51]

If you go with the Safari there's one more thing to keep in mind when you are detecting in the water. Yes, you can submerge the coil, as others have said. Now there's one thing that Minelab does with the cable coming from the coil that most other manufacturers don't do. That is, they don't wrap the cable around the outside of the detector's shaft. They run the cable inside the hollow detector's shaft and the cable connects to the control box inside the shaft. If you are detecting in water and quickly raise the coil above the control box, any water inside the shaft will run down shaft to the connection. If you are detecting in salt water, this most likely won't be a good thing. I wouldn't give up my ETRAC because of this but just wanted you to be aware.

Also, I know that your friend is suggesting you buy a totally submersible detector because he does well in the water finding rings, but I bet he also has a land detector.

 

[devldog]

Henry Hill.....weren't you one of the Good Fella's? Best of luck in your quest for a new MD. I thought long and hard on the Minelab Safari a while back. The multi frequency is pretty amazing. There are a lot of videos on the Safari on Utube.

 

[Henry hill]

My buddy has three, lol. I think I'm going to choose between the Safari or the ETec. I'm leaning towards the ETec and spending a little more to get better quality? I'm sure someone will throw out another choice! Lol

 

[Henry hill]

Safari will certainly do all that, but you absolutely cannot let water into the control box. And if you tilt the detector beyond horizontal and there's water in the shaft, it head right into the box.

I would suggest you go with FBS. Check out the Minelab site for specs comparison. And the last time I was at Kellyco, they had a good machine comparison tool that was very handy.

(yes. 2500 is msrp, but not the Real price)

FBS? Not to sure what this is?

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

FBS is Full Band Spectrum which is Minelab terminology for what they use in Safari-eTrac-CTX.
Some say the Safari is deliberately clocked down.
The CTX is a (10') waterproof eTrac with faster processor + some bells/whistles which some like and some don't.

You really need to read about them on the Minelab site. Yeah, theres sales pitch, but its all the info you need to compare specs of the ML products.

 

[against the wind]

I have quite a few upper range machines and have spent a considerable time learning how to use them. I sold my AT PRO which is a mid range priced machine. It is an all terrain machine. You don't have to worry about getting caught in the rain and it is submersible to a 10 foot depth. It will do well in fresh water. Not really a salt water machine regardless of what people say. The Excalibur, in my opinion is your best bet for salt water searching. It is submersible to 200 feet.
The E-TRAC is a silver magnet but it does not like water. Not the machine to use in the event of rain. The CTX 3030 is an all terrain machine. It too is submersible to 10 feet and can operate just as well as the Excalibur in salt water. When submersing the control box of the AT PRO or the CTX, it is recommended that you apply a coat of silicone grease at any connections. A small tin of Silicone grease can be picked up at any dive shop or ordered on line. Although the CTX may have a higher price tag, you can get it new from some dealers for $500. less than the MSRP. I don't know how you feel about purchasing used equipment but I purchased a used Etrac,, that the original owner felt was a little too much of a machine for him. Got a great deal and it had only been turned on 3 times. If this is the hobby you are going to stay with, then I say go big or go home. lol
Good luck pardner and welcome to Tnet.

 

[Henry hill]

Is anyone using the Whites MX Sport? How does this machine do?

 

[Tahts-a-dats-ago]

Is anyone using the Whites MX Sport? How does this machine do?

I'm happy with mine; it seems to get the deep targets and it separates well. It is a very sensitive machine (finds the small stuff well). It is waterproof to 10 feet.

The headphones that came with mine are not waterproof, so I bought a set that was. Didn't want to take chances.

I like the balance and the weight isn't bad (about 4lbs I think).

I haven't tried it in salt water and probably never will, but there are reports of people using the Sport in salt water and doing well (it seems they have to turn down sensitivity though).

It isn't the machine I'd choose if salt water fishing was going to play a big part of my hunting time. For that I'd choose a more water specific machine.

Good luck with whichever choice you make.