I have had very good luck buying used. I have bought 2 new detectors, the BHID that I traded off, and my non-waterproofed Sovereign GT, the other 7 detectors that I have owned since I started were all bought used and everyone arrived in perfect working order. I enjoyed buying and playing with them.
One came off of EBay, 3 off another site's for sale board and 3 from the for sale board here. I sold 3 of the detectors I bought used and I am down to 6 detectors now. 3 Minelab water machines (2 Excals, one with a WOT coil, and the custom waterproofed Sovereign GT with WOT coil), 1 Fisher 1235X for competition hunts, a Minelab Sovereign GT with WOT and Whites 6000 XL PRO for land hunting.
I am a water hunter and I perfer Minelabs, but I personally will not buy an Excal detector new now, you lose too much value in deprecation, their warranty is only good for a year now, and they currently no longer sell the extended warranty. I would rather buy used, save the money and let someone else lose the deprecation value. All of my excals are the older Blue Headphone style, never owned the New Excal II, if I find one used at a good price I would buy it, but I am in no hurry, or have any big interest at this time to get the new Excal II.
My latest Excal I bought used off another site's board for $475. I bought a used WOT coil for it for $80 plus shipping, splice for the WOT $20, added a custom built straight shaft for $25, and it is my primary water detector, with another Stock Excal (Looking for another used WOT coil for it) and the custom waterproofed Sovereign GT with WOT as backups. I have $600 in this one now, and a new Excal is $1200. I bet I could sell it a couple years from now and lose almost none of the money I have in it.
Why have 3 water units you ask...MURPHY'S LAW. This past summer at the height of water hunting season my Excal coil cracked, I sent it into Minelab with a spare coil I had from my Sov GT to replace it with (one of only 2 trips I have ever had to make to repairs with an Excal.) A week after shipping it off I cracked the coil on my waterproofed Sovereign GT, when like an idiot I stood it up coil side up on the side of my van while unloading, it fell over and cracked that coil...GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I did not notice it cracked till I returned from hunting at the beach when I noticed it had become unstable and I didn't know why. Got home started checking it over and found the hairline crack.
I let it sit for 3 weeks hoping it will dry out from any water that might have got inside before repairing it. I will most likely have to replace the coil one day as some salt water must have leaked in. For 3 weeks I had no detector to use, and had trips to Miami planned with my hunting partners. Luckly Clyp had a spare Excal and loaned it to me for our trips.
