Finderskeeper
Active member
I decided that I was going to try the Detech 13 inch Ultimate coil on my Excalibur II 1000, actually an Excalibur II 1500 as I was using the WOT coil on it. I kept reading all the different comments on how well or not how well it works on other detectors. I have had this coil now for two days and have used it for 13 hours total hunting time. All the hunting was done on dry land and in local school yards.
It had rained here lately and the ground was moist, almost perfect for coin hunting. The two schools I hunted this weekend were older schools where one was built in 1920 and the other was built in 1948. In the past I have found silver in these yards and I know that I have hit these two school yards pretty hard with an E-trac, a Fisher F-75 ltd, a White's Eagle Spectrum and my Excalibur II. So picking were going to be few and far between.
I have gridded these yards to make sure I hit almost every square inch and have done that in the past also. I have old photos of those schools and the diamonds were in heavy use when baseball was the sport to play. Now it is soccer....
They do play soccer in these areas that are ball diamonds so there would be modern clad there also.
Let me say first that the 13 inch Ultimate was easy to install. Thank you CritterHunter for posting the wiring list. My Excalibur II is modified with a straight shaft, Mel Parker/Oldbeechnut remote switch and a 1600 MAH battery. I've made my own headphones using the ear muffs that cannot be posted here. The Excalibur has paid for itself and then some over the last few years.
My first thought about this coil after using it for a few minutes was that it is very stable on dry land. It does not warble as much as the WOT and it seems to be more sensitive in the pin point mode than the WOT or the factory 10 inch coil. I have noticed that in pin point, the Ultimate coil really punches down fairly deep as my first find was a 1946 nickle down about 11 inches on edge. But I also noticed that in discriminate, the 13 Ultimate also hit the coin really strong. Now I have hit this area before with the other detectors and other coils on the Excal and I was amazed that I had missed this in the past. As the day went on, I found several other coins and all were more than 9 inches down in areas that were heavily hunted by myself and others before.
I also noticed that in discriminate, junk targets seem to be better ID'd than with the other coils. I was able to pretty much figure out better what the target was. In order to check myself, I dug everything.
None of the coins were silver and found that the coins I did dig were not near any other metal so I cannot say how well the coil separates. I did find a very small silver clasp of a chain and it was down about 8 inches all by itself. I mean it is really tiny. I was amazed at the ability of this coil to even see that little piece of silver.
I have not used it in the water yet. I am looking forward to using it in Florida this winter. I hear it may not be as good as advertised in the wet sand and salt water. We shall see.
My first impression is that this coil works really well on land with an Excalibur II. I am very happy with it so far and it may not be a grand slam against say a WOT coil, it does offer some pretty good performance that is equal to and sometimes surpassed the WOT in my opinion. Target ID is a bit better than the WOT and the factory coil. Coverage is a wee bit less than the WOT but is way better than the factory 10 inch. Depth so far SEEMS to be more than the WOT but that is subjective. There are just too many variables that are present from day to day and location to location to say it is deeper than any other coil. What I can say is that it is deeper than the factory stock coil where and when I was hunting. Pin pointing was easy with this coil. Spot on every time. The back of the coil seems to be less sensitive than the front, at least it seemed that way to me. The coil is pretty light and swings easily. The white color will be hard to keep clean so I will probably hit it with some truck bed spray and dump the coil cover.
I ended up with $12.23 in clad this weekend. Not a lot but I was amazed that I had missed them before. Was it the coil? Not sure....but the depth of my recent finds compared to other coils makes me think it may have been the coil, but then again the wet ground and other variables could have played a part.
I like the coil and it will remain on my Excalibur till something better comes along or if it fails in the salt water and wet sand. That will be the deciding factor.
It had rained here lately and the ground was moist, almost perfect for coin hunting. The two schools I hunted this weekend were older schools where one was built in 1920 and the other was built in 1948. In the past I have found silver in these yards and I know that I have hit these two school yards pretty hard with an E-trac, a Fisher F-75 ltd, a White's Eagle Spectrum and my Excalibur II. So picking were going to be few and far between.
I have gridded these yards to make sure I hit almost every square inch and have done that in the past also. I have old photos of those schools and the diamonds were in heavy use when baseball was the sport to play. Now it is soccer....
Let me say first that the 13 inch Ultimate was easy to install. Thank you CritterHunter for posting the wiring list. My Excalibur II is modified with a straight shaft, Mel Parker/Oldbeechnut remote switch and a 1600 MAH battery. I've made my own headphones using the ear muffs that cannot be posted here. The Excalibur has paid for itself and then some over the last few years.
My first thought about this coil after using it for a few minutes was that it is very stable on dry land. It does not warble as much as the WOT and it seems to be more sensitive in the pin point mode than the WOT or the factory 10 inch coil. I have noticed that in pin point, the Ultimate coil really punches down fairly deep as my first find was a 1946 nickle down about 11 inches on edge. But I also noticed that in discriminate, the 13 Ultimate also hit the coin really strong. Now I have hit this area before with the other detectors and other coils on the Excal and I was amazed that I had missed this in the past. As the day went on, I found several other coins and all were more than 9 inches down in areas that were heavily hunted by myself and others before.
I also noticed that in discriminate, junk targets seem to be better ID'd than with the other coils. I was able to pretty much figure out better what the target was. In order to check myself, I dug everything.
None of the coins were silver and found that the coins I did dig were not near any other metal so I cannot say how well the coil separates. I did find a very small silver clasp of a chain and it was down about 8 inches all by itself. I mean it is really tiny. I was amazed at the ability of this coil to even see that little piece of silver.
I have not used it in the water yet. I am looking forward to using it in Florida this winter. I hear it may not be as good as advertised in the wet sand and salt water. We shall see.
My first impression is that this coil works really well on land with an Excalibur II. I am very happy with it so far and it may not be a grand slam against say a WOT coil, it does offer some pretty good performance that is equal to and sometimes surpassed the WOT in my opinion. Target ID is a bit better than the WOT and the factory coil. Coverage is a wee bit less than the WOT but is way better than the factory 10 inch. Depth so far SEEMS to be more than the WOT but that is subjective. There are just too many variables that are present from day to day and location to location to say it is deeper than any other coil. What I can say is that it is deeper than the factory stock coil where and when I was hunting. Pin pointing was easy with this coil. Spot on every time. The back of the coil seems to be less sensitive than the front, at least it seemed that way to me. The coil is pretty light and swings easily. The white color will be hard to keep clean so I will probably hit it with some truck bed spray and dump the coil cover.
I ended up with $12.23 in clad this weekend. Not a lot but I was amazed that I had missed them before. Was it the coil? Not sure....but the depth of my recent finds compared to other coils makes me think it may have been the coil, but then again the wet ground and other variables could have played a part.
I like the coil and it will remain on my Excalibur till something better comes along or if it fails in the salt water and wet sand. That will be the deciding factor.