Does excal seperate targets like the gt??

[borntofli]

The excal doesn't have a iron mask switch... Is it always running w/ iron mask on, or doesn't it have that circuitry??

Does the excal recognize targets next to iron like the gt???

 

[Jack Flynn]

It most definately will pick out a target next to iron or on top of iron. The secret to both the GT and the Excal II to make this happen is to move the coil slowly in a nulled spot. More times than I can think of after retrieving a target this past year in the water the hole nulled when checking to see if it was in the scoop or still in hole. Target gone, it was in the scoop.

 

[dewcon4414]

Tjat intesting you should say that Jack. Because i know some using the Xcal turn the threshold down below hearing range so they dont have to listen to the nulls. I learned long time ago that i like knowing when the coil goes over a target even a nulled one.... sometimes there is just someting different about it. I think the big difference is tweaking and being able to change coils.

Dew

 

[borntofli]

I just bought an excal and am gonna keep my wot from my gt.... I'm going to use waterproof connectors so I can change coils....Now I have to sell my gt and sand shark...

 

[Jack Flynn]

Dew when the machine nulls that is my signal to move the coil very slowly. To slow down the already slow swing IOW. It seems, to turn the threshold down just below being audible, for me would be a disadvantage, the way I hunt. However what I'm finding out is that every place I hunt at this present time when I get to the very mineralized spots or get in black sand and the machine nulls over most of a sweep I'm finding an abundance of targets where as outside of these areas the targets are very scarce. It's not a coincidence for sure. Happens every time. The other machines are not seeing what the GT or Excal is. Even my ETrac didn't perform near as well as these two machines have in finding targets in nulled areas. I dig any sound when either machine is nulled. It's telling me something is there. Amazing to say the least.

 

[Rob in (Ca)]

borntofli.... the excal is more fragile than the GT, tugging and pulling on the cables will cause down time real quick, and there's no fast fix

unless your a electric / solder salvy person.... I found out all this right at the height of summer last year ...also what coil connectors are using and are you installing them

 

[Critterhunter]

Dew when the machine nulls that is my signal to move the coil very slowly. To slow down the already slow swing IOW. It seems, to turn the threshold down just below being audible, for me would be a disadvantage, the way I hunt. However what I'm finding out is that every place I hunt at this present time when I get to the very mineralized spots or get in black sand and the machine nulls over most of a sweep I'm finding an abundance of targets where as outside of these areas the targets are very scarce. It's not a coincidence for sure. Happens every time. The other machines are not seeing what the GT or Excal is. Even my ETrac didn't perform near as well as these two machines have in finding targets in nulled areas. I dig any sound when either machine is nulled. It's telling me something is there. Amazing to say the least.

There is something about BBS that cuts through minerals like a hot knife through butter. I had much more trouble getting my Explorers to settle down at very mineralized sites. Adjusting sensitivity was a constant battle to ride the edge yet keep the machine tame. Why is that? My best guess is that at my mineralized sites (we are talking my soil here...it may differ for others) the higher frequencies of the Explorer (the Sovereign goes up to 25khz while the FBS machines go up to 100khz) aren't getting along well with the minerals. Just a guess but maybe they are reflecting off the ground matrix as many say higher frequencies have more trouble penetrating mineralized ground.

That's true...That even if the GT or Excal is having problems with poor depth or performance at a site just think about how other machines are probably struggling there. You are probably still getting deeper and seeing targets that other machines aren't, even if your GT or Excal is having problems.

 

[Neil]

Dew when the machine nulls that is my signal to move the coil very slowly. To slow down the already slow swing IOW. It seems, to turn the threshold down just below being audible, for me would be a disadvantage, the way I hunt. However what I'm finding out is that every place I hunt at this present time when I get to the very mineralized spots or get in black sand and the machine nulls over most of a sweep I'm finding an abundance of targets where as outside of these areas the targets are very scarce. It's not a coincidence for sure. Happens every time. The other machines are not seeing what the GT or Excal is. Even my ETrac didn't perform near as well as these two machines have in finding targets in nulled areas. I dig any sound when either machine is nulled. It's telling me something is there. Amazing to say the least.

There is something about BBS that cuts through minerals like a hot knife through butter. I had much more trouble getting my Explorers to settle down at very mineralized sites. Adjusting sensitivity was a constant battle to ride the edge yet keep the machine tame. Why is that? My best guess is that at my mineralized sites (we are talking my soil here...it may differ for others) the higher frequencies of the Explorer (the Sovereign goes up to 25khz while the FBS machines go up to 100khz) aren't getting along well with the minerals. Just a guess but maybe they are reflecting off the ground matrix as many say higher frequencies have more trouble penetrating mineralized ground.

That's true...That even if the GT or Excal is having problems with poor depth or performance at a site just think about how other machines are probably struggling there. You are probably still getting deeper and seeing targets that other machines aren't, even if your GT or Excal is having problems.

Hmmm I wonder how the high freq gold machines work well in mineralized soil then? Or how Explorer/Etrac users do well in your very area? Really odd how it all doesnt add up.

 

[Critterhunter]

Neil, if I thought any different about my Explorers don't you think I would have stayed with one of the THREE I owned over the years? All I can say is what I experienced. Take it or leave it. And I did run them every which way you can think, dug unstable IDs and bad audio, practiced that flutey deep silver sound, etc. They were a struggle for me to keep tame at some of my sites to the point where I was sick to deatch of constantly having to adjust sensitivity. Think you have it stabile and then 10 feet later it's acting up again. All I can say is they didn't like my soil. I know I did everything I could to like them. That's why I owned three. I kept going back to them after doing more reading and research, trying different settings...etc...Thinking this time it would be different. Not! I will say though that I'm tempted to try an SE just because the Pro Coil is such an improvement over the terrible 10" coils they made for the Explorers. Seperation and pinpointing on those coils was a nightmare. The 10" Tornado is a much better coil IMHO.

And as far as "others" having no trouble in my area goes. I have 1 guy I hunt with at my sites who still used an Explorer and I've seen nothing to impress me there. Same deal with the Etrac. i HAVE 2 friends who now have them I hunt with. Nothing has said to me yet "Got to have one of those." I haven't seen the Etrac do anything depth wise and such to impress me. Well, I take that back...Back when I had a QXT Pro I saw my one friend dig a 9" silver dime. I checked it with my QXT before he dug and couldn't get a signal from it. That was the first time I saw a machine break the 7.5" barrier at this site. Figured I better give Minelab another try. Didn't want to go back to the Explorer. Didn't care for some things on the Etrac. Figured I'd give the Sovereign a try based on the depth reports and unmasking in iron ability. So far it's lived up to everything I hoped it would be. I'm now digging coins at my mineralized sites deeper than anything I've seen or owned. Will I try an Explorer again....I just might. But largely that's based on the improved pinpointing of the SE and the better ability of the Pro Coil.

 

[Critterhunter]

...I have a sneaking suspicion that the Pro Coil, like my 12x10 for the GT, will handle my soil better than the 10" coils for the Explorer did. More stabile and all that is what I'm thinking. Maybe that will make the difference and really open the Explorer up.

 

[imalookin2]

I just bought an excal and am gonna keep my wot from my gt.... I'm going to use waterproof connectors so I can change coils....Now I have to sell my gt and sand shark...

I would offer you $550 for the GT in working condition paypal and would consider paying postage. Let me know if you are serious. GT, 10" coil. Sold.

 

[Tin Fin]

Ok Jack, and the rest of you - bear in mind I'm new to and excal - today I was running sensitivity between 2:00 & 3:00 o'clock; adjusting threshold to where I could hear it, which meant adjusting up or down often - I don't mind doing that, because there is something about knowing there is a rejected target there. But, if I understand you, you are saying that there are good targets within the null. How are you finding the targets within the null? I understand you are slowing down the swing even more than normal; but are you getting a tone as a result? Meaning that the machine is processing all the iron signal until it can find a solid target that isn't iron?

Is my understanding correct, or do I need to hand a baseball bat to you to help me out here? Today I worked with the excal in the field for seven or eight hours - had some good hits, dug a lot of pull tabs and can slaw; actually dug almost everything possible. I had to leave some because the rocks stopped me. But, there were a lot of nulls too, and a lot of targets - coins for the most part, from surface to 10", (I was using a sharp-shooter shovel, and went almost the entire length of it on two targets). Part of digging everything today was to tell me self what the target is, then prove it to my self. But, if there is a way to work targets out of the nulls, I would love to learn that.

Thanks to all of you - I have learned a whole lot from you about using the Excal and the Sov GT (which is soon to be arriving.... ) so I have my work cut out for me, and I don't mind putting in a lot of time to learn - it can only make things more interesting, and possibly more productive!

 

[imalookin2]

Ok Jack, and the rest of you - bear in mind I'm new to and excal - today I was running sensitivity between 2:00 & 3:00 o'clock; adjusting threshold to where I could hear it, which meant adjusting up or down often - I don't mind doing that, because there is something about knowing there is a rejected target there. But, if I understand you, you are saying that there are good targets within the null. How are you finding the targets within the null? I understand you are slowing down the swing even more than normal; but are you getting a tone as a result? Meaning that the machine is processing all the iron signal until it can find a solid target that isn't iron?

Is my understanding correct, or do I need to hand a baseball bat to you to help me out here? Today I worked with the excal in the field for seven or eight hours - had some good hits, dug a lot of pull tabs and can slaw; actually dug almost everything possible. I had to leave some because the rocks stopped me. But, there were a lot of nulls too, and a lot of targets - coins for the most part, from surface to 10", (I was using a sharp-shooter shovel, and went almost the entire length of it on two targets). Part of digging everything today was to tell me self what the target is, then prove it to my self. But, if there is a way to work targets out of the nulls, I would love to learn that.

Thanks to all of you - I have learned a whole lot from you about using the Excal and the Sov GT (which is soon to be arriving.... ) so I have my work cut out for me, and I don't mind putting in a lot of time to learn - it can only make things more interesting, and possibly more productive!

Hi, you mention the targets in the field so I am assuming you are not on a salt beach. Many times a null will be connected to a blip of a higher tone. The blip on salt beaches happens more often due to the conductivity of the wet salt on a rusted target. You would expect less of this false blip on most dirt hunting. It may depend some what on your sensitivity settings too if you get that blip/null more often than not.

 

[Tin Fin]

imalookin2,

good info to keep in the back of my mind - I don't think I have experienced what you are talking about, though I have had some one-way signals that then null. And had some signals that I was able to pin point, then dig, and lost the signal - funny thing was, the pi pinpointer lost the signal too... those two still have me stumped. But the blip/null is something for me to work with when I do get to saltwater.

 

[Critterhunter]

...I have a sneaking suspicion that the Pro Coil, like my 12x10 for the GT, will handle my soil better than the 10" coils for the Explorer did. More stabile and all that is what I'm thinking. Maybe that will make the difference and really open the Explorer up.

On the other hand, I'd probably opt for the 12x10 down the road on the SE too. Many say it's deeper than the Pro Coil and more stabile.