Excalibur or Sea Hunter Mark II (Or Infinium)

[minelab marcus]

I own a Minelab Excal which is being sent around the world it seems for repairs.
Summers being short, I am thinking of buying another water machine.
Has anyone used either the Sea Hunter Mark II or Infinium and how do they compare with the Minelab Excalibur?
I know they are PI units, but they say they have discrimination - how well does it work? I understand with disc. you lose some smaller items, but overall, are the Garrett PI's comparable, better or not as good as the Excal?
Thanks,
Minelab Marcus

 

[bret4]

I had the same problem with minelab so i purchased a Whites Dual Field and let me tell you it has already payed for itself it is a lot of work getting used to it but well work the price. enjoy

 

[txkickergirl]

I hunt with an excal, and had to send it in for repairs it took them several months. I also own a seahunter, after 2 weeks without the excal I bought another excal. I could of muddled through with the seahunter, but I was so spoiled to the excal I just would rather not hunt at all then be without an excal.
I also figured it was only a few hundred dollars separating the excal from other water machines, and you get your money back with the excal.

 

[John(Tx)]

So far I haven't had any problems with my Excal, knock on wood, and it has performed flawlessly. PI's are great machines but you have to get used to them and you will do alot of digging especially in fresh water lakes where bobby pins take forever to rust. In saltwater the PI's are probably unbeatable for depth but if it's infested with iron trash, you will dig yourself to death, not so with the Excal. If your beach is relatively free of small iron junk the PI will do better than any other machine, that's why alot of water hunters have both machine, I'm thinking about getting a PI myself to go along with my Excal, parts of our beach are pretty clean and would be a great area for the PI. With my Excal I have uncovered silver quarters in knee deep water at 12-14" and that's plenty deep for alot of us. Good luck on whichever machine you buy, just get used to it. John

 

[HawaiiMDer]

I own both!! They both have their good and their bad. The Excalibur is better at discriminating in my opinion and the Infinium is deeper. I like the three distinct tones the excalibur makes and the pinpointing is slightly easier than the infinium, at least for me it was. The Excalibur is a better choice in a very trashing area than the Infinium, but on a less trashy and well hunted out area the Infinium has the edge in regards to depth at least that's what i experienced at my beaches. Build quality in regards to the stock shaft went to the Excalibur, but not many people use the stock shaft anyway. The option of changing coils within the warranty period goes to the Infinium!! Both are about the same weight for me, but i prefer the length of the excalibur as opposed to the bulkiness of the Infiniums Control box. If i had to choose either or, at this time i would choose the Excalibur solely because i have the most experience on it and know it like the palm of my hand!!! Other guys will sware by their Infiniums! Hope that helps alittle.

Ken

 

[Gulf Hunter]

Unfortunately, you just have to deal with Minelab. The Mark II and the Infinium REALLY do not discriminate, not and still find gold. I've used the Mark II and seen quite a bit of finds with an Infinium, you know what I see, large chunks. Now that is a good thing and I want some, but what about the tiny pieces the Excal likes, like earring studs(maybe with diamonds), chains and thin solitaires? I don't believe you are going to find what you are looking for with the selections you have mentioned.

 

[OUTATIME]

I keep thinking one day I'll break down and buy a Whites dual field, but on a day like today when I was getting tons of iron null signals
I just can't help but think - what a waste of time digging all that iron when I could be digging gold instead!!

That's also when I dig the most gold, when I'm getting lot's of iron signals....The excal can really sniff it out!


OUTATIME
[attachment 166001 detecting.gif]

 

[hershey1]

I have both and both do what they were designed to do BUT there is no comparison against the Excalibur. Everyone loves their machines and they should and they all perform well. But once Excalibur owners learn just a little about their machine there's no going back to another machine. The finds and forums tell the same story. HH

 

[John(Tx)]

I have found many very small pieces of copper, brass, silver that I have trouble retrieving because they fall thru the 5/8" holes of my scoop. I have actually left many med/low tones in the surf because I just couldn't keep them in my scoop while shaking out the sand in the water. Maybe I need to carry a sifter with me but the waves make that just about impossible. Good hunting and hope you sell your NY Excal. I like the way it's set up, is having the control box just below your forearm better than behind the elbow. Later....John

 

[hershey1]

John Tx. I used some small mesh hardware cloth and put in the bottom of one of my scoops and it worked very well. Sand still goes out and ear rings stay. HH

 

[Gulf Hunter]

I mess with my knobs too much to have the control housing way the heck behind my elbow.

 

[John(Tx)]

n/t

 

[skinard]

I have several water machines and I just bought another Excal for a backup to my Excal. I used a FisherCZ20 for years and found a lot, used a Whites PI in Hawaii and found several gold rings and other jewelry and I've tried to use them after using the Excal's and I feel like I'm missing items and go back to the Excal.

 

[diggindirt]

N/T

 

[hawaiian kine]

Hey marcus keep bugging them. Minlab told me a 30 day turn around. Got my excal back 76 days later. It was a first generation (the one with th sword), water got in so they redid the unit with a new 8" coil. cost FREEBI! The call and said it was a curtiousy fix cause it took them longer than the 30 days. By that time I purchased an excal II. Iv tried the Sea Hunter II and the Infinium neather came close to the excal. Like they say "once you had the best, why mess with the rest. mano

 

[minelab marcus]

Thanks for all the comments.
I do like my excal and will definitely keep it. Not sure I want to spend the $ on the Mark II or Infinium now.
Another Excal would be my first option, and I spoke to the Director of Service for Minelab USA today and he assures me things are getting better.
They are moving their Las Vegas service dept to Chicago area, a bigger facility and are training more staff, so eventually things will go faster. Just right now it is a little slow during the transition.
Thanks again to all, and I like the tip about putting mesh in the bottom of the scoop! Great idea.
Thanks,
MM

 

[Detectorguru]

I use a TDI along the wet sand and have the advantage of using the ground balance control to eliminate Bobbie pins and small iron without loss of sensitivity or depth Small gold responds with a high tone. very large gold rings and coins except the nickle respond with a low tone. The Goldscan 5, 5b and 5c also does the same thing but try to find one of these units. I plundered Va. beach a few years ago with this detector. The difference is having the ground balance control to help eliminate small unwanted iron. Large iron is not a problem because it has its own low , broken tone. Works just like it does when hunting relics in our hot central Va. soil. Purrrrrrrrrfict.

 

[GaBeachsweeper]

n/t

 

[morrow01]

i have a whites dfx the the beach i have a whites beach hunter id with the matrix coil i do the super tune so its like a pi unit i get gold easy at 10 plus in my buddy has the excal 1000 and he trys to put my unit down if he finds a faint tone he calls me over to see if i can pick it up and yes it dos plus i get id with the lights. he can tune his i little better then i can for trash but they are close on the deep finds

 

[scubadetector]

Metal detectors are the same as computers in one respect. Even thought they have EXACTLY the same electronics from one machine to another some are hotter than others like some computers are faster than another one the exact same model. With that said your Whites BHID could be a very hot deep machine where somebody else with same model won't get the same depth.