Excalibur PROs....

[cabochris]

I've also posted these questions at the Excalibur Forum.

I'm thinking about modifications to my blue Excalibur 800 and would like Excalibur users/PROs opinions.

1, The newer 800 Tornado coil has better sensitivity to smaller targets than the older 800 BBS coil. Is this the case?

2, The newer yellow headphones are louder in volume than the blue headphones? Is that the case?

I like the gold tones of my blue headphones, but would change to the yellow phones if they are louder.

I would also change to the 800 Tornado coil if it has better sensitivity to smaller gold.

I realize I would sort of be creating an Excalibur II without the new shielding. But that is kind of what I want as shielding may actually prevent small gold signals from coming through? By changing my 800 to a more sensitive coil and louder headphones I might gain an edge in depth? All thoughts appreciated. CC.

 

[GraveDiggerMax-VaBch-Va]

blue phones are better

smaller coil is better in the water and around lots of iron............... i do not think it is a deep as the 10" or any larger model coils u would add + much better at pin pointing..............due to its size

10" is heavier.................deeper..............harder to pin point..................

"I like the gold tones of my blue headphones"...............so do most others................wish i had mine back......................u want nice phones, search down a ways and find a post by gulfhunter...............mr gold might be your savior, if u want better phones..............stay clear of the yellow jobs...............CRAP.

but if u sent it to vegas, u will get yellow.

my 2 cents

 

[cabochris]

But you you think the 800 tornado coil is more sensitive than the Blue machine 800 BBS coil? Thanks, CC.

 

[cabochris]

I called Minelab today and they were quite helpful. They said that the yellow headphones were louder and surprisingly that the 800 Tornado coil was not more sensitive than the older 800 BBS coils. Can Tornado coil users please confirm that for me? Because I have seen some say Tornado coils are more sensitive? CC.

 

[Gulf Hunter]

Chris, I have a BBS 800 on one unit & a Tornado 800 on the other Excal 800. I cannot really tell much difference between the 2 coils, other than weight and the Tornado slices through the water a bit easier. It MAY be a touch more sensitive, but it not staggering, if any.

Headphones is where I would be looking to increase performance. The old blue headphones audio quality is better than the yellow Koss(I've used both), the problem is the old blues fall off your head and the wind noise stinks. The BEST scenario is to install the blue headphone audio components into Peltor H7A headphones, as outlined in Clive's last Excal book. This was 1st performed by MrGoldMaster, as I understand it. I am all thumbs on stuff like that, so I contacted MrGoldMaster and he did the installation for me and has invited me to offer the service to all of you, that may be interested as well. Just send him a PM, if you would like. I'll not use anything else, it is worth doing. Here is a few pics of 1 my 800s, with the Peltor H7As and the yellow Koss audio components.
[attachment 141640 Excal800Peltors.JPG]
[attachment 141641 Peltors.JPG]
[attachment 141642 Peltors2.JPG]

 

[Bling]

i see no diff in depth or sensitivity with the new excal ll coil over the old coil.it does slide through water better than the old coil and a bit lighter,for that reason i like the new coil better.my new Excal ll has the yellow head phones and i have no problem with them,but if my unit was out of warranty id put Grey Ghost head phones on it they are way better in sound and staying on your head.i run Jolly Roger's on my Sovereign and absolutely love them.bought 2 new pair's and put them up,just in case they quit making them! every one's hearing is diff.some people cant here hi tones,some low tones.i worked 34 years in a noisy factory and shot Trap for 20 yrs.this took a toll on my hearing.i never knew we had chimney sweeps in our chimney until my wife said "dont you here those birds cheeping".LOL

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

The yellow headphones are NOT louder...that is crap. They are muffled sounding and inferior in every way to the blue ones...no comparison. I tried 3 different Excal II's, just to be sure. Couldn't wait to get back to my Excal original with the blue phones. They really screwed up with those yellow phones.

 

[cabochris]

Thanks for your thoughts on this. But I have now had 4 Excalibur users tell me they feel the yellow phones are louder. When I tried 2 Excalibur IIs, I too thought the yellow phones were a bit louder than the blue ones. (Thought) But at the time I did not like the gold tones from the yellow phones. I also believed that the Excalibur IIs did not produce as many small gold signals and both my IIs could not detect small gold as deep as an older blue machine converted to the yellow headphones. This was in the Caribbean, side by side in the water.

I now believe that the new shielding on Excalibur IIs might cause a null on small gold signals (as Clive Clynick says in his new Excalibur book). Since the older blue machine does not have that shielding, with the yellow headphones the small gold signals may be better heard? I know for a fact that the early Red Head Excaliburs with Red Bilsom headphones were louder than the later blue headphones on the blue machines. I had both and actually had to turn the volume down on the older machine! But back then I did not know what I had and like an idiot sold it, because at the time there was no balance rod for it. What a mistake!

If the yellow headphones turn out not to be louder, then I am at a loss as to why that one Excalibur is clearly HOTTER on gold. It might be just luck of the draw- a better machine. But it has always been a hotter machine than some other 12 Excaliburs in our group. And I am trying to duplicate it. I might be wasting my time, but there is only one way to find out. So I'm having yellow phones put on my 1000 and 800 for my next Caribbean trip mid November. I'm also having the Tornado coils installed. If I do not like the yellow headphones, then I will go back to my blue phones and may even do the Peltor conversion. At the price of gold today, any advantage is worth it to me. CC.

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Well, the Yellow phones are most certainly NOT louder...and sound muffled, like there are cotton balls stuck in the ear cups. And when you try them yourself you will wonder how anybody could possibly say they were louder. That is bad info.

 

[cabochris]

Well I'll be finding out and will let everyone know what I think. I'm also working on what I call "Hyper Tuning" the Excalibur for gold. I have shared this possibly new field tuning technique with Gulf Hunter and Clive Clynick and am hoping for some feedback. Because I travel to hunt, I can only test Hyper Tuning in my yard on buried gold rings for now, and do not know if it will work the same way in saltwater. But my findings at home are repeatable on 2 machines with a noticeable sensitivity increase to gold rings in the Discriminate mode. I intend to share Hyper Tuning with all as soon as I can confirm the results in the field. But it is very simple to do. CC.

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Very interesting on that Hyper Tuning. Looking forward to hearing that. And what YOU think about the yellow phones. I can tell you that the instant I heard them I knew I didn't want an Excal II. I do like the addition of the Slimline coils, though I think if you put them up against their BBS counterparts, the performance is the same. I've used both.

 

[Serge]

n/t

 

[Serge]

Hunting in Florida's Beach's, witch is like most back yard ( no minerals soil), my " hyper tuning" in the water for gold ring is: disc.1, sensitivity max, and i use the threshold to remove the false to the point that i can just ear them a little bit. A very deep target will come out of all the falses and the AM mode will not even catch it. A good normal deep target (+or- 6") will sound just like a normal HUM threshold. But watch out for the deep target,the signal will not sound good, a gold ring may sound like a bottle cap or anything else and it will also be hard to pinpoint since the all metal mode wont catch those very deep signals.Running the machine this way (to hot) will make the pinpoint difficult. And some time, depending of the size and deep of the target, if you need to go back in AM to pinpoint a regular deep target, you will need to readjust the AM/DISC, the threshold and the sensitivity. That the way i found to send the deepest signal and get it back.

On a windy day or strong currant, since it is difficult to get those fragile signal from reverse hunting, that method work good in Florida like beach.

For me on the Florida beach, with the excal.II 10" tornado and yellow phone that method is good only in the water and wet sand. On dry sand, i get better result with a normal HUM threshold.

I never hunt other can of beach, so i do not know watt could be the result.


Serge

 

[cabochris]

Should I post what I know about Hyper Tuning on the Excalibur forum? I know this clearly works at home in my yard and my soil is highly mineralized. I just have to wait until my next Caribbean trip (mid November) to test it in actual field conditions. I would think Hyper Tuning would also work with Sovereigns too? I would post my findings about Hyper Tuning now, so long as all here understood the method has yet to be prov-en in actual field conditions. But after years of using Excaliburs, I was surprised with my results! Though, some might not like Hyper Tuning despite the results. (because it is not typically how one uses an Excalibur) CC.

 

[cabochris]

Serge, seems like we are on the same track and I am very happy to hear you are having good results with your method. That means we are on to something and I may post my Excalibur Hyper Tuning method on the Excalibur forum soon. It is just that I have not proven my method yet in the field yet. But it looks promising and should also work with Sovereigns? My method is similar to yours but goes a few steps further and clearly something happens in discriminate mode when you do. Also as you say, when Hyper Tuned the Excalibur does go deeper in discriminate than in pin point! CC.

 

[tonyweston]

I have to say that I agree with you Mike, I have 2 mk1,s a mk1.5 ( blue body and yellow earphones ) and finally a mk2 . I am considering sending the mk2 in for a Minelab Ireland mod to have blue phones fitted, because I just dont like the yellow phones ! !! niether for comfort or for tonal quality . I hunt a lot in Spain doing 6-8 hour hunting sessions so for me its worth it . ( that 1 gold ring could pay for the mod instantly ) !!!
off to Spain now so wish me luck adios amigos Tony Weston

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Well good luck!

I'm really surprised that more people haven't chimed in, because the yellow ones are SO worse than the blue ones, it's not even close. Buyer's remorse, I guess.

That happens in politics too sometimes.

 

[cabochris]

...one should also take into account the hearing/ability of each individual. I was one of the first to buy Excalibur IIs- an 800 and a 1000. At the time I thought the Yellow headphones were actually better quality than the blue phones, but I did not like the gold tones of the yellow phones. So I sold my machines after 1 Caribbean trip for only that reason at the time. Perhaps I should not have done that, because often I find myself not liking something at first and then later on really liking it! As an example I might find a new car model ugly, only to end up liking it a year later, because it grew on me. I think I was so comfortable with my blue machines that I did not give the colorful graphics of the new machine a chance?

There are about 10 or 12 traveling treasure hunters in our group that share expenses for Caribbean treasure hunting trips. We hunt every day and most of the day in the water. Some in the group have been doing these trips since the mid 80s. Because we are after gold and platinum, one gets a good idea which detector works the best on gold in the Caribbean by seeing our 9-12 Excaliburs stacked in our rental van! It was not always that way. Several years back we used a variety of detectors/brands. But with each trip those finding less gold, eventually switched to Excaliburs because those in my group will only use what is perceived to be the best machine to find gold. And gold Excaliburs find! I mention all of this because now the question is which is better- the Excalibur I (blue machine) or Excalibur II? Right now our group is using both machine models- about 50/50. I would expect that soon all will be using the same model Excalibur again- because eventually one version will prove to find more gold than the other. While some of the best hunters in our group are still using the blue machines, I suspect the Excalibur II will take the crown. I'm the only one in our group willing to experiment with other machines. So far I have not found a detector that does as well or better for me than Excaliburs. After talking with many water hunters and experts and pursuing the idea of finding more gold, by cherry-picking targets and covering more ground, I may give the Whites BHID 300 a try on my upcoming trip. Actually, none in our group have ever tried a BHID in the Caribbean. But I will be very surprised if the BHID finds more.

The best hunter in our group recently told me that he prefers the yellow headphones. He can hear better with them. Since he finds the most, who am I to tell him he is wrong? Recently I spoke with a knowledgeable water hunter who surprisingly did not have good things to say about the Excalibur II. He was mainly concerned with build quality and thought with the Excalibur II one either gets a good one or a bad one. Perhaps some of the yellow headphones are bad and some good? CC.

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

>>> Perhaps some of the yellow headphones are bad and some good? <<<

Well, that certainly COULD be a possibility. But the 3 yellow headphone machines I have checked ALL sounded muffled to me. And by muffled, I mean like there was a wad of cotton stuffed in the ear cups. So the sound quality sucked. The tones are much better with my Excal 1.0 blue phones than any of those 3. I have also heard this from several who have gone from Excal to Excal 2. In fact, I have not heard anyone (until now) that will confirm they like the yellow ones better. That said, in the end, it's all in the ear of the beholder. And if the yellows truly sound better to you than the blues, you should absolutely use the yellows. I still want to hear your assessment once you get the chance to again compare apples to apples.

 

[cabochris]

Hi Mike, I think you misunderstood me. My hearing prefers the gold tones of the blue phones better than the yellow. As you probably know, as one gets better with an Excalibur one learns to hear those tiny gold signals on small and deep gold, a novice might pass right over. I know slowing down with an Excalibur, I'll hit deep gold at a beach we already hit 3 or 4 times. That just comes with Excalibur experience- as you know. I was not always able to do that and even though I'm finding more gold now, when I scoop up a gold or platinum ring in the Caribbean and see it glinting in the sun/in my scoop, I get Gold Fever and want more!

As I said the fellow who finds the most gold in our group (not trying to brag here) finds well over 100 pieces in a week on a good Island! (Yes we get skunked sometimes- but not too often) The only time I can out hunt him is when I used his machine and he uses mine. His blue Excalibur with yellow headphone transplant is clearly louder, which is why he is alerted to those deep and small gold signals. All in our group know his HOT machine is why he consistently finds the most gold. Even if I try to cover more ground than he does by hunting longer, (I still find less) I can't dig those tiny gold signals if I can't hear them, like he is able to.

That is why I am experimenting with my blue machines. Before he had the yellow headphone transplant and coil change, he said his machine was no better than any other. Something happened to his Excalibur to make it louder and I am trying to duplicate his machine now. (if that is possible). Why, because returning with some 20 plus extra pieces of gold is worth the effort if successful. Since I discovered turning a 1000 to 800 has nothing to do with a machine being louder, the only thing left for me to try is going to the yellow headphones. And even though I do not like the yellow headphone tones as much as the blue phones, if the yellow phones turn out to be louder on small gold signals, I'll live with that "tone thing".

It only took seconds for a Minelab Bench Tech to say "Yes, the yellow headphones are louder than the blue headphones" and "No the Tornado coils are not more sensitive than the older BBS coils". (I did not mention what I was trying to do) I have always had good relations with Minelab. I own a small business and understand as a business one can not always be perfect. But for the most part Minelab has given me good service. So when they say the yellow phones are louder, I have to believe them. Well at least believe them enough to give them a try on my older blue machines. If they do not work out it is not the end of the world. Though if my machine is louder because of them and can hit on some 20-30% more gold, then I have everything to gain and be worth the expense and effort. Plus I can share my findings with all here. If the yellow phones turn out to be a mistake, I will let everyone know my opinion. Again the yellow headphones on the Excalibur II might not report those small gold sounds because of the new shielding? (That's touched on in Clive's new Excalibur book). But perhaps those yellow headphones on a machine without shielding will report those small gold sounds louder? That is what I am going to find out and the only way that I know of is to try it. Most reviews on the Excalibur IIs I have read are good. You have made your yellow headphone opinions perfectly clear (and you may be right). But for fun it would be interesting to see a poll here on both the yellow headphones and on the Excalibur I vs. Excalibur II. Minelab might be interested in honest user feedback. I have always been hoping for the next new FBS Excalibur along with notch discrimination, factory balance rod, changeable coils, 1500 batteries, rapid charger and a threshold re tune button. I might be waiting for a long time

Detecting can be fun and relaxing and when home that is how I detect. But when I travel to detect it is all business and I'm looking for every advantage I can get. CC.