Excalibur Users: Excelerators, S-12, or WOT?

[Critterhunter]

I'm hoping to get some kind of input on the 12.5" or 14" Excelerator, S-12, or WOT. I use a GT and primarily am hunting for old coins. I know this is the beach forum but a lot of you guys seem to be using these coils on your Excaliburs. I'm curious if you all still think the WOT is the deepest or if one of these other coils is as good or very close depth wise? I'm also curious about these new Excelerators. Is the 12.5" deeper than the stock 10" and how does it compare to the Sunray S-12? Do you think the 14" is even deeper or perhaps not as sensitive as them on smaller coins? I've always heard the WOT was the depth king but I'm leaning away from it due to it being the heaviest, and as said I'm curious if the S-12 or these new Excelerators aproach it in depth on coin/ring sized targets. I'm also slightly curious about the SEF 10x12. From what I've read the 12x15 isn't as deep on the smaller coins, and it's heft also puts it out of the picture for me.

 

[kered]

Few people have modified the excaliburs for after market coils, the coils are hard wired(unlike the Sov's) minelab won't now do it and any machine with one of these coils will have the warenty nulled unless replaced previously by them. Some people have done it to out of warenty machines. the other thing is that these coils are difficult to move in the water as they are so big, pinpointing also becomes a problem as you quite often can't see anything and have to do it by feel and mark with your foot, hopefully some will answer that have done it but basically the excalibur is a waterproof Sovereign so the results should be the same.

(P.S. not had much time to write these last few days but i'll get my results to you shortly)

 

[UK Brian]

I use the 14" Detech Penetrator and the 12" Sunray with my Sovereign. The WOT I found to large and went over small engagement type rings without registering them.
Of the Sunray and the Penetrator I found little difference in performance but tend to use the Sunray most which must say something.
All my beaches have black sand to some degree so the Minelab comes as second choice to a high power P.I. and could be why the WOT doesn't perform that well.

One thing to consider is if your going to get the same performance with these coils on your G.T. as with the earlier versions of the Sovereign. A friend bought a Sunray to use with his G.T. on the Florida beaches and didn't get the results he hoped for finding that the 10" Minelab coil had the edge. With my XS-2 Pro the Sunray outperformed the original BBS 1000.

 

[Critterhunter]

Thanks for the input. That is something to consider- if the 12.5" Sunray goes deeper than the newer Tornado 10" coil, which is a better coil than the old BBS one. The S-12 has been around for a while so based on that anyway I think I'm leaning towards either the new Excelerator 10" or 14". These are newer coils and are said to perform better than the old ones. I think that Penetrator is an old version of the new 14", isn't it? Just wish I could find somebody who has tested these coils as well as the SEF 10x12 to see which seems to have max depth on coins in moderate soil.

 

[Critterhunter]

Figured I'd bump this message up in the hopes of getting more input from Excalibur or Sovereign owners on these coils. I'm shooting for something that gets WOT depth or near it on coins. All these coils except for the 12x15 are much lighter than the WOT. Right now I'm leaning towards either the 12.5" or 14" Excelerators or the S-12, and would like to know which of these people consider deepest on coins. I would guess the 10x12 would offer better coverage but perhaps not better depth based on it's coil dimensions than the 10" Tornado as well?

 

[ChuckDiggin'it in Florida]

I had an Excal with a WOT and another Excal with a stock 10" - to compare-and for finding "small" objects, the WOT wasn't worth the weight for an extra 3/4" Now on larger targets, the WOT shines!

 

[treasure_hunter]

I use a WOT on my Excal, I found a cheaper and better waterproof connector then the glass ones and cut and spliced the WOT on my Excal using the new connectors. It works perfectly in the surf, I hunted yesterday for over an hour staying chest deep just to see if there was any problem with the new connectors, and the Excal remained stable the entire time, not a single problem.

I personally love the WOT and it is my perferred coil for water hunting......The coil is 15" wide, it is 5 inches wider then the stock coil, I always use a harness with bungie everytime I hunt so weight is never a problem..

I have the new SEF Butterfly 15"x18" coil on my Sovereign GT and so far it is as good as the WOT coil, although it is heaver. The extra 3 inches in length makes it easier to walk at my med slow speed and cover all the area in front of me with out watching to be sure I am not skipping anything with it. On my first trip using the 15"x18" SEF Butterfly I found one gold and one silver ring in Daytona the end of last summer.

Good hunting to all.....

 

[muggsc]

So, what's your better connector? I've heard none of them work. All of them leak.
Thanks,
Cal

 

[treasure_hunter]

Cal,

Here are some pictures, and info on the connectors, if splice leaks or has any problems I will report it. It worked perfectly the other day, ran as stable under water as on dry land. Connectors are rated for 10 meters for 2 weeks, so my having it under water 2 to 3 foot for 3-8 hours at a time should not be a problem.

Here is the link to product page, the connector I used is the Mini Buccaneer. Water and dustproof to IP68 when mated, IP68 rating tested at 15lb/sq in (10m depth) for 2 weeks
http://www.bulgin.co.uk/Products/Buccaneer/documents/PowerBuccMailer-2008-200dpi.pdf

Below are some pictures of mod in progress done by one of my hunting partners and myself one night.

We sealed the cable and wires in Blue RTV.

After this picture, I completed taping it to handle so it is secure and dows not move when swinging it under water.......

 

[muggsc]

Thanks much for the info. Keep us posted. Still thinking of buying a SOV for beach hunting and using the EXCAL 800 for in the water.
Cal

 

[treasure_hunter]

I have 2 Sovereign GTs that I use, one has been custom waterproofed and has a WOT coil for use in the surf, the other is the stock Sov GT, . I have both a WOT and a SEF Butterfly 15"x18" coil for it that use when I know I am not going into the water. I can not say anything less then great comments about the Minelab Sovereign...

 

[mtpockets]

There pretty easy to install too.