thinking of buying an excal but............

[slapshot]

I am seriously considering getting an excal but after seeing three different ones that my club members own I have my doubts.
What I observed is this......One of them that was 3 years old had broken knobs that the owner has to turn with pliers, another , about 4 years old had knobs that were out of position , fallen off and put back on wrong maybe and the third I looked at had to have epoxy put around the coil wire where it connects to it. They all for the most part looked older than they are, finsh failing and chips etc. I know some people are rough on their machines but after seeing three that are owned by different people I have my doubts about paying over a grand for one and end up with the results I mentioned above. I currently own an MXT that is over 5 years with many many hard hours on it and it looks much much better that the excals I looked at.
I know that the excal performs very well but my question is do you owners of the excal find the same conditions in yours? DO they stand up over the years? Please be honest I need user opinions so I can further evaluate them before buying.
thanks in advance.

 

[JOHNMARKHAM]

its like this, if you take care of your equipment it ll take care of you, being electronic there's a bit of up keep and care needed, if one chooses not to then you have what you see..now things do happen from time to time with anything you buy,its all been man made to work not to be abused..so id ask myself and take a look at where these machines are and what kind of environment there in on a daily basis..then you ll have your answer..i deal with electronics on a daily basis and Ive see all kinds of conditions of things and sometimes i wonder how some of this stuff still works after being so badly abused,then Ive seen stuff that's as old as i am and looks and works like the day it was made..so IMO don't judge all by just a few..
hope this helps
but you cant go wrong with an Excalibur IMO..
but you can buy the others and then wish you had bought an Excalibur..
hh
john

 

[Ron Lord]

n/t

 

[southernstyle]

I run my MXT on the dry sand at the beach, but run my excal (1996 model) on wet sand and in water. My MXT won't even come close to going as deep as the excal. The MXT however saves me a lot of time on the dry sand as it discriminates the targets great. I have a 6x8 s.e.f coil on the MXT and it performs flawlessly. The MXT goes 10, maybe 12 inches and the excal....well let's just say I never thought a dime would read at 18+ inches. I mean 3 to 4 BIG scoops deep. I love the MXT for walking and the excal if I just plan on staying in one area. If you are just beach hunting I would get the excal. Then again I hear radio shack makes a nice.....I can't do that to ya. Go with the excal. Just look at how many people that beach hunt use them.

Chris

 

[Joe of South Jersey]

A detector needs some care and maintance.

A water detector take more care in some case's.
If it is used around salt water, It needs a good cleaning a couple times a season.

And a good soap wash after each trip.

But, the real answer is taking care of your detecting equipment.

 

[GENE EDWARDS]

Those guys you seen must have more money then they know what to do with, if they treat their machines like that. I've had mine 6 months and not a scratch. All though I do chest mount mine, nothing hits it. I treat my machine like it's a egg. It rides in the back of my camper on a 5'' foam pad. that is cut out in it's shape. nothing can get near it but me. Those guys you talk about could break any detector, I've seen some minor scraps on detectors before but nothing like you said.. I have had many detectors and never treated any of them that way. Any top of the line machine on the market will last many years, but not treated like that. You will like the Excal II very much. So remember any detector can break treated bad. Gene

 

[dirtdigginlady]

Well I have heard a lot of people talk about replacing the knobs. Why? I also know that on Ebay they constantly have Excal knob sets for sale. Why?

 

[1seeker]

The same knobs have been on sale forever on ebay , with blue tips i bet ,radio shack,anderson ,minelab ,You can get knobs many places of many kinds ,if your concerned about the knobs get the knob guards ,for you and your friends ,i have two excaliburs ,they are great machines ,good hunting Earl Maryland

 

[kered]

If you throw the excalibur in the trunk together with digger and other gear and leave it there swishing and rolling about till your next outing in maybe a couple of weeks you get he result you discribed, any tool to be kept working efficiently and look good cosmetically needs attention, if you don't give it you have seen the results and this will happen to any detector not just the excalibur

 

[Bling]

n/t

 

[JOHNMARKHAM]

well the bottom line is if nobody buys or wants the excaliburs then ill have more loot to take home from the beaches..
SO NOBODY BUY THE EXCALIBURS IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT IT DONT BUT ONE..
GOOD LUCK
HH
JOHN

 

[Sandpiper]

I have seen detectors as you described. Badly maintained, banged around, not washed down after using in salt water will do it. I myself baby all my gear and try and protect it as much as possible. I did send one Excal to Minelab for one mounting tab problem in which they replaced the housing. When returned to me it looked like it had been banged around because the outer sticker was scratched, had high spots of foreign objects trapped below the decal, and dinged. The only thing I can guess is they removed my original decal and re-glued it to the new housing. Needless to say I was upset about this. When sent to them there was no scratches or problems with the decal. I did not call them about it, maybe should have. But I felt I would be better off keeping it and not taking a chance on any more mishaps.

 

[thinkin2]

Hey, Slapshot, I have a brand new Excal II that I bought in November that I'm thinking about selling simply because my beaches aren't that great and I'm not going to get into the water so I'll just continue to use my Sov. Also have White's Surf PI Dual Field that I'm going to sell. I haven't listed them yet but probably will soon. If you're interested in the Excal I will make you a pretty good deal on it. I've only had it out two or three times and never in the water. Think about it and let me know if you're interested. I don't have a Paypal account so would have to work out some kind of payment. --Jerry

 

[JOHNMARKHAM]

what do you want for the excalibur 2 ?????

 

[thinkin2]

what do you want for the excalibur 2 ?????

Sent you a PM. --Jerry

 

[sflsweeper]

Gene, what is the system you use to chest mount your detector? I would like to chest mount mine but have no idea what to get. Any help would be appreciated.
thx

 

[jccast11]

My Excal 1000 is a few years old and looks Brand new