Time to get serious in the water...need input on machine.:confused:

[itsaawgood]

I have everything I need for shallow water hunting except a reliable machine. I had my AT Pro (which as supposed to be my water machine) leak on me so that went in for repair and now have lost well over a week so far of water hunting time. When I get it back I think I will keep it as a backup water machine but want to get a proven reliable waterproof machine. The two machines I have narrowed it down to are the Fisher CZ-21 which are darn near bulletproof or an Excalibur 2. The Excal is all the hype right now thats for sure, but it is more expensive, plus need a different shaft and probably a chest harness as the stock setup is just to hard to swing in the water. Both are great machines and I am well aware of the different features of each....but I just can not decide on which unit to go with. I'm sure I will hear from alot of Excal owners but hope to hear from some CZ-21 owners. Also just can't decide on coil size...but leaning toward 8" at the moment.

I will be hunting freshwater lakes exclusively here in Michigan...so any suggestions of a PI machine are out of the question...also really not interested in any other models...just the 2 mentioned. My local dealers have both in stock, so as soon as I can get my mind made up I will be purchasing.

Pros and Cons of these machines...anyone?!? I'd hate to decide by tossing a coin

 

[goodmore]

One other cheaper option to consider is to bag an older Sovereign. There are threads on it.

 

[therover]

I have owned both the Excal and CZ. I prefer a CZ with 8 inch coil. I have used CZ's for a very long time, and understand how they work. I run them at the lowest discrimination setting and listen to all signals. If you discriminate out iron on a CZ ( ie, run it a discrim setting 1 or higher), you will be fooled a lot more on deeper iron. If you listen to the iron signals, a lot of good targets will not be masked. Pin pointing with the 8 inch coil is very accurate when Xing the target...you don't need to use the pin point button unless you really want to size up the target. I like the VCO pin point feature...some don't. I also like the ability to have modulated audio or not. The CZ has audio booting if you want all the targets to sound the same or if you want the deeper ones to sound softer. Running in auto-tune ( all metal ) can also find very small targets but it will find very small iron too. Learning that mode can be beneficial since iron has a much wider, washed out sound whereas non-ferrous targets are more sharper and shorter. It just takes time to learn that mode when trying to determine ferrous vs. non-ferrous targets. It can be done but it's hard and you will dig iron since it's an all metal mode.


Due to it's weight, I ended up fashioning a piece of metal that slides on the control box, and mounted the box on a straight shaft under the cuff. Makes the unit very well balanced and can swing it all day. The stock configuration is less than desirable. But you can hip mount it easier than an Excal.

But as you know, that is just MY opinion. Hopefully others that have hunted the environment you will be in will chime in. I primarily hunt salt water beaches.

Hope that helped.

JC

 

[desmond]

You really don't need a chest harness and Dermarco comes with the different shaft. The Excal is so light in the water compared to the Beach hunter. Des in buffalo

 

[OldBeechnut]

Have both, and love both........... each has it's place. I use the CZ20 in the Bay, Lakes, freshwater..and the excalibur's at the Atlantic. Hunt Almetal with both, but more with the excal's. Use Auto-tune with the CZ, and audio boost up.............PP...with the excal and run it hot. I do think the excal is the better machine but there are places that Cz will smoke the excal. I like the 8 on both but choicing the coil size does have alot to do with the conditions. I think the easier of the two is the CZ, but the excalibur gives you more info on the target, It would be a tuff choice to make even now, but I would more then likly go for the excal....8 inch coil for your area..

 

[Terry Soloman]

I have everything I need for shallow water hunting except a reliable machine. I had my AT Pro (which as supposed to be my water machine) leak on me so that went in for repair and now have lost well over a week so far of water hunting time. When I get it back I think I will keep it as a backup water machine but want to get a proven reliable waterproof machine. The two machines I have narrowed it down to are the Fisher CZ-21 which are darn near bulletproof or an Excalibur 2. The Excal is all the hype right now thats for sure, but it is more expensive, plus need a different shaft and probably a chest harness as the stock setup is just to hard to swing in the water. Both are great machines and I am well aware of the different features of each....but I just can not decide on which unit to go with. I'm sure I will hear from alot of Excal owners but hope to hear from some CZ-21 owners. Also just can't decide on coil size...but leaning toward 8" at the moment.

I will be hunting freshwater lakes exclusively here in Michigan...so any suggestions of a PI machine are out of the question...also really not interested in any other models...just the 2 mentioned. My local dealers have both in stock, so as soon as I can get my mind made up I will be purchasing.

Pros and Cons of these machines...anyone?!? I'd hate to decide by tossing a coin

Why did you rule out the Tesoro Tiger Shark?

 

[itsaawgood]

I have everything I need for shallow water hunting except a reliable machine. I had my AT Pro (which as supposed to be my water machine) leak on me so that went in for repair and now have lost well over a week so far of water hunting time. When I get it back I think I will keep it as a backup water machine but want to get a proven reliable waterproof machine. The two machines I have narrowed it down to are the Fisher CZ-21 which are darn near bulletproof or an Excalibur 2. The Excal is all the hype right now thats for sure, but it is more expensive, plus need a different shaft and probably a chest harness as the stock setup is just to hard to swing in the water. Both are great machines and I am well aware of the different features of each....but I just can not decide on which unit to go with. I'm sure I will hear from alot of Excal owners but hope to hear from some CZ-21 owners. Also just can't decide on coil size...but leaning toward 8" at the moment.

I will be hunting freshwater lakes exclusively here in Michigan...so any suggestions of a PI machine are out of the question...also really not interested in any other models...just the 2 mentioned. My local dealers have both in stock, so as soon as I can get my mind made up I will be purchasing.

Pros and Cons of these machines...anyone?!? I'd hate to decide by tossing a coin

Why did you rule out the Tesoro Tiger Shark?

Under the advice to stay away...from 2 dealers and a friend that owns one