Which to buy?

[Old Wild Bill]

Which machine would you buy for fresh water use? I want to spend around $1000, but I am flexible. Most time by far would be in waist deep water with a few scuba trips. I have heard good things about excal 2 and cz21. I am a first time user, but are comfortable learning new electronics. What do you recommend?

 

[Old Wild Bill]

Anybody? I can't wait to get started.

 

[Dertnc]

Excal II get's my vote

 

[Old Wild Bill]

Just read the post "What to do" which was pretty much the same question. I think I will try the Excal 2. Thanks all.

 

[G. Edwards]

You won't regret it Bill. I just bought a Excal II 1000 two weeks ago, just look at my posts, I got some kind of jewelry everyday. Today I just got a metal ring but it was very deep and gave me a good signal, I still have to check the metal content. I really like this machine , because I run in all metal when I get a signal I switch to disc. to see what it is. If it nulls or gives a broken and null I keep on walkin'. all other tones high or low I dig. Good luck and happy hunting, Gene

 

[OldBeechnut]

I have to agree with the Excal pirates...check out the excal in action
And it is not like this all the time but if you have the right place & time .........anything can happen


[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLGLzSfsEi4&feature=channel_page[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXTSAxwQkj0&feature=channel_page[/video]


Good Luck...Joe

 

[grumpyolman]

One of the reasons so many like the Excal is it works excellently in the salt water. You are in fresh water. So am I. I dive too. I sold my Excal and got a Tiger Shark. I love it. It's a Tesoro with a real lifetime warranty. I also have a Fisher 1280-X Aquanaut. It works good to. Neither of those two are supposed to work good in the saltwater, even though they have a 'salt' mode. I have never tried em in saltwater but there are lots of folks who have and say they work fine. You won't go wrong with the Excal. I think you'll have a longer learning curve with it. Scan the past 20 pages of this forum and read those posts that look interesting. You'll get a feel for what fits you.
You'll need a good sand scoop. Read about those too. Most freshwater hunters don't have the nice soft sand to dig into. It's rock and gravel and all kinds of stuff. The only thing I have used that really takes the pounding that creates for a scoop is the Nutall Diamondhead. Get it with the 48" fiberglass handle. Sometimes I really lean on mine when I have it in all the way and have to pry out a full load of substrate. It doesn't even think about bending or breaking. Jim

 

[Old Wild Bill]

Thanks everybody. I ordered my excal 2 today. Bill

 

[Gerry]

I agree with Jim, have bought an Excal, a learning curve for sure but worth it. The Nuttalll scoop I bought as well, its a beast but you won't be replacing it for some time.

Gerry

 

[scubadetector]

Please don't shoot me!! He said fresh water and he dives. I also dive in fresh water. I feel the Excal makes too much noise. I use the Fisher which is silent until you get a beep. I can hear boats and jet ski's that come too close then. The Fisher is also stable and goes deep enough for me. I do most my diving in 5 - 7 ' of water and find a lot of gold with my Fisher's. And fresh water boaters are horrible when it comes to knowing what a dive flag is.

I pull around a float tube with the dive flag also. 2 reasons. One, the boaters can see the tube even if they have NO idea what a dive flag is and 2 because I can fill it with bottles and boat anchors and anything else big that I find with my detector while in that shallow of water. Propellers and tools included.

 

[diggindirt]

Tesoro Tiger Shark hands down for fresh water diving

Lifetime warranty, finds smaller gold and chains, less money, waterproof 200'