Thoughts on the Minelab Excalibur II

The Xcal is rated to 200' so thats not a problem. Doesnt sound like you will be out there deeper than 30' so the salt difference shouldnt matter either. If you buy used .... change those O ring and check the cables. The headphones are poor but ... they are what they are and it aint worth the price of swapping them out... and the cable is pretty tight/short. The Xcal HATES iron. With pitch hold you should hear slight changes and its tones IMO are the best once learned. I wouldnt try moding it and adding a PPer..... but IMO PP mode and doing reverse disc has a lot of advantages the main one is its TRUE AM and you can max out the sensitivity. All things get equal out the in the salt water..... so VLF wise its as good as it gets. The CZ is the other choice... rated to 250'.... but ive never liked opening that battery box for charging and swapping batteries. I like the Xcals contained pods. I removed a lot of the sticker so i could see better in the main pod for water leaks as well.

dewcon said:

The Xcal is rated to 200' so thats not a problem. Doesnt sound like you will be out there deeper than 30' so the salt difference shouldnt matter either. If you buy used .... change those O ring and check the cables. The headphones are poor but ... they are what they are and it aint worth the price of swapping them out... and the cable is pretty tight/short. The Xcal HATES iron. With pitch hold you should hear slight changes and its tones IMO are the best once learned. I wouldnt try moding it and adding a PPer..... but IMO PP mode and doing reverse disc has a lot of advantages the main one is its TRUE AM and you can max out the sensitivity. All things get equal out the in the salt water..... so VLF wise its as good as it gets. The CZ is the other choice... rated to 250'.... but ive never liked opening that battery box for charging and swapping batteries. I like the Xcals contained pods. I removed a lot of the sticker so i could see better in the main pod for water leaks as well.

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X2 (I don't dive though).

I had a CZ as well and had many issues with that battery control box until the day I got the machine back from its 3rd repair at Fisher and sold it. Once I went with the Excal it was all she wrote. I'll never own a CZ again. I have a Nox as a backup water machine and for the wet sand.

You

Will need a knob guard and dive shaft , I like the a Blue model better , you will be fine with the Green Machine , just get two , when one goes in the shop, you have a spare to run , Earl

You got some good advise so far. Isn't it nice they share information from there experience.
The Excal II screams pretty good for copper and silver. IMO

The excal 2 is your best option. You don't NEED a dive shaft though, but it'll make things easier on your wrists.

Thanks for the help all definitely sending me in the right direction. I'll be getting an Excalibur II, knob guard, and dive shaft to make underwater a lot easier

Is the Anderson over/under shaft a decent one to dive with? I like the looks of it but again I'm clueless with the underwater scene

I went with a Plugger carbon fiber 36" over under shaft and picked up the knob guard with it. I can't wait to test this out!

Thanks for the help all and HH