WTB A Minelab excal 2...

Need a clean unit..

To get the most out of an Excal you will need three things

An after market shaft. Just like your Equinox the Excal needs balance. Mount the Excal behind the cuff.

A better set of headphones. The stock yellows are terrible.

A remote pinpoint switch. Hunting in reverse discrimination gets the most out of an Excal. You need a switch on the handle to do it. The switch on the Excal is not suited for continued switching....not to mention if the unit is mounted behind the cuff it is a pain to reach.

As you shop the forums look for these features. They are special and expensive. Unless you can mod the unit yourself finding someone to do it is not easy.

A modded Excal is treasure itself.

Thanks I need a dedicated water unit. Pinpoint is not something I use .. I have a hookah setup so I will just go down and recover the target in chest deep water. I guess the question is how do I need it mod to just hunt underwater???

It’s not about PPing.....it’s about hunting in AM and being able to run full sensitivity with no recovery time ....reverse disc. Depth may be a factor goodmore.... not sure the rating on the switch or after market phones....the yellows have been around long enough to call them dive ready. Less than 15’ I’d put up the money for the upgrades....for one other reason....they aren’t hard wired. Kept the cap from the swap in case you want to go back. I personally prefer the BLUE Xcals. Run smoother in the wash and any coil flip so less falsing.....and seem to need less repairs. Find a used one send it to Keith for the upgrades.....you get it pressure test and checked out.

Thanks will do

Excalibur is old technology, BBS. Has it’s strengths for sure, I’d look more into getting one Calabash it may not be well suited in your area.

Recovery is slow, suffers in fresh water with Black sand. I’d rather use an Equniox for inland water, much better can handle black sand. Ocean, hands down BBS can hold it’s own.

Just sharing my experience with BBS, good luck.

Paul

If you are just hunting chest deep fresh water, get a used Makro Multi Kruzer(about $450), freq set at 19 kHz, two tone and you won't miss anything!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2019 06:11PM by pine3874.

Keep in mind those machines depth rating....... Xcal is 200'. The Xcal if used in PP doesnt have a slow recover IMO.... i can pick two targets right there together. IF you dont want to pick thru the iron..... reverse disc is great because the Xcal HATES iron....... find a target in PP then switch to disc.... ID and move on just that fast. If you want smaller gold..... smaller being less than .3 grams then another machine can be used. BUT...... in fresh water stuff desolves slowly. Most water proof machines work in fresh water....... but if he is using a Hooka very deep and dont want to mess with iron or the TINY stuff.... the Xcal aint a bad choice. I believe Joe (ole beach nut) is a believer.

A lot of my small creeks are brackish .... so salt is in the pic in these smallcreeks I might hunt dive style so the excal with a dive shaft looks good. Steve is making me a custom dive shaft for my nox

I got a counter weighted shaft from him for the Equinox. Top quality. I really can't say that enough. I had other carbon fiber shafts for the Nox and let me just say they were a waste of money for what I needed. A solution to arm pain.

I traded an Equinox 600 for a modded Sovereign. I might have Steve make me something for that as well.

I will post a pic when it gets here

Why not use your NOX. Isn't it waterproof ?

Bill about 3 meters which may not meet his hookah depth needs.

dewcon4414 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bill about 3 meters which may not meet his hookah
> depth needs.


I'm so uneducated about water hunting, what does hookah depth needs mean.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/2019 12:37AM by Bill long.

Bill - A hookah system allows you to stay underwater for long periods of time via supplying oxygen through a hose...depending on the length of your oxygen hose, you can get down decently deep and not need an oxygen tank on your back. My buddy had a hookah on his gold dredge and used it quite a bit but that was when dredging was legal in Tennessee. He would dredge deep swimming holes for jewelry too in places people would jump off of rocks/bluffs into deep holes and he stay on the bottom in 8-15 feet of water for hours. He said the hard part was staying on bottom, as your body tends to want to float, so he had several different styles of weighted dive belts to help keep him down.

Daniel Tn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bill - A hookah system allows you to stay underwat
> er for long periods of time via supplying oxygen t
> hrough a hose...depending on the length of your ox
> ygen hose, you can get down decently deep and not
> need an oxygen tank on your back. My buddy had a h
> ookah on his gold dredge and used it quite a bit b
> ut that was when dredging was legal in Tennessee.
> He would dredge deep swimming holes for jewelry to
> o in places people would jump off of rocks/bluffs
> into deep holes and he stay on the bottom in 8-15
> feet of water for hours. He said the hard part was
> staying on bottom, as your body tends to want to f
> loat, so he had several different styles of weight
> ed dive belts to help keep him down.

Thanks Big D

My creeks are not over 10 feet but my last nox leaked.....and gig master on the tube said he can hear his excel better underwater. He reviewed both and he uses a hookah … I will be very shallow 5 feet or less but it allows me to search the bottom .

I'm away but I have an Excalibur 2, recent checkup, new knobs and new straight shaft, standard and rechargeable battery pack with charger.

Let me know when you get back..