Excalibur III?

I have been a devoted Excalibur II user for over 10 years. I gave a presentation on water detecting at a recent meeting and stated that the reason that Minelab hasn't produced an upgrade (in 11 years??) is that it awesome. That met with harumpf's and such. Question for NASA Tom, is there an upgrade ever coming?

I asked Tom that very question several months back before buying a Excal II and if I remember right ML has so many irons in the fire and it's a proven machine and there were no plans on updating it anytime soon. If the MC or 900's are water tight unto 16' I will be using that for beach hunting and the Excal II when diving15' Plus

As far as water, I guess I'm a "in-betweener". I don't enjoy the actual sandy beach, don't scuba dive, I just wander around between when the water is at my armpits up to the beach face. Most of my finds are around 3-4 feet where the knuckleheads (God bless them) lose their bling. Generally I can hear the difference, with the Excalibur, between pull tabs, and gold, but I dig any signal that doesn't ferrous blank. I am excited for the Manticore, assuming it doesn't leak, to supplement the Excal and hopefully reduce my trash digging. Thanks for the input.

The Excalibur would be nice in a lighter, easier to hip mount package.

There are quite a few aftermarket options for hip mounting.
The OEM shaft design and detector electronics positioning is awful. In the water its like swinging a canoe paddle and very tiring. I cobbled together a homemade shaft that had the electronics mostly out of the water. I eventually went to an Anderson travel shaft that works well.

Gents,

Just FYI, I can build a hip-mount Excal shaft (carbon-fiber) for anyone that needs one; I'm happy to talk about design, etc... I can't do "over-unders" (never engineered that design, and the necessary parts), but can do "Florida-style" shafts or hip-mount options, no problem.

Thanks!

Steve

The Excal is what 35 years old. The problem with the Excal is you need to invest a boat load of money to make it hunting friendly. A shaft, headphones,and an all metal toggle. The tube and vulnerable pot design is antiquated. The battery design and mount is horrible. Yup....time for a new design. Or at least a small water proof box brother.

goodmore Wrote:
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> The Excal is what 35 years old. The problem with t
> he Excal is you need to invest a boat load of mone
> y to make it hunting friendly. A shaft, headphones
> ,and an all metal toggle. The tube and vulnerable
> pot design is antiquated. The battery design and m
> ount is horrible. Yup....time for a new design. Or
> at least a small water proof box brother.

The funny thing is that it's the only metal detector that I have technically made a profit with. Of the 9 metal detectors I have purchased in my life, 8 of them were just for fun.

I agree that they should fix the Excal. The OEM shaft and headphones are just plain stupid.

The OEM shaft and headphones are just plain stupid.

Yes I ended up bring an Anderson Short Shaft for scuba diving and the knob guard that goes with it also. The head phones are what they are not terrible but could be better I guess. I just picked up the Excel II this past year but I more than enough with my NOX 800 to pay for it and the excel. But the 800 took on water twice like many others. I just wanted something that could go deep and something that was time tested that I didn't have to worry about. So I recently got a new replacement head for my 800 and it won't see the water anymore lol. But when I get the MC I'll be taking it to the water for sure.

Mike

Mike K Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The OEM shaft and headphones are just plain stupid
> .
>
> Yes I ended up bring an Anderson Short Shaft for s
> cuba diving and the knob guard that goes with it a
> lso. The head phones are what they are not terribl
> e but could be better I guess. I just picked up th
> e Excel II this past year but I more than enough w
> ith my NOX 800 to pay for it and the excel. But th
> e 800 took on water twice like many others. I just
> wanted something that could go deep and something
> that was time tested that I didn't have to worry a
> bout. So I recently got a new replacement head for
> my 800 and it won't see the water anymore lol. But
> when I get the MC I'll be taking it to the water f
> or sure.
>
> Mike


I am guessing the MC will help out in the water. On the Excal I set discrimination at 1-2 and dig the repeatable signals anyway. I have seen gold on MC YouTube videos have numbers from 28+ so I suppose I will dig anything that tweaks the conductive line; that's really no change. I am sure the MC won't be able to eliminate digging pull tabs, toasted worthless small silver, and costume jewelry but being the nerd I am, I will get one. Thanks for the input.

Josh......true. We still have too many irons-in-the-fire........and we are hoping the Manticore will be a better underwater performer.

NASA-Tom Wrote:
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> Josh......true. We still have too many irons-in-th
> e-fire........and we are hoping the Manticore will
> be a better underwater performer.


I have a question Tom. An electrical engineer friend once told me that no one would ever completely solve discrimination. His reasons were: Due to mineralization and oxidation in the ground, salt water, and air, slight chemical reactions surrounding and on on ferrous targets, would show some non-ferrous signals. His other comment was that there are a lot of alloys, chromium molybdenum, nickel, etc., in iron and steel that would always read in the non-ferrous to a small extent. What do you think about that?

My observations, sadly mostly from YouTube Manticore videos (I am not lucky enough to own one and do my own testing) is that ferrous targets paint into the conductive parts of the screen, possibly affirming his hypothesis. Also on the YouTube videos, with dual ferrous and conductive targets, you absolutely can see both targets; you just have to patiently change angles and vary swing speeds. Expectations that the MC is perfect are a bit overblown. Despite the fact that naysayers and competitors are calling BS, the Manticore appears to be a significant improvement and I am looking forward to owning one.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/2022 05:01PM by joshquint.

Josh...... your EE friend speaks a lot of truth. Keep in mind....... paramagnetic materials present both ferromagnetic & diamagnetic (ferrous VS non-ferrous) properties....... and........in a ideal environment.,.,.,.,.,., will display exactly this on a Fe-Co bar-graph.
And yes. Infinite variables in the ground..... will indeed alter ID's. Just look at a fairly deep non-ferrous target in iron dirt (or on a wet-salt beach)........whereby....... the detector is required to see the iron signal from the iron dirt (or iron wet-salt signal)..... and TRY to 'subtract' the iron signal ...from the weak non-ferrous target. . . . . and give a correct phase-shift ID reading of the non-ferrous target.

Yes...... Manticore has significant improvements over EQX. Folks personal 'expectations level' will dictate whether they are 'let down'....... 'on target'....... or 'impressed' with the additional performance.

NASA-Tom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Josh...... your EE friend speaks a lot of truth. K
> eep in mind....... paramagnetic materials present
> both ferromagnetic & diamagnetic (ferrous VS non-f
> errous) properties....... and........in a ideal en
> vironment.,.,.,.,.,., will display exactly this on
> a Fe-Co bar-graph.
> And yes. Infinite variables in the ground..... wil
> l indeed alter ID's. Just look at a fairly deep no
> n-ferrous target in iron dirt (or on a wet-salt be
> ach)........whereby....... the detector is require
> d to see the iron signal from the iron dirt (or ir
> on wet-salt signal)..... and TRY to 'subtract' the
> iron signal ...from the weak non-ferrous target. .
> . . . and give a correct phase-shift ID reading of
> the non-ferrous target.
>
> Yes...... Manticore has significant improvements o
> ver EQX. Folks personal 'expectations level' will
> dictate whether they are 'let down'....... 'on tar
> get'....... or 'impressed' with the additional per
> formance.

Cool. I am going through multiple generations from the E-Trac to the Manticore so it's somewhat of a big jump. When I got the E-Trac I spent hours reading and formulating settings. With YouTube and sites like this I know more about operating my hopefully soon-than-later Manticore before anyone even has stock to sell me one!