Minelab Excalibur II -vs- White's Beach Hunter ID 300

[digfl]

Guys,
I'd appreciate your advise on my test case here. I’m fortunate to own both a
Minelab Excalibur II and White's Beach Hunter ID 300

But I’ve been wondering which to use on occasion. So I’m putting together are simple head to head comparison. I’ve attached a sample run for one case. But before I do all 3 tests with all test objects I thought I’d run the first scenario past the experts.

Summary:

The three cases are
· Dry sand
· Saturated sand with fresh water from well
· Saturated sand with saltwater specific gravity measured to 1.022 with my hydrometer

The sand was purchase from home depot and is children’s play sand. I can get beach sand however I’m not sure on the legality of that.

The objects are detected one after the other with out changing the test bed.
Object are placed under different height plastic containers each filled to their full height to create the test depth cases. See example in attachment.

Detecting is performed in standard out of the box mode and manual.
Ground balancing is performed per instructions on the White’s detector
Auto sensitivity is use first on the Minelab

I’ve added the results for a few dry sand runs with comments. Please let me know if you think this is a reasonable test case. Please comment on how I can improve. After receiving your feedback I intend to complete the test. I also plan on recording last test (saltwater) and I’ll post video on you tube.
I can't upload the example, as it is too large you can down load it from here.

http://71.101.114.175/dig2/head2head.pdf

Thanks,
Digfl

[rascal]

It sounds interesting

[tony48]

Great comparison! I always wanted to know how these 2 detectors stacked up against eachother. They are both populat VLF water detectors so I'm sure this will help alot of people!

[hobbes_lives]

Very nice job on the comparison.

It would be cool to see the same test done with beach sand.

[UK Brian]

Unfortunately though there have been posts of the Whites locating earings at two feet they must be about three inches across.

My tests, which match Gary in Florida, puts the Whites in a firm second place. The Minelab with 10" coil goes deeper and detects a wider path. Fit a WOT to the Excaliber or a Sovereign and it kills the Whites for depth.

The Beach Hunter also falls down on its headphones that don't stay on as well, can't be used in really deep water, coil cover hard to remove to clean and the I.D. lights are not well placed and are hard to see in bright sunshine.
If you get the original (small coil version) the original coil covers would float off. There's now grey covers that solves that niggle.

On the plus side you can sweep faster/cover more ground with either of the Whites versions. I've been doing better with the small coil I.D. in areas such as around old disused sewage pipes (all concrete and reinforcing iron bars) than with any Minelab.

Best of luck with the tests. An inland test would be of use even though they are aimed at wet sand users. There's a marked difference between performance of the two brands on bad ground which would definately make up most peoples minds as to which is the better choice.

Brian

[digfl]

Thanks for the feed back I’ll complete the test with real beach sand. I just wanted to make sure this seemed like a fair test with a good control. Also the inland test will be simple as I live on a farm.

Thanks for the comments.
Digfl

[vfr800]

Hello
I'm new to this forum (hello) I'm very interested in this head to head because i would like to purchase another detector. I mainly hunt the beach(saltwater) and the surfmaster II does a good job but is not good near the water, so i was thinking about the Beachhunter 300, Excalibur, or Sovereign GT. I have read mixed reviews about the Excalibur, but anyway could i get some advice on the above mentioned and any recommendations'

Thanks, Bruce

[vfr800]

Any advice would help

Thanks

[vfr800]

Well i made the decision on my own and i decided to purchase a Minelab Excalibur II 10'' coil. Also purchased the Anderson over under shaft and the Tony Diana CD. Can't wait til it gets here....

Bruce

[Elixir]

Originally Posted by vfr800

Well i made the decision on my own and i decided to purchase a Minelab Excalibur II 10'' coil. Also purchased the Anderson over under shaft and the Tony Diana CD. Can't wait til it gets here....

Bruce

good choice, very powerful deep machine. I hope you have a good scoop