There is no true best "all around" machine...
While I hate to disagree with Jason, I and many other Sovereign owners (The Excal is basically a Sovereign in a waterproof housing) use our machines with great success in parks and fields and the like, but it (the Excal) IS definitely most at home at the beach. If I had to choose between an Excal and some other equally priced (you said "for a real good price", and I assume it is a used machine) machine, I would have to get the Excal hands down. The only other machine (in the used Excal at a really good price range) you can get wet is the AT Pro. And it is a single frequency machine which will drive you nuts in salt water and won't see as deep as an Excal. Get that Excal if the price is that good, you won't regret it.