Big Boys Hobbies

Excalibur or Equinox 800 for Hawaii

jackdevil

jackdevil

Elite Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2010
Messages
858
Location
Middle of the Pacific
Aloha, it's been a few years since my last post here. I used to swing an Ace 350 and had decent luck with it when I lived in the Southwest however since relocating to Hawaii not so much. I ended up selling it and have been on a 2 year metal detecting dry spell.

I'm looking at getting into some shallow water and beach detecting on the Big Island. Anyone have any experience with either the Minelab Excalibur II or Equinox 800 on the islands? Would welcome any input.
 
Me thinks that neither one of them has an edge on depth. And neither one of them has an edge in black-minerals. But one pronounced difference is the ability of the 800 to angle for finer dainty stuff. Ie.: micro-jewelry. Eg.: tinsel thin chains, earring studs, etc.... The Excal won't find those things.

To get smooth in the wet-salt, you'll have to "dumb down" the settings a little on the 800. But even then, it will still have better ability at fine/teeny jewelry, than the Excal.

The excal disc. sounds take some getting used to. Quite annoying, that I never much cared for (the long "tails" on the signals). Whereas the 800 is more along the lines of what you might be used to, if you're coming from the background of Explorer, CTX, etc....
 
Tom_in_CA said:
Me thinks that neither one of them has an edge on depth. And neither one of them has an edge in black-minerals. But one pronounced difference is the ability of the 800 to angle for finer dainty stuff. Ie.: micro-jewelry.
Click to expand...

The ability to work better in black sand is definitely something I was curious about. Almost have the beaches here are black sand. Thank you for the input!
 
ChrisMD said:
If it were me I would go with the Excalibur II. There is a great dealer on the island, All Island Metal Detectors that operates out of his house over by the Costco. His phone is 808-377-9377. He always had stock and his prices were excellent. Plus he is a wizard with the Excal, and he helped develop the CTX 3030 beach program. He will probably have the best on the ground advice.
Click to expand...

The Excalibur II had originally been my first choice however that was before I learned of the Equinox 800. The comfort of being able to use a blue tooth headset is appealing however what matters most is performance. I'll take your local dealer reference in to consideration. Seems like he might be located on Oahu.
 
I have no experience in Hawaii but I do have experience with both machines mentioned.
You could either go all day digging low numbers on the equinox hoping against hope to find a 1 gram gold chain that the excal maybe couldn't find while worrying it will flood leaving you without a detector for weeks at a time plus shipping expenses or choose the proven gold getter...
 
zeemang said:
...
You could either go all day digging low numbers on the equinox hoping against hope to find a 1 gram gold chain that the excal maybe couldn't find...
Click to expand...


Yes, there is the "devil in the details" about the micro-jewelry ability : There's a few downsides to "knocking yourself silly to not-miss micro-jewelry" :

a) if you're trying such a stunt in the dry sand area of the beach (especially dry sand that's been above all high-water movement for decades), be prepared for an avalanche of ttteeennnnsssyyy foil turd cr*p.

b) Even once you finally get your prize earring stud and/or tinsel thin chain, you'll have almost nothing, gold-wise, to show . Ie.: It would take 50 such earring studs or tinsel thin chains, to equal the weight of a single ring. Yes I know it's the sport of the hunt that counts , but .... realistically .... who cares ?

About the only time when I've ever wished I had ability for micro-jewelry, was one time when I was on a commissioned hunt to help a lady find a dainty tinsel thin chain, with a hefty finders-reward. Other than that, I've never missed the ability. If your machine is that "hopped up" to find such small things, then , as said, be prepared for some downsides.

Note: Possibly on the wet sand, after erosion, there's no "foil-turds" to bother you, then yes, it would be nice to have something that more sensitive to teensy stuff. Since theoretically, light gold chains are still there, while mother nature has removed all the light stuff.
 
Lets not forget the Nox........ half price..... and 3 times the warranty. Id give the edge to the Nox out of the water the closer you are to the dry sand on depth and sensitivity.... plus it has a very good TID screen and features like bluetooth you might like. But in the water especially in PP the Nox wont out do the Xcal for silent running and good depth. The smallest chain i got in 2018 didnt come with the Nox..... it came with the Xcal..... point 3 grams. In the water...... i believe you are dreaming to think with the reduced power running in beach 2, a salt setting, AND you have to run reduced sensitivity and raise the recovery that its going to find those tiny gold chains. I LOVE my Xcal...... but repairs on it was constant... and with a one year warranty.... a lot came out of pocket.
 
dewcon said:
Lets not forget the Nox........ half price..... and 3 times the warranty. Id give the edge to the Nox out of the water the closer you are to the dry sand on depth and sensitivity.... plus it has a very good TID screen and features like bluetooth you might like. But in the water especially in PP the Nox wont out do the Xcal for silent running and good depth. The smallest chain i got in 2018 didnt come with the Nox..... it came with the Xcal..... point 3 grams. In the water...... i believe you are dreaming to think with the reduced power running in beach 2, a salt setting, AND you have to run reduced sensitivity and raise the recovery that its going to find those tiny gold chains. I LOVE my Xcal...... but repairs on it was constant... and with a one year warranty.... a lot came out of pocket.
Click to expand...
X2
I have both machines. More water hunting lean to the Excal more sand hunting lean to the Nox.
 
Used my Excal 1000 for 7 yrs (3-5 months/yr) in saltwater beaches/surf. I have used my Nox 800 for 2 months w 15" coil in saltwater, so far. I have found more small chains and more ear rings with the NOX in 2 months than the Excal in 7 yrs! My monthly gold count is also higher with the NOX than the Excal. Enough said.

2020
Gold - 16
Silver - 23
 
dewcon said:
.... In the water...... i believe you are dreaming to think with the reduced power running in beach 2, a salt setting, AND you have to run reduced sensitivity and raise the recovery that its going to find those tiny gold chains. ....
Click to expand...

Good post.

When I toyed around with the Nox in the dry sand, and got the settings necessary to find all the tteeennnsssyyy stuff that's in the micro-jewelry range, I learned that the hopped-up settings would NOT be suitable for in the wet salt. And that by the time you adjust for wet salt stability, you have lost the ability for the earring studs, tinsel thin chains, etc....

So for a variety of reasons, I put very little stock into the Nox ability to find micro-jewelry, as a driving factor in the choice.
 
LawrencetheMDer said:
Used my Excal 1000 for 7 yrs (3-5 months/yr) in saltwater beaches/surf. I have used my Nox 800 for 2 months w 15" coil in saltwater, so far. I have found more small chains and more ear rings with the NOX in 2 months than the Excal in 7 yrs! My monthly gold count is also higher with the NOX than the Excal. Enough said.

2020
Gold - 16
Silver - 23
Click to expand...

Have you experienced any flooding in the handle as others have reported with the NOX? Most of the hunting I plan to do is between waist deep water and the wet sand line. Finding micro amounts of jewelry is not a deciding factor for me. I do find all the new features of the NOX appealing but overall I just want good results in salt water.
 
dewcon said:
Lets not forget the Nox........ half price..... and 3 times the warranty. Id give the edge to the Nox out of the water the closer you are to the dry sand on depth and sensitivity.... plus it has a very good TID screen and features like bluetooth you might like. But in the water especially in PP the Nox wont out do the Xcal for silent running and good depth. The smallest chain i got in 2018 didnt come with the Nox..... it came with the Xcal..... point 3 grams. In the water...... i believe you are dreaming to think with the reduced power running in beach 2, a salt setting, AND you have to run reduced sensitivity and raise the recovery that its going to find those tiny gold chains. I LOVE my Xcal...... but repairs on it was constant... and with a one year warranty.... a lot came out of pocket.
Click to expand...

Micro jewlry isnt part of my consideration. As long as I can pull a ring out of the ocean with the unit. That being said, what types of repairs was the xcal needing and how often? Still very much undecided on which detector Im going to get.
 
For me the nox is a great dry/wet sand machine. For anything deeper than knee deep I use the excal in all metal
 
I've used both detectors but not when I was stationed in Oahu many years ago.
Nox- more affordable, more sensitive to small jewelry, lighter, can use different sized coils, better in black sand, more versatile (can be used for land hunting as well)
Excal- deeper in my opinion (in pinpoint mode), better balance with the control box mounted behind the elbow (not the stock configuration), proven performance over many years.
I still use both from time to time but my go-to beach machines are pulse detectors, especially, on black sand beaches.
 
I miss my Excal that I sold. Yes there was more maintenance when compared to the Nox but as a beach/sand pounder it wasn’t working out for me as well as the 800 does.
I’ve had my Nox in the water with zero issues but it’s seldom that I get into the water more than a few inches.
The faster recovery speed of the Nox and not waiting for the null to reset like on the Excal speeds the hunt up.
So, I guess like others have indicated, the Excal for the water and the Nox for the wet and dry sand. Good luck on your choices!
 
I’ve surely got a 1000 hours on mine.... my box stays underwater a lot... ask anyone who hunts with me. I’ve broke the cuff and the coil ears. Let me see Xcal.... I had 4 coils go bad just put up..... knobs, coil splits, water intrusion, bad threshold and sensitivity, headphones, numerous PP switches.... I honest can’t tell you how many things I’ve had go bad. BUT I’ll also say 7 hours in the water nearly 7 days a week for years now. In the first year I had 2 coils go and a lot more ....ML told me I hunted to much lol. That year’s warranty isn’t enough.
 
I think you made the right choice, Let us know a few months down the road how you do. Every location requires a different strategy, best to start with the most popular.
 
Even if you dislike the nox (which I cant believe) it will find you enough loot to be buying a new Xcal in no time, so either way a good choice! With the three year warranty you cant go wrong
 
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