Disclaimer: The point of this post is that the Excal II performs so well that I believe the owners of the machine have been willing to overlook, and correct, the two prominent issues with the stock version.
Those two issues (in order of annoyance):
1. The knobs strip/wear out very quickly.
2. The stock S-shaft with the electronics equipped is not balanced for day to day use of the device.
My experience:
I purchased my Excal II in November 2010 because I wanted the "end all" of beach machines, after doing a lot of reading on the 'net. It did not see much action except for in the summer months of 2011 (May through August), and recently.
About two months ago (14 months after purchased) it began having an issue with the DISC/PP (Pin Point) knob. It seems that the knob may be stripped and would not switch between DISC/PP mode when turned AND it has occasionally, randomly switched between DISC and PP mode. After research on the 'net I concluded that knobs stripping out can be considered a common issue. Keep in mind that my hunting style before this issue occurred was to swing primarily in DISC, and much of the time locate many targets in PP mode. I would turn the knob and switch between modes often.
I called Minelab and spoke to a customer support representative named Greg in January, and after hearing the explanation of the issue, placed me on hold and spoke with a technical representative. Greg returned and said that it was most likely a bad potentiometer and that my machine may need service.
After that I guarded the knobs well, and researched further into common settings for the machine. I now hunt with the knobs set at the same position all of the time (for the non obvious knob setting: sensitivity is at 12 o'clock).
Eventually I will send the machine in for work. I know I could fix a stripped knob, yet I feel there may also be another issue with the rheostat aka potentiometer for DISC/PP mode.
In closing: The machine works so well it has me considering moving towards making YT videos.