Minelab excalibur or fisher cz21-8 or what other kind???
- Thread starter Jladre
- Start date
I've never used the Excalibur, so I can only speak for the Cz21. The 8" coil is a must for picking through the junk. It discriminates very well, especially over the 10". I find it harder to pinpoint with the larger coils underwater. With that said, I've tested it against the AT Pro for shallow freshwater hunting and the AT has it beat in the discriminating department, however not nearly as deep as the CZ. But I've never used the AT at the salt beaches. I hear great things about the Excalibur. Maybe it has the best of both, depth and disc. I'm sure someone with more experience will chime in. HH
DaviDs
Forum Supporter
The Excal and CZ are industry leading water detectors. They both have auto-ground balance which significantly helps when working the salt water. The Excal gives a wider range of tones and is lighter than the CZ. Both units can be waist, shoulder, back or shaft mounted. Additionally the Excal has a ton of aftermarket mods and suppliers of coils, phones, shafts, etc, so long as you have the time and money to get it sent out and done.
Excal is known be more fragile than a CZ so I encourage you to purchase knob guards to prevent an oopsie. On the flip side, the Excal in P/P mode seems to get better depth than a CZ with the same size coil (just my opinion).
I have a 10" excal, but often used large coils (15-17") along with a wide mouth beach scoop to retrieve targets. Therefore, 10" seems small to me, and the only time I could see using a small coil is in rough surf or surf with strong currents/riptides. Consequently, if you are in strong surf, the chance of you having a lot of trash is slim. Other than thin chains, most gold is heavy and sinks quickly so you'll hit a target, dig deep and she should pop out in a scoop or two.
A little cheaper is the White's Beach Hunter ID. It still has a dual frequency system that works great in water. The down side is it has a manual ground balance which can be tricky to get the machine to work in heavily mineralized sand. Also, the coil is not balanced like the CZ or Excal. Instead, the BHID coil tends to float so you'll have to add force to keep the detector submerged. Nonetheless, it works and at a cost that is hundreds of dollars cheaper than the CZ/Excal.
Even cheaper yet are Pulse Induction machines like the Garrett Sea Hunter and Tesoro Sand Shark. These machines are dive ready and well balanced. They work almost flawlessly in any condition. The downside is the discrimination system is almost worthless, so you have to dig every signal....something that is a real pain on an "iron infested beach". For these units you are under $650 for a brand new machine. But if you already have a nice beach machine, you can pick up one of these just for the water hunts.
You'll want the CZ for working in iron infested areas. Of the 2 it does a much better job in that type of scenario. The excal will null on iron bad.
detectingMO
Forum Supporter
Fisher just lowered the MAP price of CZ-21 to $1299 yesterday.
There are also some refurbs available from Fisher with 1 year warranty instead of 2.
Let me know if you need a quote. 8" and 10.5" available.
There are also some refurbs available from Fisher with 1 year warranty instead of 2.
Let me know if you need a quote. 8" and 10.5" available.
DaviDs
Forum Supporter
Many of us that use the Excal run in P/P (no null) and then use reverse discrimination to check iron. The plus being you also gain depth. So if you take ta CZ with the same size coil as an Excal in the P/P mode, the Excal will have a noticeable win in depth.
That is a tough question.
The CZ has a sturdier or more rugged construction than the Excal. But, as I mentioned above, the Excal in P/P will gain more depth. However, if you take good care of your machine and leave it in auto mode, there is no significant advantage of one over the other. Both machines perform excellent in salt water.
So that brings us to price. The CZ is used. If you can test the CZ and make sure the seals, coil, and wires are good, then buy the machine. Heck, it is almost 1/3 of the price of a new Excal.
If CZ has signs of damage or wear, then you may have more peace of mind with buying a brand new Excal.
The guy isn't asking which machine goes deeper. He's asking which one will preform/separate better in iron which hands down is the cz.
I have owned/used the original cz20 and excal and currently own/use both the cz21 and excal II and have used them for nearly 20 years so I'm not just blowing smoke here.
Doesn't matter to me which one he buys/uses but if it were me hunting that type of environment is use the cz. It has a different way of processing. Start/stop and works very well in 0 disc VS the excal with continuous processing/audio flow.
If you want the absolute deepest get an excal. If you want to work in iron get the cz (although the cz is deep too).
The 2 machines process differently. The cz is a faster on/off type processing and the excal is a continuous process. Run 0 disc on the cz to keep the audio gate open/flowing and you'll sift through the iron much better/faster with much better distinction between iron and good targets.
I've ran both for nearly 20 yrs starting with the original cz20 and excal and now run/use the cz21 and excal II. If you want bigger targets (buckles/etc) in sites full of large iron (horseshoes/axe heads, etc) the excal will pull them while ignoring the large iron - it slams on big brass/etc. If you want smaller targets (coins, rings, etc) in sites with smaller nails/bits of iron/etc. the cz will far outperform the excal in that type of site/scenario.
The 2 machines process differently. The cz is a faster on/off type processing and the excal is a continuous process. Run 0 disc on the cz to keep the audio gate open/flowing and you'll sift through the iron much better/faster with much better distinction between iron and good targets.
I've ran both for nearly 20 yrs starting with the original cz20 and excal and now run/use the cz21 and excal II. If you want bigger targets (buckles/etc) in sites full of large iron (horseshoes/axe heads, etc) the excal will pull them while ignoring the large iron - it slams on big brass/etc. If you want smaller targets (coins, rings, etc) in sites with smaller nails/bits of iron/etc. the cz will far outperform the excal in that type of site/scenario.
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