Gidday Baja,
I also use an Excalibur 1000, but also own the Minelab Quattro, and from the reviews I've read, the Safari is kind of an upgrade from it. The "Minelab Times" states that the new Safari features:
An 11 inch waterproof coil (Quattro has 10.5 waterproof coil), improved target ID in High Trash Density, improved discrimination, improved audio response and improved depth gauge. It has new VCO style pin point mode, better balance and faster start up.
It has the same operating modes as the Quattro: coin, coin & jewelery, relic and All metal. It mentions that you don't have to press any "salt" switches or make adjustments from land to sea detecting, so I'm assuming what it's saying is that you no longer have to noise cancel or 'ground balance' between the different detecting conditions as you detect. If that's the case, it probably also applies to detecting near other detectors, as with the Quattro, soon as you come in close proximity to another detector, and I mean a few feet, you noise cancel, and that stabilises the detector when detecting near others. Have to check that out further. Toggling between the modes is as easy as with the Quattro, and you can still create your own disc patterns to overcome trouble with junk.
The Safari still utilises the FBS (Full Band Spectrum) of 28 frequencies so no problem with digging deep targets and sensitive ones.
I imagine it functions pretty much like my Minelab Quattro, with a few obvious improvements. But for me, I don't know if up-grading to a Safari will really improve my detecting in any way. For someone like yourself starting off on an entirely new relic/coin detector, it's a step up from your cheaper detectors, with a considerable learning curve that goes with it, like the Quattro. It'll take time, patience and persistence to master it as do the earlier models of the Quattro, Explorer series. I don't know if there is a manual brought out by Andy Sabish, but if so, I'd get a hold of it, as it'll be better than the manual that comes with the detector, as he'll cover more questions and go into a little more depth, going by the Explorer and Quattro manuals written by him.
All the best with your choice, and hope this info has helped somewhat.
Golden