Noreaster
Full Member
Looking for some feedback about what machines run the beach best in the cape cod area. The AT Pro has been fun and has me hooked. It runs awesome in the dry, however i have to constantly ground balance in the wet and its driving me nuts. Plus i have to lower the sensitivity significantly to allow the machine to stabilize. I have not found anything in the water and only a couple items in the wet sand. I could be impatient with it, but when it goes crazy and i cant tweak it to be stable, i stop having fun.
SO now my question is whats next? I am favoring an Excal II or Whites Dual Field. Two very different machines. Question is which one is a better tool for the job in my area? I am not sure how much iron trash is in these beaches as i run the Disc on the AT at 31 or 32. Ideally I'm looking for something that gets me from the wet sand, all the way into waist deep at least. Working fairly well on the dry will be good so i don't have to tug both rigs with me, but is not a necessity.
Dual Field:
+ known for "going deep"
+ Known for finding the small stuff like womens chains or deep rings
+ Very respected customer service
+ Price point ( have the funds to purchase this week )
- Lots of the black sand can be a challenge ( any opinions here is appreciated as i seem to find lots of contradicting data )
- Doesn't work well in the dry, ( is my perception wrong here? )
- No discrimination or tone ID
Excalibur II
+ BBS is fantastic in the wet or the dry
+ Not bothered by the black sand
+ Seems rather easy to run.
+ Discrimination and Tone IDs
- More expensive
- Lots of bad stories of customer service ( no first hand experience )
- fixed coil and headphones until you want to void your warranty
- May miss some thin chains or womens rings
- Price point ( need to save up a little more )
- Very dated model at this point ? - i have that fear that as soon as i purchase, the Excal III will come out with a handle mounted pinpoint switch and some other cool features.
These are the 2 i keep coming back to, i am however, open to all suggestions.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
SO now my question is whats next? I am favoring an Excal II or Whites Dual Field. Two very different machines. Question is which one is a better tool for the job in my area? I am not sure how much iron trash is in these beaches as i run the Disc on the AT at 31 or 32. Ideally I'm looking for something that gets me from the wet sand, all the way into waist deep at least. Working fairly well on the dry will be good so i don't have to tug both rigs with me, but is not a necessity.
Dual Field:
+ known for "going deep"
+ Known for finding the small stuff like womens chains or deep rings
+ Very respected customer service
+ Price point ( have the funds to purchase this week )
- Lots of the black sand can be a challenge ( any opinions here is appreciated as i seem to find lots of contradicting data )
- Doesn't work well in the dry, ( is my perception wrong here? )
- No discrimination or tone ID
Excalibur II
+ BBS is fantastic in the wet or the dry
+ Not bothered by the black sand
+ Seems rather easy to run.
+ Discrimination and Tone IDs
- More expensive
- Lots of bad stories of customer service ( no first hand experience )
- fixed coil and headphones until you want to void your warranty
- May miss some thin chains or womens rings
- Price point ( need to save up a little more )
- Very dated model at this point ? - i have that fear that as soon as i purchase, the Excal III will come out with a handle mounted pinpoint switch and some other cool features.
These are the 2 i keep coming back to, i am however, open to all suggestions.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
