I have a question about the Minelab Excalibur:
Are there different versions within the same Excalibur model?
for example I do not mean Excalibur Blue vs Excalibur 800 vs Excalibur II 1000 etc I mean are there updated versions of the SAME model. for example Excalibur II 1000 v1.1 vs Excalibur II 1000 v1.2 which might infer updated software?
Thanks!
Yes. I believe this is the order of models.
Original Sword model with horseshoe shaped coil
The 800 / 1000, aka "Blue" Excal
The Excalibur II (currently in production)
The sword model circuit board is different than the latter two and some professional tuners (like OBN) have said some parts are not interchangeable.
The Blue and current model are basically the same design. Many folks claim the blue models are more desireable as they used more rugged components. On paper, the hardware still appears to be the same and there is no software.
There are quality control variances with all electronic components. When the sum of the components creates the final assembly, e.g., the detector, you can have subtle variances in performance when comparing two machines....but these differences are usually insignificant at best. For example, one machine may gain a 1/4" more depth while another machine may produce 1 dB louder volume.
If you are new to the hobby, getting a brand new machine ensures you have a warranty and that all components are up to par. If you go the used route, you need to know how to inspect coils, cords, connections, and look for stress cracks and fractures that could permit water to leak into the battery, coil, or control board.
New or used, you can send out the units for several mods. Common mods include adding connectors for interchangeable coils, swapping coils, modding the headphones with better speakers and/or volume controls and installing a remote p/p switch.
I've used all three. The sword I used had 5" less depth than my Blue with a 10" coil. The Blue and Excal II ran the same depth in auto mode, but varied in P/P. In P/P mode, the Blue hit on a planted thin chain while the Excal II didn't hear it. Then the Excal II hit 2-3" deeper on quarters than the blue.
Either way, both the blue and Excal II were 30-40% deeper than my CZ and Whites BH. Just my $0.02. =)