Sov GT or Excalibur for beach?

[Moe (fl)]

Trying to decide between the Sov GT or the Excalibur 1000 for the beach?

Both have a 10-inch coil.

Does the Excalibur have iron mask? I know that the Sov GT has it.

Which will go deeper on the beach?

I have heard that the Sov GT is good on the beach but the Excalibur is waterproof which is a big plus near salt water. I will not do diving just hunt from surf to dry sand.

My worry with the Sov GT is that over time the beach environment will take its toll while the Excalibur is made for beach.

Thanks.

 

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[Moe (fl)]

Is the Excalibur with 10-inch coil better and deeper than the BHID300 with 12-inch coil?

Does the excal have any disc?

 

[Painter65]

If your hunting ONLY surf to dry sand you dont need the Excal. from my understanding, same machine only the Excal. is waterproof.

 

[Dixie Digger]

go with the GT because you can change to a bigger coil.on the beach you want to cover as much sand as possible to get the goodies. a WOT or S12 (i like the S12 better) coil and the GT is 2nd to none on the beach! just dont drop it in the water! plus you can run better head phones with the GT as you can change them.i love my Excal but it is no match for the GT on the sand.good luck DD

 

[Moe (fl)]

I do most of my hunting on the beach...

My concern with the sov gt is that it will get damaged on the beach over time. I am leaning toward a waterproof machine for peace of mind. I have been at the beach when it is raining and blowing sand and a land detector would take a big hit.

The excal looks promising...

 

[Narthoniel]

I have heard from many that they prefer a waterproof GT over an Excal. It has advantages, as were mentioned above. If you don't want the hassle, the Excal will work.

 

[Painter65]

I have my Control pack mounted in a Camera bag, its a quick fix and keep stuff out of the elements. So far its working like a charm, plus, with the camera bag theres a few extra pouches to put junk in.

 

[neilo]

If you want to use the Excalibur for detecting beach you will have to put it on a straight shaft. The machine is too heavy and very badly balanced in its normal configuration for use on dry land. The Sovereign has the advantage of Notch discrimination where you can selectively discriminate out a small section. This function is handy in parks, but on the beach where you should dig all targets it isnt needed. You can also shoulder mount the Sovereign control box and use it is the water. The Excalibur has built in auto Iron mask the same as the Soveriegn has. For general beach and park detecting the Sovereign has the advantage in that you can use it without modifying anything. For full time beach water detecting the Excalibur is best. The problem with hip mounting and shoulder mounting either the Sovereign or Excalibur is the strain which it puts on lead connections. The Excalibur can get water leaks where the leads connect, and the Sovereign connections will break. This is why you are better off putting the Excalibur onto a straight shaft where no leads are put under strain at all.

I would go for the Excalibur on the straight shaft. seeya Neilo

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I have 2 Sovereign GTs, both have the WOT 15 inch coils, and one is custom water proofed, I also have an Excal 1000 as backup to my water proofed Sovereign. Personally, I much prefer the Sovereign for hunting beaches and I have done good with it.

I know some on here have seen me using it and questioned the bulk of it. Yes it is a lot heaver due to the water proof housing, and the housing causes the unit to float, but I have hunted chest deep with it, and even used it as a float to get to the outer sandbar when i entered the at the wrong location and walked off in to water well over my head. I always hunt with ta harness which takes the weight of the detector and coil off my arm and on the water proofed case I use a waist belt and shoulder harness combination.

You don say how deep your going into the water, if your only going ankle to knee deep and only hunt calm water then a Sovereign is a great choice, plus you can add the WOT coil to it .

My second Sovereign I use on the beach for when I am not going into the surf, I love the tones of the Sovereign, and in my opinion you can not beat the Sovereign with WOT coil combination. The case for it protects it from the salt spray if you keep it covered, and you can always add a baggie over the top before you put it in the case and still operate the controls.

I wear the non water proof sovereign around my neck, and the cable has never been a problem, in fact I have had to add a clip to keep the cable up some off the ground, I'm not tall, but not short either. (5'10")

The cable for the one in the water proof case has never had a problem and is also rather long. I can swig as fa as I can reach in both directions and there is still slack at the control box.

Just my 2 cents for what it's worth.

Good luck and good hunting................

 

[FLauthor]

I had the same problem but settled for the Excalibur as I hunt both water and dry beach with it. What made me decide on the Minelab was the Nail test. Take an iron nail and insert it through a gold ring. Take any other metal detector and past the coil over it. It will discriminate the nail and ring combined. Excalibur ignores iron and hits the gold ring. World's greatest machine.

 

[JP]

After just having to spend $152.50 to replace the headphones on my used Excalibur that I purchased 5 months ago, depending if you are mostly looking to hunt drysand and up to a certain depth in water, the Sovereign would probably be your best bet. Don't get me wrong I love my Excaliburs but there's something nice about being able to change out the coil and headphones.

One of my treasure hunting buddies has a Sov GT and never leaves the beach without something. He's another one that takes his time to hunt and listens for those deep signals. It's a wonderful beach machine and with a wot coil you could really cover a lot of ground at the beach.

But honestly either way you go between the two you won't make a wrong choice.

HH