Tony

Ah the Excalibur is still such a good workhorse.......hopefully my horse will be up and running soon.....thanks to Joe 👍

Nice chunk of gold too !

At least we can now prepare for the sticker shock of the “B” model......that price has me worried for future AQ (beach/water) sales though. Then again, the market for these might be more than I’m guessing. Could model B morph into something that caters for beach/water and land/nuggets. That would sell big time. Unless priced sharply, having two or three sub models of the AQ could be a problem.

I was tempted to go up and have a look......only a couple hours drive from home.

Id like to know the area he was returning from 👍

Great post Gerry.....and a nice refreshing change from all the doom and gloom about where White’s are at. I’m so tempted to go out and buy one of each just for the hell of it. I have three White’s detectors but it’s not enough 👍

I know it’s early days and dealing with bottlecaps in general can be problematic....different alloys, different states of decay but is there or could there be a way of dealing with these with the AQ. The Excalibur does a very good job overall and only sometimes am I fooled into digging one or two.

My best beaches for gold are “Bottlecap Beaches”...... my use of PI detectors in these areas is a painful one and use of a VLF is mandatory. I once hunted for 8 hours with my old Garrett Seahunter and retrieved 118 bottlecaps amongst the goodies......🤬 

There is deep gold beneath these bottlecaps......👍

1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

You could have had a bad unit Tony, really sounds like it to me. The 1280/CZ housing has been around for decades and is a pretty well proven product. We are talking 250 foot depth rating, not 10 feet. I seriously think there was something off with yours.

The 1280X was my first waterproof detector... I cleaned up with that thing using SCUBA gear. 

I suspect you are correct Steve......boy it found me a lot of gold though.

For Steve.........”with great power comes great responsibility” 😜

1 hour ago, CaptainCoinSpill said:

Besides sealing the pinpoint button with waterproof silicone...what would you recommend to secure the battery compartment?  I may get lucky and it will be fine but I doubt it.  What if I siliconed the edge everytime and just cut it open each time?  I know the batteries last a long time so I wouldn’t mind doing that.

I even submerged my CZ20 for 10 minutes or so in a large tub of water before venturing into the salt water....I feel mine leaked over a longer period of time when out in the water.......I never over tightened the battery door, just good finger tightness only. Anyway, you may never have a problem. My post is just precautionary.....people have used these detectors for many years without leakage. 
When tightening the two steel knurled knobs, make sure you alternate between each one when doing them up as this ensures even seating of the gasket. Also ensure that the gasket is seated the correct way up as it looks as if it can be placed either way. One side has a higher rib and this must be facing the correct way on the battery door.....it will definitely leak if this is seated incorrectly. The manual highlights this.
Good luck 

Tony

The CZ20 PP button has a history of leaking which is why Fisher dropped it on the CZ21. I had a CZ21 for a few years and couldn’t fault the performance BUT the battery compartment had a history of leaking on me and causing major problems. I was meticulous in setting the gasket correctly and applying just the right amount of pressure on the battery lid knurled knobs......sometimes it leaked and sometimes it didn’t. I had three new gaskets which still didn’t fix the problem. Fisher assured me that I was doing everything correctly and by the book.......I guessed it leaked about 30% of the time. You must check the battery compartment as soon as you are out of the water to make sure no water....otherwise it will destroy the 4 x 9v battery holder very quickly. In the end, the CZ21 had to go....if I had my time again I would design an external battery compartment and never use the original one again except for the  battery wires. Otherwise......great detector. 
PS.....I would consider sealing over the PP button if it’s not important to you. Auto tune is so precise that PP isn’t needed. Run the power high...mine never falsed. Disc set to hear iron and you’re good to go. I never used the GB function much but experiment either fully clockwise or fully anti clockwise as the depth performance can vary from model to model and depending on your ground conditions.

White’s detectors......built for that sort of treatment, year after year. 👍

Man I love my XL Pro more than ever.......😍

Joe

Appreciate the videos......the AQ is some gun 👍

If possible, when you are videoing next can you approach the target from a few metres away and sweep normally over and past the target as if you didn’t know it was there.....
Thanks, Tony

1 hour ago, Jim McCulloch said:

Sad indeed, especially for someone who has been a user for 37 years and a dealer for 31. Yes, many factors contributed, but not to be overlooked are the negative effect of counterfeit machines, produced "you know where." I cannot tell you how many times I lost genuine GMT sales when the potential buyer opted for a $150.00 machine from overseas. Often I got vilified for asking an "exaggerated, ripoff artist" price, but a month later, when the $150.00 counterfeit arrived, the victim "cried bloody murder". "I'll never buy a White's detector again!". But the problem was that it WASN'T a genuine White's product. 

I’m struggling to find anything more frustrating and blood boiling than the scenario you have described........

Tragic day for the Metal Detecting world......I don’t know, I just feel that a lot of users just want the latest and greatest at tempting low prices when what they already have in their hands is probably more than adequate. I live 10,000 miles away from Sweet Home and my first Whites’s detector as a young kid back in 1980 was this magical box on a stick that captivated my imagination for many years after.......We all know White’s business model and pricing wasn’t perfect but so many of their machines over the decades were. 
Tony

20 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Now THAT’s what a forum is all about! Good on you Joe, I hope your gold take this year sets a record!! 👍🏼

Couldn't agree more Steve...….Joe has saved my Excal to fight another day !!

Thanks Joe for your help.....really appreciated.

And yes, that part is exactly what I need. Single CTX headphone fitting into the Excalibur endcap.

Sending you a PM.

 Tony 

13 hours ago, schoolofhardNox said:

Thanks Steve for taking the time to post your first impressions. I'm glad it has solid performance even maxed out. Were you in a location that had any noticeable EMI when you used your other machines previously there? How did it handle the EMI? Also how does it compare with the GPX? Sounds like it would be smoother and a bit deeper than the GPX.

Substantially smoother and deeper.......definitely. 👍

Great read Steve......all PI and potential PI users must understand this concept.

Also, moving saltwater in shallow depths can be much more of a challenge than calm water in deeper depths. Eric Foster has mentioned somewhere in an old post that generally the deeper the saltwater then the bigger the signal will be generated and that is why diving PI detectors such as the Aquapulse AQ1B have a 40uS starting delay but after about 20 to 30 feet of salt water the salt signal levels off...that is to say, it is no worse deeper than that.

From my observations of the AQ and earlier extensive tests of many Minelab PI’s on beach settings......the AQ presents as superior. I found that urban EMI kills the Minelabs and always forced me to use a DD or somehow keep the mono coil and use a less optimal timing. Either way, one had to really dumb down the Minelab PI in order for it to function at the beach.....and I’m talking dry sand beach or maybe just the dampish sand...forget the wet sand. In fact, on my nice coral based sands, my Excalibur with full power settings was right up there with the Minelab PI. 
My records for a buried nickel was about 15” for an SD2200 and GP3500....I think very similar on the 4500 ( DD coil and Normal timing).

The AQ is in a different league for beach hunting......no doubt about it.

Joe’s buried nickel video was incredible.......as for rough saltwater hunting that I’m used to, that may present some challenges to the AQ.......but it’s power can easily be adjusted if needed. 
 

Hello folks,

I have exhausted all avenues in getting this part for my Excalibur.

The US company will not send to Australia and not even to my US third  party address in the USA.

I am hoping someone in the US can order the part and forward to me in Australia.

The part is an Excalibur endcap with the CTX style fitting. It costs $70 plus shipping should be less than $20.

I can send funds up front via PayPal....$100 US should be plenty. I’m just asking if someone can take delivery of the part and send it on to Australia. My shipping address can be sent via PM. Just needs taking to your local post office.

I wouldn’t normally ask for this sort of help but I’m in a jam......and Excalibur needs this part urgently.

Steve....hopefully this arrangement is okay by you. Let me know if not.

 Thanks in advance,

Tony

This is the part 

https://www.detectorrepair.com/index.php/store/ctx-3030-style-headphone-adapter-for-excalibur

Joe.....is that a salt signal at 3:32 ?

Im just trying to visualise real hunt conditions where you can’t afford to be digging any ground noises if too hot a setting......

Actually that big chunky ring side ways still presents a decent surface area.......I’m liking the results. 👍

I think Titanium would be seriously expensive to fabricate into a scoop....

9 minutes ago, Joe D. said:

Free!! With the first 50 Impulses sold! 👍👍

Might need the next model up.......😳

Officially drool worthy.......

27 minutes ago, Geotech said:

Platinum rings are like gold rings... they can be all over the conductivity range depending on size, thickness, & alloy. Generally you want to hunt in all-metal whenever possible. Use Tone mode when there are a lot of nails or when you get tired of digging clad. Use Mute mode when there is so much iron it's too noisy (like, say, a beach fire pit area).

(Sorry, didn’t mean for the thread to drift off topic....)

I find with Platinum (big and small) is most seem to fall very low on the conductivity scale unlike gold with its much wider range of alloys. All of my platinum finds are either 900 or 950 and just the one at 850. I recall nearly passing up a 10 gram Platinum ring with my Excalibur as it sounded like a chunk of foil 😳