Thanks Chris.
I have a Whites MXT that has been my overall machine but as is well known once it gets near black sand it starts to become very static but still works fine in the dry sand. I would tend to be more salt water than fresh water and a shallow water hunter vs deep. The one thing I didn't like about my HHPI was the short battery life and the battery storage. The snap in cup of the headset never felt secure and it is quite tight changing the batteries out, always afraid of yanking the small wires out of place, happened early on when I first bought them and with the frequency of battery changes I thought it was just a matter of time before I did it again so sold it while it was still in good shape. I do like the newer one with the rechargeable battery, seems to eliminate that issue but really haven't looked at them concerned some on support since Gary sold the business.
I have always like the Excalibur but would constantly see pictures of broken knobs, rusted out battery areas and hear complaints of not being able to change coils or headsets without rewiring thus voiding warranties, etc, I guess some is how someone takes care of things but the more options to just replace things with new parts vs a detector that has to be sent in for these changes must for me be considered. I agree prices for a lot of used machines seem appealing and I think they could be more plentiful as the Nox finally comes out but we'll see though really I will wait to see the results some are having, maybe the answer is in 2 machines instead of 1, hmmmmm