ragebot

Wow, tough crowd here. 😀 Truth be told I don't have a good answer to your question. I just got my Excal II delivered and the battery is charging (for around 15 hours more). Watching vids on youtube lots of guys seem to do what I will call gross location with a big machine like the Excal and then use a pin pointer to hone in on just where the object is and that is what I was gonna use it for. But as a secondary use I might also like something with the add on head for what I will call simple location. Often times I know folks who drop something in the water at a dock or on a boat and ask for help locating it, glasses, keys, whatever. But your question really has made me rethink my need for a pin pointer. I just assumed it was something everybody used to speed things up in locating an object that had just been detected. But I have also seen some vids where they just keep digging, sifting, dumping the sand and run a big detector over the dumped sand till they find the object. And the Excal does have a pinpoint mode, maybe that is enough.

I know the carrot is highly thought of but I have seen some heavy users say the tip can wear and expose things. I am looking at the Pulse Two in One and like what I see including what seems to be a better protected tip. Another option is the Quest Scuba Tector again with additional tip protection. Problem is both are kinda new and I have seen some bashing, especially on the Quest. The thing is no matter how many whistles and bells something has it's basic function has to work or nothing else matters. I am not wed to any of these three choices; just the ones that my research has turned up so far. Any advice welcome.

I have been to the Peace River in Florida, one of the best sites to hunt for meg teeth. I am not sure if they qualify as a rock or mineral but the normal hunting method is simply dig as much sand/dirt/muck as you can and sift through it. If some type of detector could help ID a meg tooth it would save a lot of time. There are also some off shore sites in the Gulf of Mexico that produce lots of meg teeth. Anyone have experience doing this or any advice to offer.

One of the biggest constraints I have cruising is lack of space. While my boat may look huge to some folks it gets small in a hurry. But I do think this is an option I will look into. It is also why I went with the Excal, I simply don't have room for two big MDs.

Part of my learning curve in MD is learning the lingo. As a general rule SCUBA divers view 33 feet as a cut off for shallow diving. While I have several SCUBA certifications I carry a hookah on my boat, it is rated for two divers at 33 feet, but can support them at twice that depth with a greatly reduced run time. Not to mention as long as you keep your dive shallower than 33 feet decompression is not an issue. So when 33 feet is described as a deep dive I have to switch gears. The thing is I have been in many situations where I am in an anchorage with 20-30 feet of water and someone drops something overboard and chatter on the radio asks for help getting it off the bottom. I often am in beaches where crowds tend to be at parties at night and drink to excess. I also am in remote places where finding treasure may be unlikely but still I would like the option to dive there. When I am living on dirt it is in areas where there lots of springs which I know contain all sorts of things worth finding; both old and new. I can easily put my hookah on an inflatable and dive these areas; but they tend to be deeper than ten feet; not to mention I have seen reviews about the 10 foot water proof models not really being that waterproof at 10 feet. The thing is I know I will wanna go deeper than ten feet and everything I have read indicates the Excal is basically bomb proof at the depths I will be at. I am also concerned about taking less waterproof models in what I call heavy surf where one minute it is five feet and when a wave hits it can be twice that depth or more. I should also mention I do a lot of underwater photography and feel comfortable doing things under water. Maybe more to the point my experience has been that it is easy to get in a situation where 10 feet turns into a little deeper. On a little different topic I also have been to the Peace River which is one of the best sites around to find megalodon shark teeth; along with some of the areas in the Gulf just off shore. Again many of these areas are not what I call wading at the beach type searching. While I am not sure it is possible many meg teeth are mineralized and it may be possible to tune a MD to locate them. Not to mention many of those areas are heavily searched and I am sure some of the shark teeth hunters have lost metal things. Bottom line is the first thing I am looking for in a MD is being waterproof to at least 20 feet and hopefully a full 33 feet.

Need help selecting a MD to buy. So far CZ-21 and the Equinox 800 are two I am considering. Hope to get advice on how to get one that best meets my needs and I am not limiting choices to these two. I am an experience diver but don't usually go deeper than 33 feet. The CZ-21 can easily do that but my research makes me think the 800 is a more advanced machine. I am not kidding myself about a learning curve for either of these choices. If it was not for COVID-19 I would be on my catamaran cruising in the Bahamas, or maybe down island. As it is I am limited to beaches in the Big Bend of Florida and the spring fed fresh water rivers. There are also lots of historic places I kayak and hike to. Any advice on the pros and cons of those two choices; but I have to say the claimed max 10 foot water proof limit on the 800 is almost a deal breaker. I know Excilabur has a nice model as well that goes deep. Thing is I really like the display on the 800 and wish it could go another 20 feet deeper; it would be a no brainer. Bottom line is I am still confused about what to buy to put on my boat.