Minelab Excalibur 1000
Price: $1000
Avg. Score: 
3.86
Based on 64 reviews
3.86Based on 64 reviews
Avg. Durability:
1.00
Avg. Ease of use:
1.80
Minelab excaliber II
March 26, 2011
What a shame. This great detector works so efficiently...when it works. I
bought it new in November 2010, used it 4 times with great enthusiasm,
enjoyed learning it's idiosychrasies, and just enjoying it immensely. The
5th time I used it, it quit altogether. After about 5 minutes of fooling
with it I gave up. A little later, back at my car, I tried it again and it
seemed to work. Off I went back to the beach where it quit again. Less than
2 months old and already trouble. It took a month of communications with Minelab before I finally got shipping clearance for warranty work. A few weeks after I shipped it, I called for a progress report and was told 40-45 business days is typical. This translates to at LEAST 2 months including holidays. So far, it has been out of commission far longer than it has actually been usable. Still waiting. I sure hope they sort it out because I like it a great deal...when it works.
Overall Rating
Chris from
California
465
The one to have for fresh and salt water or on dry land
January 02, 2011
I've owned all the top models of every brand of metal detector. I've been
detecting for over 28 years so I'm pretty sure I know what I know and what
I don't know about metal detecting.A few years ago I decided to try water hunting. I checked all the names like White, Garrett, Tesoro and Minelab. Seems Minelab has a whole bunch of fans and even some haters. I did a survey of people on one of the metal detecting forum sites and the overall opinion was that the Minelab Excalibur is the machine to have if you do salt or fresh water hunting. So I bought a Minelab 800 that was used. At first I hated the ergonomics of the Excalibur till I got a straight shaft and then it was a joy. I found tons of rings in the water with the 800 but I really wanted the new Excalibur II 1000 so I sold the 800 and got a brand new 1000.
There is quite a difference in coverage from the 8 inch coil on the 800 to the 10 inch coil on the II 1000. The newer coil on the II 1000 is thinner than the older coils so it is very easy to move through the water. Even easier than the old 800's coil.
The Excalibur II 1000 is a sound only machine and requires a good ear to hear the different sounds that each target makes. After a while it becomes easy to know what is under your coil.
Since getting the Excalibur II 1000, my finds of gold and silver in the water has exploded. In the past I've owned other brands of water detectors but they just did not perform as the Excalibur detectors have for me. I now hunt water almost exclusively but every once in a while I take the Excalibur II 1000 land hunting and even there it really shines. The multiple frequencies of the Excalibur makes for one really hot detector.
If you are thinking of getting an Excalibur II, I would highly recommend getting a straight shaft and a knob guard. The straight shaft makes the Excalibur almost weightless and really easy to swing.
The Excalibur is a professional metal detector and is used by many treasure hunters. The Mel Fisher group uses them.
I highly recommend the Excalibur II 1000.
Overall Rating
Steve from Ohio from
Cleveland Ohio
1233
What a machine !!!!
December 08, 2010
I've been water hunting for 12 years and have tried about all the water
nachines out there. I had an Excal II 800 several years ago and jumped the
gun and got rid of it.... MISTAKE. I thought a PI machine was the ticket
for me .... MISTAKE. Since then I just purchased another Excal 1000 and
will never let it go. The Excal has been the only machine that is stable in the waters I hunt. I thought I could get a deeper machine, but found out how unstable the others really are. I'm all for having the best machine for the conditions and found out the Excal is the one for me for depth and stability in fresh and salt.
Overall Rating
Central Valley CA. from
USA
221
Fisher & Minelab
August 21, 2010
I have both a Fisher Coinstrike & the Excal 1000.The Fisher loves rings which I use on dry land and the Excal is good in the water. They both do well against other detectors in similiar conditions.
So I take both to the beach in Fl.
It is important to get the correct settings for both to respond properly. Depending on ground or sand conditions, and settings they will provide good depth...and there is a tremendous amount of trash everywhere so you have to dig around it...
Overall Rating
JG from
Fl
281
South fl excal
August 12, 2010
I just got my excal 2 days ago I used it today on land and in ocean. I
found a few coins a piece of junk earing and a matchbox car in the water.
It seems to run smooth in water and on the sand, with minimal
discrimination it toned out many bottle caps and foil, I dug a few up just
to make sure it wasn't anything good and it wasn't. I have only used it 1 day and there definitely are many tones to learn. It scares me to hear 2 outta 10 don't have problems, I think and hope mine is ok. I look forward to waking up early and going to use it 1st thing. I purchased it from kelly co, they were very nice. I also have a fisher f5, it always says a nickel when its a bottle cap. It doest seem like I have this problem with the excal. I hope.
I found alotta coins with the fisher and even a 14 k gold ring the 1st month I used it but it seemed very erratic and I almost didn't even dig the ring I found that day. I called fisher any they said the way it acts is normal, I don't know. I'd like to keep the fisher for an extra but if the excal holds up and keeps working good, I'll probably sell the fisher, any way I hope I got a good build on my excal and look foward to hopefully finding some nice jewelry to pay for it.
Thanks and happy hunting.
Overall Rating
Matt from
S. FL
170
Excalibur user for 4 years now
July 31, 2010
I own both the 800 & 1000 excaliburs, older models. Both have servered
me well during this time, no problems. They do have there weird tones but
in time you will learn and master them, if the treasure is there, the excal
will give you the best chance to find it....The new excal II's seem to have
issues at about 2 bads per 10 sold, mostly coil problems. I am going to buy
excal II but I'm waiting for them to clear up there Quality control
problems...I'm guessing 1 year plus. Here is the excal in action, few of my
vid's on the excalhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLGLzSfsEi4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQay_zerS1U
these will give ideas of what to expect using the excals, and the new excal II
Good Luck.....................Joe/Obn
Overall Rating
Joe/Oldebeechnut from
Baltimore Maryland
310
Extremely Fun and Versatile All-Terrain Metal Detector
July 21, 2010
I purchased a Minelab Excalibur II about a year ago and although I'm not a
"pro" and I haven't had a chance to use it near the ocean yet, I can tell
you it is the most fun I've had in a long time. I caught onto the different tones it makes early on and how to manually configure the different settings to read deeper into the ground. What I did was setup a "garden" like you've probably read elsewhere and spent a few hours learning the tones and beeps. If you use jewelry in your garden make sure to tie a string around it to a piece of wood or something just in case.
You could probably find it again with the detector but you'd hate to lose your wedding ring or something. Not that I used my wedding ring...
Anyways, I have used this on fresh water lake beaches, sand, dirt, gravel and other terrain and it seems to just work everywhere. I love it. At this point my most interesting find was an old wheat back penny that had a bullet hole through it, probably shot with a .22 rifle or something. I used a magnify glass to read the date and what not.
Happy detecting!
Overall Rating
Jesse from
Spokane, WA USA
221
MINELAB IS MAKING CHANGES
June 06, 2010
Hello Lee Ivester in Mooresville NC
I am by no means making any excuses for minelab
I found out they have had all there old techs
quit because they were not relocating to Detroit
in minelabs relocation move.
They are training new techs right now, I wanted to send my 800 in and have it tested and gone over.
But I decided to wait until this winter.
Try contacting your attorney general office of consumer complaints they may be able to help you.
Overall Rating
Brian K Fletcher from
In The Sticks Pennsylvania
1416
Lemon
May 01, 2010
Bought my detector for around $1000 (new) 5 years ago. It has never worked
properly. Background tone is so erratic that you can't distinguish a good
signal from noise. High pitch whine to low hum every time you swing the
detector. Sent to factory twice for repairs but it was never fixed and cost
me a lot! I probably have put less than 10 hours total on this machine
over 5 years.Wrote a letter to Minelab describing my experience a few weeks
ago but they didn't even pay me the courtesy of a reply. My next detector
will not be a Minelab!!
Overall Rating
Lee Ivester from
Mooresville NC
569
A + machine
October 03, 2009
I bought my minelab excalibur second hand over a year ago. I have used it
for about 3-5 hours a day 5 days a week. Yea it was a bit heavy for the
first couple of days but that wears off. This detector will detect
everywhere in southland new zealand where we have some of the worst ground
conditions in the world with no problems at all.It Can find small objects
15+ " where other detectors will not in field tests I have done. I use mine
everywhere, beach, park,s woods, rivers, sea, ect. with amazing results.
Overall Rating
M Barrett from
Invercargill new zealand
732