Minelab Excalibur 800
Price: $800
Avg. Score: 
4.43
Based on 7 reviews
4.43Based on 7 reviews
Minelab excailbur 800
August 29, 2012
Well I can say that this is the best machine for the beach after 30 years
detecting good depth cuts out iron reasonable battery life and easy to use.
Now the bad bits.
Knobs fall off and very expensive to repair, useless on normal batteries not designed for inland work, heavy without a harness not able to change heads.
But to end on a positive note, good finds when all OK had mind for 4 years lots of early problems but minelab sorted them out. Would recommend this machine but not for beginners.
Overall Rating
Mark from
Weymouth
45
Gold hunters choise.
August 25, 2009
I wrote about the Excalibur II and Fisher 21. I bought for a testing used
Excalibur 800. It's a good choice for the traveler and for a little
targets, but not for a deeper finding, sound identification is exactly the
same as a Excalibur II, I can not learn this (I bought Xterra 505 he have
99 tone indentification - it's very easy use) . For a underwater finding I
use the Side Mounting Shaft, its very comfortably.If you want deep and some small target to find use the Excalibur II 1000 if small and very small but not deep use the Excalibur 800 or a Excalibur II 800, I think the 8 inch coil is better for a small targets.
And very hard to find only gold, I will set dsc lvl to the 3 ( I test a wife's gold ornaments for a dcs lvl from 3 to 9) and find many "non iron" trash. For a beach it's better I think Xterra 505 (I can set the dcs to the gold only) for underwater use only a Excalibur's.
For two weekends I found three gold rings, two small chains and one earring with red stone and piercing with the small natural brilliant (and many beach trash). Excalibur II 1000 sees only rings.
Overall Rating
Dmitry from
Russia
1910
Great machine
December 30, 2008
I recently bought a used Excalibur 800 and found it to be an amazing
detector.I would highly recommend getting the straight shaft available from the aftermarket and upgrade the batteries if you have NIcads to NIMH that are also available from the aftermarket.
In its factory form, the Excalibur is uncomfortable and heavy to swing. But put a straight shaft on it and it becomes a thing of joy to use.
The Excalibur 800 is a tough machine at first to get to know because it depends on your ability to learn the sounds it makes. Only spending quite a few hours with it will make you learn what this machine is capable of. A dime makes a different sound than a penny and even zinc pennies make a different sound than a copper penny. The sounds are slightly different and to anyone not familiar with the 800, they almost sound alike. Only experience will allow you to know the differences.
On the saltwater beaches, the Excalibur is incredible with no changes needed to go from dry sand to water. In fresh water, the Excalibur works equally as well.
On dry land, with the straight shaft, you can swing it all day and not get tired. It goes deep even with the 8 inch coil. Aftermarket coils are available but must be installed by someone who knows what they are doing in order to keep it waterproof.
Overall I would give the Excalibur 800 5 stars. Buy it, use it and then find it all.
Overall Rating
Steve from
From Ohio USA
191
Excalibur 800 dream machine.
October 13, 2005
Just so easy to use. I don't mind the weight that seems to bother others.
Great depth, perfect pinpoint. The one and only problem I have had (and I
assume everyone does), is pull tabs and other aluminum gives such a nice
tone. I have been using this machine for about 3 years and am amazed by the
sensitivity. Also with practice the tone variation lets me guess the target
80% of the time. So far it is maintenance free and I use it in fresh and
salt and on the beach. A Classic!
Overall Rating
Thom from
Pennsylvania
220
Excalibur 800 with the WOT Coil
July 08, 2005
This is my first water detector. I was suprised how deep this MD goes. I
have a WOT coil mounted on it w/ the 8" coil as a back up to work the rocky
areas of the beach. With the WOT, I can cover alot of area and gets great
deepth. I have the waist belt set up to eliminate the weight issue. The
dealer said the trick to the waist belt was to use a bungee cord around the
shaft to the belt, this prevents the excess tension in the wiring.
Overall Rating
Vern from
Southern California, USA
131
Excalibur 800
November 08, 2004
I have used several water detectors over the
last few years but keep comming back to the Excalibur 800. It is very stable in fresh or salt water, sensitive to small targets, and has great depth. A bit heavy for land use but it is THE detector of choice for water hunting.
Overall Rating
William Lee from
USA
170
Excalibur 800
February 04, 2004
I really enjoyed learning how to use this
machine. I didn't ever have any problems with it. My only complaint is that
it is too heavy, so we modified
it by attaching the control module to the underside of the armrest. Worked
out great.It also doesn't seem to go deep enough in water, but I never tried the larger coil that came with it. Never had any problem with the wiring like other people complain about.
Overall Rating
Carol K from
Connecticut
1410