Minelab Excalibur II Review

Minelab Excalibur II Overview

This powerful and handy underwater metal detector fit for deep diving and wreck exploration was released back in 2007. To be honest, it has been enjoying some decent demand since the time of release, however, at the time of writing, it can also be considered fairly outdated. However, the sub niche is so narrow and the competition is so small, that there are few other machines that can be considered competitors. Therefore, Excalibur II is still popular and still shows nice performance even under such harsh conditions as 200 feet underwater.

Control Box

The control box for Minelab Excalibur II is indeed genius, created specifically for fast and convenient underwater manipulations. This control box – or rather skid plate – has no LCD display because it does not need one, and is controlled with the help of knobs. Moreover, the skid plate is fluorescent which makes it perfectly visible under poor visibility conditions that often happen on greater depth.

The simplicity of setting the metal detector stems not only from reasonable convenience, but from the fact that underwater, delays can be dangerous, and any misunderstanding or confusion may result in increased risks for the diver. This is why the skid plate only has several knobs for control: Discriminate, Sensitivity, Volume, Threshold\On\Off, Mode (Disc or Pinpoint/All metals). All the tuning can be done literally blindly, and the user can hear whether the setting is tuned properly or not by checking the audio signal.

Minelab Excalibur II Features

Minelab Excalibur II is one of the unique metal detectors created for very complicated deep underwater search. So, on the one hand, it needs very specific functions and features to facilitate this type of metal detecting, but on the other hand, it must not have any fancy features iit can go without, because every additional feature means weight and also a bit more complicated manipulations for the user. Minelab has taken the challenge seriously and eventually balanced between those two criteria. The list of all features is as follows:

• Multi Frequency BBS technology with 17 frequencies – frequencies ranging from 1.5 kHz to 25.5 kHz provide covering of all types of targets, and decrease the risk of missing any valuable target underwater
• waterproof up to 200 feet – one of the few machines that can actually be submerged that deep
• fluorescent bodywork and skid plate – there is no visual display for Minelab Excalibur II because it is not needed (or rather, it would be useless more often than useful), and the fluorescent skid plate with a row of knobs instead of a round or square control box allows to tune the metal detector on the go literally blindly
• RCB – this technology amplifies weak target signals inside the coil, reducing noise, and boosting signals from faint, deep objects
• NiMH Rechargeable battery pack with 12 hours battery life – this is quite enough for a full day of underwater treasure hunting
• Automatic ground rejection – while manual ground balance is something sought for in the majority of advanced metal detectors, Minelab Excalibur II is not the case. Automatic ground balance, firstly, is more effective underwater, especially in saltwater, and secondly, it allows the user to focus on more important aspects of diving and detecting, rather than ground balancing every now and then to reject the noise
• Iron Mask Discrimination – this feature allows the metal detector to go around the iron masking and still spot signals from potentially valuable targets located nearby iron targets
• Pinpoint mode – using a Pinpointer is always more effective, but underwater, this may not be the case. And while Pinpointer mode will never substitute a separate Pinpointer tool, it is very useful to locate the target more accurately before retrieving it
• DD coil – such configuration tends to show better performance in saltwater
• Noise Cancellation in salt water – this feature allows the metal detector to stay immune to electromagnetic interference caused by highly mineralized saltwater

BBS Technology

BBS (Broad Band Spectrum) technology is able to transmit, receive, and analyze a wide range of frequencies and responses caused by these frequencies, at the same time. Due to using several frequencies simultaneously, BBS technology allows extra detection depth and high sensitivity to all kinds of objects, and the metal detector does it all faster than other metal detectors. The Discrimination feature is also very powerful for BBS machines.

The more frequencies are used, the more objects can be spotted at the same time, but there;s more to it. The more frequencies bump into the target, the more information the metal detector receives about that particular target, and this works literally for every target spotted. BBS enables high Recovery Speed to process all signals quickly. Many frequencies applied at the same time also allow to scan the soils around targets and gather more information about the environment, giving the user a broader picture of the scanned patches, and therefore making metal detecting more accurate.

Minelab Excalibur II Search Coils

There is only one search coil type available for Minelab Excalibur II, at least if we are talking about coils made by Minelab. There are two sizes available – 8 inches or 10 inches. The configuration is round Slim DD hardwired search coil. You can order the metal detector either with 8 inches coil, or with 10 inches coil, and at the time of writing, there is no option of interchangeable coils or other compatible search coils. One of the reasons is that the default coils for Excalibur II are slim models, reducing the weight of the machine. And since metal detectors for deep diving are not the most popular products on the market, neither Minelab nor other companies seem to rush making more compatible search coils.

Minelab Excalibur II Settings

To be honest, the settings for Minelab Excalibur II are very simple considering the level of professionalism this machine was created for. While this metal detector definitely requires tons of expertise in detecting, and also experience in diving, the Minelab Excalibur II beach settings offered are very comprehensive and easy to master. As we have already discussed above, this is done to maximize user experience under complicated conditions of deep diving, and to minimize confusion and risks when metal detecting underwater.

However, one important setting to consider is Threshold. This is a constant background hum, an audio tone always present to indicate that the metal detector is detecting and scanning. To make sure you do not miss any signals from targets amidst this constant hum, make sure you keep Threshold to minimum. It should be smooth and gentle, to underline signals from targets, and to avoid damage to your hearing. If you set the Threshold too high, you may miss out faint signals from deeper or smaller targets.

Please remember that, if the environment or search conditions change, you may want to reset the Threshold level.

Minelab Excalibur II Problems

Excalibur II is made pretty durable, however, the other problem that stems from the design is that the machine is rather heavy. While it may not be such a huge problem when deeper underwater, but when searching in more shallow waters handling a heavier machine is exhausting and inconvenient.

Some owners also state that the Minelab Excalibur II headphones provided in the kit are not of a very good quality. However, the manufacturer offers no other compatible headphones set.

One more feedback you can often see on metal detecting forums from treasure hunters from all over the world is that at some point, Excalibur II can start giving whining false signals, even when there is nothing under the coil, and even if the battery is fully charged. More experienced users claim that the reason is battery age. Older batteries tend to start giving Minelab Excalibur II broken volume and noise sometimes, even though they are fully charged and are recharged on a regular basis. To solve the problem, order a new battery.

Tips & Tricks for Minelab Excalibur II Users

One of the features that may also be considered for more accurate tuning is Sensitivity. If you turn the Sensitivity knob from Auto to Manual, you will get from 1 to 10 levels of Sensitivity to exploit.

For underwater search and in saltwater, you may want to set the highest sensitivity possible, without producing false signals. You should increase the sensitivity until you get false signals, and then work backwards, until the metal detector gets stable. This is done to increase the chances of spotting faint signals from deeper or smaller targets that may turn out valuable. The same approach to Sensitivity settings should be used when metal detecting on wet sand, or on black sands.

Minelab Excalibur II Accessories

There are very few accessories you can get for Excalibur II. There are no compatible search coils, and no compatible headsets to substitute the ones you get in the default kit. Accessories available include:

• Hip Mount Kit
• Side-Mount Shaft Kit
• Minelab Pro-Find 15 Pinpointer for more accurate target locating in the dirt or sand

If you would like to get more accessories or some spare parts with a discount, check out your local retailers or big international platforms that sell metal detectors. They will for sure offer extra bundles in addition to the humble default kit.

Minelab Excalibur II Kit

There is only one variation of the package for Excalibur II by the manufacturer and it is as follows:

• Koss 8 ohm headphones (hardwired)
• metal detector
• NiMH battery pack 13V 1000 mAh
• charging device for connection to 220V electricity grid
• coil bracing set
• DD search coil (8 or 10 inches)
• User’s Guide
• warranty certificate

Minelab Excalibur II Manual

If you’d like to find out more about how specific settings function and how specific features are to be managed in Minelab Excalibur II underwater metal detector, check out the user’s manual before you decide to buy the metal detector. Of course there are few other machines in the niche that can compete, but you should definitely find out everything about the machine to make an informed choice, before you invest any money.

Download Minelab Excalibur II User’s Manual