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about to break open the piggy bank...

L

LS hunter

Member
,,I'm currently using the SE pro and now im looking at the E trac,,
My question is,,,does the E Trac have a faster recovery speed than the SE Pro,,Are should I go with the CTX 3030..
I mainly hunt parks and in school yards occasionally on the beach...I love thing and the main reason why I started metal detecting is for the old silver coins,, I do like to go to the beach every now and then,,if the E trac will do fine on the beach thats find,,,most of the parks I hunt are full of trash..This most likely will be my last big metal detector purchase are so i hope..I really need a detector with a fast recovery speed and that will get down at least 8 inches my main goal is silver coins..
,,,Thanks guys i really need some help with this decision...

Metal detecting and this forum has really help me with the lost of my son..
Thanks to the forum and all the good people here...god bless y'all.
Greg M..Louisiana....
 
Well I use both the CTX and E-Trac. I like them both but do feel that the CTX has an edge mainly because of the many different ways you can set up your tone profiles and has more stability to the id numbers.

The etrac gives you a lot of coil choices and they are all cheaper than the four that are available for the ctx. Also you can buy the lower and upper rod for an etrac cheaper than the rod for the ctx.

Tough call. I sugest you let your pocket book decide and you should be happy with which ever machine you get.
 
foreign object said:
Well I use both the CTX and E-Trac. I like them both but do feel that the CTX has an edge mainly because of the many different ways you can set up your tone profiles and has more stability to the id numbers.

The etrac gives you a lot of coil choices and they are all cheaper than the four that are available for the ctx. Also you can buy the lower and upper rod for an etrac cheaper than the rod for the ctx.

Tough call. I sugest you let your pocket book decide and you should be happy with which ever machine you get.
Click to expand...


Ditto that all the way. CTX is definitely the more desirable unit especially at the beach with it's waterproofing. Used CTX prices with warranty and another coil are about equal to new price retail for the etrac and it's hard to argue against it..... and that's from a guy who has both and still uses the etrac the most.
 
Foreign Object hit the nail on the head with his post.

I will add that I have now used most of the FBS machines...from the Explorer XS, to the CTX. I feel they are all pretty much close in depth. Some say the XS is the deeper of the FBS machines but without doing a head to head, I couldn't make that call. I think they are all close and it would be splitting hairs to find an advantage in depth from one to the next.

With each generation of FBS machine...you have something Minelab added that made it better, or user friendly is the better description. The CTX has a lot of great features that make it easy to get spoiled by. The tone assignments is probably one of my favorite features. For example...you can take and assign the area of the screen that nickels fall in under...and make that the same high tone as what silver coins fall under...and then you'll have that sound that stops you dead in your tracks for both silver and nickels. You can do it a lot of different ways and it is quite handy. The target trace is also a neat feature to get into. But at the same time...you are limited to basically the Minelab coils for the CTX right now, and one very expensive CoilTek coil. None of them are cheap though. Even the used ones bring a hefty price compared to other coils for the eTrac/Explorers.

My thoughts are this...the handiest coil for the CTX is the 6 inch coil IMO. That is the workhorse for trashy sites. For the eTrac/Explorer machines...you have a bunch of coils in that size range to choose from...some are smaller than the 6 inch. And they are all reasonably priced. I think you could go the route of a small coil for the eTrac you have, and be just as good in a trashy site. Or you could go to an inbetween size that is not available for the CTX...such as an 8 inch coil or 4x7, and have good recovery in trash and better depth than the CTX with 6 inch coil. I weighed the two out myself, and as much as I liked the CTX, I decided I would be better off with an eTrac by already having several of the FBS coils.
 
Well LS hunter depends if land or sea is your hunt, IMO, I would get the E-Trac as it performs much better with "silver tone" then the CTX. Now if wading out in water is your hunt.....then the CTX (with new seals..it leaks) is your tool of choice. Many have had both and have returned back to the E-Trac as their detector of choice. Also with many choices in coils for the E-Trac, there is the Sun ray x1 probe (found used only) which is an awesome pin-pointer that is unavailable to the CTX. Best of Luck in your pick !
 
Thx guys I'm going the relist my Se pro...Trade with cash for an E trac. Will you guys think is a fair price for my SE Pro mint with extra coil and all the goodies... the rechargeable battery pack setup has Levien been taken out of its bag.
 
LS hunter said:
Thx guys I'm going the relist my Se pro...Trade with cash for an E trac. Will you guys think is a fair price for my SE Pro mint with extra coil and all the goodies... the rechargeable battery pack setup has Levien been taken out of its bag.
Click to expand...

On the whole you are making the right choice , i had the CTX when it first came out and did not like it as much as the ET . Not to say that there are a few things the ET could do with like the ground balance , tone assignment , clock and two target track .But the extra weight , cost of spare parts , cost to buy , needing a bungee and arm strap ON , fewer coils , covers which cost more , dodgy seals and other things like not needing the GPS stuff made my mind up to keep with the ET/ Explorer 11 so i sold my CTX .
The ET may not be waterproof but if you dont go in the water and you keep it dry in the rain then it should be fine.

I find the CTX is not as good for tones as the ET which itself is not as high pitched as the Explorer on Silver . Gold is about the same , as for depth all the FBS are the same if settings are matched right and that includes the screen discrimination . Too much then you will miss targets .

Consider the RNB battery pack when you can and if possible dont get the normal battery pack , thats no match for the RNB .
 
All the coils for the SE Pro fit the Etrac , so when trading or selling your pro don't get rid of all your coils. Also I believe the response of the Etrac is quicker then the SE Pro.
 
The XS is almost 15 years old, bought the CTX a couple of years ago.... Pretty much use the XS all the time.

As others have stated the newer FBS models so have some added features, but that they all pretty much perform the same. And coils are much cheaper for the older models

I also thought faster processor/recovery speed would make a difference in trash. I bought a F-75 and then the CTX in hopes that I would find more than with my XS. Didn't happen, and I so much prefer the screen set up on the XS, tells much more than the single numbers of the F-75, and now the CTX since they stuffed all the ferrous values on the 12 line.

So I would say keep your current detector and invest in more coils.

Sorry to hear of your loss,

Chris(SoCenWI)
 
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