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Biggest waste of $1500 bucks I have ever done:thumbdown:

I have used many types and brands of md's over the last 30 years. there wasnt any of them that seemed to perform as well as the last one untill i got profecient with it.the only exception to this has been the etrac. not to say that i have mastered it and am using at max potential i have a lot to learn. but it is already easy to see that this detector outperforms any md i have owned. i thought that my excal was the best..... this md is definately deeper than it. i purchased my etrac with cash i made selling 150 grams of gold jewelry i had found with the excal. which is only around one fourth of the gold i have found with that md. with that said,, i hav'nt done much land hunting in the last 10 years. i started digging in the dirt again two weeks ago with my new etrac. i have hunted areas that i had hunted hard in the past with moderate success. most of the silver i have dug was usually six in. or deeper. over this weekend i hunted for approx. 6 hours total in areas i had hunted before. i dug 7 silver coins the earliest being1916 merc. dime latest being 1943 quarter. all these targets was next to or mixed in with junk. all of them i was able to isolate the target and get a pos. id before digging. just a few days ago i had posted about not having too much success with the etrac. lo and behold it was my fault. i was hunting a bit too fast and not really listening to what my etrac was saying.... in short the etrac seems to have a much shorter learning curve than others. i cant wait till i get proficient with the etrac. the sky's the limit.....


happy hunting!!!

mikeB

etrac/excal swinger
 
I take me cell with me for work emergencies but leave it in the car and just check it periodically. It will cause erratic signals for sure.
 
n/t
 
I feel you explained it very well and always wonder why some one in one area of the country wants to run the same program on their Explorer or E Trac some one uses in another part of the country as it will be different. Minelab recommends starting in the factory preset modes for the first 40 hours, the reason is for a person to get to know the detector before messing with adjustments which will make learning it much harder.
Now with the new E-Trac I find running in the factory coin mode setting the ground to difficult and the trash to high ( I think you are the one to recommend for inland hunting) and run the auto sensitivity which I hated to use on any of the Explorers as this was bad in trashy areas and couldn't pick up a dime on top of the ground. Now being the E-Trac is new I was told to learn it with auto and bumped it up to a +3 and I have a very smooth running detector that does better than any of the Explorers. I run it in disc and when I get a iffy one I will hit the quick mask and see what is around my target, but seen any time in quick mask the ID will now be iron of the signal I got in disc that was good. Now I go back to disc and it show good, so it shows me in disc it can pick out a good target in with iron, but in quick mask it will show the iron more. I still dig a lot of iron with most being nails and depth is deep on the nails too, but these are signals i am not sure of and just have to dig to make sure it is trash. My coin signals have anyway been good signals as the tone is good and the ID will bounce a little.
Many know I like my Sovereigns, but had to learn it first to get good with it and have impressed many plus myself as what it can do, but that was after I got to really know it. No way can I run my Explorers this way and had a hard time learning the Explorers as I was used to the Sovereigns and tried using what I knew about the Sovereigns on the Explorers. Now comes the E-Trac and it too is different than the Explorers, so we can not use the same settings or run it like we did the Explorers and have to learn these again which I feel Minelab makes it even easier to learn, but don't try to use it like the Explorers.
Now there is 2 of us using a E-Trac around here and we both have used all of the Explorer models and each one we tried was a little different then the other ones was, but close and had to learn the little quirk it has. With the E-Trac I felt good the first time out with it as I used the factory setting and found coins I had missed before. My Friend didn't think much of the E-Trac first time out as he tried running it like his SE pro, but next time out he left it in the factory preset coin mode and just loved this detector. In the last month he has over 40 silver coins with many over 12 inches deep with the stock coil, he let a few with the Explorers see what they thought of the signal and most said no signal as it just nulled, a couple they could get were very iffy with ID being real bad.We feel the reason was there was iron trash around the target. He too says he dig more trash with the E-Trac than his SE Pro, but he was digging just to be sure and most coins signals seem to lock on. It is just the iffy ones we been used to with the Explorer that turn out good. We both feel the E-Trac in telling the good targets better, but we still have the Explorer on our mind and trying to use it like the Explorer.
The Sovereigns are not for everyone like the Explorer are not either. I have a F-75 also and it too is not for everybody and why should the E-Trac be for everyone as it is not. Use what you like the best as it is the detector you have learned well and know. At this time my Sovereign GT and the E-Trac are the detectors that work the best for me, so these are the ones I will use mostly, but there will be cases the F-75 will also be used.

Rick
 
are they really worth it??? I mean in the last year or 2, I personally dont think that any of the machines from what I have heard, used, read about etc. warrant that much exitement or $$$ for vlf machines specially the ML ones. E. track, safari. etc. when three people bitch & three people swear by them , then IMO there has not been enough improvement for me to go through the trouble. now on the other hand whites TDI seems to be one of those machines worth looking into. I know its not a vlf but what I'm saying is that here is a $1600 machine possibly competing with a $5000 machine, now that is what i call change & worth looking into. these 2- 3 hundred $ changes in these basic same machines (all good in their own right) I dont think is going to make that big of a diff. exept to keep everyone on edge. ( like on my last quattro post) yes I will be keeping my slow quattro, super deep slow quattro..... that I was so proud to aquire because it was the best thing since sliced bread. next to the explorer & oh yeah the SE & sl &pg & fx &xyz & blah blah blah.. now its discontinued lol. ( make your next one great or dont make it at all) before I buy it.


imo, imo imo, imo, comment but dont get on my case lol
 
hey backslyder..... yes it's me again, the trouble maker. just wanted to let u know that I wish there were more people like u in this forum & less like me. lol... serious marc u should be a mediator here. your (peace officer) attitude is to be commended. we would all kill each other without you. keep up the good work & your opinions & thoughts are allways a + here. TY
 
I would like to know what was Digitrich sold on? Jim in NY said the video with the iron is what sold him on it. Digitrich what say you?
 
I considered myself VERY capable with my Ex II and found many great things with it. I also almost sold it a short time after I bought it. Glad I didn't! It took me a few years to really feel like it was part of my body and not at all foreign. Sort of the way you feel in the car you have been driving for years and years. I always tended to hunt in all metal since I couldn't accept the null....I just KNEW the null was causing a good target to be silent. My EX II was not very stable it beeped and at times would go into a fit sounding like a slot machine as the numbers flashed at break neck speed. I never bought the SE because it sounded like there wasn't enough of a difference from my EX II to warrant getting it, plus there were as many negative posts back then as there are about the E Trac.
When the Etrac came out I decided to try it, and I did. It did take some getting used to which I am still doing since I haven't hit that warm fuzzy spot that I referred to earlier. I had to learn that I needed to hunt in a disc. pattern with this detector in trashy areas, so i do and I have picked things out amongst the trash in spots that all metal with the EX II missed because it saw the iron and not the conductive target. Yes, I do miss the numbers that I knew by heart and that fluttey sound that causes our pulse to quicken but in time it will be forgotten and I will learn this new language the Etrac speaks. I like more about the Etac than dislike, I love how stable it runs. I like that I can now hunt in a disc pattern without worry of missing something good. No more all metal pounding in my ears. The bottom line for everyone is that everyone is different, use the detector that you prefer, one that works best in your conditions, with your goals, and with the way you like to hunt. There is no right or wrong to it. I still use my old XLT at times and it's because I KNOW the machine. It still produces for me and I will never put it away for good.
 
The video with the iron and the fact that it was an explorer with a faster processor. That last one, (faster Explorer) is what I perceived from posts, correctly or incorrectly. But it was my own fault. The weekend it came out, 48 hours before I got it, after reading the manual, I realized it would be very difficult to hunt in all metal with it. I honestly thought, well if they make a machine that in discriminate mode, can produce better in trash then the SE in all metal, than I will just have to learn to hunt in discriminate mode. My biggest problem with the ETrac is it falsing to 1-29 to 1-35 line, which happens in discriminate mode and in all metal, whether I disc it out or not, and that false gives a high "coin" tone in both conduct and ferrous sounds. That's a deal killer for me, as I am a tone hunter. Because the quality flutey tones are no longer there, that high false, sounds exactly like a deep coin does. I could see if it happened once every 5 or ten swings, but nearly every swing is bloody ridiculous. The coil doesn't need to be bumped to do this, all I have to do is go over a small nail and there it is. Giving the fact that this is my second machine that does this, I am assuming that it is it's design and everyone else's does it also. It's annoying, counterproductive and kind of defective in design. I don't understand how the machine falses so much in all metal, and it doesn't sound like a false, it sounds like a coin. I thought this was a flaw in my original machine, and I sent it in to have it repaired. The new machine does the same thing, but worse. At this point, I am pretty ETrac discouraged, when on the same day, in the same field I can turn on my SE and dig a 1892s Barber Half without having to hear all the BS falsing. I don't know if I didn't turn off the Etrac whether I would have found that coin or not. I know I wasn't having any fun stopping to check the repeated false signals on every swing the ETrac was giving and if I didn't have an SE I probably would have quit earlier than I did.:detecting:
 
The video with the iron and the fact that it was an explorer with a faster processor. That last one, (faster Explorer) is what I perceived from posts,

I can understand the video, i knew right off to disregard it. If you ever read some of the stuff NASA Tom wrote you would know. Its the second part that's confusing to me. I have never seen any video or read anywhere from Minelab or someone from Minelab that it was a Explorer with a faster processor "faster Explorer" can you point me in the direction you have read this?

What I'm trying to get here is to see if some people have been misinformed by Minelab or if people just perceived it to be better?
 
All I can say is that in order to find out if the E-Trac is for you is to buy one and use it enough to figure out if it is for you or not.

If it does not work out for you, then sell it. Not a big deal.

You will find eager buyers for it and may only loose a few hundred or less when selling.

You should find enough clads , silver / gold to cover your losses if not happy.

Most people I know are happy with their E-Tracs. The percentage of people who are not happy are small.

I called several dealers and they all say that for the most part, every sale has resulted in happy customers.

It all comes down to personal preferences. Some like Ford, some like Chevy, some like Mopar.

I just hope the detector manufacturers don't end up financially like the car companies. We will all be the losers if that happens.
 
You know this ..........How? The machine falses constantly to 1-29 to 1-35, what settings will stop this???? See....that's the most interesting point here. Since you say it is user error, why don't you please correct me.:shrug: Problem is, the way I dug all those coins is by squeezing the last drop out of my SE's, by pushing them. And from what I am learning is simply......... a effectively pushed SE outperforms a turn on and go ETrac. Which then means I have to push the ETrac (auto +3, manual nearly unstable, opening up the screen, etc.) and people are saying you can't do that and I haven't figured out how, in which case...Is the ETrac a detector that was meant to be ran in auto with a discrimination pattern only, if so, and you are unlucky enough to be in a soil that it only gets 5 or 6 inches depth; well is that just the way it is????????? This is the conundrum with a non-all metal machine.......this machine's main strength seems to be in it's discrimination pattern software being able to "see through" iron, which is a huge positive, the fact that this gets severely limited as you go deeper (as you go deeper the ID gets sloppy and less accurate) is it's weakness. You are basically trading one for the other. At first, I thought the whole Ferrous 12 deal was a ML mistake, that they could have easily included a way of hunting in all metal with Conduct tones that would give low tones on iron and high tones on high conductors. Mine Lab already knew this, but they also knew that the machine incessantly falsed to 1-29 to 1-35 on small nails and realized at that moment, just as I do now, that this machine could not and would not be an effective all metal machine as long as that falsing existed, so the Idea of including a way of hunting in all metal by tones would be a waste of time and more importantly......more people, more quickly would look at the falsing as a design flaw and complain. Hence a machine specifically designed, with it's maximum effectiveness, to hunt in a discrimination patterns only.
 
That's what I was referring to in my post; that I incorrectly assumed that the ETrac was a faster Explorer, it's not an Explorer. I would give my I-teeth for a faster Explorer:cheers:
 
Because i beleave you have a legitamite reason and i want to know why too. I copyed your post and the responce i got from Gary Brun was:

I beleive the guy deosnt knows what hes talking about.
He doesnt know how to set up his machine.
Tell him to come over here and we'll set him right.

I have begged some of the more experianced ET useres to open some disscussions whith the guys who run wide open and see if we cant come up with something here in the states.
 
Hi mate

I tell no lies I found this at 10" maybe a tad more with the ET on Auto +3 reading 19. our soil is bad here and i can get deep targets. I am a long time Explorer user.......................This detector is not an SE it acts very differently in all metal than an SE. The coin in my video is tiny and thats at 8".
 
D`rich, just go on the "Minelab owners" forum and put your same "original" post up on there as you did on here . Then ,rather than me try to convince you alone ,give me the benefit of the doubt and listen to other "successful E trac users who will tell exactly what i`ve told you and then ,we will all give you every Answer you require as me trying to on here will be like sticking my finger in a leaky dam. You need convincing ?????? That`s the place you`ll get the answers GUARANTEED ! What have you got to loose ? I assume you are a member ? If not just join up. You`ll be very welcome , i give you my pledge on that .Use your same user name as you use on here , then we`ll know who`s asking. If you are already on there i can`t understand why you havn`t asked already for your answers .
 
I have yet to understand your falsing problem as my machine falses very,very seldom in coin program.It falses far less than my Explorer II and SE.It also falses a lot less than either of my F75S as well.It almost sounds like a coil issue or something closely related as a bad plug or connecter.My Etrac is the quietest smoothest most stable at high sensitivety machine I have had the pleasure to use.
Before you throw the towel in it would be nice if you could compare your machine to one someone else is happy with.I can understand why you are not pleased.When I first got a F75 and had the sen. set to high I was ready to wrap it around a tree and several others posted similar problems.Once I got it under controll it was smooth sailing but at first I felt about the F75 as you do your Etrac.
 
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