Deep and Fast settings

[midlifecrisis]

Been working with the eTrac now for a few months and results are rather mixed. I have considerable detecting experience and fully appreciate the need to learn a new machine before drawing any hard conclusions. I like to approach things in a very methodical way when possible and the 4 My Mode settings provide a great method for this. To try and get a feel for the best combination of the Deep and Fast settings, I created 4 modes with all of the settings the same as the standard coin program except that each had a unique combination of the Deep and Fast settings. I went to a local park and whenever I would locate an appropriate target I would go through each of the 4 modes to see the response. I was surprised and somewhat disappointed to find very little difference (if any) between the 4 modes. I know some people feel very strongly about these settings and I understand that results will vary area to area but I would like to hear from others who have tested different combinations on the same target and what they found.

 

[earthmansurfer]

Your results are no shock to me. I have compared signals with a variety of settings and honestly - 97% of the time or so, setting changes never lose a signal. That said, I can add the following:

Recovery fast on seems to shorten or clip signals. It does improve recovery rates in HEAVY iron, not in moderate iron for the most part (You can miss good signals there if not careful). I keep this off when in conductive and go slower. Keep it on in TTF.
Deep on seems to hurt the solidity of a stable cursor but I am hard pressed to find a real difference with deep on or off. I do run sensitivity at 30 and have heard that deep on is better when sensitivity is lower (amplifies sound on deepies?). Anyone?

The one setting I don't change is trash density high. I believe that this really helps with the E-Trac's discrimination, in particular pulling coins out next to iron when running some discrimination against that iron.

A way to get maybe a little be more depth, or at least a quieter hunt is to test and makes sure you have your ground setting correct - either difficult or neutral. Even in my iron mineralized ground, neutral is quieter...
I haven't played much with the different audio responses (normal, long, smooth, etc.) but need to.

So, regarding settings, the one setting that seems to help more than all the others is... Sensitivity. And that is site and condition specific, so find what is best for how and where you hunt.

 

[Marksman7]

Try Deep on with audio response long. The only difference you will get from deep on is exactly what it says if you know there are deep targets, and I talking true deep targets over 12 to 13 inches then I think it does make a difference, I like it when I have really hunted a site out, and knowing there are deep targets I will go low and really slow with audio long.

 

[Sailorman]

After reading about the benefits of the long tones on deeper targets I tried it myself and have come to like them in the right spots. It really can tip you off to a weak target on the edge of detection.

 

[Blank Planet]

i maybe wrong and that's OK but as i understand detectors its all about stability of the machine more so than running wide open all the time, stability equals depth and we all find our best way to achieve this, i used to run all my machines wide open and with time and trying different sensitivity settings have come to realise stability is more important than just raw power in most situations.

its also very rare to find soil that will accommodate coins deeper than 10" granted there are some but most coins would be in the 2" to 8" range so a unstable detector will only help in missing these coins with unnecessary chatter and falsing.

the etrac has a lot of sound settings and they i believe are just that sound settings to be set up as the users ear requires. not sure sound setting are about depth in soil more than depth in ear.

for me the etrac is pretty much a turn on and go machine, sure make some discrimination patterns for high trash etc.. but i think sometimes analysis paralysis can run a bit to far with this machine i like to hunt not fiddle with settings all day.

i think all detector manuals mention intuitive controls so trust your intuition on any given site and adjust accordingly but most of all get out and swing and have fun, the etrac is a fun machine and sure is great fun to use,

stability is what this platform is all about.

BP

 

[Ken in Georgia]

You know we need to hear more about the Long and not the Normal response time??? I just read that in the book and wonder what I'm leaving???

 

[Marksman7]

This is on my blog about Long settings



http://coinrelicdownunder.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/etrac-hunting-in-trash-area/

Below is long with the 8 inch FBS 800 coil

http://www.minelab.com/aus/treasure-talk/fbs-coils-coils-more-coils


http://www.minelab.com/aus/treasure-talk/cutting-it-fine-with-small-coils

 

[Ken in Georgia]

Your right the long setting stops the clipping on the Trac !!!!!! All right I'm going to the field to try it out... test garden check !!!!! So far it's a winner!!!!

 

[Southwind]

I have what I feel is a fairly unique site that is perfect for testing not only different detectors, but different settings on a given detector. It is a 128 year old park that started life in 1883 and in 1884 hosted one of only two authentic Mexican Bullfights held in North America. Some 10,000 spectators were there and it has seen many events since. What makes it unique is that it sitting on the north bank of the Arkansas River which used to flood on average every 30-40 years depositing from 3-6" of silt/mud at each flood. This has buried the older coins to a depth of at least 24" in some spots. This means in this park it isn't so much a matter of wondering IF there are any coins, but IF you have a detector that can get down to them. You know they are there. For 20 years I worked it over with my Eagle Spectrum, 8 years with my DFX and the last 4 years with my E-Trac. Also many many different detectors were tried as well. Needless to say all the easy stuff is pretty much gone and missed coins are few and far between. What's left is iffys and stuff out of the reach of current detector ability.

The iffys are great learning tools. When I get an iffy I feel is possibly a coin I'll spend a great deal of time testing different settings or different detectors. This site is loaded with rusty iron and I've dug many a coin in the same hole with iron. I've tried TTF and my results were all I did was recover more crap than normal. I believe this is due to the extreme depth of whats left. At 8-10" iron falses just the same in TTF as normal mode. I also found that Deep = on didn't help and neither did Fast = on. In fact I felt they just made target ID less reliable. Manual sensitivity was a hit and miss change. Some target sounded better in auto +3 and like crap in manual, and some that sounded good in manual sounded like crap in auto +3. I prefer auto +3 and the better stability.

I have found that, so far, nothing I've tested compares to the ability to convey good or bad target info like the E-Trac. I've tried many many detectors over the last 30+ years in this park and none have been able to tell me what the E-Trac can. Many of the detectors were able to see those deep coins, but none were able to convey the information back to me like the E-Trac. At this site the E-Trac is the detector all others are judged by. When testing a new detector I use the E-Trac to find one of those deep targets I feel is a coin and then see if the other detector(s) can hit it as well.

 

[E-TREC-Virginia]

I have what I feel is a fairly unique site that is perfect for testing not only different detectors, but different settings on a given detector. It is a 128 year old park that started life in 1883 and in 1884 hosted one of only two authentic Mexican Bullfights held in North America. Some 10,000 spectators were there and it has seen many events since. What makes it unique is that it sitting on the north bank of the Arkansas River which used to flood on average every 30-40 years depositing from 3-6" of silt/mud at each flood. This has buried the older coins to a depth of at least 24" in some spots. This means in this park it isn't so much a matter of wondering IF there are any coins, but IF you have a detector that can get down to them. You know they are there. For 20 years I worked it over with my Eagle Spectrum, 8 years with my DFX and the last 4 years with my E-Trac. Also many many different detectors were tried as well. Needless to say all the easy stuff is pretty much gone and missed coins are few and far between. What's left is iffys and stuff out of the reach of current detector ability.

The iffys are great learning tools. When I get an iffy I feel is possibly a coin I'll spend a great deal of time testing different settings or different detectors. This site is loaded with rusty iron and I've dug many a coin in the same hole with iron. I've tried TTF and my results were all I did was recover more crap than normal. I believe this is due to the extreme depth of whats left. At 8-10" iron falses just the same in TTF as normal mode. I also found that Deep = on didn't help and neither did Fast = on. In fact I felt they just made target ID less reliable. Manual sensitivity was a hit and miss change. Some target sounded better in auto +3 and like crap in manual, and some that sounded good in manual sounded like crap in auto +3. I prefer auto +3 and the better stability.

I have found that, so far, nothing I've tested compares to the ability to convey good or bad target info like the E-Trac. I've tried many many detectors over the last 30+ years in this park and none have been able to tell me what the E-Trac can. Many of the detectors were able to see those deep coins, but none were able to convey the information back to me like the E-Trac. At this site the E-Trac is the detector all others are judged by. When testing a new detector I use the E-Trac to find one of those deep targets I feel is a coin and then see if the other detector(s) can hit it as well.

Looks like a good place to test out that BLISSTOOL detector that barryny has been talking about in the Feedback Forum. According to what barryny has been saying and showing in his Vids, it's supposed to go pretty deep in some pretty nasty soil. I wonder if barryny would be willing to ship you one to field test there?