E trac Advantage??

[drwhou02]

My E trac will be here today :>) My question for all of the current e trac users Do you see a honest big advantage with this machine vs the previous models? I recently asked a proficient detectorist who can really produce coins and he figures there is only a 5% upgrade for depth and having hunted out sites produce etc. Anyone else care to add their 2 cents? One of the other thoughts not many etrac finds are being posted over the past several months is this because of the weather, or getting used to a new machine or?? Maybe all of the etracers are keeping it to themselves while they clean out their local parks ;>). Has anyone dug iffy tones that didn't turn out to be nails with this machine?

 

[Steve from Ohio]

I've owned both. I now only own one. The E-trac.

I prefer the E-trac's straight line set up on the numbers for FE & CO. I prefer the E-trac's screen and menu set up. I prefer the E-trac's balance and ergonomics. I prefer the E-trac's speed over the Explorer. I can pinpoint better with the E-trac. I can cover more ground deeper with the E-trac.

The weather sure has an influence on activity and that is probably why there are few postings of late. With all the cold, rain, snow and just crummy weather I doubt that many are out right now.

I always dig iffy tones. No matter what. And I find stuff. Sometimes not what I want to find. And sometimes I find good stuff too.

Remember....the E-trac is not based on the Explorer. It does look like an Explorer. It is a different machine.

 

[tmanfromtexas]

I havent owned any other Minelab but the Etrac. My friend has an SE and an Etrac. He uses the Etrac exclusively now. From my own experience, I have found more silver in the last 5 months then I have collectively since 2004. It is a deep searching machine, I pinpoint really well using the front of the coil, and I personnally dig less trash. It is the heaviest machine I have used but it is balanced well even with the sunray probe attached. This machine made metal detecting fun again for me. TMAN...

 

[grumpyolman]

The person who only sees a 5% difference is probably one of the 10% who find 90% of the goodies. For a novice like me, the E-Trac jumps me a few inches ahead on the 'find' scale and helps me to be at least in the ballpark when competing for the good finds. That is not the case with me and the SE. I sold the SE because it was not fun for ME to use. Jim

 

[waynembx]

I hope to know on Monday and Tuesday,
I have had the etrac for about 4 weeks now and have still not used it.
Every day i have had off it has rain or way to cold and frozen ground.
I have mon-tues off and it looks like it will be in the high 50's mon and the 60's on tuesday and i'm going to get to use it for the first time.
Happy Happy Joy Joy
I have used the DFX and now have the MXT and MXT300 and hope the Etrax will give me that extra edge.
Will soon see.

 

[C&RHunter]

I have had an XS for 7-8 years or so, and got en etrac this past Sept. I like both machines. I know the XS much better, as I have had it so long., but I really like the Etrac. (I am keeping the XS for a backup or extra) The etrac feels lighter and better balanced, plus the pro coil is lighter and does a good job of target seperation, especially for a big coil. I have found silver in areas that have been hit very hard by myself, my hunting buddies using XS or E II, and many other hunters. I recovered an iffy signal last Oct., third or fourth time out with the machine, that turned out to be a 1929 Standing Liberty quarter on edge, about 5-6 inches deep. I know for a fact all of us have gone around that tree many times and hadn't found that quarter. I'm not going to say the etrac is why I found it, maybe from the right angle, same moisture in the soil, etc. I would have found it with my XS, but we'll never know, because its in my showcase now. Same goes this last week end. Found a Barber dime, along with three other silver pieces where three of us have pounded fairly hrad off and on for 11 months, and there was another hunter earlier in the day over where I later dug two silver dimes. They had really loud and good signals, why had every one missed them? Don't know, but I have them now..The Etrac learning curve may take awhile to learn, but read, be patient, and hunt. You just never know what, when, or where you dig something. I think the etrac is going to prove for some people to be a productive machine. I could tell a couple of more stories on finding things in areas that I have pounded to death, but this post is long enough already. Good Hunting. PS ---This winter and the beginning of learning the etrac has probably kept pics of finds down..Wait for spring, things will probably pick up!

 

[EZrider]

This was my first Minelab detector. I got six hunts in on it during the fall. More good finds came from the 6 hunts that a year and a half of hunting with a diffrent machine.

 

[moseng]

Don't know about SE vs E-Trac? Is it 5% better... hmmm, if so than that's 5% more goodies I guess, just don't know though. But I do know that if I get that high sweet sound and the numbers are good I can tell what I'll be digging up most of the time using my ET. The iffy signals, especially the DEEP iffy signals, well that's where the fun is cause it's just like unwrapping presents at Christmas! Most you open and think "bummer"!! But every once in a while you get one that makes it all worth it if you know what I mean!

Have fun with your new toy and forget about how deep it goes or if it's the best!

 

[texastreasures]

a marginal (5%) increase in depth, will produce significantly more than a 5% increase in finds. If all the good targets within 8" have been essentially cleaned out, being able to detect 8.4" will give me a whole .4" layer of virgin dirt to find targets in.

 

[fallenCrow27]

My other machine is a White's, I have found good things with it, but the ETrac...well, it finds what my other machine does not.

 

[Andy Sabisch]

You said your friend said he thought there was a 5% increase in detection depth . . . . most of us have not seen that much but there other factors that have increased what one finds . . . . . besides, not sure how many 12" deep holes I would want to dig or how many it would take before the parks were closed to detecting.

I've pulled a good number of valuable targets from amongst trash that other machines would not detect - doing side by side comparisons - and in many cases, the targets were less than 8" deep.