E-trac lied to me...I'm stuffed:ausflag::confused:

[gregliss]

I went to an old school site and had about an hour, the soil is hard and dry so I didn't want to dig more than 4". I turned my sensitivity down to Auto -3 and off I went.

First target I hit was clear and repeatable with good FE-CO numbers, a little bit too wide in pinpoint to be a coin, but I wanted to see what it was as I'm still learning the e-trac. This is the bit I didn't like, the depth gauge said it was near the surface to 1".......well about 10" later it was still reporting the middle of the hole near the surface. I ended up giving up because the ground was so hard........this happened another two times in the same 20 sq meters and my trowel was blunt. I'm very good with the pinpoint so very unlikely I missed the target, checked several times and always middle of the hole.

On the 3rd one I dropped the sensitivity to about 8, still clear but the depth gauge started jumping down to deep readings.

I'm guessing this "false depth" reading is caused by large metal at depth 'overwhelming' the depth perception of the e-trac? Anyone else experienced this?

For chasing shallow targets only I think now that I should have gone manual sensitivity and dropped it down into the single digit area. Any thoughts/experience?

P.S I don't blame the my e-trac, the machine is awesome and I love it. Just my lack of experience.

Cheers all,
Greg

 

[christopher-ohio]

My understanding is that no machine is immune to large deep metal objects often sounding good...particularly the depth guage... which is only accurate for coin sized objects apparently. I wonder if the sizing pinpoint mode would be helpful?...HH

 

[gregliss]

My understanding is that no machine is immune to large deep metal objects often sounding good...particularly the depth guage... which is only accurate for coin sized objects apparently. I wonder if the sizing pinpoint mode would be helpful?...HH

I guess I'm surprised of just how deep these target were, once I dug 9"+, I could sweep 4-5" off the ground and still get a clear signal.

I'm using sizing mode for pinpoint mode, I rarely miss in pinpoint, if I do miss I usually correct on the first re-check of the target. Love the pinpoint mode on the e-trac!

On all of these three occasions the sizing mode showed that the targets were slightly larger than a coin and didn't have those nice 'sharp edges' that shallow coins have. But I dug them to get a better feel for the e-trac.

 

[Neilo]

Hi Greg, What gain are you running? Hi gain will enhance deeper targets signals. Your depth guage is as stated is only reasonably accurate on coin sized items.The coins orientation in the ground eg end on will affect depth reading as well. Big targets and even tiny targets will affect depth readings. If you are hunting for recently lost coins there is no need for high sensitivity settings .When you are pinpointing the deeper target the pinpoint signal is broader and not as sharp as you get nearer the target the signal shortens and sharpens.This is where the in line probe really excells. seeya Neilo.

 

[gregliss]

Hi Greg, What gain are you running? Hi gain will enhance deeper targets signals. Your depth gauge is as stated is only reasonably accurate on coin sized items.The coins orientation in the ground eg end on will affect depth reading as well. Big targets and even tiny targets will affect depth readings. If you are hunting for recently lost coins there is no need for high sensitivity settings .When you are pinpointing the deeper target the pinpoint signal is broader and not as sharp as you get nearer the target the signal shortens and sharpens.This is where the in line probe really excells. seeya Neilo.

Hi Neil,
I was running Auto -3 at the time but I'm thinking that I should have run it down in the single digits. The school dates back to the early 1800's so I was hoping for a pre-decimal but I didn't want to look at more than 4".

When I was in pinpoint mode I knew it wasn't a coin as it had 'blunt edges' but wanted to check it as the numbers were very solid and consist ant around 12-35, even in pinpoint. (all three were in the mid/high 30's).

An in-line probe is defiantly on the wish list!

Thanks
Greg

 

[Hungry]

My problem is the opposite, the depth gauge shows that it is12" deep, and it is right on top or very near the top of the ground. At the beach i have never had so much trouble pinpointing, i could hit the coins spot on with my SE, every time, but not with the E-Trac, very frustrating at times.

Many times i pinpoint the coin to be about 1"-2" back from the front of the coil, even pulling the coil back more than the diameter of the coil, to make sure where the coin is, but when i dig down the coin is at the back of the coil, I never had this with the SE. It makes you look like an idiot, when people are watching.

 

[gregliss]

My problem is the opposite, the depth gauge shows that it is12" deep, and it is right on top or very near the top of the ground. At the beach i have never had so much trouble pinpointing, i could hit the coins spot on with my SE, every time, but not with the E-Trac, very frustrating at times.

Many times i pinpoint the coin to be about 1"-2" back from the front of the coil, even pulling the coil back more than the diameter of the coil, to make sure where the coin is, but when i dig down the coin is at the back of the coil, I never had this with the SE. It makes you look like an idiot, when people are watching.

I find sizing mode the best, what makes a difference for me is to activate pinpoint mode when you are almost on top of the target rather than off to the side. This 'de-tunes' the pinpoint slightly so the centre of the target is a lot sharper, and therefore much more accurate to pinpoint. I do this on one plane and then turn 90deg and 'X' the target, 98% of the time it's smack bang in the middle. If the target disappears when you go to pinpoint you where too close and 'de-tuned' the target right out, re-activate pinpoint just off target and try again. Try that for more accuracy, hope it helps.

However, I'm pretty keen for an in line probe to make life much easier.

 

[TheMarshall]

Hi Greg..........Welcome to the world of the E-Trac.

Your E-Trac didn't lie to you, but rather you mis-interpreted what it was saying.

That's not a criticism of you, but merely stating a fact.

It's not what the E-Trac 'says'.....It's the ' way' it says it, plus a 'wink of the eye'

The WAY..... is defined as the WIDTH of the audio in NORMAL or PITCH-HOLD.

The WINK....... is the clue offered by the DEPTH gauge.

A coin sized object's sound, together with its attendant depth indication in searching mode, should with experience, be easily distinguished from a deep ....let's say, 'can'....without too much bother.

This is not easy to convey in simple terms....but imagine a coin at one inch... Fe12 Con46...

Now an 'can' at 8 inches.....depth gauge showing two inches...Fe 12 Con 46. ( fictitious numbers just for convenience)

Compare the audio 'width' in search mode, to that of pin-point sizing mode....There should be a obvious difference. (In my opinion)

Trouble is, no one can give one piece of advice that covers all situations..........So nothing is 'written in stone'

Greg....we could all ramble on with helpful comments, but it really needs you to be patient and get your audio choice right for a start.

No 'whistles and flutes' settings to begin with. Just honest 'normal' or 'pitch-hold', 2 or 4 tones. Sizing pin-point.( I also like ferrous audio. )

Also compare AUDIO consistency (not quality), with your indicated depth. The deeper the target, then don't be deterred if the Fe INCREASES,
( drops down the screen towards Fe 20's), from the normal Fe 12 line.....in heavily mineralized soil...or near a ferrous object)

ALL THIS DEPENDS ON THE PATTERN or IRON MASK SETTING.

*****************************

If you can, then forget the coin pattern type of settings.

Right from the start, discover your E-Trac's power by simply using an iron mask level of about 35 to 27. Ferrous sound, 2 tones. and dig everything until you've learned the capabilities and language of this awesome machine.

Maybe I've said too much, and added confusion. Hope not..TheMarshall.

 

[gregliss]

Cheers Marshall,

Thanks for your input, I'm no veteran but I do know what you're trying to describe as I was pretty good at 'seeing' the target with my old Tesoro detector. I'm still at the stage of converting to the E-trac and digging everything to get a better feel for what the e-trac is seeing. When I was pinpointing these targets I had a niggling thought that this was a crap target....but not enough experience on the e-trac to commit to it being a bad target. Experience is a cruel teacher.....you get the test before the lesson!

I'm satisfied that I can decipher shallow coin targets, but I really need to set up a test garden to get used of coin targets at 'e-trac depths'.

I definitely can't blame my tools...the e-trac is the best detector I have ever used...just need to put in the time.

Cheers Greg