E-TRAC on the beaches and then on to........

[Steve from Ohio]

the parks. I've been in Florida for the last few weeks and I have hit the beaches really hard. 6 hour days and some days 10 hours on the beaches.

The beaches are barren and very few people are on them lately. Not much to be found....lots of sanding going on and beach grooming.

So I decided to hit the parks around Sarasota. From the looks of it, no one has been to the parks to metal detect.

I went to a local park and found tons of clad. And two gold rings. Far better than the beaches so far.

Some interesting experiences with the E-trac. One ring was down over 13 inches, the other was at 9 inches. Lots of clad get to sink into the sandy soil of Florida. I found lots of modern clad over 10 inches down. I even found a very old 22 shell well over a foot down. It read like a penny. Found an old brass button far down also...did not measure it but it was over the length of my shovel which is 12 inches. Digging in Florida seems to be pretty easy with the sand in the soil. But I am wondering if all the old coins have sunk into the sandy soil too far to detect.

If you have the E-trac and are not liking it so far.....stick with it. I at first was not impressed with it. But as I spent more time with it, adjusted the machine to my liking, it really has made me a believer. This E-trac is no hype. It is in my opinion the best coin, jewelry, relic hunter I have ever used.

 

[Reggie]

Steve, good post. Because I'm going to west FL in a few months, I wonder whether would care to share your settings with us? The sandy soil of Saratoga might be similar to the sandy soil in west FL . Thanks!

 

[Steve from Ohio]

Sarasota is Western Florida......just about 50 miles south of Tampa.

I am running on the beaches wide open screen / manual with a sensitivity setting of 26 because of the near emptiness of the beaches of trash.

I did find a few 50 cal machine gun shells on Lido beach in the water with the Excalibur and one in the sand down around 14 inches with the E-trac. Other than a few clad, nothing on the beaches at all.

In the parks, I'm running the standard coin program also on manual with a sensitivity setting of 22.

I like to run 4 tones when looking for coins. The rings sound off like pennies or quarters so I dig all good sounds and the rings just sort of come.

The digging in Florida seems to be so much easier. That sand really makes for easy digging.

 

[Reggie]

Thanks, Steve, those settings sound great. I look forward to my upcoming trip to FL. Do you use a long-handled sand scoop on the beach? And a shovel in the parks, or just a leche digging tool (hand trowell)?

 

[Steve from Ohio]

I do use a long handled scoop that I built myself. I like it for in the water and on the beach. It can really move some sand quickly. All it is is a stainless steel sand scoop I bought from Kellyco quite a few years ago. I took a piece of aluminum angle iron and welded a 3 1/2 foot handle to it and then bolted it to the back of the scoop with a stainless steel band clamp to keep it tight. I can really use it and put pressure on it without bending. I like to drag it behind be on the beach to allow me to see where I have been.

I use a hand trowel in the parks. It is a blue handled serrated edged trowel that Lowe's sells for about 12 bucks. It has a lifetime guarantee and it really digs well especially in the tough grass that is so common in Florida. Once you get past the grass roots, the sand digs so easy that you can scoop it with your had after loosening it up with the trowel. That trowel is the best I have found so far. It has a wide back end that I can put force on without the handle digging into my hand.

I was amazed how deep the E-trac is. I found a very small percussion cap down almost a foot in a very trashy area. I would have never found that with any other detector.