E-Trac Snob humbled by an ACE 250

[skyblast]

So the other day I decided with spring right around the corner that it sure would be nice to have a second detector for someone else to use. Of course it wouldn't be an e-trac due to price but I wanted the person using it to enjoy the art of MDing. I wanted them to find basically the same fun and interesting things that I have found in the last three months. So I decided to pick up an Ace 250 with a Garrett Pro Pointer. I mentioned in a post a month or so back that a friend of mine tried my BH with the insanely crappy Automax precision v4 nuclear fusion V1 master hybrid pinpointer from Kellyco which sure is named well but performs about as well as a broken, plastic ruler.

Anyway, of course I had to give my secondary set up a test drive and boy was I amazed and slightly disappointed all at the same time. On the bad side the 250's targeting is not very accurate but what I found pleasing is that you tend to dig what you would most likely pass up with the e-trac. I'm a coinshooting 12-13 FE kind a guy. I'll dig anything at that range. So with the ACE I found that I tend to dig just about everything which definitely has its advantages. I consider it to be more of a relic finding machine and of course with the e-trac one gets better target identification.

Heck, now I'm worried that the person using the 250 will be doing all of the hollering as they pull up pocket watches and die cast cars that I would have turned my nose up to with my e-trac. Hey man, let's switch machines!!

Overall a good lesson for me though...to dig more with my e-trac and spend less time trying to convince myself that that junk is under my DD coil. The Ace has only made me think back on all of the Fe-Co numbers that I passed on that maybe I should have dug.

Oh yeah, I also purchased a rain & dust cover and the larger 9x12 search coil for the Ace. The larger coil should allow the both of us to cover about the same amount of ground.

 

[Idaho PRB]

You could run in TTF with Goesforevers' pattern and dig all high tones. You would miss very little, that's for sure.

 

[utahshovelhead]

Absolutely, if you want to dig more just open up the discrim screen more. I do that on most sites that Im not to worried about the holes I leave. Nice lawns and I increase more discrim.

 

[NebTrac]

I'll dig pretty much any 2 way (90 degree) signal with the Conductivity numbers above 34 in a park. I'll pass some on shallow zincolns. In running Andy's Discrimintion pattern everything above 27 is disc'd out. Most coins will be Fe 17 and lower, but I have had a number be in the 20's (and I have that on video). The best way to understand what your machine is telling you is to do a lot of digging on repeatable signals at first.

I know it can be frustrating where you live Skyblast, as you feel the silvers are few and far between. Keep at it. I think you'll get to where you're seeing them more often.

NebTrac

 

[Jason in Enid]

Your detector is only as good as the operator. If you don't know how to properly USE an E-Trac, then a radio shack special will run circle around you in the hands of someone who knows it and detecting in general.

If you are skipping conductive targets, that's your fault.

 

[Southwind]

If you bought the E-Trac to pull up pocket watches and die cast cars you could have saved a lot of money. Pull a few old coins at 10" and you'll know why you don't have 2 ACE 250's.

 

[skyblast]

Very true. That's why I bought an E-trac. I always have piece of mind that I'm hunting with the very best.

Back when I had my BH all I kept thinking was...ok, what's really in this soil that I'm never going to find?

 

[Goes4ever]

not sure why you'd dig targets with the ace that you would skip with the etrac, I am scratching my head trying to figure out why??? I think your relying way TOO much on numbers. I get a smooth target at 5-6" from both ways I am digging it, I don't care what the numbers say. I don't want to ever walk away from a site wishing I had dug something that I decided to pass up because I talked myself out of it.

Yesterday while at a small local park I got a nice solid 10-26 but it was registering 6-8".........now would you have dug a solid 10-26? Would you be thinking it is an old pulltab, screwcap maybe???

well I dug it and it was a tiny (smaller than a half dime size) 1954 foreign coin, I thik it is from norway. It was actually only about 5" deep, I think it showed deeper because it was so small. But had I just focused on solely numbers as so many hunters do, I would have walked away and left a good target in the ground. If a signal sounds good from 2 directions and has a little depth I am digging it, it ONLY takes a minute and you never can be sure what it is UNLESS you just dig it!!!! I wish more people would just ignore those numbers and pay more attention to the sounds the etrac is telling you.

 

[skyblast]

That is a really good point. Yes, I have been guilty of thinking that I should only dig certain numbers. I guess I just figured that was why I bought an E-Trac.... excellent target ID right?

As I was saying, the ACE's target id is not so hot therefore I found myself digging based on a good repeatable sound. In doing this I was impressed with the ACE. I was digging random metal items that I wasn't digging with my E-trac.

So yes, you are 100% correct. Dig good, solid, repeatable signals at decent depths. That's going to be my new motto from now on!!

 

[Goes4ever]

well here is the thing that goes thru my mind when detecting, the numbers everyone focuses on is based on "coins" so you got numbers for indians, wheats, silver dimes, old nickels....etc.......

BUT............have many things are made of various metals, and lost in the dirt that you would love to find are NOT just coins? So why then would you limit yourself to ONLY dig coin type numbers?..........just to name a few, tokens, jewelry, buttons, relics........these items vary so much and can come in ALL over on the number scale. So I say if it is a solid smooth tone, hits from 2 ways, has a little depth, I am digging, the numbers are just a suggestion.

any thoughts?

 

[skyblast]

Honestly I think it's a Washington thing. I've been detecting now for almost three solid months with my etrac and have dug around 5000 targets, 1000 of them coins. In that time, ONE silver 1964 Rosie, two war nickles, one Ike dollar, one silver pendant, one silver ring, one baby 10k ring and some random tokens. Don't get me wrong I am thrilled with these finds but 5000 digs to get them.....that's rough. I have also been hitting the oldest schools in my area that were built in the 40's and 50's. Now watching/reading some of the east coast midwest guys dig is insane. Multiple silvers in a day! Wow!

So to answer your question, if I were to dig every smooth repeatable target I think my moral would take a huge hit and the fun would be gone. BUT having said that the ace has taught me that yes, dig more think less.

When mding Washington I think one has to simply enjoy what they are doing not get hopes too high for items other than jewelry and coins. 100 years of history in this area sure isn't much.

The other day I did speak with a Guy that has been detecting in the Seattle area for over 15 years who informed that if I wanted to find old coins that I would need to get out of town at least 50 miles. He mentioned to visit turn of the century mining and coal towns. Once he told me that I started doing research and now have a small binder packed with WA ghost towns that I plan to visit when the weather gets warmer. Once there it will be, "dig all."

Again my new motto for even today as I hit the school down the street, "dig all."

 

[grouser]

if your diggin 5000 targets and only getting the type of goodies that you are,,, then I'd say the problem is where your hunting,,, your doing the work just not in a "good" target area. I think you are on the right track doing research and hitting more likely spots that will produce older targets

 

[skyblast]

if your diggin 5000 targets and only getting the type of goodies that you are,,, then I'd say the problem is where your hunting,,, your doing the work just not in a "good" target area. I think you are on the right track doing research and hitting more likely spots that will produce older targets

Very true. As in real estate location is everything. I also haven't lost sight of the fact that IT MIGHT JUST BE ME....

 

[UtahRich]

Hey there Skyblast,

It is always interesting to read posts like this and is a reminder to me that discrimination has it's Pro's and Con's.

The E-trac and Explorers have some pretty phenomenal discrimination technology that can really speed up the hunting process, depending on how it is used. This allows you and me to sort through the possible targets in an area and select out those we think most likely to be valuable (to us anyway).

The flip side, discrimination is just that, sorting through what you think is under the coil based upon the sound and numbers that the E-trac is giving you. Being in a rush, misinterpreting, cherry picking and so forth can cause you and me to leave stuff in the ground that we would rather have in our finds pouch at the end of the day.

This is why there will always be some nay-sayers out there that bag on a high end detector, like an e-trac, as having missed something that a thrifty detector, like the Ace 250, came along and found. Can a conclusion be drawn from these experiences that the Ace 250 is a superior detector to the E-trac? No. It is merely a reminder that we are never sure what is under our coils under the target is recovered.

Did somebody call you an "E-trac Snob"? I don't frequent the other forums much. If folks from these other forums are bagging on our detectors, and us for using them, fine. To each their own. The fewer E-trac'ers that I have to compete against out there, the better for me.


Rich (Utah)

 

[skyblast]

Hey there Skyblast,

It is always interesting to read posts like this and is a reminder to me that discrimination has it's Pro's and Con's.

The E-trac and Explorers have some pretty phenomenal discrimination technology that can really speed up the hunting process, depending on how it is used. This allows you and me to sort through the possible targets in an area and select out those we think most likely to be valuable (to us anyway).

The flip side, discrimination is just that, sorting through what you think is under the coil based upon the sound and numbers that the E-trac is giving you. Being in a rush, misinterpreting, cherry picking and so forth can cause you and me to leave stuff in the ground that we would rather have in our finds pouch at the end of the day.

This is why there will always be some nay-sayers out there that bag on a high end detector, like an e-trac, as having missed something that a thrifty detector, like the Ace 250, came along and found. Can a conclusion be drawn from these experiences that the Ace 250 is a superior detector to the E-trac? No. It is merely a reminder that we are never sure what is under our coils under the target is recovered.

Did somebody call you an "E-trac Snob"? I don't frequent the other forums much. If folks from these other forums are bagging on our detectors, and us for using them, fine. To each their own. The fewer E-trac'ers that I have to compete against out there, the better for me.


Rich (Utah)

Actually, it was me who labeled myself that way You all are too nice.

 

[sandnsea49]

I first started this hobby 25 years ago, I found all kinds of great stuff. More gold rings and indian heads than I have in the last 5 or so years. Why? Because I just can't do all that digging anymore. When I was younger I dug just about all good clear targets. Lots of pull tabs and junk, but lots of good stuff too. Now I just dig targets that I am pretty sure are coins, don't hardly ever dig pulltab signals anymore and just bought an Etrac to help thin the bad targets out even more. I'm thinking my old sites are hunted out, but I think I just discriminate more so don't find as much.

 

[Prep1957]

Great post I have been doing the same with the Etac's that I have owned I sold off now. I just use a Safari now and have been detecting for over 30 years and noticed right off I was missing a lot of fun stuff looking at all the minelab topics so was everyone else so I knew it was a minelab thing.Started using my 1266X fisher after using Etrac or Safari and started finding the junk plated rings,small gold items,Gold plated plastic Elsie the Cow tokens,I can get some of the items by dropping my Discrimination to almost nothing on Safari.I had a fisher 555 that was TR machine that was great in old days.