E-Trac vs. SE

[philiprst]

I realize that this question may have been asked before, but can anyone point me in the direction of a comparison between the E-Trac and the SE Pro. I owned an SE for a couple of years but sold it when I moved overseas for a while. Now I am back and was thinking of buying another SE before I heard about the E-Trac. I am wondering what the differences are in terms of performance and function. I was actually quite happy with the performance of the SE although I always felt that the recovery was slow and was the main thing I wished I could have improved on. Also, while I liked the power of the interface I always wished it was more user friendly while not losing any of the features. I should also mention that the USB interface on the E-Trac is probably not a big deal for me unless it runs on an Apple computer (I believe it only works on a PC but I could be wrong).

Just for context, I am now closer to the beach and I expect that the majority of my hunting will be done there. The beaches here have a fair amount of black sand. Thanks so much!!

 

[grumpyolman]

Purchase Andy Sabisch's book on the Explorer and the E-Trac. It will answer any and all questions you could raise about the quirks, differences, settings,advantages of one over the other, and on and on. You can get it at SabischBooks.com. You will see it in about 3 days after you order it. If every detector from every manufacturer had a book/manual like this, folks could make decisions about what machine to purchase with significantly more "real" knowledge than one can gain from a myriad of opinions.
The second option is to real all the posts in the ETrac forum and all those in the Explorer forum. It'll be harder to sort the hype from the fact but you will adopt some conclusions and make a move to purchase the right one for you. You can not go wrong with either machine.
Two musts in my OPINION. You must have the Pro coil or one of the excellent after market coils made by several sponsors (if you get a used Explorer) and The SunRay probe makes either machine faster and easier in target recovery and should not be an accessory. It should come with the machine,
Jim

 

[Nick A]

E-Trac is much more user friendly. I have no issues with recovery time, but I did not with the SE either. If you are hunting relics, I'd go with the SE and using smartfind as this gives you greater information about the target (my opinion). The E-Trac is a coinshooters dream. Hits hard and accurate on coins, but the smartfind screen is useless. E-Trac also has a few other improvements, the difficult ground setting, etc. Nothing super-duper, but they are there. The USB connection is just hype... totally useless IMO. If budget is an issue, get a used Explorer and add a Pro coil. If you're mainly a coinshooter, and have the budget, no question... get the E-Trac.

 

[Southwind]

I might add I find the E-Trac a bit more stable than the SE. Could just be the Pro coil, because I had the Slimline on my SE, but it is more stable. I personally love having the USB. I can download pattern files/settings and load them directly into the E-Trac. I had problems with the weight of my SE while the E-Trac seems better balanced.

 

[JohnTN]

I had the SE Pro with the pro coil and there was no comparison to the Etrac. The Etrac seperates so much better, runs in the null about half as much and goes just as deep. IMHO.

 

[Neil]

Yep like they are telling you, the menu is better and man o man the auto sens is super on the etrac. both are good but if your only gonna get one get the etrac.

Neil

 

[dippodigger]

I'm in the same boat as you but have an XS. I just can't bring myself to trade up yet

 

[saamdigger]

The pro coil and the Etrac is a winning winning combination.The Etrac seems to lock onto a target without working it as much. The auto sensitivity actually works great and the factory programs are also great.I purchased a brand X detector and sold my Etrac thinking I could achieve the same results on deep coin, trash filled sites and also increase the coin count because of the sweep speed difference.Well I have another Etrac arriving this Thursday.Brand X is a good detector but It will not deliver in the sites I hunt with the soil we have here.Anyway buy the Etrac . Take a look at the classifieds and see what the ratio of SE's to Etrac's for sale is.That ought to say something.That's my take on it.