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E-Trac/Xterra Coin Depth Comparison?

C

Critterhunter

New member
Curious if anybody has done any depth comparison on silver and copper coins between these two machines using the stock 11.5" E-Trac coil and the 9" 3khz concentric on the X-terra. I've personaly seen the E-Trac hit hard and clear on silver dimes at around 9.5" deep and was wondering what the max depth people have "hit hard and clear" on silver/copper is with the E-Trac as well as the X-terra.
 
I have both the X-Terras and an Etrac. The Etrac, using the stock 11 inch coil, can get an additional inch or two more depth on dimes and pennies, compared to the 9-inch X-Terra concentric at 3 kHz. But no way it is anywhere near "double". In fact, I get more depth with my X-Terra using the 9-inch concentrics than I do with an 8-inch DD on the Etrac. Comparing two different detectors is difficult enough. Adding different sized coils, in different configurations only complicates the discussion. JMHO HH Randy
 
So you finally got to either try or own an E-Trac Randy!! I would love to but have not had the chance yet. So only an inch or two more depth, with a much slower sweep speed. But it shines in wet saltwater sand and also has a more precise surgical discrimination. I am dying to try that new 2 number system to see just really how good it is. How surgically accurate really is it? The main reason I want to try an E-Trac is to see if I can knock out the annoying newer pennies and at the same time still get silver dimes.

Will a bent, corroded, worn, or coin on edge throw off the 2 number system either as useless, close enough for an accurate ID, or will it be spot on?? This is what I want to know?
 
Took the Etrac and 6 X8 butterfly coil down to the local park. I've not hunted this park very often for the past 10 years due to the extreme amount of trash. That is the main reason I wanted to try the Etrac. The availability of a small DD coil that will work at the lower frequencies just seemed appealing! Anyway, I've been down there for an hour or so each night for the past week. I'm finding a few old coins. But nothing so deep that the X-70 wouldn't have found them. The reason it hasn't might be due to my sweeping the Etrac much slower than the X-Terra. That, combined with the fact that we all pay a little bit more attention to a detector when it is new and haven't develop bad habits! This dime was about 7 inches deep, and about 15 feet from where I pulled a few IH cents earlier in the week. Still learning the Etrac while I wait for harvest. That is when I can get the X-Terra back out in some of these old fields. HH Randy

[attachment 136601 1874seateddime.jpg]
 
What a treasure of a rare 1871 dime at 7 inches!! (Did that already pay for your E-Trac or at least partly on your way to it?) Randy you do not sound totally thrilled with the E-Trac. It must be because it the best workhorse unit available and not magic. Yes the E-Trac is a unit for extreme trash hunting and maybe the best machine on the market for that. It can knock out trash better than all others. I also think the more mineralization you come accross the more it will shine ahead as better while finding coins. You've got a big learning curve ahead of you on that unit, keep us updated!

P.S. I know you are mainly a sound-tone hunter, but try the 2 number system if you can too.
 
Actually, it is an 1874 plain. Wish it was a CC mint!!

I am very happy with the Etrac. I've owned several Explorers over the years and am familiar with what they can do. But to be totally honest, I didn't appreciate the sounds of the FBS units until I had hunted with my X-Terra (multiple tone) for the past several years. The main reason I wanted an Etrac was for the summer months when I can't get into the fields and private lawns are too dry to dig. I am still very careful at the parks and hunting there gives me a break from my research. I'm making an honest effort to "compare" various coils and detectors on actual field targets. But after a few hours of switching back and forth, comparing signals, settings and sounds, it get pretty monotonous. Tonight was one of those nights. I decided to just hunt for the fun of it, and the Etrac and butterfly happened to be the one I grabbed. I went over a small area that I had hunted previously with several detectors, including the Etrac with the stock coil, the 6" Excelerator EQ2 and the Butterfly 6 X 8. For whatever reason, the dime jumped out at me tonight. This park is a tough hunt in that nothing makes sense, depth wise. They built a huge pool here about 25 years ago, and apparently scattered the dirt from the pool all over the park. Some of the newer coins ended up deep and some of the old stuff got tossed back toward the top. I'll dig a clad dime at 5 inches and an IH cent at 3 inches. I'll dig a wheat cent at 4 inches and a clad quarter at 7 inches. There is so much clad here that I get tired of digging it. But when coins are at random depths as these are, you can't go by depth to determine vintage. You need to dig it all.

As to a big learning curve, I don't find that to be the case. Oh, I'm still digging a few deep old nails. But for the most part, it is falling in place. As I said, hunting in multiple tones with the X-70 and 705 has made for an easy transition. Minelab's moving the grip 15 degrees (from the Explorer series) has helped immensely with the balance. Having auto Sensitivity capability, with offset functionality makes this an easy unit to use. Add that to the fact that there is no GB setting, and it is a no brainer. I set up a modified coin program with only 5 or 6 changes. Like I said, I enjoy using the Etrac due to it's separation and depth capability. Add to that the wide assortment of aftermarket coils and it will do just about anything you want it to do. But you can bet when the crops are harvested, and I'm able to get back into some of my favorite sites, the X-terra and the 3 kHz concentric will be there with me. And I'll take the Etrac along so I can continue making comparisons during the hunts. HH Randy
 
Randy and everybody else, thanks for your input and opinions. I know I was impressed with the audio and visual ID on the ETrac on those two deep dimes (details below in a re-post from the E-Trac forum). Randy, I very much look forward to any articles or threads you can link me to where you've compared various machines with various coils on various targets. Sounds like you've been doing a lot of that. If anybody has any links to depth/seperation comparisons of the various new machines and coils please post a link.

In my years of detecting since the early 90's I've owned, used, borrowed, and went head to head with just about every machine on the market. However, I haven't "sampled the wine" with the very latest machines that have come out over the last year or two, so I'm having to rely on input from others who have owned or used the very latest units to make my next purchase.

From what reading I've done and machines I've seen in use in the last year or two, nobody other than Minelab has made anything that I personaly feel is even worth considering for the kind of detecting I do...silver/copper coins mainly with some ring hunting thrown in. So, I've been keying in on the latest machines from Minelab to see what might serve my purpose, that being maximum depth in clean areas but also hunting in trash at about 35% of my sites. I enjoy both...hunting a lot of wooded areas that are mostly clean but also the occasional trashy park in the hopes of a keeper mixed in. Keep that in mind for any advice one might offer. Also, the ground in my area is not too mineralized. There are only a few spots where I have trouble with ground minerals.

(RE-POST) Opinions welcome...

You may be right but it all depends. Price isn't the deciding factor. The 3khz coil for the X-terra is the kind of low frequency you want to hit hard on silver/copper and that's why I'm wondering how they compare depth wise on those targets. Lower frequency also sees through ground minerals (and some say iron) better. I'm sure the other higher frequencies that the E-Trac delivers are going to have it hitting harder on nickle/gold/other metals at deeper depths than the 3khz coil would on the X-Terra, but I'm primarily a silver/copper coin hunter on deeper targets. When I feel like ring hunting on land I'm happy to dig shallower targets 'cuz it isn't much fun to me to dig way down and find a piece of aluminum or other junk. The good-to-bad target ratio for gold is too high for my liking to keep digging extra deep holes. I'm more than willing to dig deep for potential coins, though.

I'm not knocking the E-Trac. I don't own one. I'm just trying to decide between the two. I seen the E-Trac in action head to head with a few other units (QXT Pro & 6000 XL Pro) on a few deep undug silver dimes in non-mineralized ground. One dime at about 9", the other was at about 9.5". Both were loud and clear on the E-Trac. QXT Pro (mine) could ID it visualy as a coin and by audio high tone but only with every other sweep. To be honest it was too far fringe of a signal for me to usualy dig. Most of my fringe stuff is in the 8.5" range. Any deeper than that and the signal I get is just too weak to figure if it's just a very deep hot rock or piece of iron rather than a coin. 6000 Pro couldn't hear one dime and ID'd the other very weakly as probable trash. Both machines were tweaked for max depth.

The friend with the E-Trac recently sold it and bought the top X-Terra model. I'm just curious as to how deep it's going to hit on copper/silver as compared to the E-Trac. I may end up getting either one, but if the X-Terra hits as deep or very near it I'll save the money over the E-Trac and opt for the X-Terra.

As a side note, I've owned many of the machines on the market over the years but keep going back to the QXT Pro for the depth on coins. Properly set up it gets very good depth. The only machine I've used that would beat it in depth on copper/silver has been the Explorer, but that was in highly mineralized ground that the QXT isn't too good at. In normal ground conditions they were very close on silver/copper but of course the Explorer hit deeper and harder on nickles and such. The Explorer is an excellent machine but I don't care for the weight or the tendency of the ID to float. It's recovery speed also isn't quite as good as the QXT's.

I also wonder (with no solid proof) if a multifrequency machine is a bit noisier than a single frequency unit and thus isn't able to run at max sensitivity than if it had been running on a single. The multifrequency of course gives you a stronger hit on a wider range of metals but I can't help but wonder if it could run at a slightly higher sensitivity if it were on a single frequency and thus perhaps hit a bit deeper on targets meant for that frequency...IE: A 3khz machine specificly meant to hunt for copper/silver with. Not saying I'm right here, it's just a theory.

Other's opinions may be different and am not trying to start a flame war. This is just my personal experience with the way I set up my machines and hunt. I'm interested in the E-Trac or X-Terra as they look about as good as it gets in the various models these days. Cut my teeth on Whites but Minelab has been cleaning their clock ever since the lowly DFX came out. Thanks for the input on depth numbers and look forward to hearing further opinions.
 
a little deeper than the Xterra but I just don't know if I can handle the slowwwwww hunting, maybe I can get used to it. What I don't understand is, if the Etrac is also a motion detector, why does it detect deeper going slow than does the Xterra or say the F70? I've tried slowing down with my F70 and it will not detect as deep than if I use a faster swing, nor does my XT50, increase the swing and it seems to hit stronger. The etrac manual says to swing from left to right to left in about 4 seconds, I use my machines the same way but in 2 1/2 second sweeps, makes a big difference when searching big areas....HH John
 
it misses targets, increase the swing and it hits them good. My F70 is the same way. I've got a clad quarter buried at 10", if I swing the F70 slow, nothing, increase the swing and it hits it......HH
 
I think you just learn the sweet spot of coil speed
after alot of time using the machine. Different conditions
(trashy) you automatically slow down because of all the sounds.
At what point do you use a little disc to keep your sanity?

HH
BIG JOHN
 
well your x50 must be different than my x-70 because I go slow and get deep targets all the time. What speed are u swinging the coil? I am doing about 2 seconds per swing, and I do about a 3-4 foot swing
 
slow it down to 4 seconds per swing and see the difference, will not hit as deep. I understand the MXT will hit the same no matter what the speed, seems like the Xterra's should do the same....HH
 
G4e
That seems fast but maby I am too slow and to trashy.
Guess I will try to pick up the pace a bit.
Jeff
 
TURNMASTER said:
G4e
That seems fast but maby I am too slow and to trashy.
Guess I will try to pick up the pace a bit.
Jeff
Click to expand...
fast....lol
have you ever actually counted out loud while your swinging.........one thousand one, one thousand two..........you'd be surprised how slow I am swinging.
 
Point Taken I've counted but not outlout Onethousand.....

HH
Jeff
 
and counting seconds is as good as any. We all refer to sweep speeds as fast, slow or somewhere in between. G4E has reminded us that one persons fast may be another person's slow. I guess what I am saying is that sweep speed is relative! Relative to other detectors we've used. Or relative to what we perceive the "proper" sweep speed should be. I know I can sweep the X-Terra faster than the Minelab FBS and BBS detectors. But I can't sweep it as fast as an Advantage. I can sweep it faster than a two filter Whites, but not as fast as their 4 filter detectors. I can sweep it faster than a C$ or CZ. But I sweep it about the same speed as an F70 or F75. Faster than a 1500 or 1350. But not as fast as an Ace 250. As I said, I think we all compare the sweep speed of one detector against another detector we may have used. Finding the proper speed for our particular detector in our specific soil condition takes a bit of practice and patience.

I think of the X-Terra as having a very forgivable sweep speed in that it is capable of detecting coins with just about any motion of the coil. However, if you sweep it too slow, it can actually ignore targets. And if you sweep it to fast, it can miss them as well. Especially if there are adjacent rejected targets. In my moderate soil, (like G4E) I try to maintain a left to right sweep of around 2 seconds. Then another 2 seconds to sweep it back right to left. If I'm in a wide open area, that might speed up a bit. And if I am in a trashy environment, it definitely slows down. As well, if I'm digging targets left and right, I find myself slowing down. And when it is a long time between targets, I sometimes find myself working too fast. My point is, we all have different perceptions of what speed we are sweeping. My recommendation is to build a coin garden that contains goodies and trash. If you don't have a test garden, at least lay some coins on the ground and sweep your coil over them, at a distance of a few inches. Play around with the sweep speed of your various coils until you are confident you are not missing targets. And establish an arm rhythm that coincides with the movement of your feet! You'll soon determine what speed works best for you. JMHO HH Randy
 
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