Etrac Still Viable?

[RLOH]

I had a cool morning so I took the "old" Etrac to my heavily hunted park. I was not expecting much, but was hoping for at least a wheatie or two. Recently, I get skunked at this park at least one out of three times. The glory days are long gone. The first two coins were old, green wheats that were both 8 inches deep. I dug two recent surface drops and finally got a 12-12 12-13 signal and was sure it would be a nickel. 1935 Buff from 7 inches deep. I seemed to be in a "groove" and was hoping for a piece of silver. I got a signal that was not a typical silver signal(12-41) and scratchy. I figured a wheatie, but was surprised to see a glint of silver when I dug to 9 inches. 1926 Merc with a rusty nail a couple of inches away. I finished my two hour hunt with a deep clad quarter.

I seem to have to be in the right frame of mind and head for the trashy areas of this particular park in order to make any decent finds. As most FBS hunters already know, slow and slower is the "word of the day." I just can't seem to part with this detector in order to try one of the latest and greatest.

 

[Mark ( ohio )]

I had a cool morning so I took the "old" Etrac to my heavily hunted park. I was not expecting much, but was hoping for at least a wheatie or two. Recently, I get skunked at this park at least one out of three times. The glory days are long gone. The first two coins were old, green wheats that were both 8 inches deep. I dug two recent surface drops and finally got a 12-12 12-13 signal and was sure it would be a nickel. 1935 Buff from 7 inches deep. I seemed to be in a "groove" and was hoping for a piece of silver. I got a signal that was not a typical silver signal(12-41) and scratchy. I figured a wheatie, but was surprised to see a glint of silver when I dug to 9 inches. 1926 Merc with a rusty nail a couple of inches away. I finished my two hour hunt with a deep clad quarter.

I seem to have to be in the right frame of mind and head for the trashy areas of this particular park in order to make any decent finds. As most FBS hunters already know, slow and slower is the "word of the day." I just can't seem to part with this detector in order to try one of the latest and greatest.

Hell, I wouldn't part with the detector either RL. So its a bit heavy ( we know ) but still deadly on deep coins as you've proven. Hunt with the beast till your arm tires then switch over to a lighter unit if ya still want to scan s'more.
Tried Geneva a couple of weeks ago, not much to show, thinking of walnut beach maybe this week.

Mark ( ohio )

 

[Elmy]

I had a cool morning so I took the "old" Etrac to my heavily hunted park. I was not expecting much, but was hoping for at least a wheatie or two. Recently, I get skunked at this park at least one out of three times. The glory days are long gone. The first two coins were old, green wheats that were both 8 inches deep. I dug two recent surface drops and finally got a 12-12 12-13 signal and was sure it would be a nickel. 1935 Buff from 7 inches deep. I seemed to be in a "groove" and was hoping for a piece of silver. I got a signal that was not a typical silver signal(12-41) and scratchy. I figured a wheatie, but was surprised to see a glint of silver when I dug to 9 inches. 1926 Merc with a rusty nail a couple of inches away. I finished my two hour hunt with a deep clad quarter.

I seem to have to be in the right frame of mind and head for the trashy areas of this particular park in order to make any decent finds. As most FBS hunters already know, slow and slower is the "word of the day." I just can't seem to part with this detector in order to try one of the latest and greatest.

The old dinosaur still works for me too !

 

[LTDigger]

The etrac is a relic from the past that is until you try to get someone to sell you theirs

 

[Picketwire]

Etrac still viable? DUH! Way more so than "is the pope catholic?"

 

[jkline]

The etrac is a relic from the past, and then offer the swinger $50 bucks for it.

 

[coinspader]

FBS detectors are high performers that in my opinion will always be viable, I think it comes down to not only what you find but how much fun you have using them. : )

 

[Tony-Ok]

It is still relevant !! If you are finding coins 7”-10” and you know the detector, keep using it. I still have a cz70 in mint condition that keeps giving me old coins from 6”-10” . I still try other NEW detectors to find a replacement. Been close but not quite!! My advice is keep what is working until something works better. HH Tony

 

[WV62]

If I can at least one of my 2 E-Tracs running I don't think I will be trying any new detectors for the rest of my hunting days.
At one point I was about to give up on the E-Trac and I hooked up with Elmy who posted above and he breathed new life into the way to setup and run the E-Trac. He is the reason I bought my second backup used E-Trac.
Ron in WV

 

[Confetrit]

I know exactly what y'all are saying. I swing the Safari, the lil' brother to the etrac. I have had it for about 3 years now, and it has proven itself to me many times over. It is a great relic hunter and it also does well on the beach. It has found some pretty nice rings and jewelry the few times I've had it on the beach. A little heavy, but to me, what it's capable of doing outweighs the weight. It's a pretty simple, straightforward detector to use. I've been hunting now off and on for nearly 40 years, and I'd venture to say that this has been one of my favorite detectors that I've used, and I have used some nice detectors. FBS works fine for me. Best of Luck to you Etrac owners. Continued Success.

 

[sprchng]

I haven't used the etrac much the last several years and then the CTX took a dump. I went back to the etrac that occasionally gives me that "voltage overload" warning and shuts off but always comes back after a restart. It is old and very heavily used but keeps on finding. I've been swinging the Legend for the last couple of months and it just isn't in the same league so I boxed it up and listed it. Not sure what I'll do if the etrac quits completely , probably file the entire hobby into file 13 and be done with it.

 

[1hotwire]

I'm still all-in on the etrac even though I have been thinking about something lighter and also to challenge myself to learn something new ( can old dogs learn something new ? ) ..

 

[TheMetalDetective]

I’ve been swinging my Equinox 800 lately, but I love my FBS detectors. If I’m not swinging my Nox, I’m swinging my CTX. My E-Trac is my backup to my CTX. It still looks brand new and I really should give it more attention and use.

 

[T-DUB]

I have had my Etrac for almost 8 years, and has done me will time after time. Yes, cumbersome when swinging an entire day, and the angle of the display screen on an extremely sunny days makes it difficult to see, but it's detecting results makes up for that imo.

 

[Delta Digger]

If I had to decide which one to give up. My ctx 3030 or my Etrac , well that would be very hard to do. Both are excellent detectors.

 

[GeoPa]

I hope so, I still haven't learned mine because I won't stop using the Explorer. Well my 2001 Explorer died recently and I bought a used one cheap. It's hard to change what I'm comfortable with, but I've heard that the E-Trac is even better.

 

[fishnnut]

I still use my Etrac and almost always find good stuff. For the guys that say they are heavy just get a harness and it solves that problem. I went that route and it takes all the weight off. Easy fix

 

[The Mayor]

Had it rained in the last day??

 

[RLOH]

Had it rained in the last day??

Yes it had rained the night before. We have had 60-75 degree weather here in northeast Ohio. We had not had any rain before this particular rain. Some detectors do "come to life" with damp ground. I never paid too much attention to it when using a FBS detector. One thing I have noticed with my Etrac is what noise cancel channel is selected. I always noise cancel to see what channel is picked and then I manually change it to 7. Might be in my mind, but 7 is where I seem to make the best finds.