How long does it take before it all comes together??

[imi_wakaranai]

I've been hunting for a few years, with the majority of my hours on the DFX and most recently a Tek Omega. I've had the e-trac for a few weeks, and I get out as often as I can, am reading forum posts, read the books, but still feel a little overwhelmed. Don't get me wrong. I am not disappointed and do not regret buying the e-trac. I know success will come with more hours on the machine.

In your experience how many months, weeks, or hours did it take before you felt confident that you knew the e-trac's language? Was there a specific change you made to the detector or your approach to hunting a site? I'd love to hear your beginnings with the e-trac.

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

Stick with the coins program and auto sensitivity. Try to stay in cleaner areas till you get a handle on it. Swapping programs a tweeking it will further your learn time.

You will get it! Holler if you have questions!

 

[Jason in Enid]

Stick with the coins program and auto sensitivity. Try to stay in cleaner areas till you get a handle on it. Swapping programs a tweeking it will further your learn time.

You will get it! Holler if you have questions!

Bart nailed it. Start with the stock program, and preferably start in a clean location like a totlot. Look for solid, repeatable targets and practice your pinpointing. Give yourself at least 100 hours. After that you should be feeling pretty solid with it. Don't flip back and forth between detectors, stick with the E-Trac.

Read the owners manual several times and read Andy Sabich's E-Trac book several times.

 

[McDean]

Jason, this is quite the loaded question of which there is no short answer. I'm sure there will be many varying responses cause the E-trac speaks differently to all.

The E-trac is all about customization, user preferences, site conditions, objects being sought, etc... Coming from a concentric coil detector to a "double D" can present its own set of challenges. I started with a whites classic III so I understand that very well.

For me, it's all about the silver. I'm not able to go hunting much so when I do, I wanna make it count.. Today, I only had about 40 minutes to detect and to begin I was being bombarded with signals. On this particular site, aluminum has been a big problem. So I decided to narrow my disc screen, alot. I went into the quickmask screen and blacked the whole screen except for the top right corner. I left co #'s 41-50 open and fe #'s 0-17. within two minutes and between a steady null, I dug a '54 rosie out of the first hole since making these disc changes. This was on a narrow strip that I had detected many times before. Although I don't suggest that much discrimination for everyone all the time, it does have its place. I usually use a modified coin pattern opened up a little to accept the "iron wrap around" (tip top right corner) and down to Fe #'s 27... and I dig ALOT of junk but I hunt some of the trashiest places too. Parks, yards, schools, etc...

After about a month of "studying" the E-trac and then a month of hands on with it, I found my "go to" settings for most occasions.

Tones- multi
Sounds- conductive
variability- 29
Limits- 30
Gain- 26
Response- Normal
Threshold pitch- 10
Deep- off
Fast- on
trash density- high
Ground- neutral
pinpoint mode- normal
Sensitivity- auto (mostly)

The only settings I ever change are Deep, Fast, Trash, and Ground depending on the site and discrimination of course... For me, it is still "coming together". I am constantly being surprised by this machine and each time I go out, I learn something new. I dug my deepest penny ever today at a measured 9" a 1953 wheatie. Having the X-1 probe is a gamechanger too, I don't know what I would do without it!

Is there a particular issue that you are concerned with or a certain setting you are curious about? There's alot of combined experience on this forum and most are willing to share that knowledge and experience! Good luck out there and don't worry, It will come together for you soon!

 

[BarberDan]

It took me about a week to get the hang of the E-Trac.....before that week I wanted to wrap it around the tree and swore there was something wrong with my coil, lol....you can check my older posts. Once I found my first silver, it all just fell together and it was like a light went off. I was able to sort through the junk. That being said your soil and targets in Nippon is much different than ours over in the states. I lived in Nagoya for about 9 months and loved it over there....and would have loved to detect. you'll find something and it will all just fall in line. You may want to check out Goes4ever's site, it has a good program to run, which I've been using with good success for the last few months. Basically it's the coin program with a few program tweaks, which helps identifying signals.

 

[Sailorman]

Agree with the desire to wrap it around a tree the first few weeks. I bought a small coil because a lot of my sites are heavy trash. By processing less ground and junk I started making finds and the thing started making sense. Once you hit silver it's a sound you'll never miss again.

I'd say between 50 or 60 hours use and it started making some sense. But after several hundred i'm still learning!

 

[mudpuppy]

One of the first times I went out, I ran into an old guy metal detecting, he took pity on me and instead of giving me set up pointers, he simply said,
"Dig 1000 pulltabs, and dig 1000 pennys"...That simple advice took the pressure off of me finding something good, and just concentrating on digging those 2000 items. Along the way, other interesting targets began showing up, target retrieval methods evolved, a sense of time and places to hunt, subtle signals of masked targets. Just like that, the machine and I were friends...I still dont use it as maxxed out capably as it is able, but I'm not searching for deep silver either, I just set up to run smooth for the particular site, and sometimes silver shows up anyway.
Mud

 

[Goes4ever]

for me I was lucky and everything clicked right away, but also you got to remember I upgraded from a minelab x-70 and I was using multi tone with that. So my learning curve was extrememly short. Now almost 2 yrs later I am still learning little things when I hunt. I get better at picking out coins on edge, coins in heavy iron, iffy signals etc.....give it time and I agree I think a new user needs 100 hrs to really feel comfortable

 

[gunwolf]

I am now well over a month into my E-trac...very overwhelming at first, but with the advise from the Experts I simplified what I what doing and I am now having great success.
I am still on a learning curve and plan on being a newb with my new MD all through the summer. yeh finding coins, silver and a few rings is nice...but I want to have an edge over other MD's I'm not just satisfied with stuff that I could have found with my other MD.
Over the next few months I plan on pushing my E-trac to do different things. I have been experimenting in TTF with the relic screen, a few wheats but that's it. I plan on using it at least a few times a week until I understand what the tones are telling me.

 

[moonshine]

i came from a 1984 whites 6000 dipro to etrac. ive had the etrac for almost a year. id say it took me a good 6 months up to the present time to really understand what its telling me. i love the etrac. i dont feel bad that it took me so long. i think i tend to detect the "hardest" types of areas, areas that have already been hit before, and that are very junky. I pull plenty of keepers out of these places. So I have 100% trust in the e-trac. when i get frustrated, i think to myself, the e-trac is trying its best, too. when i get the urge to wrap it around a tree, i know its not the etracs "fault" that there are so many sounds coming from it, its just whats in the ground.

ever since that day the etrac arrived, i only used the whites one time, to compare it to the etrac in my test garden in the backyard.

 

[pghmole]

Took me a couple months but I was a total noob when I got my e trac

 

[Phillip_in_NM]

Regarding the idea of using the Etrac's "language", I've had mine about eight months and am just now beginning to feel comfortable in what the Etrac is telling me. Now (using the language analogy) I am trying to understand the nuances of the machine: the tone, the inflections, the rate at which it gives me information. Doing all this is an absolute blast for me because I know I am at least on the path to mastering this awesome machine.

I really like Bart and Jason's ideas on getting started. One thing I've done that I think has been huge in understanding the adjustments on the machines was to 1) Download the Etrac emulator; 2) recreate every adjustment provided in both the user's manual and Andy's book; and 3) see what each adjustment does to the signals on American coins and trash targets. While I'm still learning the machine's language, I'm at least comfortable in knowing what to expect in 99% of the adjustments I can make.

Enjoy learning this awesome machine!

 

[Blank Planet]

it takes as long as it takes

BP

 

[E-TREC-Virginia]

It took me a couple days to learn and understand the basic functions and about 6 months to really know HOW to put them to use. But, I'm still learning new things all the time from my own experiences and from all of the great advice provided on this forum.

 

[Blank Planet]

It took me a couple days to learn and understand the basic functions and about 6 months to really know HOW to put them to use. But, I'm still learning new things all the time from my own experiences and from all of the great advice provided on this forum.

what he said never stop learning thats why its fun.

BP

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

I believe that the learning curve is a never ending process.
I have approx. 2000 hrs. in the field with my E-Trac and I feel that every time you go on a hunt - you just get a little more tuned into what's going on.

The time you spend in the field also teaches you more than how to operate your machine properly - you get better at hunting in general across time - looking for grade changes around the bases of larger trees, picturing what the place your hunting looked like 100 years ago, etc., etc.
I've made some real nice finds at approx. 8 out of 10 of the places I returned to recently - places where I found nothing at all when I first got into the hobby.
The best way I've seen to make good finds with an E-Trac is to - SLOW DOWN and PAY ATTENTION !

HH --- Mark

 

[Jason in Enid]

I've made some real nice finds at approx. 8 out of 10 of the places I returned to recently - places where I found nothing at all when I first got into the hobby.
The best way I've seen to make good finds with an E-Trac is to - SLOW DOWN and PAY ATTENTION !

HH --- Mark

This is part of the reason it takes a while to really LEARN the E-Trac. It doesn't take long to learn how to dig 12-45 signals. What takes time is learning how to tell that coin mixed with iron that can't be pinpointed because the iron keeps pulling it away, or the on-edge dime at 7 inches that pinpoints about 6 inches away from where it really it.

 

[ronfin]

I'm very new to the E-Trac, and the hobby in general. Bart can attest to that, since he sold me the E-TRAC. Thanks again Bart. It was definitely a "game changer". Now I've only been using it for less than two months, and this is what I've learned. First, I went on YouTube and watched a lot of videos. I wanted to know what the tones sounded like passing over different targets. This is where I made a gave mistake though. I focused too much on the "perfect signal", and as I've found, it doesn't actually exist in the field. There's always a variation due to soil, trash, depth, and angle of the target. I just dug a 1898 Barber dime the other day and put a video up of it, and as you can see while I'm swinging over the target and calling out the Fe-Co numbers, they're constantly changing. What doesn't change, is that they stay what I like to call, inside the "box". The "box" being the pattern. If it's repeatable, and inside the box, you dig it. Does it have to be repeatable from two angles like people always tell you? Absolutely not. I've found Mercury dimes on edge that only hit at one slight angle, and even when you wiggle the coil over it it's still iffy and not always there. Why do I dig iffy non-repeatable targets? Because if it's there once or twice and your machine is "seeing" it, then there's a possibility that it's there. Also, if the Fe-Co numbers are inside the box even on a few hits, then dig it. Sometimes it's a false signal due to an old iron target, but it's always worth digging. Slow, and low, and on EVERY signal, back over it and wiggle that coil. Wiggle it so much that people think you have Parkinson's or Epilepsy. You're listening for that signal to be there, and what the box is telling you. Over time you learn that those 12-40 signals are usually twist caps, but not always, and a few wheats will pop in there.

Now this is what I have my machine set-up for, and what I've found in two months using the E-TRAC:

Sensitivity: set at Auto +3.
Deep: ON
Fast: ON
Pattern: Bill S custom trashy park pattern called "newpark". You can grab it on this forum.
Targets; DIG EVERYTHING THAT FALLS IN THE PATTERN. This is the ONLY way to learn what's what. You'll figure it out very quickly, and in the process grab a lot of good stuff.
SLOW & LOW. Great motto to work by. Take your time in any area you're working, and always re-wrok the area over and over. Different angles of approach will reveal things you missed on prior hunts.

What I've found in under 60 days on the E-TRAC:

14 Mercury dimes (best was 1916-S)
2 Barber dimes (oldest a 189
1 Three Cent coin from 1865
3 Buffalo Nickels
8 silver Quarters
5 Indian Head pennies (oldest 1889)
2 Rosie Washington dimes
109 clad Quarters
172 clad dimes
377 clad pennies
83 Wheat Pennies
OLDEST FIND: British King George III Rex half-penny, late 1700's. This signal was a foor deep under a tree root, and rang in at 1-40 on the Fe-Co scale. Wasn't repeatable at all, but was there when I wiggled my coil over it. Took a chance on it because I was skeptical, and it's been the greatest dig for me to date.

NOTE: I'm a rookie at all this, so take what I've said with a grain of salt. I've been very fortunate to have a very old park to work in, and chance has gone my way. It all boils down to digging targets even when you're not sure, because none of us are ever really sure until we uncover the target. Good luck, and I wish you all the success. -Ron