I have a problem - eTrac and AT Pro - performance!

[Bill_S]

One thing about the the ATpro. You can swing it ultra fast or mega slow. It's not sweep sensitive. It doesn't need much movement to produce a positive target reaction.

That is true. I found that out when doing the testing in all that iron.

 

[Weasel]

You can copy that board from here and use nails and a coin that fit the picture.

http://ahrps.net/_tipsAndTechniques/Nail_Board_Performance_Test.pdf

 

[khouse]

When you make your board and video. Make sure you sweep both machines at the same speed. Don't swing the ATpro fast then the ML slow. The ATpro swung slow is very good at bringing out a good tone. It just so happens it can also be swung fast. The ATpro on the Pro mode borders on true all metal. I know I know it doesn't have a threshold. But take your smallest gold piece and sweep. You will here a clear ramp up and down on the target. Sweep real slow and it mimics true all metal without a threshold. Again this is just my opinion. All others test for themselves.

 

[Finder82]

Hello ets....Finder82!

Put that video here with Golden Mask 3 too. You can't get everything with money. So to speak, you don't have to pay thousands of your detector that will manage excelent with iron mask.

Hello N

 

[garrettlover]

Like most of you I have several detectors.the v3,e-trac,f75se,and most of the garretts.And the only thing I'm going to say is the ATPro will have us all rethinking that price is important.Having used the ATPro since they came out,I will seldom (if ever) use another detector.It's that good!

 

[Coyote65]

I'm sure all who want to sell their E-Tracs will have no problem getting rid of them, I guess this means there will be a flood of used E-Tracs in the classifieds.

 

[synthnut]

This is really funny ......Everyone is so fast to beat out the E Trac ,that not ONE PERSON asked what the settings were on the E Trac !!!..... and nobody asked what the settings were on the other machine either !!....Everyone was just glad to see that the E Trac got trounced !!...... ANY machine without the proper discrimination will not hear that coin !!......This video did not show any settings on either machine , so how can anyone say anyting pro or con ? ........You guys are funny !!.......Jim

 

[Weasel]

If you read from the aharps.net pages the rules how this test is to be done, you're mush wiser.
Just set up the discrimination so, that you just can't hear the nails without coin.
Everybody can adjust the detector for the maximum performance and try the test. If you are not satisfied with the results, do the same test and send the video up here. This is the only standard test here in the net I know, that everyone can do the same way. There's no purpose to critizise any detector. The test speaks for itself. It is just great if you find the settings for E-trac to do better.

 

[Bill_S]

Ok, I had to try it....I have the etrac setup with andys coin pattern. I will play around with the disc settings later. I used 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper so the nails may even be closer to the targets. I used some real badly rusted ones that I actually dug. Here is is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJaYiXJh0vE

 

[Finder82]

Ok, I had to try it....I have the etrac setup with andys coin pattern. I will play around with the disc settings later. I used 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper so the nails may even be closer to the targets. I used some real badly rusted ones that I actually dug. Here is is.

Only problem i see here for now, is that you did not perform it outside on the ground.

Any settings that you find that help in this test, would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Weasel]

In Finland we decided to do the test outside in the ground, not inside. Secondly swing the coil over the nails from side to side, not just above the coin. First we have to detect the good target during the "normal" swing and after that we can do that accurete little swing above the target in real life too. Isn't it?
Also if you are doing the test, it would also be nice if you first test the nails without coin.

 

[Bill_S]

I do not swing the detector as fast as you guys. I go real slow especially in heavy iron. You will miss many targets swinging it too fast. Maybe I will take the paper outside later on. I really dont want to waste a whole lot of time on this because I know what the at pro and the etrac will do.

 

[Coyote65]

Swing speed is the key, along with the site conditions iron laden or highly mineralized areas I would call it more of scanning than sweeping.
The video below is not mine but shows a guy working a iron infested site notice the swing speed/scan speed. Depends on conditions of the
site as to how slow or fast you swing, I've noticed several swing like they were competition hunting and you can find a few shallow targets this
way but you will miss the deeper targets or masked targets especially if you are in a high iron infested site or mineralized soil. My normal is
about 2.5 to 3 seconds per sweep but slow down in a trashy area where my E-Trac is nulling quite a bit. Happy hunting and swing away.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KvEOz7eEnc[/video]

 

[Weasel]

Holy cow! What a waste of time. I dig 5 holes in that time. I think that machine is slow (recovery speed) if you have to move so slow. Not suitable for my style.

 

[Coyote65]

Holy cow! What a waste of time. I dig 5 holes in that time. I think that machine is slow (recovery speed) if you have to move so slow. Not suitable for my style.

Again the site conditions dictate the swing speed, in the video he is hunting in an iron infested site, he is picking through the junk that others have left due to the sites
condition and not digging any trash. Most hit a site like that and deem it un-huntable and move on. I stress that is not normal swing speed nor recovery rate but rather picking
through junk and being selective on which targets to dig analyzing every target, I guess I didn't make it clear in my initial post. If you rather hunt like a bat out of heck and
leave good targets that's fine. Happy Hunting.

 

[Shayne]

I appreciate all of the feedback - I certainly agree that both machines are great in their own right. I think I will reduce the discrimination, switch to difficult ground and go slow. I tried the eTrac a few minutes ago - 10 minutes worth of swing time - and found three more wheat pennies and one mercury dime. The dime chimed in at 19-44 in the ground and 12/44 when out of the ground. I would have missed this had I stuck with my original discrimination settings. Fortunately, the lot I am hunting is 100 meters from my front porch. Its like having a 1 acre test garden that just keeps producing! Wish it would give up more than just dimes though...

 

[Coyote65]

The key with any detector is to learn it which usually takes many hours, it's hard to give an accurate assessment based on only a few hours on any machine.
I've seen many people give up on a detector without fully giving it a chance to see what it can do or is capable of, I have both the E-Trac and At Pro and really
like the two detectors they compliment each other well, I have more hours on the E-Trac so I don't comment so much on the AT Pro's performance yet because
I feel I haven't put enough hours on it to fully appreciate it nor make comments that could be operator error or simply lack of experience with it. I can confidently
say I like what little I've used the At Pro so far and from reading the informative posts I'm anxious to get some more swing time under my belt with it.