My E-Trac loves Rusty Nails!

[CoinShooter-Craig]

I've been using my E-Trac a couple of months now and have read Andys book a few times , but no matter what settings I use or adjustments I make I can't keep rusty nails from sounding like a good target. I don't mind digging some trash , but I've literally dug enough rusty nails to build a small house with , and I'm really getting frustrated wasting my time digging them. I'd rather dig a pulltab than a dang rusty nail. I coinshoot old homes , homesteads , cellar holes , fishing holes , ect... , and I have dug coins with the E-Trac out of areas that I've searched hard with my Vaquero , but the Vaquero runs silent until it comes to a target that's not discriminated out , while the E-Trac gives me so many different noises and numbers that I have a hard time telling what's diggable and what's trash. I think I'm getting to the point where I'm going to count my losses and trade it in for something else. I thought with it's "see through" capabilitys that it would be the best detector for the trash / iron infested areas that I detect , but it gives me so many decieving tones on targets (areas on the graph) that I have discriminated out , that I have to move at a snails pace and I still end up digging way more trash than keepers. I also get targets that give me different numbers on each pass over the target and I waste so much time trying to figure out if I should dig or not. I'm really not sure what to do at this point - trade it in or give it more time. Does anyone else have the same issues that I have with the dreaded rusty nail?? CoinShooter-Craig

 

[spdnj]

Where are they coming in with fe and co numbers for you? If they are not coming in where other good targets come in can't you just discriminate them out?

 

[Nick A]

I think Andy Sabish had a post on this, or course I can't find it now. Are you running with some discrimination? You want to have some of the 01 ferrous line blocked out. I have dug a lot LESS iron and nails with my E-Trac, so I'm pretty sure this is just a setting issue. It sounds like you might be running all metal, and I wouldn't do that with the Explorer or the E-Trac unless I was looking for iron.

 

[M.L. Hinds]

I think Nick is right!! Sounds like your in all metal!! Cause nails will sound good although the numbers would tell the tale!! And also nails pinpoint different! I would do a master reset and start with the factory coin mode with the exception of two differences!! Response smooth and display time out ON. then wave a silver and coppers under the coil so you know what you listening for!! The display time out will keep your numbers from bouncing so fast as long as you slow it down.. But, Your gonna get bouncing numbers with multiple targets under the coil.

 

[3RINGER]

Nick and ML pretty much hit it on the head. I'm no expert by nooo stretch of the term, but i found the E-trac when given time swinging it has pulled good..even great targets up for me in areas already hit. Do give it more time..it will come to you as to what the machine is telling you.

If you do not like multi tone then try 2 tone FE. Is this the best setting? NO for some / Yes for others. That is the good thing about this machine, fine tune it for the way you like to hunt and your ground conditions.

Slow and low (as the more experienced ones say) has a purpose & I soon found out why. This machine lets me know what I'm going over and BING..among the trash pops a good target. Do I get good numbers or steady high tone every time on this target..no, the reason is all the other trash is throwing it off some but at times it comes through enough to make me dig.

As for the nails (like posted above) you will soon find that the PP of those targets are off each time they are checked, but your true coins, brass ect.. will not move.

When you get a nail and it false tones you will notice the bounce you spoke of, but a good target will not have so much of that bounce...why is it not true/ remember the other targets around or under it will throw it off some.

Give it some time. Now remember this is just what I have noticed with mine and have learned from alot of great members on this forum, don't take it for the gospel and do get with others...they know their stuff.

HH

 

[CoinShooter-Craig]

IAre you running with some discrimination? You want to have some of the 01 ferrous line blocked out. I have dug a lot LESS iron and nails with my E-Trac, so I'm pretty sure this is just a setting issue. It sounds like you might be running all metal, and I wouldn't do that with the Explorer or the E-Trac unless I was looking for iron.

I usually run the E-Trac with the coin mode modified with the coin areas opened up to FE 27 because I've heard that deep coins or coins in highly mineralized ground ( or near where an item rusted away ) can read that low on the FE value. Sometimes I run in quickmask set at FE 27. I'm afraid that if I blocked out the 01 ferrous line that I'd miss silver dollars because they read on the FE 01 line. What happens to me alot is that I get a good sound and numbers then when I go to pinpoint mode the numbers change to rusty nail numbers. It makes me think that I initially picked up a coin , but the detector locked in on a nail ( strongest signal ) when I entered pinpoint mode. 99% of the time it just ends up being a rusty nail in the hole. I have a hard time leaving signals like that alone because I wonder what caused the initial good numbers and sound , and I'd hate to leave a coin in the ground. Maybe I'll try blocking out the FE 01 line except where "Big Silver" would register , and that will help keep the rusty nail "bounce" from sounding good. Thanks to everyone for the input and advice. CoinShooter-Craig

 

[Ray-Mo.]

It should help as the stock coins does not get very many iron falses at the expense of silver dollars in my area in Missouri.Another thing is if you think the ID jumps around on deep targets on the E-Trac just try a Vision .In other words it is worse for me,Ray.
PS Have you tried a smaller coil in the trash?

 

[Magicman]

One thing I noticed about a rusty nail is the sound is a little different and I get a pop and not a good sound. I dug a Barber on edge and only would get a signal one way and the other way nada, but because the way it sounded to me I dug it. Well I have done the same with the nails, got me once or twice.

I would give it a bit more time and when you get a good signal, or one you think you will dig, go over it several times and really listen to it. Then pivot around it and try it from another angle and listen to it. Then dig it. After a couple times you can start playing the game, it's a nail and if I am correct 10 points. If I call it a coin and it is 100 points, but if I call it incorrectly subtract points. Point is, I think you may pick up the difference and have confidence that what you think is a coin, is a coin. (By the way, when I first got my SE I thought I made a huge mistake, but I stuck with it. Then I sold it and bought the E-Trac. I went back over with my E-Trac, and area that I had used my SE on, I pulled three silver dimes, 3 wheat's and 2 trade tokens - E-Trac is paying off for me)

 

[Nick A]

I think you got it. "I'll try blocking out the FE 01 line except where "Big Silver" would register, and that will help keep the rusty nail "bounce" from sounding good."
That should do the trick, I think you'll be pleased with the improvement. I still dig a few nails/wire bits/screws, but not many at all.

 

[Steve from Ohio]

Try this too. When I think it may be a rusty nail, or a crushed can, I lift my coil a few feet above the target. If it still comes in strong and still reads 13-46 or so, I know it is a rusty nail or crushed can. I've had crushed cans at 18 inches down still read as almost at ground level even when lifting the coil another two feet above the ground.

For some reason, rusty nails are really strong signals, much stronger than normal. Likewise crushed cans. A coin will not stay strong if you lift the coil above the target.

I have also noticed that coins will pin point very abrupt while nails and cans will be very soft at the edges and be a much larger pin point area that reads center on the pin point graph.

Just my observations.

 

[CoinShooter-Craig]

Thanks to everyone for the pointers and advice. I'll stick with it a bit yet and see how the advice helps out. One good thing - There can't be many rusted nails left to find in the areas that I detect a lot , because I must have dug 90% of them by now - Lol. CoinShooter-Craig

 

[Ray-Mo.]

Sounds like operator error to me, no insult intended minelabman1 .The E-Trac is not all that complicated but then again it is not a kids machine either.If it will pick up clad it will pick up silver except for silver dollar sized coins in preset coins.If you open up the top right corner it will then hit silver dollars but will have a tendency to false on deep cut nails more.

Finding deep silver is never easy but a lot more likely with the E-Trac than the 250 for sure.Most of the people posting old deep silver finds have many hours on there machines and have done there homework when looking for the best location to hunt.

The E-Trac or any other high performace machine for that matter is not for everyone.That is why so many Aces and other lower end machines are sold to and used by a great many very happy people.
Your best chance for success with any top end machine is to find a mentor who does well with it.If that is not possible then the forums are next best and can be very helpful.
Best of luck,Ray.

 

[sharpshooter]

HI ALL i think i will go back to my ace 250 it found coins no bull ,this is to much for me if i would have known the 3 trips to back to minelab to be fixed OMG ..all i wanted to do is find deeep silver. just wanted a hoby that is easy thats what the dealer told me when he sold me this machine relax have fun find some coins , my metal detector is broke kinda like the coins i am not finding . bummmer

[size=large]You are not fooling anyone.[/size]

 

[CoinShooter-Craig]

I'm not knocking the E-Trac , but it's just too much for me personally to handle - Too many different noises and numbers on targets - Can't figure out what's diggable or not. I'm sure it's the operator and not the machine. When I detect I usually only have a couple of hours to do so , and I just waste too much time trying to analize a signal to tell if it's diggable or not. My trash to treasure ratio is really bad. I have found several wheaties , a 1896 indian head , and a couple of buffalo nickels , but the amount of trash ( mostly rusty nails or rusty washers ) I had to dig to find them was very frustrating. It's probably because most of my detecting was with Tesoros and I guess the E-Trac was just a bit too complicated for me to figure out. I traded my E-Trac and Vaquero to Richard at Backwoods Detectors for a Teknetics T-2 that was used once and a new X-Terra 705. I think those detectors will be a little better suited for me and my style of detecting. I detected with a guy that lives near me that I hooked up with on a metal detecting forum twice and he put me to shame both times with his X-Terra 70. Thanks to everyone who helped me try to figure out how to use my E-Trac. Maybe I just made it more complicated than it really was ( Operator error ). To you guys that operate the E-Trac like it should be operated - leave something in the ground for me!! Thanks again and sorry I wimped out on the E-Trac. CoinShooter-Craig

 

[RONC(OR)]

Here's how I handle Rusty nails first off I run in coin mode with the little bar o top edited out .I run my Quick mask wide open no disc this is great because if you think its a nail watch your Fe # they will usually be 27-37 and the cursor will go real ow on the screen also this is great for the X-1 probe if it is a nail you can find it with out a null also I use this for deep coins the audio will sound allot better. Now audio is king here so if it sounds good and the # are jumping I will dig HH RonC

 

[Reggie]

I couldn't stand the unlimited multiple tones, so I went to Audio and selected 4 tones. This is MUCH BETTER for me. I use the factory preset for COINS, too. I have found more silver this year with the ET than all my other years and all other machines combined! I think I will open up the upper right corner for the larger silver coins, though I have this year found a large silver medal that weighed more than a large sivler dollar. By opening up the right upper corner I might invite more falsing on rusty nails, but it might be worth it. If you keep on, spending 50-75 hours with the ET you will undoubtedly learn the machine enough to eliminate the rusty nails. I find ten times more lifttabs than rusty iron. HH

 

[DavefromCt]

Three ringer....I just tried the suggestion you gave of ferrous with 2 tones and I really love it! The thing is, I noticed for sure that the etrac goes deeper and hits better on the clear screen, so now I use just the
clear screen with 2 tone ferrous so all the high tones are possible good targets and the low tones are ferrous. I can also look at the numbers of course and still decide which high tones to dig. Thanks for the info!! -Dave P.S....My favorite sensitivity setting is auto+3....it's more stable than the manual and seems to be very close on depth comparisons.

 

[3RINGER]

Dave

When you say clear screen are you talking about your QM screen? If so try blacking out about 28 to 31 down. I also like to hunt in QM and then go to my selected pattern when needed.

When you get used to the machine more try the 4 tone CO next, it will help you even more. Soon you'll find that each has it's place in different types of areas you hunt in and that one is not best over the rest every time.

Glad it worked for ya and good luck in field, don't forget to go sloooowwww.

HH
3ringer

 

[DavefromCt]

Yes thats exactly what I found out the other day.....the ferrous targets in one area got to be frequent and I was tired of hearing the low tones so I switched to 4 tones and conductive with the qm. I also learned to block out a few lines at the bottom to kill some of the nail responses. I still find that the auto +3 is my favorite over manual...not only is it quieter, but the targets sound louder when they hit. One thing that disappoints is that the numbers stay on and don't refresh...I have to hit pinpoint really quickly to get rid of them....that doesn't make sense to me....With other detectors I've had you could set the refresh rate. With the etrac it's like it's stuck all the time....I still love it though!