New to the Etrac. Have a couple questions.

[KurtB]

The X-70 is the only Minelab I have owned until I got the Etrac. It seems pretty straight forward and easy enough to set up. I hunt for old coins most of the time in moderate soil. Do you guys see coins come in from 17 to 35 FE? If so, how far from 12 have you seen coins come in at? I am not an all metal person. Also, does opening up the discrimination dramatically increase detection depth like many other detectors? I took it out on it"s maiden voyage and found a 1954 wheaty and a 1888 IH penny, both about six inches, not bad. Too bad the IH wasn't the 8 over the 7. Anyway, thanks for any insight.

Kurt

 

[Nick A]

I run preset coin pattern and find PLENTY. I have no reason to open it up any more. A buddy of mine who hunts like me has his more wide open and he's digging about the same as me (a little less, actually).

 

[Digger]

In my opinion, your having used the X-Terra will help diminish any "learning curve" that many find with the Etrac. I had a couple Explorers over the years and just never understood all the information the audio response provided. But after using the X-Terra for the past few years, I have to say that the Etrac sounds very similar. Although I've only been using the Etrac for a month or so, it hasn't posed many surprises. I have found that the "12 baseline" is a good starting point. But I find the ferrous numbers increase with target depth. Especially in mineralized or congested sites. I have dug dimes that will read a 17 / 46 in the ground and 12 / 46 when retrieved. I'm by no means an expert on the Etrac, but I attribute the variance of ferrous numbers to the mineralization. Around here, it seems the deeper the coin, the chance of providing a number larger than 12 increases proportionally. I run a modified coin program with only 5 or 6 changes. I dropped the Theshold to 17 for my hearing, increased the volume gain to 30, increased the variability to 28, reset the Recovery to fast on, set the trash density to high and set the Pinpoint to Sizing. Nothing fancy. Just what works for me. I am able to hunt much slower with the Etrac, compared to the X-Terra. Although the stock coil still creates a bit of a problem with this old crippled up body, the little 6 X 8 butterfly DD is awesome! Great separation, excellent depth and very sensitive to small targets.

Like I said, I've only been using it a month or so. And the type of hunting I enjoy is somewhat limited until the crops are harvested. I have only used this in a couple local parks and athletic fields but have found quite a few old coins. The first trip out I scored two silver quarters and two Merc dimes. I've found quite a few IH cents and more clad than I care to count. And I dug this nice 1874 last week in the local park.
[attachment 137078 1874seateddime.jpg]



I got the Etrac to "get me through" the summer months. And so far, I am not disappointed. The Etrac's ability to separate targets is second to none. JMHO HH Randy

 

[gregliss]

I dig a lot of deepies and notice a large shift in FE numbers, as low as FE 24 for me, some on this site have seen as FE numbers as low as 28!

For my soil conditions this usually only happens on the coins around 9" or deeper, and gets worse as you get to the edge of detection range.

I've seen them go the other way too, into the single figures, but that is not often. Shallow stuff, 8"- 9" or less, is usually solid for me.

Cheers
Greg

 

[I a thr]

Hunting together, I am using just about the same setting and have found silver on nearly every outing. Can't wait until Fall for the fields!!! I too have only had my Etrac for about a month and am loving it. My best advise is if the signal repeats you better dig it, especially until you have some time under your belt as ferrous numbers do vary.
Bill