I have metal detecting since sometime around 1975. I have used all kinds of detectors and really miss my Garrett Ground Hog with true Non Motion discrimination. These days Detectors are pretty equal and the upper end Detectors can be a little hard to use with all the Gadgets and Manual Controls. Whites V3i can be a real Bear to operate even if you completely understand all the Controls.
Etrac is very automatic and just plain works regardless of how you use the Advanced Settings. The only way you can really get in trouble is go to Manual Sensitivity and set it too high or use a Pattern that cuts out what you are hunting for.
We spend hours talking about Depth and Target ID at depth. In reality Etrac will ID deeper than you want to dig.
Problems start when you do not get the Magical FE of 12. All ground has a number of some sort and the deeper you get the more off that FE of 12 you see.
This is not a defect of the Etrac, it is the blending of Ferrous and the ground or that Nail laying next to a good coin. I have never been a fan of the Stock Coil or any coil that is round, except a Concentric. Fact is the more ground a coil sees, the more likely your ID will be off. This is why the norm now days is for Detectors to have DD Coils. They do better in poor ground as well as trashy areas. You see a lot of talk about this coil or that coil separating better.
The real truth is that unless the after Market or other coil is smaller it will not separate any better at all. Minelab uses a 11" coil as stock which means unless there is no trash within 11" of your good coin you will get an ID down to around 10" to 11" depending on your soil.
Our problems start in that we hunt old Houses that have Nails and small bits of Metal everywhere. Parks that have Pull Tabs, Foil, and assorted Metal Junk literally everywhere. The only place that we sometimes hunt that is relatively clean is open fields, and in honesty these are rarely clean themselves. Even in the Fields the chances of having a piece of Iron within 11" of a good target is pretty great. This means that most of your readings are going to be blended. Next we have the problem of Conductive numbers. Iron affects your FE numbers but that piece of Aluminum will also blend and affect your Conductive numbers.
This is why we have a big variance in the FE numbers 12 being Ideal or maybe 1. I set mine open from 1 all the way to FE 25. As far as Nickles, FE 12- and a Conductive of 13 is ideal. In reality Nickles hit from Conductive 11 all the way to 14. I cut out everything Conductive from 16 all the way to 30. Then Conductive all the way from 31 to 49. (Park Program modified)
If you want to try your luck on Rings leave FE open on the 10 to the 15 line. Conductive from 4 to 15. This will get you some of the smaller ones. From Conductive 15 to 31 you are going to find a lot of Rings, but you will also find all of the Pull Tabs.
I mentioned above that I do not like the Stock 11" coil. It is simply too big for almost all of the places I hunt. Don't get me wrong it still picks up every Signal but it does not correctly ID most of them due to its size. I do know that this Hobby is no fun at all unless you find something. If your targets are not IDed properly you are not getting a signal or you are trying to guess whether or not to dig it.
I get an awful lot of Nickles compared to most people because I am hunting with smaller coils. Some other brands have a hard time with Nickle ID and most people never buy an extra coil.
My advice is use the Park Program as a good pattern to start off with. Get a small coil. I use a Coiltek 10X5 and I noticed that NEL makes one essentially the same size. I think Minelab offers one about that size as well. Make sure it is a DD Coil to see less ground. Don't pay attention to Air Tests. They just don't mean a whole lot. Don't worry if you are only finding Coins in the 8" range because the extra separation of the smaller coil is more beneficial than the extra depth and the blended ID.
I like FAST ON, DEEP ON, High Trash, Tones Multi, Conductive, Normal Tones, and Gain at 30.
Run your Etrac like this with a smaller coil and see if your finds don't increase.
Etrac is very automatic and just plain works regardless of how you use the Advanced Settings. The only way you can really get in trouble is go to Manual Sensitivity and set it too high or use a Pattern that cuts out what you are hunting for.
We spend hours talking about Depth and Target ID at depth. In reality Etrac will ID deeper than you want to dig.
Problems start when you do not get the Magical FE of 12. All ground has a number of some sort and the deeper you get the more off that FE of 12 you see.
This is not a defect of the Etrac, it is the blending of Ferrous and the ground or that Nail laying next to a good coin. I have never been a fan of the Stock Coil or any coil that is round, except a Concentric. Fact is the more ground a coil sees, the more likely your ID will be off. This is why the norm now days is for Detectors to have DD Coils. They do better in poor ground as well as trashy areas. You see a lot of talk about this coil or that coil separating better.
The real truth is that unless the after Market or other coil is smaller it will not separate any better at all. Minelab uses a 11" coil as stock which means unless there is no trash within 11" of your good coin you will get an ID down to around 10" to 11" depending on your soil.
Our problems start in that we hunt old Houses that have Nails and small bits of Metal everywhere. Parks that have Pull Tabs, Foil, and assorted Metal Junk literally everywhere. The only place that we sometimes hunt that is relatively clean is open fields, and in honesty these are rarely clean themselves. Even in the Fields the chances of having a piece of Iron within 11" of a good target is pretty great. This means that most of your readings are going to be blended. Next we have the problem of Conductive numbers. Iron affects your FE numbers but that piece of Aluminum will also blend and affect your Conductive numbers.
This is why we have a big variance in the FE numbers 12 being Ideal or maybe 1. I set mine open from 1 all the way to FE 25. As far as Nickles, FE 12- and a Conductive of 13 is ideal. In reality Nickles hit from Conductive 11 all the way to 14. I cut out everything Conductive from 16 all the way to 30. Then Conductive all the way from 31 to 49. (Park Program modified)
If you want to try your luck on Rings leave FE open on the 10 to the 15 line. Conductive from 4 to 15. This will get you some of the smaller ones. From Conductive 15 to 31 you are going to find a lot of Rings, but you will also find all of the Pull Tabs.
I mentioned above that I do not like the Stock 11" coil. It is simply too big for almost all of the places I hunt. Don't get me wrong it still picks up every Signal but it does not correctly ID most of them due to its size. I do know that this Hobby is no fun at all unless you find something. If your targets are not IDed properly you are not getting a signal or you are trying to guess whether or not to dig it.
I get an awful lot of Nickles compared to most people because I am hunting with smaller coils. Some other brands have a hard time with Nickle ID and most people never buy an extra coil.
My advice is use the Park Program as a good pattern to start off with. Get a small coil. I use a Coiltek 10X5 and I noticed that NEL makes one essentially the same size. I think Minelab offers one about that size as well. Make sure it is a DD Coil to see less ground. Don't pay attention to Air Tests. They just don't mean a whole lot. Don't worry if you are only finding Coins in the 8" range because the extra separation of the smaller coil is more beneficial than the extra depth and the blended ID.
I like FAST ON, DEEP ON, High Trash, Tones Multi, Conductive, Normal Tones, and Gain at 30.
Run your Etrac like this with a smaller coil and see if your finds don't increase.
