I used an Explorer SE for over a year and never did really warm up to it. I think eventually I would have if I had lowered the variability, I hate the multiple tones on shallow targets... I mean that it will signal with like 14 different tones on a shallow coin instead of the one tone that really applies to that target, it's like an arpeggio. At the end I switched to AM/Ferrous and finally started to undrstand the machine, the addition of the PRO coil made a HUGE difference but still... it was more like work than fun to use it. For that year or so... I used the SE almost every time I hunted and I hunt multiple times each week, i'd use it until I couldn't take it anymore and switch to an F75, which I no longer have. Everytime i'd switch i'd immediately begin to make finds.
Now... when the E-TRAC cam out I read the posts for a bit and ordered one. I immediately bonded with it and make good finds in hard places with it regularly. I use it a little differently than most folks, i mostly relic hunt and I run it in Ferrous/2tone. If I am strictly coin hunting I switch to conductive sounds and multi tones. I set my varibility and limits to the max and my threshold tone to 19, I run auto+ most of the time.
If you can why not try to find someone in your area who has an E-TRAC and someone who has a V-3 and go check them out for yourself. The E-TRAC is less complicated and much more of a turn on and go machine, at least from what I can tell... I only got my V-3 yesterday but you can DL and view the manuals. You may find one machine more comfortable than the other. The way ML changed the angle on the handle from the Explorer to the ET makes it easier to use. The ET is a good bit heavier than the T2 but, as for me, (and I have some back problems), I can hunt all day with the ET or with the Tejon but after an hour or two the T2 gives me pain... so weight isn't the whole story... balance is.
I think that both the ET and the V-3 are TOP OF THE LINE machines and are probably the two best detectors available. A plus for the V-3 is Whites willingness to upgrade it in the future , (for a fee), when they make the V-4 or V-3+ or whatever they will call it. They have said that they will make upgrades available, IIRC. Don't look for this from Minelab. They will just come out with a new model in a year or so and it will cost as much or more than the current E-TRAC. ML say's that the SE is the end off the Explorer line. So, in a nutshell E-TRAC II will cost you a bundle and will replace the E-TRAC while the Spectra II, (if I understand Whites correctly), will be a small upgrade fee and shipping cost.
BUT... if you like one better than the other and it "speaks" to you better than the other... that, I think, is the most important thing. You know, sometimes you pick up something and it just clicks. You need to try both of them a couple of times if you can or better yet get one and then get the other. That is why I have several machines... because sites differ and there are some sites where one machine will work better than another. I have a couple of sites where the Tejon works better than anything I have, but I am looking forward to trying the Spectra there...
It looks like you have time to think about it more... D/L and read both manuals. Watch all the vids you can find and keep talking to people. Since you cannot really hunt for a couple of months... give it a little more time. More people will be comparing the two. I will be. I plan to go to a tough park and mark targets, especially iffy ones, try both machines, see what they tell me, then dig.
I noticd one thing yesterday. A nice harness buckle and a couple of other CW era buckles, (not plates), did not read well on the Spectra. The tone was there in "coin and jewelry" mode, nut it is a single tone. The bar graph however looked horrible, all broken and really all over the place. I probably wouldn't have dug them using the Spectra, one is a nice frame buckle too.
I noticed on another forum, someone from Great Britain saying that he wouldn't have to dig anymore "coke" now that he has a Spectra... I didn't have time to replly but I think he might be missing some stuff if he relys too much on the bars...
Now... remember... I haven't even used mine in the field yet, but I will today. This was all from testing dug targets laid on the ground and targets in the ground may well be completly different.
You have time... use it.
Julien
