I don't believe the VX3 was ever meant to be in competition with the Etrac, but was designed to be in direct competition with the Safari as both are basically turn on and go machines and somewhat similarly priced if you disregard retail price and go with our sponsor prices. If you want to save yourself several hundred dollars, by all means go with the VX3 and as previously mentioned it is basically a turn on and go detector and very simple to operate as compared to the Etrac which has additional features. It is those additional features which when properly used, makes the Etrac so good at finding deep silver in among heavy trash, another reason is its 11" DD Pro coil which wisely has also been used on both the Explorer and Safari. If the VX3 has a weak link it would probably be its 9.5" concentric coil which likely won't match up with the 11" DD Pro coil on the Etrac. I believe White's did the VX3 a dis-service by not using the 10" DD coil that V3i uses, on the VX3 too, but that is just my opinion. Both detectors will definitely find the goods, but in the very toughest spots the Etrac is generally acknowledged to be No. 1 and for the extra money it should be. In any other type of area have no doubt the VX3 would do just fine just like the Safari does..