Spent 10 hours Friday cross checking infield targets with my E-Trac and Dr Bob's CTX :thumbup:

[Ray-Mo.]

Bob and I went on a all day hunt Friday and I left my CTX in the trunk the whole trip and used my E-Trac in coins mode while Bob ran his CTX in the same.We went to some public sites we had hit hard over the last two years just to give us a fair test.
Every target good or bad that either of us hit the other was able to hit as well........However after many targets we both came to the conclusion the CTX was the winner as it locked on ID wise much better than the E-Trac and several of the targets sounded better,less iffy/scratchy with the CTX.

A Barber dime at about 6" was about 3" from a large piece of iron and the CTX was definitely better at hitting and IDing it from all directions!

We dug several Wheaties,3 silvers,1 Indian and a bunch of other stuff including an old pocket knife at over 10" . Bob was running in auto sensitivity while I was in manual 26 or above most of the time.

Bob was a little concerned about getting good depth with his CTX when we started but by the end of the day he was more than happy on the depth issue.

I got one very iffy target that had the E-Trac depth meter buried in manual 28 and Bob was able to get a more solid ID and a better sounding response with the CTX in auto.The target turned out to be the narrow thin aluminum band on a wine bottle glass top.No screw cap just the small band at a measured 10-1/2 " and this, as were all our targets in bone dry black dirt.

PS. I was running the 13" Ultimate coil on my E-Trac as it has proven to be superior to the pro coil in my soil....

 

[jtalley007]

Seems the CTX held its own but why not run each machine in manual as high as you could to be stable or if you run the Etrac hot or erratic run the CTX the same way.

From what I hear auto can dial the sensitivity way down if any outside EMI is present so just curious, you guys probably know what you are doing so who am I to say?

Thanks for the post to give us insight into this new machine

Jerry

 

[Larry (IL)]

Thanks for your honest opinion Ray, it's much appreciated.

 

[Ray-Mo.]

The CTX runs much hotter in auto +3 than the E-Trac does in auto +3 at most of our sites.Also the main reason we ran them that way was because Bob runs in auto +3 on his E-Trac also and he was wanting to see if the CTX would do as well set up the same way .
I on the other hand am a manual 26 and above kind of hunter with the E-Trac but am finding that auto +3 is very deep on the CTX more so than the E-Trac so far.
Also without a doubt the CTX has a much faster recovery than the E-Trac which seems to make for a lot less nulling .However I never worried that much about nulling on the E-Trac as I have found hundreds of good deep coins in the middle of full sweep long nulls........

 

[John(Tx)]

It's been kicking the Etrack's butt. Maybe Minelab should just stop making the Etrack and concentrate on the 3030. From what I have read, next time I buy a new machine it will probably be the 3030, the Etrack is obsolete, these posts have discouraged me from buying a used Etrack, anybody else feel the same......?

 

[stasys]

It's been kicking the Etrack's butt. Maybe Minelab should just stop making the Etrack and concentrate on the 3030. From what I have read, next time I buy a new machine it will probably be the 3030, the Etrack is obsolete, these posts have discouraged me from buying a used Etrack, anybody else feel the same......?

John dont worry to much, you are talking about Etrac, but allot people still use old Explorers and founding allot. buy Etrac and start detect.

 

[earthmansurfer]

Thanks for the report. Well, if the CTX hit harder than the E-Trac WITH the 13" Detech, what does that tell you? If the E-Trac was iffy with the 13" Detech, I wonder how it would have been with the stock? ;-)
I loved the 13" Detech, but when it got trashier/irony it was too much for my ears (though it still separated). In cleaner or just a bit trashy ground, the 13" Detech was a stock coil replacement.
Somehow, I hope they come out with a 13" Detech for the E-Trac

Albert

 

[therover]

Meaning, do the coin modes have the same discriminating pattern on both units ?

After running my E-Trac for a while, and doing in ground testing on non-dug targets in other modes (ie, a more wide open discrimination pattern), I came to the conclusion that the stock Coin program is less than optimal and can miss good targets ( some nickels and gold rings for sure) and does not ID deep targets very well. Then again, I set up the E-Trac where I will dig more junk to get more iffy targets that may be good and don't just strictly coin hunt.

Good to know the CTX in the stock Coin mode can ID good targets deeper, and next to iron and has a quicker recovery speed.

 

[Larry (IL)]

The E-Trac is far from obsolete, three weeks ago it was the best on the market according to many. It is still the same great detector and now probably one of the best buys on the market for a nice used one. If you want to spend an extra thousand for a little more depth, fine, but the value of the CTX is in the many other features IMO.

 

[DrBobinMO]

Seems the CTX held its own but why not run each machine in manual as high as you could to be stable or if you run the Etrac hot or erratic run the CTX the same way.

From what I hear auto can dial the sensitivity way down if any outside EMI is present so just curious, you guys probably know what you are doing so who am I to say?

Thanks for the post to give us insight into this new machine

Jerry

Hi Jerry, the reason we did it this way was because that is the way we would have run each detector independently if we were not comparing. Real in the field settings. sure it is not scientific but I felt the best comparison possible would be to run it they way we would for everyday hunting.

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

The E-Trac is far from obsolete, three weeks ago it was the best on the market according to many. It is still the same great detector and now probably one of the best buys on the market for a nice used one. If you want to spend an extra thousand for a little more depth, fine, but the value of the CTX is in the many other features IMO.

GREAT post!

 

[D&P-OR]

Well, I think those comparison tests are amazing when you consider how those two detectors were set up (manual & auto), the size of the coils used (11" & 13") and the fact that they were done by a couple of very experienced guys on a mission to see how those two detectors "stacked up" against each other in the way each normally hunts.----Ray using that 13" Ultimate coil and it's similar in performance to that "other coil" (12X13") and I know what that coil can do on depth (amazing in itself).----Also, Ray running in those manual settings & Bob using +3 auto--I think that says a WHOLE LOT of good things about the CTX with its 11" coil. .---This was an excellent comparison/test report & the Etrac isn't any "slouch" in any way, shape or form---so the CTX performed like a champ!----------Bob, did you try running the CTX in +2 auto also?----If so, how did it perform in regards to stability & depth in the areas you hunted (compared to +3 auto)?----Also, were you hunting in Ferrous-coin or Ground-coin?-----------Del