Whites Spectra V3i or Minelab E-Trac...... anyone used both for comparison?

wvrick

Jr. Member
Sep 27, 2010
43
13
Salt Rock,WV
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Minelab CTX 3030, E-Trac, Whites V3i, DFX, Fisher CoinStrike, Garrett AT-Pro, Explorer XS, Garrett GTI-2500 Pro, Fisher F2, and Whites Coinmaster 6000 Di Series 3 (Hip mount), Fisher CZ7a-Pro

liftloop

Silver Member
May 7, 2008
3,140
390
lakelinden mi
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MXTdeepscan 8by14dd, bulls eye 2, 5900diprosl Maxima1500, Master Hunter cx plus Treasure Hound, surf
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Don't own a V3i but i would take it over the mine lab.
 

Iron Patch

Gold Member
Sep 28, 2007
19,254
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Dirtyville
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Deus
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I Wouldn't take the V3 and a $1,000 cash over my Explorer II. ;D
 

diggin jimmy hoffa

Hero Member
Oct 5, 2007
764
42
Somewhere in Michiana
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I used to have the E-Trac and I now have the V3i.

If I were to buy a detector and wanted a nearly hassle free learning curve I would go with the E-Trac. Why did I get rid of it you ask? I just wanted to try something different, that's all.

The learning curve with the V3i seems a bit more technical than what I experienced with the E-Trac, but I did own an Explorer SE prior to the E-Trac, so maybe the transition was a bit easier.

Being that I had never had a Whites machine could be the reason that the learning curve is a bit more difficult. I got the V3i in early August and it has just started to click for me within the past 1 1/2 months. This machine takes some time and tweaking that's for sure. I'm not used to the Whites tones and made adjustments to the Tone VDI so that the Nickles, Dimes, Quarters, and bigger silver reported in high tones. There is a whole lot more adjustments that can be made with the V3i and it is intimidating to say the least.

Hopefully this will help you in your decision, as you will be the one using it.

Read some of the other Forums out there and see what you can learn, that's exactly what I did when the E-Trac came out as well as when the V3 appeared on the market. Both are good machines, but I feel that the E-Trac was easier to learn.

This link might be helpful to you and if this is not appropriate here on Tnet I apologize

http://metaldetectorreviews.net/

Regards
DJH
 

PhilB

Jr. Member
Apr 3, 2009
32
0
East central Indiana
Detector(s) used
E-Trac, Minelab Musketeer, MXT, Spectra V3. Tesoro Compadre and Pocket Uniprobe
I own both and have used them for a couple detecting seasons. The E-Trac was much easier for me to learn because I'm a long time Minelab user. Having said that, the Spectra is a more versatile machine and if you are an experienced XLT or DFX user the learning curve should be much shorter than mine has been. I'll admit that I'm still learning my Spectra. Both machines have done well for me and what machine I would pick would depend on whether it was my only detector or not. If I could only have one detector it would probably be the Spectra. I love the E-Trac for hunting old deep coins in parks and yards but don't really like to hunt clad with it or for that matter it is not my first choice for field hunting. The E-Trac works best for me with a slow sweep speed and when I field hunt or clad hunt I want to cover a lot of ground. This is just personal preference and you may feel different. Either machine is an outstanding detector. My advice would be to try each machine out before you spend any money. If you lived close to me, I would be glad to let you try mine. I live in east central Indiana about 3 miles from the Ohio line and 30 miles north of I-70. Good luck with whichever detector you choose.
 

deepskyal

Bronze Member
Aug 17, 2007
1,926
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Natrona Heights, Pa.
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I detected with a guy a few times that has an E trak and I have the Vision. He found more coins than me but I disc'd out zinc pennies so most coins I dug were clad. He was proficient in the E tracs use and I had a DFX before getting the Vision. I think both are capable machines and like others mentioned, there is quite a learning curve with the Vision if your not experienced with White's machines. Worth it to me anyhow.

Al
 

bazinga

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Oct 31, 2005
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deepskyal said:
I detected with a guy a few times that has an E trak and I have the Vision. He found more coins than me but I disc'd out zinc pennies so most coins I dug were clad. He was proficient in the E tracs use and I had a DFX before getting the Vision. I think both are capable machines and like others mentioned, there is quite a learning curve with the Vision if your not experienced with White's machines. Worth it to me anyhow.

Al

If he was digging zincs, then he wasn't too proficient with the machine.
 

PhilB

Jr. Member
Apr 3, 2009
32
0
East central Indiana
Detector(s) used
E-Trac, Minelab Musketeer, MXT, Spectra V3. Tesoro Compadre and Pocket Uniprobe
bazinga said:
If he was digging zincs, then he wasn't too proficient with the machine.

On any ID detector I've used, a zinc penny and an IH penny give an almost identical tone and number. I don't dig shallow zinc penny signals at newer sites but field hunting or hunting the yards of old homes I dig zinc penny signals cause I like to find IH pennies. I also dig square pulltab signals too as the IH fatties(copper/nickel alloy) register in that area. Please tell me how you tell the difference between a zinc penny and an IH penny. I want to be proficient with my detectors. I'm an old dog but willing to learn new tricks. ;D
 

Digger

Hero Member
Mar 24, 2003
740
186
Dodge City Kansas
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, E-Trac, Makro Racer 2, DFX
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I bought both for the sole purpose of testing the 2 head-to-head. My conclusion was the E-Trac, like the Explorer SE, makes finding deep silver and copper easy because it does a great job of telling the user the coin is there. The V3i probably goes a little deeper after you learn it, but takes more time to master. If I had only one to own it would be the V3i.

The E-Trac does one thing very well which is finding deep silver and copper, but I wasn't impressed with other types of hunting such as tot lots or relics. If all you plan to do is hunt extremely deep copper and silver then the E-Trac does a great job, for anything else I'd go with the V3i because it can go as deep, possibly deeper, than the ET but takes some time to learn. The V3i walks away from the ET on other types of hunting.

In the end I sold them both because I found that while getting extremely deep was great for pulling missed coins in our city park, they had no advantage over my DFX/MXT when it came to everywhere else. Our city park was the only place with coins so deep the ET or V3i was needed to get to them and that is because of years of flooding from the Arkansas. At all my other sites neither the ET or V3i found one single coin missed by my past detectors, and I just couldn't see the justification of owning one for just one site. I preferred my DFX/MXT to either of them in all other locations.
 

TerryC

Gold Member
Jun 26, 2008
7,732
10,991
Yarnell, AZ
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Ace 250 (2), Ace 300, Gold Bug 2, Tesoro Cortes, Garrett Sea Hunter, Whites TDI SL SE, Fisher Impulse 8, Minelab Monster 1000, Minelab CTX3030, Falcon MD20, Garrett Pro-pointer, Calvin Bunker digger.
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There you go Rick. Digger's answer is the closest one to your question. With that said... how do you tell where an IH will id compared to a Zinc? Go to a coin shop and buy an IH. Put it in the ground and find out. Simple solution. No need to always wonder till you find one. Go get one. TTC
 

Tom_in_CA

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Mar 23, 2007
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2 buddies of mine, were just out this past week, pitting the V3 against the Etrac, in a deep-turf type environment. Ie.: by "deep turf", you know, like trying to see if there's some deeper high conductors (barbers, IH's, etc...) that have eluded the past few decades of hunters in these hard-hit turf zones. They are both experienced in both Whites and Minelab evolution of products, and both know how to pull the deep whispers in junky turf. This type hunting would not mimic a "dig all" relicky type hunt location, so it's only a test of this certain niche, which the Explorers have dominated for a long time, as we all know :)

My friend running the Etrac got a squeek of a possible deep coin sandwiched bettween some shallow surface junk. He calls over my other friend, using the V3. The V3 could not hear the signal, no matter how he set it up (sitting there fiddling with multiple different options, different sweep angles, speeds, etc...). To the extent he might have gotten it "hot enough" to get a flutter or squeek, he had to be honest, and say that he could not have heard it on his own, had it not been pointed out to him. That is, you can probably make ANY machine hot-enough, to get a signal that's just been pointed out to you, right? But the real test is: is that simply so hot, that you move along and here indistinguishable bings and bongs everywhere else now too?

Well, they dug up the target, and it was an 1868 s half dime from about 6"

No sure if these flagged target test results were a function of junk (ie.: maybe the V3 would've reached it, if it had been sitting solo, and the Etrac just happens to have a faster recovery for junky areas?). But none-the-less, this was an in-field comparison, over an un-disturbed deep silver coin target, by two experienced users, who tried hard to make an honest "would I have heard it?" analysis.
 

bazinga

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Oct 31, 2005
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PhilB said:
bazinga said:
If he was digging zincs, then he wasn't too proficient with the machine.

On any ID detector I've used, a zinc penny and an IH penny give an almost identical tone and number. I don't dig shallow zinc penny signals at newer sites but field hunting or hunting the yards of old homes I dig zinc penny signals cause I like to find IH pennies. I also dig square pulltab signals too as the IH fatties(copper/nickel alloy) register in that area. Please tell me how you tell the difference between a zinc penny and an IH penny. I want to be proficient with my detectors. I'm an old dog but willing to learn new tricks. ;D

Phil, I am referring to turf hunting, not field hunting. Naturally in a field site you dig ALL targets.

Oh yeah, I hope Marc and I make our way out there to hunt with you again soon. :)
 

PhilB

Jr. Member
Apr 3, 2009
32
0
East central Indiana
Detector(s) used
E-Trac, Minelab Musketeer, MXT, Spectra V3. Tesoro Compadre and Pocket Uniprobe
bazinga said:
Phil, I am referring to turf hunting, not field hunting. Naturally in a field site you dig ALL targets.

Oh yeah, I hope Marc and I make our way out there to hunt with you again soon. :)

Brian, if I'd known that was you, I wouldn't have asked. ;D I think we have the same love of stinkin Lincolns. :laughing7: I am kinda disappointed I didn't learn any new trick for separating zinkers from IHs. :'(
 

bazinga

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Oct 31, 2005
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PhilB said:
bazinga said:
Phil, I am referring to turf hunting, not field hunting. Naturally in a field site you dig ALL targets.

Oh yeah, I hope Marc and I make our way out there to hunt with you again soon. :)

Brian, if I'd known that was you, I wouldn't have asked. ;D I think we have the same love of stinkin Lincolns. :laughing7: I am kinda disappointed I didn't learn any new trick for separating zinkers from IHs. :'(

You already learned how to avoid zincs. Stay out of the parks, haha.
 

Digger

Hero Member
Mar 24, 2003
740
186
Dodge City Kansas
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XP Deus, E-Trac, Makro Racer 2, DFX
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I ran into another hunter with a Explorer II that looked like it had seen lots of use. He told me he has been detecting for 30 some years. I wasn't impressed at all with the comparison to my E-Trac.

If a picture is worth a thousand words a video is even better. Here is a couple of videos I did during my head-to-head. You be the judge on the two.





 

Iron Patch

Gold Member
Sep 28, 2007
19,254
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I'm not sure what we've learned apart from maybe how some people are digging 15" dimes. :wink: ;D ;D
 

bazinga

Silver Member
Oct 31, 2005
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Digger said:
I ran into another hunter with a Explorer II that looked like it had seen lots of use. He told me he has been detecting for 30 some years. I wasn't impressed at all with the comparison to my E-Trac. If a picture is worth a thousand words a video is even better. Here is a couple of videos I did during my head-to-head. You be the judge on the two.

What do these videos have to do with an Explorer II?
 

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