Really, whats the difference?

[Ray in CA]

Really, what's the difference?

I'm about to join the Minelab ranks of coinshooters, but need a little input from you Minelab experts. I've used Minelabs before but these were nugget hunting machines. Now I'm looking into getting either the SE or the E-Trac and I don't really know what the difference is between the two other than price.

I know both are great detectors, that the E-Trac is a bit lighter than the SE, but what separates the two...really?

Thanks ahead for your input.

Ray

 

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[Brett]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

As an SE Pro owner from the day it was released... and for several months after the E-Trac came out I still hung onto the SE Pro, I have enough time on the SE Pro to say that operating the SE Pro vs. the E-Trac is like dragging around a dead turtle vs. running behind a race car. Of course I'm exaggerating a little bit.. just a bit, but really the E-Trac is so much faster with the simple things like navigating the menus, and editing patterns and also the recovery speed is increased dramatically, allowing you to swing faster than a snails pace. Just don't forget to slow down in the trash so you can hear the difference in targets. A big one for me is the smartfind screen AND the digital display are seen together on the screen now. Also, instead of targets being in various areas around the screen as on the SE Pro, the E-Trac normalizes the curve and all conductive targets fall on the FE12 line now, which runs across the center of the screen. As targets get deeper in some dirt, the FE numbers increase, but the conductive numbers stay fairly constant... this makes ID'ing deep targets much more accurate. To me, the E-Trac seems like a treasure magnet. Don't get the SE Pro if you can't afford the E-Trac, just save your money. I'm selling my SE Pro, and I won't sell it to my family or friends because I believe that strongly about the E-Trac.

People will tell you that you don't have to spend the money, and you honestly don't if you take the time to learn the SE Pro or any other Explorer for that matter. The E-Trac to me seems like the detector that I should have been hunting with since June 08... right out of the box I was finding deep indians, wheaties and silver with it. It's much more intuitive than the SE Pro. Of course, this is just my opinion, one of billions of different ones out there

 

[Ray in CA]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

Thanks Brett, that's the kind of info I'm looking for. Are you using the stock coil on the E-Trac and have you tried the Pro coil on it yet to see if there is any difference? I'm sure the Pro coil adds that extra edge but I'd like to hear comments from anyone who's used the combination.

From all that I've read online thus far the E-Trac is sounding very good to me.

Ray

 

[Brett]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

My SE Pro and E-Trac both came with the Pro coil so I don't know anything different, but from what I've heard the Pro coil makes a big difference in weight and stability, not to mention razor sharp DD accuracy.

 

[Keppy]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

Sovereign

 

[warsawdaddy]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

I've heard better revues on the Safari

 

[Keppy]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

I've heard better revues on the Safari

I would say yes the ..Safari.. is getting better review's than the Explorer or the E-Trac.........

 

[Ray in CA]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

I've heard better revues on the Safari

I would say yes the ..Safari.. is getting better review's than the Explorer or the E-Trac.........

Can you point me to any of these reviews? I've been in the mood for trying a new detector and I know that I would do well with either the SE or E-Trac, but I'm game on giving the new Safari a chance if the reviews are good. And if I don't like it, well, I can always sell it and try something different.

Oh, and is that the Pro coil that I see stock on the Safari?

Ray

 

[WheatbackDigger]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

I've heard better revues on the Safari

I would say yes the ..Safari.. is getting better review's than the Explorer or the E-Trac.........

Can you point me to any of these reviews? I've been in the mood for trying a new detector and I know that I would do well with either the SE or E-Trac, but I'm game on giving the new Safari a chance if the reviews are good. And if I don't like it, well, I can always sell it and try something different.

Ray

Point me in this direction too! I am getting ready to order my E-Trac, but I could be pursuaded

 

[Ant]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

I don’t really know about the differences. But I can say that many of the options that the SE has to offer are overkill for me. I don’t fool around with discrimination pattern very often. I know how it works but I don’t have time for that. I use my brain to discriminate what I dig, and what I don’t dig. I listen for the correct sound. I didn't start off like that, I progressed to that.

I run my SE with the Slimline coil in AM mode (All Metal). I also hunt with the machine set up in Ferrous Tones and I manually noise cancel as needed. At times to test a target I’ll toggle back and forth to the Smart-Screen stock discrimination pattern using the Iron Mask button. I also adjust the Sensitivity up or down from 22 and or the Gains down from 8 when the machine won’t quite down to a hunt able level.

I will use the stock discrimination pattern at a site on the second or third go over, but I still keep the machine in Ferrous Tones.

As for the Butterfly Coil:
I might have a hard time hunting trashy sites with a coil as big as the butterfly. I’m talking about the one that comes with the Pro, E-Trac or the new Safari. The foresaid mentioned coil was the talk of town awhile back, but you don’t here much about it now.

The only bad thing I have heard about it is that it’s too big, and that the butterfly designed creates drag or friction when sweeping it along certain surfaces like grass or foliage.


With that said, I would go with the SE Pro because I wouldn’t use the majority of the E-Trac features if I had one anyway. Save a couple of hundred bucks.

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

I have had an EX II, SE with slim coil and the Etrac. The new pro coil is all that its cracked up to be! Hands down better than the slim line and 1050 coil. More stable, separates TONS better and lighter. Yeah it might get stuck in more twigs but it more than makes up for it in the mentioned areas.

The etrac in my opinion is a better machine than the SE in many, many ways but both used properly will find the same stuff in my opinion. Will the Etrac make it easier to find and use Definite yes. Easier to swing too! If you have the $$$, for sure go the Etrac route. Specially if new to minelabs.

The coins mode with the top line taken out for certain silver halfs is a VERY good setup. I try lots of different patterns but always seem to go back to the original coins mode.

HH

 

[Monty]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

I just got a Safari and I am having a bit of trouble recognizing the sounds. Mainly because I have been a Garrett man and the Minelabs are soooooo much different. As far as the "butterfly" coil, I am not having any trouble with it so far. It is so light and balances well for a larger coil. I have a smaller coil on backorder and I know from experience that a smaller coil may give you a little less depth, but they are so good in trashy areas. I said I am not having any trouble with the larger coil, but sometimes it is a little harder to pinpoint if you have two targets that are both under the coil. The pinpoint mode sounds the same to me whether ferrous or not, and I have to spend a lot of time being sure I am pinpointing the right target. I hope that's something I can learn with more experience. I am being told that the Safari operation is basically the same as the quattro with some of the Etrac engineering thrown in. I don't know enough about the Etrac to know if that is true or not. Everyone that has bought an Etrac has pretty much raved about it, that I do know. Maybe I should have waited? Monty

 

[Ant]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

I will add one more thing, as for the SE being unstable:


I would dare to say when the SE with the Slimline coil is set up correctly it will run smoothly. I would also say that a person needs to learn how to ignore many of the false signals instead of trying to tune them all the way out. You know, tune out what you can, but only to a certain point. It takes lots of time to learn where that point is. Most people can't stand all the sounds a machine running in AM mode makes. They get too fatigued like I did and never advance to it. I kept at it.

Good Luck with whatever machine you choose Pastor Ray.

Tony

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

Your right Ant. All metal is the definitely the best way to run the explorers once you learn to listen through the bad signals and listen for the good ones. Once you can handle the noise they are very deadly!!! I highly suggest if do buy an explorer to learn to use all metal.

They aren't as fast recovering as the etrac with discrimination. The Etrac you can run discrimination and it will hit coins in the null even without fast set to ON position. Explorers can too but not as well as he etrac. It really is an easier machine to learn to use than the explorers.

 

[Ray in CA]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

Thanks for that write-up, Anthony. That info helps a lot too. What kind of depth have you been getting on good targets? I know Dan and others have been getting some good depth on their SEs. I haven't really heard or read much about the E-Trac's depth, but apparently it is supposed to get the same as the SE.

Still waiting on those Safari reviews!

Ray

 

[Brett]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

As for the Butterfly Coil:
I might have a hard time hunting trashy sites with a coil as big as the butterfly. I’m talking about the one that comes with the Pro, E-Trac or the new Safari. The foresaid mentioned coil was the talk of town awhile back, but you don’t here much about it now.

The only bad thing I have heard about it is that it’s too big, and that the butterfly designed creates drag or friction when sweeping it along certain surfaces like grass or foliage.

With that said, I would go with the SE Pro because I wouldn’t use the majority of the E-Trac features if I had one anyway. Save a couple of hundred bucks.

I've hunted some VERY trashy parks with the SE Pro and the coil is great! No need to switch to a smaller coil, just go slow, scrub the ground and listen. The small coil (say a 6" Excelerator) is reserved for the super duper uber dense trash... you'll know the difference when you get to try some 100 year old picnic grounds.

Grass and leaves and snow never stopped me with the Pro coil... hunting in the woods is a little problematic though, especially when there are freshly MOWED saplings that don't budge. I heard Tesoro makes an 11" coil cover that fits the Pro coil perfectly though. Haven't tried it yet but for $10 or so it seems like a good investment.

Ant, if you like running in AM mode, then the E-Trac is definitely not for you because it actually works REALLY fast and WELL with discrimination patterns. This does two things, it lets you just listen to the LOOT and some trash (not ALL of the trash)... and it keeps you from losing your damn mind! Just the standard Coins program still lets through plenty of signals to keep you listening hard, and blocks a ton more that you really don't care about when hunting for coins. The E-Trac also has a new feature called Trash Density that sounds off on non-masked targets, even when there is a larger signal that IS masked nearby... where as the SE Pro would normally just lock onto the stronger masked target and completely ignore the weaker good non-masked target. This is mostly the reason for running AM or with a slight Iron Mask on the Explorers.

Don't take this the wrong way, but just because you wouldn't see yourself using features on a detector is not a good reason to persude someone to not spend the money on it. I was sceptical about the E-Trac myself... and really didn't want to spend ANOTHER $1200 after JUST BUYING THE SE PRO earlier in the year for $1200. But let me tell you... you just GOTTA TRY ONE OUT! I did... and within a week I had made my purchase. Sure anyone can learn to deal with the inadequacies of the SE Pro, but when someone is asking about getting SE Pro or E-Trac to start, the E-Trac is way better out of the box. Your learning curve will be so much quicker.

I would also take the comments of those who do not own at one point or another an E-Trac AND an SE (or SE Pro) with a grain of salt. So all of those comments I MADE before I owned an E-Trac... just disregard those blindly... even if they still make sense. I want to fall in line and follow my own advice too

And if someone is talkin' about Sovereigns, just ignore that because that's not even part of the discussion, right? Well, if you don't want all of the bells and whistles, they are good detectors from what I read.

Just grab your BS filter and watch, read and digest. Definitely make an effort to TRY both if you can... not just on a known target, but walk around for 10 minutes with each and see how they feel and sound. You won't know for sure until you try them.

Good luck!

 

[Monty]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

The Safari has the Trash Density feature also, but I am not versed on how to use it at its best yet, but I'll keep plugging away. Monty

 

[Ant]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

You know Pastor Ray;
I don't really hunt turf, so my depth is different than most. I hunt highly mineralized areas, you know the kind, demos and old sites. Depth all depends on the area, just like other VLF machines. I would say the average depth is 0" to or 7” or so but I have dug coins at 13", and smashed aluminum cans at 20" or more, outstanding depth for the kinds of areas I hunt. So far for me that's not the norm, except on cans at 20" lol.

I think my holes are bigger because I don't want to take the time to exactly pinpoint a target. Instead, I get a good idea as to its location and then dig a bigger hole, which saves mucho time. The SE can pinpoint right top of a target, but it take more time than to just get a general idea, and then go for it.

But on turf you’ll need a pinpointer, because after you dig a 5” wide hold, and 9” deep, the coin might only be at the 5” level, situated in the side hole. I think the SE gets more depth in turf, that’s my observations.

Hi Brett.

If the E-Trac is truly faster, then it’s a much better machine. The more ground covered, equals more keepers, that for sure.

Thanks for you input.

 

[Ray in CA]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

The Safari has the Trash Density feature also, but I am not versed on how to use it at its best yet, but I'll keep plugging away. Monty

Do you have a manual that explains the Trash Density feature? I'd be curious to know what it is too. Also, what kind of depth are you seeing from the Safari? I've read some are finding things 9 and 10 inches, although I am sure that is not necessarily the average depth as most coins are within the first 6 inches.

Ray

 

[go-rebels]

Re: Really, what's the difference?

I was on the verge of buying an Etrac, but did my research and uncovered a good summary written by "jim upstate ny" written on the other popular metal detecting forum (review his posts from September to December 2008 in the Etrac forum). My FIND'S have always been good with my old Sovereign as I just loved the smooth, high pitched tones I heard over high conductivity, low ferrous targets.

Then I tried an Etrac over a test bed with old rusty nails and heard broken high pitched tones without no good target nearby. What the he11! I was told by the dealer that was a characteristic of the Etrac. If I hear high tones over nails, I want no part of it.

I tried an SE Pro over the exact same plot and heard nothing. Both units had iron discriminated out.

Read what Jim had to write and make your own educated decision.

I'm swinging an F75 now but plan to pick up a clean used Explorer II and retrofit it with the new DD coil found on the Pro/Etrac. That will be a nice complement to my Fisher unit.