E-Trac worth the money

[Bridge End Farm]

I was hoping this thread would help me decide on an above average detector. Now I am more confused than ever. My criteria is it can't be to heavy for this old body. It needs to work in trashy areas and when I hunt in fields it needs to go 10 to 12 inches deep. I need an Id machine with three too four tones and last considering my age I would like to figure out how to use it before I can't get out any more. Is there really a machine out there like this?

Burdie

Hey Stan

You need to stop at a local shop and feel them out. Or stop by my place and go play with any of them.

You know I now have an Etrac now but haven't used it much yet to give you an educated answer
But I have found gold with it already in a place I have hunted with my SE and DFX. It is lighter
than both the SE and the DFX. I watched Juanmoretime use his Etrac while we were in Texas it really
performed well in his hands.

Personally I think it is the coil that gives you the depth and location. The bond that comes from using a machine gives you the wisdom of whats under the coil. The Etrac will use most of the coils I have already for the SE. Those FBS Coils are outstanding I think.

At first the SE drove me nuts being so well adapted to my DFX, but once I got it from staying with it. It went like silk, nice and smooth.

You already using the XT probably will not have the learning curve I needed.

But with electronics you are always almost going to have a better something coming out.

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[RonnieAZ]

Hey Burdie.. Dont get me wrong the e-trac is a good detector and I do believe it is "slightly" better than my sovereign I have a test garden the e-trac is just a small amount deeper it will find "some" coins the sovereign missed due to iron masking, with that said I'm dissapointed I expected my e-trac to be alot better than it is its a confusing machine the digital read out on the FE and CO numbers are highly unstable and jump all over the place making it almost useless " my sovereign digital ID is rock solid" its a very quirky machine and I find it hard to use I'm sure after I put a few months on the e-trac ill be comfortable using it, Its is a good machine but for the money I'm not very impressed yet anyway and i'll admit I have alot to learn still it has way too many settings "bells and whistles" some of my opinion so far could be from my lack of experience on the e-trac atleast I hope so. - RonnieAZ

[Keppy]

=[quote authorBurdie link=topic=264567.msg2031329#msg2031329 date=1258581185]
I was hoping this thread would help me decide on an above average detector. Now I am more confused than ever. My criteria is it can't be to heavy for this old body. It needs to work in trashy areas and when I hunt in fields it needs to go 10 to 12 inches deep. I need an Id machine with three too four tones and last considering my age I would like to figure out how to use it before I can't get out any more. Is there really a machine out there like this?

Burdie
[/quote]The ...Minelab Sovereign is the detector for you ...You can hip mount it that takes away the weight problem..............................It has tones you can tell apart.. not like some were all the tones sound the same.......... You can put a meter on it if you want to.................... And it is very easy to learn almost turn on and hunt..... The explorer and E-Trac will drive you nut's if you want to learn fast

[Silver Searcher]

Ya if you have a good site any top brand detector or even off brand will find the good stuff there...................

That's not correct, it all depends on the type of ground you are hunting. You can't say a off brand detector will out perform a top detector on land that has not been ploughed. Fair enough if the soil has been turned regular, then the finds will be close to the surface, but if it hasn't then the chances are that the higher end detetors will do better. Also you have to take into account contamination, again the higher end detectors will filter out this better the the less cheaper ones.

SS

[gibsondan]

I was looking to buy a Explorer SE Pro but i have been looking at E-Trac also. My question is, is the E-Trac worth the extra money that you have to pay for it over the SE Pro? I mainly coin hunt and looking for deep silver in Iron and trash. Thanks

I can't say whether the E-trac is worth more money than the Explorer SE Pro or any other detector. I've never used any other Minelab but the E-trac. So I'll just tell you about my experience with it. I've only had the E-trac since April or March of this year. I remember taking it to a particular school yard several times and never found silver there. I was a newbie...a super newbie with that Minelab detector. My repeated efforts at that site ended in futility. A few months later I went back there and dug 3 or 4 silver dimes. My detector didn't change, but I did. Just by getting out there and hunting as much as possible, I began to learn more and more about what my detector was telling me about targets in the ground. You've got to learn the language it's speaking. I think that is the case with any detector. Learn what it's telling you and you'll have more success. I think you will also appreciate it more. Now it's the end of the year and I continue to learn and find more. Here's my most recent hunt from last weekend:

You have to decide what detector you want to buy. Then you have to take the time to learn what it's telling you. I like the E-trac. Later on down the road I plan on buying a backup detector. It'll be a used detector. It may be an E-trac if I can find one for a good price. If I can't find a good deal, then I will buy one of the Explorer models. I will then have to learn that detector just like I am learning the E-trac. The more I hunt with it and learn - the more I will find and the more I'm sure I will be sold on it. Best of Luck to you!

[RonnieAZ]

Hi Gibsondan, I agree with you 100% for the first couple of weeks I hated my e-trac I though I made a mistake and the posts about how good it is was all just hype wow was I wrong I'm just now beginning to scratch the surface of learning what the e-trac is telling me I was so used to a simple detector my good old sovereign the e-trac drove me crazy I thought it was a piece of junk I was actually pretty upset with myself for buying it. What it was is I just didnt have the respect or confidence for the state of the art technology minelab put in my hands the learning curve on this machine is pretty long for me and its not easy at first but well worth the trouble i'll never go back to the beginner detector again although my sovereign was awesome and I recommend it for a learning machine and its perfect for the not so serious guy who doesnt mind missing a few good finds I'm now hooked on the e-trac and still have ALOT to learn, anyway awesome machine I was just a bad user its early and about to walk out the door to do some detecting I found more coins in a patch I thought I had cleaned out the 1 silver dime supprised me I'm excited my old patches are like new ground again. best of luck to you guys and I apologize for me earlier posts about the e-trac I judged it before I spent the required time to learn such an advanced machine. - RonnieAZ

[Bridge End Farm]

GibsonDan,

That was a great post. some nice finds too

Folks do need to know that it does takes practice to know the machine and know what it is saying. With practice you build confidence and with confidence you build trust. Just swinging and going you will find some stuff but knowing how to do tweaking here and there with the sense and discrim alone as conditions change will have you finding more.

I look forward to using and knowing my Track as I believe it bring more to my table than some of the other machines I have and used. Still owning and using some of the best in the manufacturers of Minelab, Fisher, Tesoro, and Whites. None of them are 100 percent right all the time and to know exactly what is there you have to dig. I try to always guess what is there before I dig and see how close I am to exactly what it is. As I said in a earlier post not knowing a machine will drive you bonkers especially if your comfortable with another you have used for a while.

Sometimes I also think folks believe we never find trash and those of that hunt regularly know you will find a truck load or two of it for a few coins or relics. One of the best features I have seen on the Etrac is I can pick up gold and silver in with the iron really well. It is the first machine I have really been playing with a test bed before I hit the road on sites and fields. It has helped me learn more on it quicker by the items I have buried in different places and depths. And it found gold where I have been before with other machines so though it might of been I missed it before with a coil it helped my confidence in it and say the Etrac is a fine machine



HHs everyone and a Happy Thankgiving too.

BEF

[TimTrac]

Hi Gibsondan, I agree with you 100% for the first couple of weeks I hated my e-trac I though I made a mistake and the posts about how good it is was all just hype wow was I wrong I'm just now beginning to scratch the surface of learning what the e-trac is telling me I was so used to a simple detector my good old sovereign the e-trac drove me crazy I thought it was a piece of junk I was actually pretty upset with myself for buying it. What it was is I just didnt have the respect or confidence for the state of the art technology minelab put in my hands the learning curve on this machine is pretty long for me and its not easy at first but well worth the trouble i'll never go back to the beginner detector again although my sovereign was awesome and I recommend it for a learning machine and its perfect for the not so serious guy who doesnt mind missing a few good finds I'm now hooked on the e-trac and still have ALOT to learn, anyway awesome machine I was just a bad user its early and about to walk out the door to do some detecting I found more coins in a patch I thought I had cleaned out the 1 silver dime supprised me I'm excited my old patches are like new ground again. best of luck to you guys and I apologize for me earlier posts about the e-trac I judged it before I spent the required time to learn such an advanced machine. - RonnieAZ


I guess this means I can't buy it for a song? lol.... Happy you like it... I was seriously thinking of pming you with an offer....

[RonnieAZ]

TimTrac I'm glad you didnt I was feeling pretty down about buying it I may have sold it LOL, so glad I stuck with it I was just so used to my old detector I do love it now but the learning curve was longer than I expected I read guys say a day or two took me more like 2 weeks to really start getting comfortable found 2 silver in the last 2 days thats really really good for me I only had 3 silver before from years of trying my luck isnt the best. - RonnieAZ

[Goio]

For me the Etrac is worth the price, I have found 400 silver coins with it so far this year! My other hunting buddies moved to Etracs and are not too far behind.

[dogcaught]

That's disgusting Goio. Very nice! Please tell me you live far from me as you are quickly depleting a non-renewable resource. JJ

[elusion]

For me the Etrac is worth the price, I have found 400 silver coins with it so far this year! My other hunting buddies moved to Etracs and are not too far behind.

Those pics look like they should be in a brochure for the e-trac! I'm jealous. Is the e-trac much lighter than your SE?

[michigan michael]

Just go with the MPX Digital!