Can someone help me with this E Trac PLEASE!!

[metal.mulisha]

Well I traded my whites mxt for a etrac. I'm so disgusted, confused and after a week of hunting all I have found is a 1984 dime and a 2000 penny and a bunch of junk. Wtf am I doing wrong. I set the settings to a deep coin one that was in a book by Andy someone. I've tried the default settings too. It makes so many noises I can't tell what's going on. I almost threw it in the lake. Anyone help me set this animal to find some coins. Thanks

 

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[sonofadigger]

take a deep breath relax ....better? ok now as for finding only two coins you sure you didnt find them all with the mxt just kidding the best of advice i can give is discriminate out the pulltabs and iron and set it to find coins only then practice with it in your yard with coins you bury till you understand the sounds then add back everything you want hope that helps ...also i would try asking bart at bigboyshobbies or another dealer and see what kind of advice they can give good luck

 

[JT_hunter]

Sorry I can't really help with the Etrac. But here's a story for ya. I was detecting a school and to my surprise I ran into a guy using a Etrac. That thing sounded like something from outer space, and weird numbers were coming up on the screen like 12.46. I had my AT Pro, and the funny thing is, after he left I went over areas he covered and I picked up quite a few clad, mostly quarters, dimes and some copper pennies. I know this is a top notch machine (Etrac) but I guess the learning curve is steep. I've seen videos on YouTube with this guy ( lookin4seated), and he was banging some really nice silver and old Indian heads and wheats. It seemed he and his partner had the Etrac set up and tuned perfectly. So I say do some research on YouTube and Treasure net, and learn every detail about that Etrac. Then I'm sure you will get the Etrac on track.

Joe

 

[Hosensack]

Are you in multi tone? If so try changing it to less tones, till you start to learn it. The Etrac while easy to pick up and use right out of the box is a different animal than most other machines and can take a bit getting used to. Airtests, test garden etc. really help in the learning process. What I like to do with new machines is hunt the perimeter of a basketball court, usually a clad hot spot, but you'll have pull tabs and other targets to figure out the machines tells.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Trust me, I KNOW what you are going through. I switched from an older White's machine to an E-Trac 4 years ago. I wanted to scream, throw it in the lake, and go back to my White's for weeks. Now I wouldn't trade my E-Trac for anything, excpet maybe a CTX3030.

As was already said, take a deep breath and relax. It takes time to learn a new detector. the E-Trac is very talkative. It will tell you about everything in the ground, where most machines won't. You have to learn to get used to it. There have been MANY frustrated new owners over the years. Here is the advice I give to them all....

1. Put you machine in a stock mode (such as coins, if you are hunting parks, yards, etc). NOw leave it here. Don't go changing settings yet.
2. Start off in playgrounds and tot-lots. They are easy to dig in, so checking signals is fast and easy.
Spend you time here just learning the sounds and VDI of targets. Learn the pinpointing. It can be a change from people used to concentric coils.
3. After you have the hang of the sounds and pinpointing, move out into the parks. Listen for the repetative signal that doesn't jump all over.
4. Give yourself at least 100 hours of practice to get a solid feel for the machine. Once you learn how to listen to wht the machine is saying, it's a whole new world.
5. After you have your basics down, NOW go and experiment with settings. Don't make a bunch of changes at once. Change one aspect and see how that affects operations. Or you can put in one of the pro's settings and leave it like that for a while to see how it operates. Just don't go making constant, random changes or you will only confuse yourself again.
One more thing... Learn to S L O W D O W N. One of the E-Trac's biggests strengths is it's abilty to give solid hit's with very slow coil swing. Practice saying "one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three" as you go left to right. then do it again asyou back right to left. If you go out whipping the coil back and forth you are going to miss a lot. The E-Trac will signal on targets when you stop the coil above it and just hold it like that.

 

[Longhair]

Great advice Jason!

Going too fast is the single biggest mistake new users make with any MineLab machine. If the sounds are comming so fast as to sound like gobble-d-gook, by all means slow down....a lot! You need to be going slow enough to isolate individual tones, and that can be tough in trash infested areas, especially now that you're detecting so much more than your MXT ever dreampt of. Sites that are that "busy" really ought to be hunted with a smaller coil to help reduce the number of target sounds to sort through.

Another suggestion relative to swing speed, is to not fall into a rythemn. Swing at an appropriate speed for the site, and be ready to stop at any time to recheck something that sounded good.

Also, coins will have a distinctly clear tone. A signal that breaks up coupled with a jumpy TID will usually be trash.

Lastly, google "E-Trac Emulator", find it, and download it (be sure to get the one with the "en" file extention for the english version). There are various files available to d/l with different targets (including trash items) so that you can learn a bunch about the machine, it's operation, and what things should sound like without ever even touching the machine itself. The emulator functions exactly as the real thing. All adjustments, menus, and screens are exactly the same and operate with mouse clicks on the appropriate buttons.

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

As was said by the above guys, SLOW down. When you think your going slow enough slow down some more! You cant really go to slow with a Minelab.

Find a clean area and tape some targets, good and bad, to some cardboard pieces. Scatter them out upside down and listen as you swing over them. Close your eyes and listen. AUDIO AUDIO AUDIO!

Forget all the fancy programs for now. Stock coins mode and auto sensitivity is all you need to worry about. That setup right there will find 99% of all coins.

If your in an are when machine nulls out slow down even more...

It will click one day and it will all come together.

Did you get the slow down part?? lol

 

[metal.mulisha]

Thanks guys. Trying to hold my cool there's just so many options with this baby. Another thing frustrating is the recovery time. Even on recovery fast its gotta pass target and wait for all metal mode before the numbers register. Even though u hear the sound of the object gotta wait for number. I hate this feature

 

[Jason in Enid]

The sound is more important than numbers. That's why I said you need learn the responses. The numbers should be just for comfirmation. After mastering the basics, you won't rely on the numbers much anymore.

 

[barberman]

I too am wondering why I got an E-trac! Actually borrowed it from a friend before I buy one, he too is so frustrated! Its heavy, battery life is short, finds lots of aluminum and new Lincolns. I don't understand all the numbers, try to dig all the 12's but they are mostly trash. Need help please! My Ace 250 kicks the E-trac (at least for me).

Bart told me to slow down and listen to the tones, I did and still find rusty stuff and pull tabs. Running in stock coin mode. I just don't get the E-trac stuff. About ready to go back to my old 1989 bounty hunter, I found a 1914D penny in 2009 with it.

Frustrated.

 

[Longhair]

I too am wondering why I got an E-trac! Actually borrowed it from a friend before I buy one, he too is so frustrated! Its heavy, battery life is short, finds lots of aluminum and new Lincolns. I don't understand all the numbers, try to dig all the 12's but they are mostly trash. Need help please! My Ace 250 kicks the E-trac (at least for me).

Bart told me to slow down and listen to the tones, I did and still find rusty stuff and pull tabs. Running in stock coin mode. I just don't get the E-trac stuff. About ready to go back to my old 1989 bounty hunter, I found a 1914D penny in 2009 with it.

Frustrated.

And here's your answer.

As was said by the above guys, SLOW down. When you think your going slow enough slow down some more! You cant really go to slow with a Minelab.

AUDIO AUDIO AUDIO!

 

[barberman]

Audio. So do I need to modify the audio something or other? Don't know about the multi tone stuff. Its in stock coin mode now. Tried making a pattern only allowing the 12's to beep, didn't have too much luck using it tonight. Tonight in the Santa-Fe park I found 8 hunks of rust, 2 memorials and a new quarter. All the coins were on top and the Garrett pointer picked them up without digging.

 

[barberman]

I made a pattern removing the pull tabs and only allowing the 12's to beep. However I dug a big hung of lawn mower aluminum. I read the manual and don't quite understand it all. The FE is the amount of iron and the CO is the conductivity. So a low FE and a High CO (40 or better) would indicate a coin? I found VID numbers on some site and printed them and tried to use them while detecting today. Ended up putting them in my pocket.

 

[metal.mulisha]

However I do understand basic text and communication skills. This machine is so much different than the whites.

 

[barberman]

Hey metal.mulisha I agree with you regarding the E-Trac, this Kangaroo machine just doesn't make sense. Some say we should only pay attention the audio. Then why do we even need to look at the constantly bouncing numbers? I've had a DFX and a Tesoro, neither were as hard as the E-Trac. I've only got 1 college degree, perhaps I need another to understand the E-Trac. Someone needs to make an 8 part "How to E-Trac" video series.

(..... I see another member has the same problems as me and metal.mulisha.....)
" I still can't seem to grasp the tones or numbers on the display and it gets frustrating. I've had a couple of days where it seems like I'm getting the hang of it and the next day I feel like I'm back to day 1. To all of you e-trac users, what would you recommend to help with this learning curve as I've read and re-read that book, watched tons of video's and even made a small cheat sheet print out of the graph shown in the book. Thanks and any help is greatly appreciated."

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Are there any local clubs in your area or local dealers close you can talk to?

 

[barberman]

Are there any local clubs in your area or local dealers close you can talk to?

2 hours and 25 minutes drive to my closest dealer. (unless you consider Cabela's a dealer) Then its only 90 miles.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

2 hours and 25 minutes drive to my closest dealer. (unless you consider Cabela's a dealer) Then its only 90 miles.

Might be worth a trip if they are a Minelab dealer. I would plan a hunt in the dealers area and make a trip if it was me..........

Have you checked here on the state forum to see if there are any other hunters in your area?.... If I read your original post correctly you have only been using it for a week, it does take longer than a week to learn a detector, especially one like the ETrac, Exployer or even Excal or Sovereign....

I would do the targets on a cardboard trick..... tape different targets on piece of cardboard and deal them out upside down like cards in the yard so you can't see what they are, then start sweeping them and learn the tones..... Your going from a Whites MXT to Minelab ETrac, it is like switching from Windows to Apple.....

 

[Jason in Enid]

Cabelas wont help you. They are a chain store, not a metal detector "dealer". All they know is what printed on the box.

I'm happy to offer advice and help to anyone who wants it, but for the others chiming in about how much they hate it, etc. Go back to your toy detectors. If you want to learn to use it, start with the advice I already offered in this thread.

 

[metal.mulisha]

The dealer I bought it from is a new minelab distributor. I know it's gonna take some time I just got aggravated and started messing with settings. I done a reset. Does anyone recommend a good pattern to find old coins I could download and leave the settings alone till I learn it good.