XP Deus or E-trac

[Normsel]

I have a Whites V3i and I have had nothing but problems with it so now I am looking at a different brand. I also have and At Pro.

I been looking at the E-trac and the XP Deus.. Both in the same price range. I am mostly a coin shooter and do some beach hunting but not in water over 1'

I know many people are brand loyal but I also know most guys that are really into detecting have more than one good detector.

I am seeking an unbiased opinion if anyone has experience with both

 

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[Jason in Enid]

which one is best for you depends on the types of targets you mainly hunt, and type of places you hunt most often. Neither the DEUS or E-Trac is water proof (or even resistant) so neither is a good option for wading. If you absolutely must wade with one, the E-Trac is the better choice as it will handle the salt better. However, if you wait an unknown amount of time, there will be a new DEUS upgrade that is supposed to make it great for beach hunting.

If you are talking about turf hunts, the FBS detectors (IE E-Trac and CTX) are the best at accurate ID of deep coins. If you are going to be hunting in extremely heavy trash, then the DEUS is considered one of the best.

 

[scotter1]

e trac

 

[masterjedi]

etrac

 

[Normsel]

I really don't hunt in the water, I will walk the shoreline along the beach and sometimes swing out over the water a bit but for the most part no. I usually hunt parks, schools, athletic fields etc. Some areas are pretty clean and some pretty trashy. I am not so much into depth either. I rarely dig over 6" unless i have a gut feeling it's a good target.

I am pretty much a plug in and go guy. I have made up a lot of different programs for my V3i but in comparison to the stock programs they don't do much more. I have had better luck tweaking the stock programs. Now if I was going for depth some of the programs I have made are really good for depth but otherwise didn't out perform the stock programs that I tweaked.

 

[toasted]

From what you describe, I would say Etrac. If you want lightweight and wont really be doing much saltwater beach hunting, then Deus

 

[motohed]

Xp Deus hands down .

 

[Fletch88]

Etrac hands down if you ever step foot on wet salt beaches

 

[Ammoman]

I have the E-trac. I use it every weekend. Its a slow machine and you have to swing it slow to pick out your targets but, it is very accurate in what it sees and tells you. I just wish i didn't have to tilt and pirouette to see the LCD screen. For lack of good balance, the machine can be hard on the elbows. Don't expect to last a couple hours before your ready to throw in the towel. Trashy areas can drive you insane and pinpointing can be a bear to learn as well. If you decide to get it, be sure and pick up a good harness to help with the balance issue. It might sound like i am trashing the machine but i am not. I really do like its accuracy and the tones are not harsh or shrill. I normally swing the detector 2 or 3 inches above the ground and still pick up dimes and pennies at 6 and 7 inches with solid repeatable tones. Im not one who likes to dig deeper than 8 inches so scrubbing the ground for deeper targets is not my thing.

I have looked at the Deus and it sounds like a great machine. They say its fast but so is your AT pro. The reason i would not get the Deus is because of all the separate parts they offer at very high prices. Yes bundles help but, it just seems like too much of an ala carte deal where every part has to be charged. I guess i like the idea of having one battery charger and one place to put the batteries in the machine.

 

[cooper1841]

Followed your post last year and we went from AT pro to up grade at the same time. I too was not sure which of the three....Etrac......XP Deus or the V3i. I loved my AT Pro, but got the Etrac...............no regrets at all !!!

 

[RobRieman]

Don't have a Deus (yet) but I have hundreds of hours over the years on my V3i. I bought an Etrac 6 months ago and haven't used the V3i since. GB is second to none and accurate VDI's are what I like most. It's deep and it's kinda heavy and slow compared to the V3i but it's a fun detector to swing.

 

[motohed]

There is a new program coming for the Deus that will fix any small problems with beach hunting , you do the uprades yourself for free , and can continually upgrades as the newer programs come out . You don't get that with an etrac . You won't find a lighter better balanced machine out there .

 

[masterjedi]

Now that is so funny Jason! lol lol lol

 

[Tedyoh]

Deus, it'll be easier to learn, it's a lot like the ATP only 10 times faster processing / picking out non ferrous targets in iron, 10 times faster is no joke either. Etrac is slower than the ATP in heavy iron in my opinion, I sold my E-trac because of this.... Deus works on the salt beaches, not like the Etrac but it will work and there is a waterproofing package you can buy for the Deus. Deus is a deeper than most people give credit for, even with certain settings maxed out.

Wireless and the weight, or lack of, are added bonuses.

If you are a "must know my coin target / silver cherry picker" detectorist get the E-trac.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Etrac for coin shooting. Deus for relic hunting.

 

[Calabash Digger]

I dont coin shoot I relic hunt so I went with the deus. I had a at pro and people sad it was fast in iron. I will tell you fast is the deus with reactivty set on 3 ive pulled targets out of the trash that I walked over with the at pro.My friend hunts with a etrac and we were talking about the deus,so he he put a nail close to a coin and tried to see if the etrac would hit it. It would not pick the coin up . I can lay a nail on top of the coin and pick it up with the deus or lay it beside it and pick it up pretty close to it. Ive never used a etrac but my friend is selling his and buying a deus/ I know they will hit deep silver and id it good but I wouldnt want to take a chance on missing stuff masked out by iron or trash.ive pulled targets out the hole after I got 2 square nails out first.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Great question Normsel, however I think most of us will have a different opinion and it has a lot to do with what our different interests are in the hobby. I can't speak to the e-trac, but I do have lots of experience on the V3i and Deus. Here is my opinion.

I was brand loyal to Whites. I had two Whites Coinmasters in the mid 1990's. Found a ton of great stuff with them back in the 90's, so when I took some time away from the hobby and decided to get back in, I got a V3i. There was no question in my mind which brand I should buy, so I just went with the top of the line whites. I spent 2 or so years with it and made some good finds. I was frustrated with recovery speed and depth I was getting with it... not to mention the endless tweaks and settings that can be confusing at times (And I'm a Software Developer who works on a computer all day.. still frustrating with the V3i menus. haha) I started to ask myself if there was a better machine out there for me that would suit my hunting style better.

I'm a relic hunter who finds old coins in the process! Most of my hunting is at iron infested house sites.

I felt like I was cheating on Whites, but I bought a T2 SE about a year ago. I heard great things about recovery speed and depth with the T2 SE, not to mention its simplicity and people loved it as a relic machine. Until I was comfortable with the T2, the V3i came along on my first hunts. It took ONE hunt for me to fall in love with the T2 SE. Coppers and buttons where turning up all over the place in the same area I pounded with the V3i. Perhaps I still didn't have my V3i configured optimally?? Maybe, but remember I had 2 years and hundreds of hours on the V3i. The T2 was simple and blazing fast... it would machine gun grunt iron sounds and pick out non-ferrous items in the trash pits.

Then I started hearing more and more about the Deus. Realizing that being brand loyal in the past was making me shoot myself in the foot being a relic hunter, I sold my V3i (was my then backup machine to the T2SE) and pulled the trigger and got the Deus 11" coil, WS4 and Remote. I went to the same spot I had been pounding once or twice a week (for the last 6 months) with the V3i and T2 and this happened on my first hunt http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/t...le-springfield-1810-bayonet-1819-lc-more.html Many of my later hunts with the Deus are very similar!! I still took my T2 with me along side the Deus until I felt comfortable, but now my main machine is the Deus. I was blown away at its recovery speed and target separation as well as depth. I was pulling coppers, silvers and relics from areas I had been over dozens of times with two other machines. The weight of it and it being wireless made it so easy to spend 8+ hours in the field. The Deus was separating and unmasking things outside the capabilities of the other machines I used there. It has more settings to fiddle with than the T2, but MUCH LESS than the V3i.... I think its an optimal amount of settings allowing me some flexibility, with much less confusion over the V3i.

So my choice is now XP Deus all the way! (for my hunting style)

That's the evolution of my machine purchases. Remember, I am a relic hunter that likes iron infested sites. Perhaps if I was a coin shooter in a local park, I would choose something different... I dunno. Or if I was a beach hunter, perhaps a different machine... I dunno. (But I think the Deus can do it all ... at least until something different comes along!) Most importantly, over the last few years I realized that being Brand Loyal was not in my best interest. If you talked to me a year ago, I wouldn't have even considered anything but a Whites... nothing against Whites at all... I still think they're a top notch company with some of the best machines, I just found something that works for ME better.

 

[vferrari]

Don't want to hijack the thread, but need to ask OutdoorAdv whether the T2 or the Deus does better in highly mineralized soil. I am starting to really hum with the Deus but I have an F75 as my backup buta also recently acquired a T2SE with the 15" DD coil. I use an ATX PI machine if I need max depth in highly mineralized soil, but I am starting to learn the ways of the Jedi with the Deus and am getting good results. Just wondering if my backup should be the T2 vice the F75.

Oh, and to keep this post semi-legit to the OP, I definitely recommend the etrac even though I have never owned one

 

[can]

Just wondering how many saying etrac has a deus? Do you have experience with deus? Or just have experience with etrac. True I would not put a deus in the salt water. Is this the reason for saying e trac? Looking with great interest for replies.

 

[vferrari]

The reason I am saying etrac is because I own a deus. As far as I'm concerned, the world is a better place the fewer Deus exist in the wild. 😉