1st Post - Noob - Interesting Experience Today

Boompa · Jun 9, 2010

Yep... I'm a noob. Bought an E-Trac several weeks ago and have been out with it a couple of times learning the machine. Then this week I also bought a Surf PI Dual Band for working beaches both here in Michigan in the summer, and in Florida in the winter.

ANYWAY... this is a totally NON-SCIENTIFIC, anecdotal experience, but I had the E-Trac out on the beach last week in an area I personally frequent- just experimenting and learning the machine. It's not a heavily used section of beach so I don't have big expectations but it's a good learning ground.

So I criss-crossed this relatively small area of beach several times last week with my E-trac and pulled up an assortment of trash and treasure from 1"-6" deep.

Today I was working the exact same area of beach with the new Surf PI (dry sand about 25' from the water's edge) and pulled out several coins from the same exact area but at much greater depths. One was a flat-side-up clad quarter that was a measured 14"-15" deep with a signal that practically knocked my ears off on the Surf PI but never showed up at all with the E-trac.

I'm still learning both machines of course and I'm not bashing the E-trac. Perhaps I didn't have it adjusted properly at all- just using the out-of-the-box program. I'm just saying I was blown away by the DEPTH at which the Surf PI was detecting; especially with such STRONG signals!!

So I'm having fun learning both machines and it's all good.

Iron Patch · Jun 9, 2010

Higher end Minelabs are very good at avoiding iron so when some modern coins deteriorate it would at least on some level start to reject them, even if not completely, maybe not good enough to dig. You really want to run your iron mask/discrimination very low, even if you have to turn the sens. back slightly. As for the Pulse, yes they are killer in the wet salt sand, but since they see all targets, in some areas the amount of iron will drive you crazy. What it comes down to is making the most of your time at the particular site you're hunting, and sometimes it will be one unit, and sometimes the other. You are definitely set up good for beach hunting with those two.