Am I missing something? etrac for the beach

[adamBomb]

I have noticed in the last year that several beach hunters around me have dropped their excals for the etrac for the beach - wet and dry sand. Two of them still use their excals in the surf but on the beach its the etrac. Two others sold their excals because they said they only use the etrac now. Is the etrac better/deeper for some reason? I am curious because its 4 different people now and I feel like they know something I do not.

 

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[Jason in Enid]

I have heard from a lot of surf/beach hunters who prefer the CTX to their Excal, so I can see that the E-Trac could be preferred as well. My only concern would be the lack of waterproofing. Even if you never took it into the water, that salt air will still get into the control housing.

 

[cudamark]

I use both. The Excal gets more depth, but, it's not as good on identifying a bottle cap as the E-trac. I find the Excal more stable in the water when in the pin point mode. Around a fire ring, the E-trac really shines when you can put on a small coil and use two tone ferrous. Basically, I use the Excal in the water and wet, and the E-trac in the dry, but, that's not an absolute. Conditions, and weather can play a part in my decision.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Remember there is salt mist in the air and it will eventually get inside the controls of the ETrac I have an ETrac and it worked well on the beach the couple times I used it but I did not want to take the chance of getting corrosion inside so I quit............. The corrosion if it gets inside can eat the legs off of pc chips then your looking at a new motherboard..

 

[adamBomb]

Ok this is exactly what I thought. The excal should be the same depth and its waterproof, making it the better choice. Its just weird that I am seeing these people switch. I thought they knew something I did not.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Ok this is exactly what I thought. The excal should be the same depth and its waterproof, making it the better choice. Its just weird that I am seeing these people switch. I thought they knew something I did not.

They might be wanting to ignore specific targets. Some beaches have a lot of an identical pulltab or other trash. The FE-CO layout of the FBS detector will let you avoid that very specific target if it's a problem.

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[cudamark]

Remember there is salt mist in the air and it will eventually get inside the controls of the ETrac I have an ETrac and it worked well on the beach the couple times I used it but I did not want to take the chance of getting corrosion inside so I quit............. The corrosion if it gets inside can eat the legs off of pc chips then your looking at a new motherboard..

I guess I've been lucky so far. I've used mine at the beach for about 5 years now without a problem.

 

[adamBomb]

They might be wanting to ignore specific targets. Some beaches have a lot of an identical pulltab or other trash. The FE-CO layout of the FBS detector will let you avoid that very specific target if it's a problem.

This reason makes the most sense. Lots of pull tabs/bottle tops sometimes but I still don't see how that would convince them to drop the water proof detector. Im not sure I would ignore them either. I dig everything except shallow iron. Its interesting to here about the different detectors though.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I guess I've been lucky so far. I've used mine at the beach for about 5 years now without a problem.

Unless you open it up and exam the motherboard you want know the corrosion is there till it is too late..

 

[penzfan]

Lots of pull tabs/bottle tops sometimes but I still don't see how that would convince them to drop the water proof detector.

One drop in the water or drenching from rain and they'll end that practice...

 

[detectahead]

Does the e-trac have a cover that can be put on? I know that some detectors have custom ones. I'm sure mother nature will find a way in but might take longer. Anyone's thoughts? Curious, other than that the closest ocean is 600 miles for me! Lol!

 

[tony curnick]

I find my etrac very stable when working from dry sand toward the wet sand,where as the At pro will chirp and false and will need adjusting.With the etrac you can just carry on between wet and dry without too much bother.

 

[gold fever pete]

They might be wanting to ignore specific targets. Some beaches have a lot of an identical pulltab or other trash. The FE-CO layout of the FBS detector will let you avoid that very specific target if it's a problem.

I have both the e-trac and the CTX3030. Before I got the CTX, I had the e-trac at the beach. I loved it but was afraid to go near the water. I might have taken it a few times to ankle deep but never any further. I loved the fact that I could ID all the trash. Bypassing bobby pins, bottle tops tin foil made my finds more productive. I was able to cover more ground. Then I got the CTX and I could go in the water. Outstanding.. I have only had the CTX for 3 months now. I just added up all my gold finds, went to Kitco and got the current values. I couldn't believe that my CTX has almost paid for itself. That is without adding all the clad and silver.. I love the CTX over all the detectors I have. I am thinking of selling all the rest of my detectors and buying another CTX just in case. I may keep my TDI., but everything else goes..HH GFP
Here are some of the things I found with the CTX..The first is a class ring,13.3 in the surf, the second is a 1/4 ounce Mexican gold coin found in the surf and the last is a 14k gold ring with diamonds and silver ring found in the wet.

 

[dewcon4414]

For the Dry sand id give it to the Etrac for depth and its nice having the TID, IF... you dont rely to heavy on it. Its going to be a bit more sensitive as well because it doesnt have the salt setting. Disadvantage ......... the Xcal has better tones in the lower fine gold area near the water. If you dont pay attention you may miss a small deep piece of gold thinking its falsing. NO..... i mean NO machine hates lron like the Xcal..... and it is water proof. Meaning you dont have to make a choice before you go to the beach or have to take two machines.

 

[dewcon4414]

Gold...... if you have that kind of money to add another CTX and rotate their use you may well have a plan. But....... use VS warranty just changed. Thats the problem with the Xcal. A lot of hunters are seasonal....... if you buy at the wrong time you may only get 4 or 5 months of use for the 1 year warranty. On the other hand..... rotating and NOT using one machine all the time does seem to cut down on repairs.

 

[Willee]

Unless you open it up and exam the motherboard you want know the corrosion is there till it is too late..

Just use one of the protective covers sold for the E-Trac and salt water mist will be no problem.
I have used my E-Trac on the salt water beaches for years without any problems.

 

[william1]

On several occasions Ive put a zip lock bag over the housing Then duct tape it shut works for me.Gorilla Tape is water proof.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Good thread. I used an Excal. for many years. But wore it out. In the meantime, while being without an excal, I simply used my Explorer (which is like the Etrac) for the beach. It gets the same depth as the excal, and is just as good in wet salt as the excal. So the only issue then, is just to be careful to wrap it in plastic if you are going to work in the rain (storm/erosion hunting) or fear you might get slapped by a wave.

Since the explorers/etracs performs just as well as the Excal on the beach, I just never got around to buying a replacement excal. But it can be REAL scary if you're working in the crashing waves during storms, because heaven help you if the plastic wrap and black tape didn't keep the water out if you got knocked over by a wave

As long as you surmount that issue, I actually prefer the sounds and tone ID's of the explorers, versus the excal. That plus it's more suitable for land hunting, means I don't have to have 2 separate machines.

 

[adamBomb]

Good thread. I used an Excal. for many years. But wore it out. In the meantime, while being without an excal, I simply used my Explorer (which is like the Etrac) for the beach. It gets the same depth as the excal, and is just as good in wet salt as the excal. So the only issue then, is just to be careful to wrap it in plastic if you are going to work in the rain (storm/erosion hunting) or fear you might get slapped by a wave.

Since the explorers/etracs performs just as well as the Excal on the beach, I just never got around to buying a replacement excal. But it can be REAL scary if you're working in the crashing waves during storms, because heaven help you if the plastic wrap and black tape didn't keep the water out if you got knocked over by a wave

As long as you surmount that issue, I actually prefer the sounds and tone ID's of the explorers, versus the excal. That plus it's more suitable for land hunting, means I don't have to have 2 separate machines.

And I think this is what the guys are doing - just hunting the sand not the water. Its quite interesting too. If someone is getting a machine and doesn't have enough for a CZ/Excal they can find a used safari for much less. The etrac/safari use the same technology as the CTX too. I am in the market for a backup machine and was considering these but I think I am going with a used excal...ironically i am buying it from a guy who now uses an etrac for the beach. Me, I like going in the water, especially in the summer when its hot I will take the detector in knee-waist high surf and I dont want to worry about it.