AT PRO Upgarde To E-TRAC?

[vabuckhunter]

I have had the AT Pro for about a year now and have found some good stuff but looking to upgrade. I am not impressed with how noisy the Pro is and how hard it is to distinguish deep signals. I have air tested my pro and have not got anywhere close to the results I have seen or read about. I have done my reading on the E Trac and it seems like a great machine but wanted to hear from someone that has used them both before I purchase. Thanks in advance for your comments.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[Keppy]

To me that would be a down grade… I have used the FBS detectors by Minelab and did not like them . But i have used the BBS detectors from Minelab and they are very good .. BBS is the Excalibur and the Sovereign..The Excalibur & Sovereign are not good detectors they are GREAT detectors …………… But any thing in the FBS line not to good to me….

 

[Fletch88]

The Etrac is an awesome machine! If you decide on one give it time. The first couple times I used it I wasn't sure I would like it, but after continuing to use it and following along in Andy Sabischs it finally just clicked one day. Don't try to tweak anything for a while. Just turn on select a factory mode and hunt. It's the best machine (as is the CTX) right out of the box I've ever used. Also, Quick Mask was confusing for me in the beginning until I realized you usually use it to Quick UNmask if you have an iffy target. In a nutshell, QM is just a single keystroke button that let's you remove discrimination to check targets that may getting masked out by trash.

That being said, I agree with Keppy also, the BBS technology is good too! I don't want to rave, but the Sovereign GT is my favorite all around machine whether it's hiking into a ghostown, hitting the wetsand at the beach, or coin shooting at a local park it will handle it. It can be chest mounted for waist deep water hunting or lightening the load on your arm. It has never let me down no matter what the hunting situation. The audio is much different than the Etrac. When the GT sounds off it reminds me of a beagle when it jumps a rabbit, if you've ever heard that LOL!

Unfortunately Minelab discontinued the line in Dec. 2012 in the name of newer technology. It should be supported by ML for 8-10 more years, but will continue to be in my lineup as long as it continues to find goodies!

Good luck,
Fletch

 

[airscapes]

Never having used an APT, I am curious as to what you mean when you say it is Noisy
If there is a boat load of trash in the ground it is going to be noisy. I don't typically use any discrimination with my CM GT as it has 9 tones and I can tell an iron halo hit on one pass if I can hear all the tones.. Yesterday at my cousins house it sounded like a 80 video game on steroids. This not a bad thing, it is just what is in the ground. I eventually discriminated nails and it was less noisy but I did still hear all the halo signals without the iron tone, requiring a second pass to verify it was not a good target. After one year of use with your ATP, how many hours have use actually used it? Do you know the working of it inside and out? How good are you at figuring out what is in the ground with sound and vdi before you dig? The machine does not find the target, you have to find the target.. Anyway, good luck in you upgrade choice, however a couple different size coils for you current machine might be a better investment. Also reading this article before you buy anything may help as well. Truth About Search Coils

 

[Silver Simon]

I have an AT Pro, and added an E-Trac to my arsenal shortly after that. My experience with it was much like Fletch88's, it was frustrating at first but then I learned how it worked and loved how well it did with deeper coins. It is certainly not a downgrade. The only thing it loses to the AT Pro is waterproofing, weight and speed. This is ultimately why I got rid of my E-Trac in favor of a Deus. Despite how much I liked the E-Trac, it is heavy and slow. Good targets will be invisible in the presence of iron, and most of the places I hunt are littered with iron.

 

[fella]

You think the ATP is noisy and you want an E-Trac…that's funny right there!

Both fine machines. Both find the goodies! The ATP will do 99% of everything the ET will do in the dry. The ET will do 0% of what the ATP will do in the wet!

Also, if you are concerned with air test, you are going to be HUGELY disappointed if you get an E-Trac.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

haha, when I read the title to this post/question, I KNEW there would be chevy-ford inputs, haha

As a lover of explorer series, and having hunted along-side some Garrett users (although not the AT-pro though) I would favor minelab products. But as has been pointed out: If "noise" (crazy sounds to interpret) is a factor, then yes: get used to an entirely different breed of sounds to get used to. Explorers and etracs can sound like a flock of sick geese to the un-initiated. You will wander around and not be able to distinguish deep vs shallow, mids versus highs, and so forth, at first.

But there's some tricks to help alleviate this:

a) hook up with a proficient etrac or explorer user. Ie.: one who "routinely comes in with the turf oldies" type hunter. Have them flag targets of various analysis. Eg.: this one's a shallow zinc, this one's a penny/dime at 4", this one might be a wheatie/silver at 7", and so forth. Watch how they're doing it. See how they swing. See/hear what sounds they're trying to isolate. Ask why other signals they'd pass, and so forth.

b) if you have no one proficient around you like that, then here's another way: Start off by blacking out all your iron, and everything else from zinc pennies and down (yup, kiss gold rings and nickels and zinc pennies good bye). Go out to a new park or school prolific with easy clad. Spend several hours forcing yourself to dig boring clad dimes and quarters and copper pennies. Then the next day, repeat the above scenario, except to lower your blacked out area to allow in zinc. Repeat. The next day go out and lower it down to accept corroded zincs, square tabs, etc... and repeat. Continue to do so till you're finally down to where you're accepting all conductors.

Otherwise, if you just run out there with the 1) smart screen in conductive preset, or 2) screen wide open in ferrous, then you're going to be one confused person indeed !

 

[cudamark]

You think the ATP is noisy and you want an E-Trac…that's funny right there!

Both fine machines. Both find the goodies! The ATP will do 99% of everything the ET will do in the dry. The ET will do 0% of what the ATP will do in the wet!

Also, if you are concerned with air test, you are going to be HUGELY disappointed if you get an E-Trac.

Sorry fella, but the E-trac will run circles around an AT Pro in salt water or wet ocean sand. I hunted with someone who thought the ATP was the greatest until I was finding targets sometimes 4" deeper than his ATP was finding them.

 

[BryanM362]

I made the same move about a year ago, and would never go back to the ATP. The etracs don't air test well, but it does id deepr targets better in the field. As mentioned, there is a steep learning curve, I was very frustrated when I first made the switch. Took about a month to start kind of understanding what the eTrac was telling me. Dug a lot of rusty nails at first too.

The bad as mentioned above are true, it is a little heavier, not a big deal to me. It is slower to recover, but I notice this less and less as I get better at understanding the sounds. I kept my ATP and have used it for a few water hunts. So, may want to hang onto yours too.

Good Luck!

 

[fella]

Sorry fella, but the E-trac will run circles around an AT Pro in salt water or wet ocean sand. I hunted with someone who thought the ATP was the greatest until I was finding targets sometimes 4" deeper than his ATP was finding them.

Thats funny, I took mine in the water and it stopped working! Odd! You must have one of those special waterproof ones?

 

[lookindown]

Sorry fella, but the E-trac will run circles around an AT Pro in salt water or wet ocean sand. I hunted with someone who thought the ATP was the greatest until I was finding targets sometimes 4" deeper than his ATP was finding them.

E-trac IN saltwater.

 

[lookindown]

I made the same move about a year ago, and would never go back to the ATP. The etracs don't air test well, but it does id deepr targets better in the field. As mentioned, there is a steep learning curve, I was very frustrated when I first made the switch. Took about a month to start kind of understanding what the eTrac was telling me. Dug a lot of rusty nails at first too.

The bad as mentioned above are true, it is a little heavier, not a big deal to me. It is slower to recover, but I notice this less and less as I get better at understanding the sounds. I kept my ATP and have used it for a few water hunts. So, may want to hang onto yours too.

Good Luck!

What does it air test on a dime compared to what it does in the ground in normal settings you would hunt in?

 

[AC500]

Not here to bash the Minelab at all, I almost went that way a couple weeks ago, I had an ATP and too wanted an upgrade after I sold it last fall. I ended up going back to it, every reputable dealer I spoke with pointed me back to the ATP. Not that the Pro is better, its very good at what it does for the price. For what its worth, I was looking at the E-Trac. IM very happy with my ATP and the 5x8 coil.

 

[BryanM362]

Not here to bash the Minelab at all, I almost went that way a couple weeks ago, I had an ATP and too wanted an upgrade after I sold it last fall. I ended up going back to it, every reputable dealer I spoke with pointed me back to the ATP. Not that the Pro is better, its very good at what it does for the price. For what its worth, I was looking at the E-Trac. IM very happy with my ATP and the 5x8 coil.

Good Point AC, is the etrac worth twice the money as the ATP? In my mind yes, but very debatable.

 

[BryanM362]

What does it air test on a dime compared to what it does in the ground in normal settings you would hunt in?

It's been a while since I air tested it, but I recall about 5 - 6" on a Dime in the air. I have hit domes at least 8" in the field.

 

[Normsel]

I have been told by experts that the E-Trac and Minelab detectors in general are the best detectors for deep finds but as the experts told me when you go deep you give up somewhere else. Although not by much. I have an ATP and for the money you can't do much better. When you buy the E-Trac remember your spending twice the money but will not get twice the results. I upgraded to a Whites V3i not so much because of what it can find but the challenge to learn it to it's maximum capability.

I would never go by an air test for anything other than checking what the vdi reading is.

Go with your gut and buy one. You will then own two great detectors.

 

[Normsel]

AC500 the ATP is probably the best all around detector on the market for it's price. When a person upgrades they get more setting options etc for twice the money but the learning curve it much bigger.

It took me at least 200 hours with my ATP over my Ace 250 but I would say no one can out hunt me with an ATP. I probably have over 1000 hours on it.

Many people give up on higher end detectors because they can be complicated and the learning curve is big. I probably have 100+ hours on my V3i and haven't scratched the surface in the learning curve.

I only upgraded for the challenge. I don't bash any detector. The all have pluses and minuses and it is more about the skill level of the user.

 

[AC500]

Normsel, I agree. I dont have nearly as many hours as you but I feel I have a good grip on the ATP. I do have a hard time passing on a signal even when I know all to well it's iron, I dont swing parks, beaches and other heavily populated areas, the places I go are old wooded acreage with over 200+ years of history, I really wanted the E Trac, wasnt afraid of the learning curve but just really liked the over all flexibility of the ATP and its just a perfect fit for what I do. Im sure I'll upgrade someday, but not in the near future.

 

[Fletch88]

For strapping a detector on the back of that Arctic Cat and tromping through the mud and muck the AT is your best option anyway! Congrats on your machine and show us the relics!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

E-trac IN saltwater.

lookin, I'm sure he meant on wet-salt sand. Or moving in and out of the ebbing surf (the coil is waterproof afterall). I'm sure he did not mean scuba or snorkel or whatever .

As for the depth, I don't see that any of the explorer series (etracs, etc...) get any less depth in an air test, as they do in a ground test. In either case, the depth on a dime is going to be 10" while still retaining a semblence of ability to discern highs versus low conductor, iron versus non-iron, etc... (and this is assuming you know what you're listening for, make multiple swings from various directions, etc...). And perhaps even 11". But at that depth, you're doing good to simply know iron versus non-iron. And maybe up to a foot (but at that depth, you won't have a clue as the iron-versus non-iron). I have dry sand hunted and found dimes to as deep as a foot. And if I kicked aside a few inches of sand, begin to get the TID, etc...