Here's a comparison test I did between etrac and white's V3i. And I sincerely think this is the reason more deep silver is found with etrac versus V3i.
I compared the Etrac and V3i today using their respective stock coils-pro coil and 10dd coils.
My test today consisted of a paperclip laying on clean ground with a clad dime suspended .6 inches above the paper clip. For test sake I ID'd the paperclip using a wide open quick mask screen on etrac and it's ID was 35-41/43. Going into a disc setup of 27 ferrous the paperclip would give no hint of a tone on the etrac. V3i's 10dd coil was confirmed RX 15 no overload.
First, the etrac using a disc of 27, high trash, fast recovery, difficult ground, Cond multi tone setup. From my best detectable position sweeping the above setup at 6 inches height above dime, the etrac's coil was alive. In manual sensivity settings of 21-30 it seemed the entire center strip (9 inches plus) was giving a high tone on every pass. Going below manual sensivity 21 and the coils tips seemed to provide more dodgy tone and would sometimes thunk and sometimes none at all. It also seemed at the below 21 settings sweep speed could be slowed/adjusted and still obtain a better tone although not a good signal all the time.
Next, the V3i 3 FREQ best data, 5 Band Pass filter, with no disc, all positive VDIs assigned a tone. A ground balance was obtained with any setting change. First I tried AM 65 Disc 85, Rx gain at 8 recovery delay at 60. Sweeping the target at a height of 6 inches from my best detection position I got good tone. Varying the coils center strip position while sweeping I was able to obtain a tone from a span of 5and 3/4-6 inches of the 10dd coils center strip. Next, I went to RX gain of 12 leaving all other settings alone no change. Next I went to disc 92 rx 12, no change. Next I went to RX 12, Disc 92, recovery delay 100, and again no appreciable change.
Next I removed the paperclip and swep both machines over the dime alone. Etrac's coil provided signal front to back at a distance of 6 inches, the same goes for the V3i-signal detected all the way from front to back of coil.
Since I was working with these detectors, I went ahead and did a small air test comparison at 9 inches above my original setup (paperclip under dime .6 inches separation).
Etrac obtained good high tone at manual settings 23 and higher. Setting of 22 was marginal and 21 was to me very dodgy-just a small short high blip. Interestingly enough 30 manual was a bit washed out tonal quality wise as compared to 27 manual. And I did seem to have a fairly large window of detection at this 9 inch test although I didn't measure.
Next the V3i, in 3 Freq best data 5 Bandpass filter,disc 92 AM 65 RX gain12 recovery settings of 60 and 100. No joy from any position, and to add not even a change/slight change in threshold, notta nothing. Went to single frequency 2.5 khz, 5 band pass filter, AM 65 disc 92 recovery delay at 100. Started with RX gain at 12 and was able to obtain a good tone, sweep speed seemed critical but if held consistent did produce tone. I started running my RX gain down 1 increment setting at a time leaving all other settings alone. I could get a good repetitive tone with RX gain settings down to 6. At levels between 6-8 some tones were loud and clear and some tones were the same tone but lower volumne(whispers). At 5 and 4 the V3i still produced and occassional tone but was intermittent. I did try RX gain 15 and yep the V3i was getting it real well. I did notice even with RX gain 15 setting the window of detection is still at the 9 inch air distance substantially narrower than the etracs span of detection on this particular target and distance.
New test
I actually did 2 test. And both tests resulted in similar results. One test I used my trusty torquex/allen wrench and the second a paper clip. In first test I placed the wrench on clean ground and on top of it I placed a clad dime inside a plastic rifle scope cover . I compared the etrac with manual sens at 25, 20 and auto plus 0/high trash/fast recovery, disc set to the 27 ferrous line, and used 10x12 sef, pro coil, and the x5 coil. At my best dime detection position I swept the 10x12 coil at various heights. When I would get a good high tone and ID I kept sweeping and started to sweep progressivley toward the coil tips. At best detection position the etrac with sensivity setiings mentioned above I got good signal throughout a large portion of the coil-at least 8 inches(front to back). Next I tried the procoil on the same machine and same thing-good sgnal on at least 8 inches of the center portion of the coil. With both pro coil and 10x12 sef I noticed very good dime TID, but with sweeps more toward the heel and toe the ferrous number would be greater but still gave me the "stop in your tracks" high tone. I have an 8x6 sef but didn't try it but tried the sunray x-5 coil with a different etrac. It look like I had a window of detection on the center strip of around 2 inches. I know this because the scope cap measure 2 inches OD. The V3i using stock 10DD coil AM 65 Disc 85 RX gain 8 no VDI numbers disc out all postive VDI numbers assigned tones, recovery delay settings of 50 and 60. With a good ground balances tried both 50 and 60 recovery settings the v3i would lock on and give a tone with good ID. I varied my sweeps to find the best detection position. Once I found my best position of detection I kept my swing speed as consistent as possible. The V3i was locking on very good even with height adjustments. So next while sweeping from this best detection position I started sweeping moving the coil slightly forward in small increments and then back towards the coils heel. I noticed the V3i would only only give a tone in what looked like a 4 3/4 INCH window not to ever exceed 5 inches. I could even here the detector breaking a threshold when I got outside of this window but no tone. It didn't seem to matter if the recovery delay was 50 or 60. Next I raised the RX gain to 12 and tried. The window looked like it may have gotten slightly wider to give consistent tone to 5 inches. I even tried DISC 92 AM 65 recovery 60 and saw no improvement. Believe it on not using the paperclip showed very similar results with the etrac having a much larger window of detection in respect of distance detected from the center of coil. I know this is an airtest but even if 1/2 of these differences are realized with in ground targets that's huge IMO. It even seems like I have seen some gents on youtube with both detectors and it did seem to me even after they knew where the coin was it always looked like it took them longer to get over it with the V3i versus the etrac. Last I tested just the dime with no metal present and swept the V3i and it seemed to lock on all the way to the heel and toe of the coil. Is this test valid? And can anything be deduced from it?
