Is the Etrac worth it?

the_mad_cladder

Hero Member
Jan 2, 2015
846
2,381
North Carolina
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
XP Deus with all the coils, MI-6 pinpointer, Ace350 and Garrett pro pointer.
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I've been using an Ace 350 for a couple years with minimal success. I like what I see about the Etrac in reviews and posts and am considering buying one. Will a few inches land me more silver? I seem to get all the wheat pennies from unhunted areas but rarely any silver. I found 8 wheaties in my girlfriends yard last week but no silver. Does silver typically end up deeper somehow? IMG_20151011_154609.jpg Whats your deepest coin with the etrac?
 

DeepseekerADS

Gold Member
Mar 3, 2013
14,880
21,727
SW, VA - Bull Mountain
Detector(s) used
CTX, Excal II, EQ800, Fisher 1260X, Tesoro Royal Sabre, Tejon, Garrett ADSIII, Carrot, Stealth 920iX, Keene A52
Primary Interest:
Other
If it ain't there you ain't gonna dig it up.

The Etrac is heavy, and the Etrac is frustrating. But if you take the time to learn the machine and the sounds - may take 100 hours to learn - you'd be unwilling to go back to the Ace 350 at gun point. With many machines on the market being "fast", the Etrac is a slow swing. You won't cover the same amount of territory as the Ace - if you do you're swinging too fast. But, what you will be doing is scanning deep and intelligently. It's an intelligent machine best paired with a patient user.

The Etrac IS a beast.
 

Last edited:

Fletch88

Silver Member
Mar 7, 2013
4,841
2,367
Valdosta, GA
Detector(s) used
Garrett ATPro- 8.5x11, 5x8, CORS Fotune 5.5x9.5
Tesoro Silver microMax- 8 donut, 8x11 RSD, 3x18 Cleansweep
Minelab Excalibur ll- 10" Tornado
Minelab CTX 3030
Minelab Xterra 305
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The short answer is yes it's worth it. I never found the Etrac or CTX frustrating or needing 100's of hours to learn. They both can be used quite successfully by turning on and hunting without a whole lot of fiddling with settings necessary. Read the manual study Andy Sabisch' book if you like and enjoy.
 

DeepseekerADS

Gold Member
Mar 3, 2013
14,880
21,727
SW, VA - Bull Mountain
Detector(s) used
CTX, Excal II, EQ800, Fisher 1260X, Tesoro Royal Sabre, Tejon, Garrett ADSIII, Carrot, Stealth 920iX, Keene A52
Primary Interest:
Other
The short answer is yes it's worth it. I never found the Etrac or CTX frustrating or needing 100's of hours to learn. They both can be used quite successfully by turning on and hunting without a whole lot of fiddling with settings necessary. Read the manual study Andy Sabisch' book if you like and enjoy.

Oh yes! If it's in the ground you'll find it right then and there, first use. To master the beast to its' full capabilities, only time will teach you that!
 

jtermz

Full Member
May 6, 2014
108
101
west suburbs of chicago(lombard)
Detector(s) used
etrac nox600

garret pp
lesche diggers
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I went from a whites prizmV to the etrac and found many good finds but no deep silver maybe its just not there my only concern is that you see a lot of guys with many hours on the etrac saying you shouldn't go by the numbers but go by sound I thought that's what I was paying for was that ability overall its good machine. get the RNB rechargeable battery it works like a charm
 

patpall22

Sr. Member
Jul 4, 2006
436
174
Carmel ca/ Big Sur ca
Detector(s) used
CTX 3030, whites DFX, XP DEUS, etrac and sandshark
where I hunt in cali generally their will be 10 wheats for every silver. the etrac will allow you to cherrypick high conductors if silver is what your after
 

masterjedi

Bronze Member
May 24, 2014
1,757
1,349
Oregon
Detector(s) used
Minelab's CTX 3030, E-Trac & EQ800, Fisher F75LTD SE & F44, Whites MXT All PRO, Whites TRX Pointer & Shovel, Predator Tools Raptor hand digger & Ranger shovel. Grey Ghost Ultimate headphones.
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
where I hunt in cali generally their will be 10 wheats for every silver. the etrac will allow you to cherrypick high conductors if silver is what your after

In Oregon its 7 wheat's to every silver... The Etrac rocks!
 

firemac

Bronze Member
Apr 14, 2012
1,756
414
Irving Texas and the beach
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro Garrett pro pointer Minelab Etrac & excal ll
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Try goes4ever.com, his site has tutorial videos and several of his pet program settings, I fine tuned one to my hearing and it works great. Good luck
 

cudamark

Gold Member
Top Banner Poster
Mar 16, 2011
13,287
14,737
San Diego
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
XP Deus 2, Equinox 800/900, Fisher Impulse AQ, E-Trac, 3 Excal 1000's, White's TM808, VibraProbe, 15" NEL Attack, Mi6, Steath 920ix and 720i scoops, TRX, etc....
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
If you hunt wet sand or water at a salt water beach, it will be a night and day difference! Even on land, the E-trac is a much better machine in just about every category.
 

bottlecap

Hero Member
Feb 22, 2014
580
296
West Metro, Mn
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I would say that silver isn't any deeper than any other coin, just depends when it was dropped. If you keep hunting you'll find some, the fact that you're finding wheat pennies means silver should be right around the corner!
 

PluGGLife

Jr. Member
Dec 21, 2015
41
24
Indiana
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro
Minelab e-trac
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I was in the same boat with my ATPro. If you are not ready to pull the trigger on the e trac get a large coil for your 350 used . Less money invested and you could sell it if you want.
 

Ogre1190

Bronze Member
Mar 31, 2015
2,063
2,408
Northern Illinois
Detector(s) used
MineLab E-Trac, MineLab Safari, MineLab Explorer XS,
White's 5000 D, White's 6DB, White's 5000 D GEB
Sunray X-1 for the ML's, Garrett PP for the White's and a Backhoe
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I was a White's blue box man for 20+ years. Then a quick flirt with BH. I went back to my old White's 6DB...until last year, when a friend showed me how the Minelab FBS's worked. I got myself a creampuff Explorer XS off eBay in late 2014. Got my E-Trac last Spring...and haven't looked back. The learning curve wasn't extremely difficult and after about 40-50 hours, everything began to make sense and the older, deeper stuff started to flow. IMHO...Yep...It's worth every penny. 😁
 

beerguy

Bronze Member
May 6, 2004
1,138
1,174
Camano Island, WA
Detector(s) used
CTX3030,
Many more on a rotating basis.
Park Ranger and Pack Mule pouches by Freeloader!
Not really wanting to hijack this thread, but Fletch and Ogre made excellent points regarding the learning curve on the FBS units.

I got the Sabisch book on the CTX 3 weeks ago, read it 3 times before my CTX showed up.

I was ready for a long learning curve.

Not saying that I am comfortable right away, but if you have mastered a detector, you can pick up an FBS and immediately be more productive with it.

The target ID is so accurate on the CTX that I bring home 2x the coins than before. My previous machines were XLT, CZ7a Pro, older Sovereign, Xterra 705 and MXT Pro.

Not too off topic, I hope, but my point is that you should not think that you will take 3 months to become productive should you make the upgrade happen.
 

jimzz977

Bronze Member
Jun 23, 2012
1,791
4,707
New Mexico
Detector(s) used
Minelab Etrac
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I've been using a T2 for two years and very happy with it just recently had a chance to buy a etrac from a friend and on my first time using it found a gold pendant and so far found 4 silver coins in a park that I pounded with my T2. I'm still learning it the only problem I have is pinpointing and learning what's a good target I digging all signals . I'm using minelab coin mode . So far t I'm happy with it.
 

Tedyoh

Bronze Member
Apr 13, 2013
1,567
1,623
N.E. Ohio
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, NOX 600, XP Deus II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I have an Etrac with about 4-5 hours on it, warranty card never filled out, please (or anyone) do me the favor and buy this "Rocking Beast" off me for $1,000, I have a dust cover for the control box, the NEL "Snake Coil" mounted to an extra lower shaft (around $200 in extras I believe?). PP GIFT or add the extra 3% or whatever it is. PM me if anyone wants pics, I'll be posting in The Classifieds soon, soon to me is whenever I get around to it, may be tomorrow, may be next month. As you may notice I can care less if I sell it or not.

Oh yeah, free shipping to Continental US, I can ship anywhere in the world via FedEx (will quote).
 

Last edited:

TheRingFinder

Bronze Member
May 22, 2013
2,223
1,991
Minnesota
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
Minelab - E-Trac / Excalibur
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The E-Trac is the best in my opinion. I hunted with a guy who had the Ace 350 years ago. We would hunt together, I always pulled way more targets then he did. After the first year, he bought a Minelab and we evened out in finds - That really opened my eyes to the reality of Minelabs superiority. True story - You can PM my old friend as he is on TN - SJuusola is his name.
 

Fletch88

Silver Member
Mar 7, 2013
4,841
2,367
Valdosta, GA
Detector(s) used
Garrett ATPro- 8.5x11, 5x8, CORS Fotune 5.5x9.5
Tesoro Silver microMax- 8 donut, 8x11 RSD, 3x18 Cleansweep
Minelab Excalibur ll- 10" Tornado
Minelab CTX 3030
Minelab Xterra 305
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I have an Etrac with about 4-5 hours on it, warranty card never filled out, please (or anyone) do me the favor and buy this "Rocking Beast" off me for $1,000, I have a dust cover for the control box, the NEL "Snake Coil" mounted to an extra lower shaft (around $200 in extras I believe?). PP GIFT or add the extra 3% or whatever it is. PM me if anyone wants pics, I'll be posting in The Classifieds soon, soon to me is whenever I get around to it, may be tomorrow, may be next month. As you may notice I can care less if I sell it or not.

Oh yeah, free shipping to Continental US, I can ship anywhere in the world via FedEx (will quote).

This is a deal and a half for someone. If I didn't just buy a used CTX I would be all over it
 

Captain Caveman

Silver Member
May 14, 2015
2,513
2,234
Madison, MS
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75SE, F44, F2 and CZ-20. Minelab E-TRAC and Go-Find 60. Tesoro Tejon. BH Quick Silver.
Primary Interest:
Other
So, now that I have an Etrac on the way :laughing7: , how good is it at the beach on dry sand? And, how waterproof is it for detecting in fresh water and being out in the rain?
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top