Is the Etrac worth it?

the_mad_cladder · Jan 6, 2016

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?

Whats your deepest coin with the etrac?

DeepseekerADS · Jan 6, 2016

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.

Fletch88 · Jan 6, 2016

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 · Jan 6, 2016

Fletch88 said:
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 · Jan 6, 2016

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 · Jan 6, 2016

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 · Jan 6, 2016

patpall22 said:
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 · Jan 6, 2016

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 · Jan 8, 2016

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.

Fourman110 · Jan 16, 2016

Yes it is. Found a lot with my AT pro. Found a lot more with my ETrac. Especially silver.

bottlecap · Jan 16, 2016

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 · Jan 16, 2016

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 · Jan 16, 2016

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 · Jan 16, 2016

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 · Feb 5, 2016

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 · Feb 11, 2016

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).

TheRingFinder · Feb 11, 2016

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 · Feb 11, 2016

Tedyoh said:
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