Great question Normsel, however I think most of us will have a different opinion and it has a lot to do with what our different interests are in the hobby. I can't speak to the e-trac, but I do have lots of experience on the V3i and Deus. Here is my opinion.
I was brand loyal to Whites. I had two Whites Coinmasters in the mid 1990's. Found a ton of great stuff with them back in the 90's, so when I took some time away from the hobby and decided to get back in, I got a V3i. There was no question in my mind which brand I should buy, so I just went with the top of the line whites. I spent 2 or so years with it and made some good finds. I was frustrated with recovery speed and depth I was getting with it... not to mention the endless tweaks and settings that can be confusing at times (And I'm a Software Developer who works on a computer all day.. still frustrating with the V3i menus. haha) I started to ask myself if there was a better machine out there for me that would suit my hunting style better.
I'm a relic hunter who finds old coins in the process! Most of my hunting is at iron infested house sites.
I felt like I was cheating on Whites, but I bought a T2 SE about a year ago. I heard great things about recovery speed and depth with the T2 SE, not to mention its simplicity and people loved it as a relic machine. Until I was comfortable with the T2, the V3i came along on my first hunts. It took ONE hunt for me to fall in love with the T2 SE. Coppers and buttons where turning up all over the place in the same area I pounded with the V3i. Perhaps I still didn't have my V3i configured optimally?? Maybe, but remember I had 2 years and hundreds of hours on the V3i. The T2 was simple and blazing fast... it would machine gun grunt iron sounds and pick out non-ferrous items in the trash pits.
Then I started hearing more and more about the Deus. Realizing that being brand loyal in the past was making me shoot myself in the foot being a relic hunter, I sold my V3i (was my then backup machine to the T2SE) and pulled the trigger and got the Deus 11" coil, WS4 and Remote. I went to the same spot I had been pounding once or twice a week (for the last 6 months) with the V3i and T2 and this happened on my first hunt
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/t...le-springfield-1810-bayonet-1819-lc-more.html Many of my later hunts with the Deus are very similar!! I still took my T2 with me along side the Deus until I felt comfortable, but now my main machine is the Deus. I was blown away at its recovery speed and target separation as well as depth. I was pulling coppers, silvers and relics from areas I had been over dozens of times with two other machines. The weight of it and it being wireless made it so easy to spend 8+ hours in the field. The Deus was separating and unmasking things outside the capabilities of the other machines I used there. It has more settings to fiddle with than the T2, but MUCH LESS than the V3i.... I think its an optimal amount of settings allowing me some flexibility, with much less confusion over the V3i.
So my choice is now XP Deus all the way! (for my hunting style)
That's the evolution of my machine purchases. Remember, I am a relic hunter that likes iron infested sites. Perhaps if I was a coin shooter in a local park, I would choose something different... I dunno. Or if I was a beach hunter, perhaps a different machine... I dunno. (But I think the Deus can do it all
... at least until something different comes along!) Most importantly, over the last few years I realized that being Brand Loyal was not in my best interest. If you talked to me a year ago, I wouldn't have even considered anything but a Whites... nothing against Whites at all... I still think they're a top notch company with some of the best machines, I just found something that works for ME better.
