A rookies first full length hunt with the E Trac, photos and thoughts.

[bottle collector]

OK a little background, aside from a very cheap metal detector I had 35 years ago when I was 10 and hunting with a friend and his detector twice 20 years ago (I found a Morgan dollar then), I am new to this hobby. I have about 15 hours on a Tesoro Cortes. I hunted with the Cortes and knew I had to be missing silver so I sold it and went to the dark side and shelled out the cash for an E Trac. I'm a firm believer in not doing things half way.

Today was the first full length hunt (about 7 hours) with the new E Trac. I did hunt with for about 1/2 hr on Tuesday morning and found a 1914 D Barber Quarter (see other thread). Today I hunted my parents home which I had hunted very hard last month with the Cortes. Below you will find photos of today's haul of a Barber dime, two Mercury dimes, two IH pennies, 10 wheat's and about a buck and half of clad. All of this came from parts of the yard where I had hunted with the Cortes.

My initial impression of the E Trac is that it is pretty much a turn on and go machine that has the potential to get much better when the user learns how to tweak it. I've seen statements about the machine being complex and difficult to learn. I do not see that at all. While I certainly am not claiming to know everything about the machine, I think a newbie can be very effective with this machine if they read the manual and learn the menu and think about what the machine is telling them.

My strategy today was simple. I used the Minelab coins mode and ran in Auto +3 with the gain set at 30. I then focused primarily on repeatable high tones that were on the bottom half of the depth gauge. I really did not pay that much attention to the ferrous and conductivity numbers and just treated them as a curiosity. I know I have lots to learn about this machine yet but I'm certain a rookie can be a real threat with this superb machine that Minelab has put out there.

 

[LabradorBob]

Congrats on the great finds.keep up the good work,the e trac is awesome!
LabradorBob

 

[montanagold]

Awesome!!! That shows how great an FBS machine is. Thanks for the story.

 

[jdeiana]

From one relative newbie to another - great job. The etrac is not difficult to be successful with if you only know the underlying basic way it works. It displays a representative of what is in the ground on a x-y axis of co and fe along with a corresponding audio tone. That is it. And it does it very well. The rest is fine tuning. To maximize it to 100% - that does take a lot of expertise which i am myself am not close to yet. But even at 75% effectiveness, it is a formidable machine in the hands of even a newbie. Your basic beginning strategy is the same as mine - Auto + 3 in basic coin program. You can be successful with only those adjustments. It is a true turn on and go machine. But that last 25% I know is a huge difference - The fun is trying to get to the point of getting 100% of the capabilities and making great finds along the way. Maybe I am way off in my perspective - but that is my perspective as a relative newbie like you. GREAT finds. Keep it up.

 

[NebTrac]

You've overcome the first hurdle...you turned it on! The E-Trac will lock on hard on coins. Enjoy it!!! Thanks for the pictures and the story/observation. Keep'm'comin'!!!

NebTrac

 

[tbkru]

Nice story. I was trying to compare the Etrac with the Fisher F75 and all of the veterans tell me to start out with a cheaper machine because it's way to complex but your story gives me hope. I know I would not be able to find everything but I could see wasting money on a cheaper machine then turn around and sell it and have another learning curve with a newer machine. I don't really want to spend the big bucks for the E-trac but I think I might. Any cons to the E-trac or have you had anyone compare E-trac to F75?

Keep the finds coming.

TK in Illinois

 

[bottle collector]

I cannot compare the E Trac to the Fisher- I've never even seen the Fisher. I can tell you that I hunted my parents yard for 12 hours over 2 days with the Cortes and found 100 coins but no silver. I would encourage you to buy the E Trac if you can swing it financially and are primarily interested in finding old coins. The E Trac is a complex machine and has many settings but it seems to me that "out of the box" it is probably one of the best machines out there and the complexities of the machine can be learned and adjusted to make it even better at a "when you get around to it" pace. This detector is to silver what a beagle is to rabbits right out of the box. I don't want to knock the Cortes as it has it's niche also but that machine missed the coins in the photos in this post. I'm 100% certain of it! I want to hunt old silver and copper -not clad or small gold so for me it was a matter of the E Trac or nothing. Based on my limited experience I'd say there is no reason at all to fear the complexity of the E Trac. I spent a couple hours reading the manual online before it even came. I read part of Andy Sabisch's book (not all of it yet) and read these boards while waiting for the machine to come. I was not intimidated by the E Trac at all while in the field. On that note I would like to thank all the posters on these boards who post advice and videos. Just remember when deciding what to buy, the E Trac will hit hard on silver right out of the box!

 

[OhioCoinHunter]

Exellent Start!!!! You're already making awesome finds. That's so cool!!!

 

[larryk56]

Good to hear you are enjoying the Etrac. I almost purchased one but went for the Safari instead.

I just started using it and I am very pleased!

Wishing you many good finds!

Larry

 

[RandyNorthridgeca]

Think your approach and thinking is dead on. I wouldn't have bumped up the gain that high but can't argue with your results .

The key is going slow. Try using deep on. Use fast on too if your in heavy trash. In heavy trash you'll walk right over good targets if your not moving at a snails pace. Nothing like digging lots of targets to learn your machine.

Nice finds and nice job!