sgoss66
Well-known member
Hi everyone. I'm sure this question has been asked a million times, so please forgive that.
I've been detecting for some time now, and have always used First Texas machines. I'm primarily a coin hunter, and like to focus on finding silver, and other old coins. I also would like to be able to find gold and silver rings/jewelry.
I've recently started hunting with some guys using Minelabs (Etracs mainly). Watching them continually fly past the all the trash and consistently find the silver, while I'm mired in the machine-gun barrage of tones at the trashy parks we often hunt, has gotten me intrigued. They rarely if ever find a silver coin that, after checking out their target before they dig, I wouldn't have also dug. It's more that I have less information at my disposal to make dig/no dig decisions, and thus I dig way more trash, and spend way more time interrogating a high VDI target that could be flat iron, could be a bottle cap, etc. When we try a new spot, and begin looking for the "productive" parts of the area, they simply get to the good stuff, and start digging, long before I ever get there.
I have read a bit, and asked enough questions, to understand that the Explorer/Etrac machines use multiple frequencies, and from that -- obtain both a ferrous and a conductivity number; whereas, with my Fisher machines it's just "conductivity." A flat rusty piece of iron sounds like a coin in many ways to my machine and ears (VDI numbers can be identical), but an Etrac guy will pass right by that target.
I've always looked at the Etracs as complex, indimidating machiens. However, today, one of my friends was kind enough to let me use his Etrac for a couple of hours. It's alot heavier than my Fisher machines, but that was really the only negative. He showed me enough to at least understand how to work the thing. I enjoyed it -- it still seems very complex and intimidating, but he set a program for me to run, showed me how to pinpoint, showed me how to switch from auto to manual sensitivity, and showed me how to noise cancel, and then with some basic understanding of what "good" numbers are, he sent me on my way.
No major finds, but I got the hang of it. Here's the issue -- I can't afford $1500. Period. And I rarely see a used Etrac for under about $1200. So, my question is (without knowing much of anything about these machines), if I'm going the used route, and if I have about $600 to spend (or could wait a few months, and push it to about $800), which used Explorer machine might give me most of the benefits of the Etrac? I don't know enough about the different Explorer models, and what was changed with/added to the Etrac, to know how they compare. I know one of the guys I hunt with uses an SE Pro, and likes it...but I don't know how similar or dissimilar it is to an Etrac. I guess I'd like to know what machine would get me closest, while staying more affordable. I would like that ability to plow past the trash and find the silver, and those Etracs are simply silver killers. Is this true of most of the Explorer machines, or is the Etrac in a class all its own, for that type of hunting?
Thanks for any help you can offer,
Steve
I've been detecting for some time now, and have always used First Texas machines. I'm primarily a coin hunter, and like to focus on finding silver, and other old coins. I also would like to be able to find gold and silver rings/jewelry.
I've recently started hunting with some guys using Minelabs (Etracs mainly). Watching them continually fly past the all the trash and consistently find the silver, while I'm mired in the machine-gun barrage of tones at the trashy parks we often hunt, has gotten me intrigued. They rarely if ever find a silver coin that, after checking out their target before they dig, I wouldn't have also dug. It's more that I have less information at my disposal to make dig/no dig decisions, and thus I dig way more trash, and spend way more time interrogating a high VDI target that could be flat iron, could be a bottle cap, etc. When we try a new spot, and begin looking for the "productive" parts of the area, they simply get to the good stuff, and start digging, long before I ever get there.
I have read a bit, and asked enough questions, to understand that the Explorer/Etrac machines use multiple frequencies, and from that -- obtain both a ferrous and a conductivity number; whereas, with my Fisher machines it's just "conductivity." A flat rusty piece of iron sounds like a coin in many ways to my machine and ears (VDI numbers can be identical), but an Etrac guy will pass right by that target.
I've always looked at the Etracs as complex, indimidating machiens. However, today, one of my friends was kind enough to let me use his Etrac for a couple of hours. It's alot heavier than my Fisher machines, but that was really the only negative. He showed me enough to at least understand how to work the thing. I enjoyed it -- it still seems very complex and intimidating, but he set a program for me to run, showed me how to pinpoint, showed me how to switch from auto to manual sensitivity, and showed me how to noise cancel, and then with some basic understanding of what "good" numbers are, he sent me on my way.
No major finds, but I got the hang of it. Here's the issue -- I can't afford $1500. Period. And I rarely see a used Etrac for under about $1200. So, my question is (without knowing much of anything about these machines), if I'm going the used route, and if I have about $600 to spend (or could wait a few months, and push it to about $800), which used Explorer machine might give me most of the benefits of the Etrac? I don't know enough about the different Explorer models, and what was changed with/added to the Etrac, to know how they compare. I know one of the guys I hunt with uses an SE Pro, and likes it...but I don't know how similar or dissimilar it is to an Etrac. I guess I'd like to know what machine would get me closest, while staying more affordable. I would like that ability to plow past the trash and find the silver, and those Etracs are simply silver killers. Is this true of most of the Explorer machines, or is the Etrac in a class all its own, for that type of hunting?
Thanks for any help you can offer,
Steve