If not and you don't have plans on becoming one soon, then no, you did not make a mistake by buying the ETrac. The
Etrac is a great machine, just not better than a previous Explorer model in the hands of a competent user. My purpose for buying it was to go into sites that I have already hunted thoroughly with the SE and pull out more finds. The only machine to accomplish that for me so far has been the F-75 (which I have less than 30 hours on), and only because it can be manually ground balanced and has a faster recovery rate than the SE. The Etrac seems to plateau with it's better than the SE separation in trash at 5 to six inches in depth which I could have done with a smaller coil on the SE and just pushed the sensitivity. It's not that the machine isn't worth the 1500 bucks, because it is
worth every penny. But since I already own two SE's that
I can pretty much do the same thing with, what's the point of spending the money? For guys who have never used an Explorer or did and weren't incredibly successful with the previous Explorer models, they should be able to open the box of their new ETrac and hunt with a great deal more proficiency with this new model right off the bat, probably on day one. But for guys who have thousands of hours on their Explorers and dream of it's familiar voice in their sleep, that hunt with
no discrimination other than their ear, this is a kettle of stinky fish. Luckily for Mine Lab, those particular hunters are a minority and my post is truly directed to them. Don't let my narrow opinion influence your confidence in your machine. The Etrac is not the wrong machine for anyone, just wrong for me and possibly a few people who hunt like me.
