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etrac or v3i...going to buy one...need advice:confused:

C

Czhunter

New member
After the 1st of the year I have 2 weeks vacation. I've wanted a top of the line metal detector for a long time, but never had that kind of money. Instead of taking vacation next year, I'm going to cash it out so I can buy one.

For me...1, 500 for a metal detector is a LOT of money. I really want to make the best informed decision I can.

I'd be interested in hearing what the pros on both of these machines think.

I know whites have excellent customer service. Minelab, I dont know because I have no experience with them.

Anything good and bad about these machines are appreciated.

Or...is it really worth spending that kind of money?

This would be used for mostly coin hunting.
 
This one has been done a hundred times and you are going to get the same answers from the different users. I've got both an SE and V3i and they both have strong points, but go at it again. :stars:

I sent you are link to a post with 53 replies.
 
Personally I see the E-Trac as a specialized detector and the V3i as a all-purpose machine.

For me the E-Trac was the best detector for hunting extremely deep silver and copper with the least amount of effort. Right out of the box, and a little bit of experience, and the E-Trac can pull those really deep missed goods. Strong points are the ability to accurately ID copper and silver at extreme depths and alert the user when a deep copper or silver in under the coil. It loves hard packed ground but hates freshly disturbed/plowed ground. Weight is an issue that takes some getting used to.

The V3i is a great example of why White's remains so popular. Well built, great service and just a great all-around machine. It is at home be it hunting the local park/school or in the field hunting relics or prospecting. The v3i takes a bit more education/experience, but just keeps getting better as you learn.

For me it is down to what your choice of hunting would be. If I were hunting mostly old parks that have been hunted hard and has extremely deep coins the E-Trac would be my choice. For all other hunting I'd go with a V3i.
 
I couldn't have said it better Southwind, I agree with you 100%.
 
Thanks guys, and thanks rob for the link. I'm sure this comparison has been discussed a ton on the Internet. I guess I should have probably looked more before asking the question, but this is just the start of me thinking about buying a new machine, and posting the question on the forum was my first thought I guess. I have a cz21 that I water hunt with and love the machine, , but for a land detector, I want one thats really good at discriminating out iron. I'm more of a coun shooter than anything else. I had a fisher cz3d that I loved but the cz series do like iron. I read lots of posts claiming minelab is pretty good at discriminating it out. I seem to dig loads of nails...lol
 
Hey, I didn't mean to sound flippant in suggesting you consider a lesser machine than the two you mentioned in your posting, but there are a couple of things I would be considering if I was about to drop the equivalent of two weeks leave:

(Bear in mind I only have experience with the Etrac; I have zero knowledge about the V3i.)

First, if I had $1500 to spend, and that at a cost of two weeks vacation time, I would definitely search for how to get 'the most bang for the buck'. Buying a machine that would do all I wanted for less than $1500 would give me the remainder to spend on gas and accessories.

Second, the Etrac is a very versatile machine. I have forced myself to hang up my beloved M6 for 2 years of learning the Etrac. I can now assure you of two things - the M6 would have found 90% of what I have found with the Etrac AND the M6 would have found a LOT MORE GOLD! As much as I've enjoyed the Etrac, I have yet to find a single gold item with it. In the previous three years, when I was using only the M6, I found 14 gold items!

That 10% that I don't think the M6 would have found is due to a very exciting 'program' termed TTF (Two Tone Ferrous). You can read about it in one of the 'stickies' in the Etrac forum. For nail (iron) infested sites, this gives you the ability to pick out the goodies from amongst the iron.

Now here is the most exciting part - Whites new MX5 gives a two tone ferrous tone option not available in the M6. I believe this will give users the ability to ferret out the goodies amongst the iron while still taking advantage of the M6's love for gold.

Just my 2 cents,
 
If all your mostly interested in is coin shooting i totally agree with phillip_in_NM. Personally i think my xterra 705 has the best target i.d. i'm using at present, and i own a VX3, not saying i don't like my VX3, i do, but you don't need a $1,500.00 machine to be successful at coin shooting... but you should definitely get what will make you satisfied.. jmo
 
E-Trac (with a small coil) excels in weeding out the goodies when there's a lot of modern trash around. For trashy parks it's the best detector there is. Also, whatever the ground or EMI conditions, you can pretty much just turn on the machine and go and it works every time. There are lots of settings but you really can't mess anything up to make it not work (unless using too tight a disc. pattern, or using too high/low manual sensitivity, but that's pretty much it).

If you are only concerned about iron, then that's another story. There are better (and cheaper) machines for that. The E-Trac identifies iron just great, but is rather slow going when there's lots of it around. Again, you need a small coil for best results, which is true for any machine but especially the E-Trac.
 
I have both of the detectors you mentioned now. I spent most of yesterday comparing signals in a trashy park with both of them. They both work good and go deep but the Etrac does have a more accurate TID in my area and in the type of soil I hunt. If I could only keep one it would be the Etrac.
 
need to get the xp dues runs great had the v3i ok machine but the deus only weighs abt a pound and no wires then et the w4 headphones the the chephones over the head fit better cooler and keep the noise out for abt 100. and the 11" coil really does great
 
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