eTrac reading compared to CTX, ATTN: Digger

[Roland58]

I know I said "Attn: Digger", only because, from what I have seen, he would be a most reliable source. Others are welcome to chime in, of course.

My questions are simple: Does the CTX use the same circuitry and such to provide the Fe/Co readings as the eTrac? Basically, given the same target in the same place, would each machine (set up the same way) give the same readout?

Thanks and to all best wishes for a wonderful holiday season......

 

[DukeOBass]

The CTX does give both Ferrous and Conductive readouts like the E-trac, but the does not give same readout. On the E-trac, I knew what I had before I dug the coin. This is especially true with silver. You may get a penny reading on your CTX and dig silver. I noticed the CTX hits hard on deep copper, but the silver has to be more shallow to hit as hard as copper does.

 

[Digger]

Does the CTX use the same circuitry and such to provide the Fe/Co readings as the eTrac? Basically, given the same target in the same place, would each machine (set up the same way) give the same readout?

The CTX does give both Ferrous and Conductive readouts like the E-trac, but the does not give same readout. On the E-trac, I knew what I had before I dug the coin. This is especially true with silver. You may get a penny reading on your CTX and dig silver. I noticed the CTX hits hard on deep copper, but the silver has to be more shallow to hit as hard as copper does.

DukeOBass is correct in that the CTX3030 gives both FE and CO readouts, like the ETRAC. And I recognize that the "reliability" of the CO numbers is not as "predictable" with the CTX as they are with the ETRAC. From my questioning this during the Field Test process, it became my understanding that this can be attributed to the different processing required for the various Separation modes. If you note, some target numbers will vary between FE-Coin, Grd-Coin, High Trash and Low Trash, with FE-Coin being the least consistent (with the E-TRAC) on larger silver coins. Again, this is due to the increased processing required for the FE-Coin Separation. I've also noticed that it is somewhat difficult to differentiate between dimes and certain series of US pennies. Difficult to the point that I continue to have conversations with Minelab, regarding this issue. One of the things I've been doing is to set two hunt modes identical, except for one having Fe/Coin and the other Low Trash. I hunt in FE/Coin....then when I find a target, I frog over to the other mode and confirm the number in Low Trash. This is easy to do with the soft programmable pad. With that said, I haven't found what DukeOBass suggests, in regard to silver not hitting hard. Naturally, due to the size of the targets, quarters hit harder than pennies....and dimes don't hit as hard. And, with so many variables in the sites we hunt, it is difficult to make "head to head" comparisons between what we encounter at our different sites. But when I put them up against each other in the same sites, on the same targets, in my dirt, I find the CTX3030 hits deep silver and copper with an equal or better audio response than my ETRAC. JMHO HH Randy

 

[Roland58]

A big "thank you" to you both. You have both provided excellent information with equally excellent explanations. The reason I asked about this, of course, was to get a better idea of what I should expect from a given target indication. Although it is not a fair comparison, I am able to distinguish (before digging) between a quarter, dime, penny and nickel using my F75 Standard with reasonable accuracy. With the CTX I have learned that a 12/13 consistent reading will almost always render a nickel (there is the occasional pull tab or beaver tail) and a 12/46 will usually produce a quarter. Beyond that, it is a matter of having to dig it to find out......(rather like "you have to eat it to see if it is poison"......hmmm, that sounds vaguely familiar to something else I have heard some time ago......to remain 'PC' I won't expound).

The eTrac charts I found online have been fairly close, which brought me to my questions. I know this CTX is a good machine and that I have a LOT more to learn about it......I am determined to do so.

Thanks again to you both for your time to answer. If you ever plan to come through NE Texas, let me know, I will offer you a free Bed and Breakfast for a 'training hunt!'

 

[DukeOBass]

Sounds Good! Wish I was retired. I'd be on my way! LOL!

 

[Roland58]

LOL, yeah, there is nothing bad I can say about being retired!

 

[GKMan]

Good question about the detector Roland, and a real good explanation by Digger.. I will have to try switching back and forth into Low Trash when I am detecting the parks to see if that works for me..