First Impression of E-trac

[Joe of South Jersey]

First thing out of the box, housing looks larger, grabbed a couple covers............guess what they do not fit properly( Explorer Sunray, and Minelab).

The Sunray Probe for the Explorer works.

The settings are pretty standard out of the box. I did see some that I changed right off the top to match my hunting style.

Played with some ring and coins to see how changes effected the tones and depth. It is going to take a little getting the hang of good targets being on the left of center 12 13 nickles, 12 4 gold, 12 3 plat. these are the areas of concern for me.

Ground Setting........Neutral or difficult, have not come to a conclustion....air test give one impression, on real ground worked the reverse.

Will add more after the rain pass's.

 

[DukeOBass]

Did they improve the screen visibility?

 

[Andy Sabisch]

The LCD is 1) larger and 2) crisper due to the improved LCD resolution.

If one looks at the photos posted of the screen - here, at Kellyco and Minelab Owners, you will see the menu structure and how targets are displayed

That should answer your question on screen visibility

 

[Rigit]

Got it yesterday and will be visiting a roman site on Sunday. Results from my test area are good, so far it seems to be a very stable machine unlike my first Explorer, the auto sensitivity works very well and keeps the machine at a good workable level.

I was able to detect a 14mm silver hammered coin while 4 inches away from a six inch nail with a positive signal, this I could not repeat with my old faithful XLT.

First Impression is that its not just an Explorer painted black its a new next model up machine that has incorporated the best features of the Explorer SE. Has some really useful new features, a super high res screen and the ability to set the machine up to the site you are detecting on and then save the settings on your PC for uploading again when you next visit the same site.

Last but most important the weight and balance, at last they have listened and got it right with new design grip and lightweight coil it feels really comfortable and I can't wait to get out on the fields.

I will give a full report after Sundays day out.

Martin UK

 

[Jim upstate NY]

I hate using my machines with no cover... not so much rain, but scratching it up worries me

 

[brissietex]

n/t

 

[Andy Sabisch]

. . . . . . That is the main reason it has been in the works for a year. Many of you have known I was working on a new book as you have supplied material but it has been "in the works". I have had the opportunity to be involved in the development of the E-Trac as I was with each of the Explorers and saw a need for info on the E-Trac much as there was a need for the Explorer.

The new book will cover both the Explorer and E-Trac . . . some sections apply to both while others don't. The book should be out in a month or so depending on the printers time line. This book has a different flavor from the 1st one and contains a good deal of material from well-known hunters around the world. . . . settings they use and more importantly, why . . . . .understanding the detector is the key - not copying or downloading someone's settings that might live 10,000 miles away and be hunting for different targets or in different soil.

More details will be available as the release gets closer . . . . for obvious reasons I was not at liberty to say the book covered both models until the release date passed.

Andy Sabisch

 

[Steve from Ohio]

I had a chance to play with the new E-Track today and I can say that the processor is definitely faster. The machine starts up much faster.
I did some tests with coins and nails to check the recovery speed. Holy Moly......incredibly faster than the Explorer SE pro.
No more missing targets when swinging faster. I was really impressed that the ET really ignored the nails and hit the silver dime even when the coin was within a fraction of an inch to the nails on both sides. With the nail on top of the dime, only the dime was detected.

The next thing I was really impressed with is the E-Track Exchange. I can see that I will have to bring my laptop with me to store all the programs I would want to run.
I love the idea of sharing programs with others over the net by just plugging in. This machine has a lot of potential to become the standard for which all machines are measured. I did not have a chance to use the Exchange, but by reading about it in the manual really impressed me. The ability to store 6 custom programs along with the factory programs is also a big plus.

The screen problem with the sun is now a thing of the past. I was out in the sun with the E-Track and the screen was visible from every angle with the sun really beating down.

The new coil is awesome and allows for a much better balance than the Explorer SE. It seems like the E-Track is lighter than the Explorer...I could be wrong or it could be that the better balance is better and makes it seem lighter.

The combine feature is incredible. Played with that for a little bit. You can combine targets from one program to another thus being able to detect things you would like and reject those that you do not want from programs you have already in memory. It really is fun to play with. I can see a major advantage to that feature.

I think Minelab hit a home run with E-Track. I am not connected and have no pecuniary interest in Minelab.

I have said in the past that I would keep my Minelab SE pro for at least ten years. OK, I was wrong. I just sold it to my brother and am buying the E-track !

 

[Jim upstate NY]

is the ability to download and upload to a usb memory stick

 

[Rigit]

No you need to connect to a computer as the software to connect to the E-Track has to be running.