Having reservations about the new E-Trac....

[Crash620]

First, let me state there are many things that appeal to me in the design of the new E-trac. I think many of the new features would be useful to me. Minelab has given us good targets responding in a fairly straight line in the upper portion of the smart screen .... Ok, visually it makes it easier to spot a "good" target, with iron targets having a ferrous responses in the lower portion of the screen... I am still ok with that... easy enough to spot visually, but audio seems to become a problem for me now (and I would imagine others too)...

Hunt in ferrous and you are basically going to have a very limited audio response based on limited ferrous range that targets are assigned to. Hunt in Cond. and yes you will have the expanded tones, but from what I understand, Iron will be sounding off right in there with the good targets based on it's conductivity.

I prefer to hunt with zero disc. I don't want a null. I want to hear all targets. I will make the decision to dig based on what I hear, and I want to hear iron when it is under my coil, and know it is such. As some users have already mentioned, discriminating out iron still affects target response even with the E-tracs faster processor and improved response time. So now since we have to hunt in cond. mode to take advantage of the expanded audio tones, iron is going to sound off just like good targets, and we are forced to constantly refer to the screen to see if it is an Iron target. I believe this is a significant drawback to those who do not wish to mask out any targets.

Being that this unit is microprocessor controlled, I would imagine it would not be too difficult to write the code to allow the E-trac to be used in cond. but reference the ferrous value also, and allow for iron objects to respond with a tone outside of the audio range assigned to "good" targets . That way one would not have to constantly refer to the screen. Ideally, the operator would be able to set the threshold where the "iron" tones would be heard based on the selected ferrous value ie. all targets with ferrous level of 25 or higher allowing the user to have the benefit of the expanded conductivity range yet still be able to readily recognize iron targets. Allowing for a limited number of low "iron" tones that would vary based on the targets position on the horizontal conductivity scale would also be an improvement.

I am not sure if I am ready to spend my money on a machine that seems to offer less audio information than my EXII, and I feel the audio is more important than the visual. Perhaps I am missing out on some significant piece of info, but these are the conclusion I am drawing from the user posts and from reviewing the manual. Maybe someone can offer me some insight...
Regards,
Keith

 

[dreamweaver43]

I just would like to see someone dig some stuff with it!!!!! So far all I've read was about 1 crusty memorial!!!!

Keith, I agree that the sounds provide all the advantage of the explorer line. I don't think the etrac will hit 8-9 inch targets with perfect locked on # ID, or the targets won't "bounce around" in the smartfind when they're close to another target. It's the same technology as the explorer, 28 BBS, just being processed faster???? Ok, you can swing it faster over the ground maybe????

Now if etrac starts lighting up hunted out parks, hitting coins at 16 inches, etc.....I'm probably on the phone to Kellyco tomorrow. But let's see it baby!!!!!!

Hey they can put lime flavor in bud light, and call it a new beer, but it's still started as bud light!!!!

Etrac = reconfigured explorer??? or radically new beast???

Brad

 

[Great Republic]

Nail on the head.

 

[JoeinMemphis]

I am with Crash. They can also try to justify the "all coins at 12" business all they want, but the coins mentioned do NOT have the same iron value, and I don't want a machine that is going to mis represent them as such. I will be concentrating my research efforts on the SE Pro, or a Sov GT. Nuff said.... HH Joe

 

[ky digger]

There's 2 ways to get more finds. You can dig deeper in old hunted out parks, or dig less and cover more ground. My first impression with the E Trac after my first hunt is that is will fall into the later category. Dig less and cover more ground. Fantastic for the UK and great for a lot of areas in the USA. Could be wrong as ti is early, but thats my first impression.

 

[Steve from Ohio]

There's 2 ways to get more finds. You can dig deeper in old hunted out parks, or dig less and cover more ground. My first impression with the E Trac after my first hunt is that is will fall into the later category. Dig less and cover more ground. Fantastic for the UK and great for a lot of areas in the USA. Could be wrong as ti is early, but thats my first impression.

You missed a third possibility. Dig deeper and cover more ground.

Not sure yet that is possible with the E Trac, but from my own limit ted experience and from reports from a friend who has one, that i a real possibility. Time will tell.

 

[bfodnes]

I dont know if its deeper, I understand the point about 28 frq and see why it may not be much deeper.

But several persons i trust from several different locations tell me that it locks better on deep coins, pushing the iffy signals a little deeper at least.

It also locks much better on coins in iron. Even small low conductive coins.