Jim upstate NY
New member
and will post a response up here..
The reason I like to use all metal, well not really all metal on the explorer, just a slice of one disc notch on iron mask side of teh screen and ferrous audio is simple.. I mainly hunt in high iron sites with not a lot of modern trash, the one notch will knock out most nails and be either nulling over popping in with the lowest tone.. I am used to it and ignore it, if I get even a bit of a higher tone I check out the signal, not caring where on the screen it reads.. things in these high iron sites dont read right most times anyway so I want to dig all non ferrous targets.. I got used to the tones so much I also hunt in parks like this.. for the most part listening to all targets and just waiting for that good sound to my ears.. I have found that stuff in the no where zone, can be good stuff.. the no where zone being odd spots on teh screen that you hardly ever get a hit in, good or bad, like the bottom left quarter of the screen, as long as it reads above the bottom where tin foil tends to read, I have gotten 3 or 4 gold rings in that area there and some indians that are being sucked left because of iron. At teh same time I can even pick out fat indians that read in pretty much teh same spot as pulltabs in the modern trash.. On teh explorer and ferrous, and prob cond too, the round targets like buttons and coins are such a solid audio hit you can just tell its not a piece of crap..
The problem I see in mocking an iron mask screen on the etrac is the iron hitting up top, now it wouldn't be such a problem if we had a multi audio mode in ferrous, as coins coming in at 12 would read lower in tone, so for tehy most part you could ignore the highest tones, unless of course it was so solid you had to dig. Another problem at least in parks and modern areas, is crown caps, on the explorer in ferrous they read high toned, but stayed put in the bottom right.. easy enough to ignore with a quick glance at the screen.. on the etrac they come in all over, so you would get the same tone on them in 2 tone mode no matter where they read.. so there is no way for me to run an open screen in parks at all, and I have to hope that the patterns used are including all those targets I normally accept..
even though most stuff seems to come in at 12, I have been digging good stuff in 05 ferrous range.. pewter spoons pewter buttons an who knows where else.. If gold rings have all moved into the 12 range, I guess you will pic them up OK, but darn, they mixed them all up into where most of the junk reads too.. at least on the explorer I had a chance at a few in trash, as some of them read off to the left... Now with crown caps reading all over, I just don't see how you can get used to where stuff falls... The explorer want perfect on ID'ing stuff, but for the most part the junk targets read in the same general area, and most of the good stuff read in another, and at the same time the no where zone... now its all mixed into or most of into ferrous 12... I think its a problem in conductive as well as ferrous.. If all you are looking for is silver coins, then not a big deal... dig your 12-30's and higher.. dig a bunch of screw caps and get most of the coins.. I have found some pretty good stuff in parks with the explorer in trash.. 3 cent pieces half dimes etc... I just dont see it happening in trashy sites with the etrac in any mode, unless you just have the patience to dig all those screw caps.. and worse yet all the round tabs looking for fat indians and flying eagles
One other thing I see with the etrac is with its quick target response most non ferrous targets read smoothly, where the explorer though a little slower, gave harsher and more of an off toned warble on bad stuff.. the round stuff usually was they only things that read solid toned for more than one direction.. thus limiting my ear to good targets that read out of norm..
I took me a long time to get all this down with the explorer, and perhaps I need more time on the etrac to learn all of it.. unfortunately I just think it was easier on the explorer as I just dug t all in open screen for the longest time learning where things fell, and for the most part the stuff read the same on the screen, the audio I feel was even better of an indication of its dig worthiness... if they move all over how am I supposed to learn that, thus forcing me to a pattern, and hope the pattern includes all that stuff I feel is good..
Part of the fun I have in hunting is calling the targets, I am quite good at it with the explorer.. If someone calls me over to check a target I can pretty much tell them what it is, and definately what it isnt.. so even if I aint finding anything it adds something to the hunt..
Like I said this is pure preference for me, and I think that everyone will do fine with the etrac, I hunt the woods, so prob not a big deal for me either.. I just dont know why for the life of me, why they removed multi tone in ferrous, even if only a few like it.. they have 2 tone 4 tone and a multi setting in ferrous that makes it two toned also, they have multi in cond, so no way they just couldnt do it.. if multi is no good in ferrous, why is it so good in cond where the highest tones now not come from coins, but from junk? I guess they figure since thy forced so much into 12 that multi is not needed in ferrous, but even so, wouldn't multi mode make it easier to distinguish that 12 tone over any other, you could hunt without looking at the screen till you heard that tone.. or that small range of tones the seem to think the good stuff is in judging by the coin pattern.. I suppose they think we all hunt in bark chips
The reason I like to use all metal, well not really all metal on the explorer, just a slice of one disc notch on iron mask side of teh screen and ferrous audio is simple.. I mainly hunt in high iron sites with not a lot of modern trash, the one notch will knock out most nails and be either nulling over popping in with the lowest tone.. I am used to it and ignore it, if I get even a bit of a higher tone I check out the signal, not caring where on the screen it reads.. things in these high iron sites dont read right most times anyway so I want to dig all non ferrous targets.. I got used to the tones so much I also hunt in parks like this.. for the most part listening to all targets and just waiting for that good sound to my ears.. I have found that stuff in the no where zone, can be good stuff.. the no where zone being odd spots on teh screen that you hardly ever get a hit in, good or bad, like the bottom left quarter of the screen, as long as it reads above the bottom where tin foil tends to read, I have gotten 3 or 4 gold rings in that area there and some indians that are being sucked left because of iron. At teh same time I can even pick out fat indians that read in pretty much teh same spot as pulltabs in the modern trash.. On teh explorer and ferrous, and prob cond too, the round targets like buttons and coins are such a solid audio hit you can just tell its not a piece of crap..
The problem I see in mocking an iron mask screen on the etrac is the iron hitting up top, now it wouldn't be such a problem if we had a multi audio mode in ferrous, as coins coming in at 12 would read lower in tone, so for tehy most part you could ignore the highest tones, unless of course it was so solid you had to dig. Another problem at least in parks and modern areas, is crown caps, on the explorer in ferrous they read high toned, but stayed put in the bottom right.. easy enough to ignore with a quick glance at the screen.. on the etrac they come in all over, so you would get the same tone on them in 2 tone mode no matter where they read.. so there is no way for me to run an open screen in parks at all, and I have to hope that the patterns used are including all those targets I normally accept..
even though most stuff seems to come in at 12, I have been digging good stuff in 05 ferrous range.. pewter spoons pewter buttons an who knows where else.. If gold rings have all moved into the 12 range, I guess you will pic them up OK, but darn, they mixed them all up into where most of the junk reads too.. at least on the explorer I had a chance at a few in trash, as some of them read off to the left... Now with crown caps reading all over, I just don't see how you can get used to where stuff falls... The explorer want perfect on ID'ing stuff, but for the most part the junk targets read in the same general area, and most of the good stuff read in another, and at the same time the no where zone... now its all mixed into or most of into ferrous 12... I think its a problem in conductive as well as ferrous.. If all you are looking for is silver coins, then not a big deal... dig your 12-30's and higher.. dig a bunch of screw caps and get most of the coins.. I have found some pretty good stuff in parks with the explorer in trash.. 3 cent pieces half dimes etc... I just dont see it happening in trashy sites with the etrac in any mode, unless you just have the patience to dig all those screw caps.. and worse yet all the round tabs looking for fat indians and flying eagles
One other thing I see with the etrac is with its quick target response most non ferrous targets read smoothly, where the explorer though a little slower, gave harsher and more of an off toned warble on bad stuff.. the round stuff usually was they only things that read solid toned for more than one direction.. thus limiting my ear to good targets that read out of norm..
I took me a long time to get all this down with the explorer, and perhaps I need more time on the etrac to learn all of it.. unfortunately I just think it was easier on the explorer as I just dug t all in open screen for the longest time learning where things fell, and for the most part the stuff read the same on the screen, the audio I feel was even better of an indication of its dig worthiness... if they move all over how am I supposed to learn that, thus forcing me to a pattern, and hope the pattern includes all that stuff I feel is good..
Part of the fun I have in hunting is calling the targets, I am quite good at it with the explorer.. If someone calls me over to check a target I can pretty much tell them what it is, and definately what it isnt.. so even if I aint finding anything it adds something to the hunt..
Like I said this is pure preference for me, and I think that everyone will do fine with the etrac, I hunt the woods, so prob not a big deal for me either.. I just dont know why for the life of me, why they removed multi tone in ferrous, even if only a few like it.. they have 2 tone 4 tone and a multi setting in ferrous that makes it two toned also, they have multi in cond, so no way they just couldnt do it.. if multi is no good in ferrous, why is it so good in cond where the highest tones now not come from coins, but from junk? I guess they figure since thy forced so much into 12 that multi is not needed in ferrous, but even so, wouldn't multi mode make it easier to distinguish that 12 tone over any other, you could hunt without looking at the screen till you heard that tone.. or that small range of tones the seem to think the good stuff is in judging by the coin pattern.. I suppose they think we all hunt in bark chips