I have a problem - eTrac and AT Pro - performance!

[Shayne]

You are probably exactly right regarding the eTrac discrimination setting causing nulling - there was some iron near a few of the silvers.

 

[Shayne]

This is going to seem strange. I have an eTrac and just today, I received my new AT Pro. I bought the AT Pro mostly for beach and shallow water hunting. To test the Pro, I hit a small lot ( one acre) near my house that I have hunted for nearly 40 hours with the eTrac. In that 40 hours, I have found 75 wheat pennies, several buffalo nickles, two V nickles, four mercury dimes and one Roosevelt dime with the eTrac. I was always wondering why I had not found more silver. Anyway, in three hours with the AT Pro at the same lot, I found one Indian (first one - 11 Inches), seven wheat pennies, two buffalo, four mercury's and two Washington silvers (same hole) - 17 coins. The AT Pro was nailing the silvers at over 10 inches deep (settings were Pro and Zero Discrimination).

Here is the question, how is it possible that the AT Pro is deeper and the eTrac missed all of those silver coins? I know I have walked over them in the past. I have a slow swing speed. On my eTrac, I hunt with the stock Pro Coil, the SEF 6X8 DD and the SEF 4.5 X 6 DD. I run a baseline discrimination pattern that starts at 18FE to 35FE, Fast On, Deep Off, Normal, Multi, 15 Threshold, 30 response, Manual 21-23 and everything else is pretty much standard. I did dig more iron with the AT Pro (not much), but I attribute that to my learning curve. What are your thoughts? Is there a way to test the eTrac to determine if it is working to its full potential? The machine is relatively new - 3 months old. Please advise...

ok what is your ground setting it must be in difficult at all time there is a video on mlotv that shows the etrac blanking silver in other settings and when he switched to ground difficult it bleeped off good and proper so run in DIFFICULT ALL THE TIME

I am in the process of digging a test garden. I will check with both DIFFICULT AND NORMAL and report back.

 

[Shayne]

Just to put the experience aspect into perspective - I have been using Minelab detectors for 10 years - I have had an Explorer II, two Explorer XS' and now the eTrac. I know there is a learning curve, but I am confident I am a little ahead of it. I don't believe that there is anything wrong with the detector, I think it is my settings. Separately, the material that the eTrac is made out of is in a whole other league than the AT Pro - it is somewhat flimsy and the lower shaft wobbles. The AT is not the best detector out there as far as craftsmanship, but it sure goes deep and it only cost $499 delivered!

 

[Shayne]

I appreciate all of the feedback - I certainly agree that both machines are great in their own right. I think I will reduce the discrimination, switch to difficult ground and go slow. I tried the eTrac a few minutes ago - 10 minutes worth of swing time - and found three more wheat pennies and one mercury dime. The dime chimed in at 19-44 in the ground and 12/44 when out of the ground. I would have missed this had I stuck with my original discrimination settings. Fortunately, the lot I am hunting is 100 meters from my front porch. Its like having a 1 acre test garden that just keeps producing! Wish it would give up more than just dimes though...

 

[UtahRich]

The AT is not the best detector out there as far as craftsmanship, but it sure goes deep and it only cost $499 delivered!

Shayne,

Glad that you found some success by making a few modifications to your E-trac settings.

Even though you are already familiar with the Explorer line, you will find some additional help with the E-trac by acquiring a copy of Andy Sabisch's latest book on the Etrac and Explorer's. It holds a lot of good info on the E-trac settings, the function of each, suggested set up's, and so forth,

The E-trac isn't for everybody, and as you pointed out, your AT-Pro has a lot of punch for the investment.

Best of luck out there.

Rich (Utah)