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I think I might be getting the E-Trac !

pilot

New member
After reading about the E-Trac I think I may be getting one...that machine has got some very good reviews. Twice the price of a 705 but people are making claims about finding a lot more silver!

HH
Kim
 
Think about the Explorer SE Pro. It will find every bit as much silver as the E-Trac, but hurt your pocket less.
 
I use them both and refer to them as my "dynamic duo". As someone who has been hunting old coins for nearly 40 years, each has its strong points, depending on where you hunt and what you are hunting for. As to other people's claims of finding more silver........ I read the posts and will also say the E-TRAC does find coins. But so can the X-TERRA. The key to any detector is to understand the functionality and know how to adapt to the situation. And whether it is $750 or $1500,honestly, how many people do you know who would say that they just spent that kind of money on a detector and not claim that it found more than anything else they've used? Like I said, I have them both and I can't imagine breaking up the set. HH Randy
 
Digger,
In what detecting situation would you pick one over the other. I have heard people claim the ETrac goes deeper. As I get better I am finding more silver but with weaker mixed signals at greater depth. I am passing on some because I am not sure and don't want to dig a big hole right next to the sidewalk. I am thinking the ETrac will get me a couple more inches with good diggable signals and find the silver that has been out of reach for most detectors. That is my reasoning. I am keeping the 705 regardless. Thanks for your thoughts...haven't ordered one yet but detecting season is getting short up hear in Minnesota.

HH
Kim
 
Yep, the season is getting shorter here as well. Been some hard frosts and freezes the past couple weeks. So I expect that darned white stuff ain't going to be too far behind.
When I'm not out for a day of just metal detecting, I do a LOT of comparison testing between various detectors. And not just Minelab. Depending on the site, the "winner" varies according the the type of site I'm hunting. When I am putting the E-TRAC and X-705 up "against" each other, I typically grid an area off, hunt it with one detector and mark the targets with a poker chip or golf tee. Then I hunt the same area with the other detector, verify all the targets marked with the previous detector and place a different colored marker on "new" targets. Then, before digging, I'll go back over the targets that appear to have been missed with the first detector, just to see if they were missed due to the capability of the detector or user error. As much as I hate to admit it, it is usually because of user error. If I had to guess the reason, I'd say it is due to not overlapping my swaths enough, sweeping too quickly, or more likely, both! After I have detected the spot with both detectors going (for example) north and south, I'll go back over the same area going perpendicular. But this time I'll use the detector I used second as the first one, marking any additional targets I may find. Then I go back over the same area, the same direction, using the other detector. And just like before, I'll mark any additional targets I find. I know this sounds time consuming, and it is. But my purpose is to prove to myself what detector performs the best for me, in any given site, in an effort to minimize human error. I'm not saying your results would be the same as mine. Nor am I saying that there are those who have made some excellent finds with their E-TRAC. But I've been pitting my X-705 and E-TRAC up against each other in this manner since they were made available. And during that time, I can only remember two targets that I dug with the E-TRAC that the X-TERRA could not or did not also find. (could not and did not are two entirely different things) One was a SL quarter buried at about 7 inches, with three nails within inches of the coin. I ignored it completely on the first pass with the X-TERRA, hit it with the E-TRAC, then got a brief high tone with the X-TERRA when I knew where it was and went back over it. But even then, the X-TERRA did not give me enough of a signal to make me want to dig it. I was using multiple tones and zero discrimination on both detectors. And both detectors had on 6-inch DD coils. The two reasons I am convinced I missed it on the initial pass with the X-705, but hit it with the E-TRAC is due to the slower sweep speed that I know I have to use with the E-TRAC. And the second reason is the frequency range of the E-TRAC. Limiting the operational frequency to 18.75 kHz with the small DD on the X-705 just didn't give me a solid enough hit to make me want to dig between the nails. If you've read my posts over the past several years explaining how the higher conductive targets respond better to lower frequency coils, you know why I would like to see a small DD at 3 kHz. I know we can wish in one hand and $%^% in the other......... but I honestly believe a 3 kHz 6-inch DD coil would have separated the nails from the quarter, allowing me to decipher the tones of both and would have given me the audio information I needed to make the decision as to whether I wanted to dig it or not. The second target that I found with the E-TRAC that I would have likely passed up with the X-TERRA was while hunting in an old field. I was using the Coiltek Joey coil on the E-TRAC and the similar sized Elliptical X-TERRA coil on the 705. Again, I am wanting to get as close of comparison as possible by using similar sized coils and similar settings. In this particular field I hit a target that provided a TID value that bounced between 20 and 22 on the 705. I figured it would be a 12 gauge shotgun shell casing as I've dug dozens of them in this field. But, wanting to make sure it was not something of value, I marked the spot by scuffing my heel in the dirt. When I went over the spot with the E-TRAC, it provided a ferrous reading of 12 and a conductive reading of 24. Again, not a coin value that I recognized. But having a consistent ferrous value of 12 made me want to find out what it was. At a depth of only 5 or 6 inches, I pulled out a Flying Eagle cent. So I guess my lesson on this one is that, although both detectors located the target, I got lazy with the X-TERRA because having only a conductive value on the TID, I just figured it was another darned shotgun shell casing. With the E-TRAC's ability to provide both ferrous and non-ferrous readings, the ferrous of 12 was enough to make me investigate as the shotgun shell casings at this site had consistently given a lower ferrous value. The point is, both machined found it. But the additional information provided by ferrous reading of the E-TRAC made me curious enough to dig it up.

When you read the E-TRAC posts and study the detector, it becomes engrained in your mind that you are going to have to sweep slower than you might with most other detectors. You also have the understanding that the E-TRAC will not perform well in "air tests". What I have determined, and again this is just my opinion based on my usage, is that we should all be paying more attention to our sweep speeds, regardless of the make or model that you are using. Granted, the X-TERRA is a motion VLF detector. But just because it is a motion detector doesn't mean it has to be in fast motion. I think everyone would be surprised how well the 705 performs if they studied the functionality and made a conscious effort to properly adjust their detector settings and sweep speed to the specific site. As an example, the E-TRAC does not require ground balance. It "ignores" the effects of the mineralization, electronically. But when you think about it, the X-TERRA does that in the Tracking mode. Plus, I can enhance that ground compensation by running with my ground phase setting with a positive ground balance offset and still use Tracking. So my theory on why the E-TRAC does not perform well on air tests is........You can't change the ground balance on an E-TRAC. As I mentioned, the effects of the ground's mineralization are compensated for by the electronics. So what does it do if there are not ground effects, such as in air tests? Apparently not so good, as most will admit. Since a LOT of my detecting is done on farmground that has been tilled for generations, the ground has not "settled in" like it would in a yard or park environment. As I walk down the field after it has been tilled, you can literally see air pockets under the clods of dirt. So my theory is, if I can lock in the ground phase of my 705 with a positive offset, it should provide a more stable operation, and more depth of detection, than a detector that doesn't "air test" well. Again, this is just my opinion. But I tested them enough to have convinced myself that, when I'm hunting farm fields where the soil has been broken, the X-TERRA will hunt more deeply than the E-TRAC. Some may argue that their results have not shown that to be true. And not knowing the sites they hunt or their experience level with either detector, I can't argue with them. All I can attest to is what I've proven to myself, in my soil conditions.

In summary.......I love to hunt old farmsteads and homesites. And in those areas, I chose the X-705 with the 3 kHz concentric due to the amount of ground I can cover in any given period of time. If the stalks and stubble made it difficult to manuever the open spoked coil, I'd switch to the solid bottom 6-inch DD, even though that frequency is my least favorite for the types of targets I'm looking for. If there is a lot of chopped up tin or bits of iron in and around the old buildings, I'll switch to the E-TRAC and hunt in TTF with an open screen. Again, for the additional ferrous reading. In private yards, it would depend on how much time I had to hunt and how many times I could come back. If I had all the time in the world, I'd probably take both, using the X-705 to pull out the targets that weren't masked. After using it with the 3 kHz concentric, I'd take the E-TRAC with one of the DD coils for target separation and a more accurate TID (due to ferrous and non-ferrous readings). In congested areas with lots of adjacent targets, it would probably be the E-TRAC with the 6-inch EQ2 coil, conductive mode and multiple tones. Like I said, together they make up my dynamic duo! JMHO HH Randy
 
Thanks for taking to write such an informative post Randy.:thumbup: I was a little surprised by the result you came up with, but that's exactly why you did the comparison test in the first place. I've had quite a few detectors over the 7 years I've been in the hobby, but I've always had an X-Terra as long as they've been out.
What does surprise me though, is the lack of posts on folks using the 30/305 and 50/505!:shrug: Having used the 30 for several years and knowing how good it was and the fact that it's a lot cheaper (although it can hold it's own with the 70/705 on most most counts) I'm sure that there are probably more 305 users out there than 705 users and sure wish they don't feel intimidated by the bias (not deliberate) of 70/705 users posts. Wouldn't it be great if the posts here were able to reflect the level of ownership of each model
Mick Evans.
 
Thanks Randy for the informative reply, relaying to us all the work you have done testing. I did run up to Cabelas yesterday and bought one. I will be playing with it for at least a couple more weeks, I hope, before the snow flies and the ground freezes!

HH
Kim
 
I think you will be very happy with the combination,they are both extremelly good detectors,and as Randy suggested they both have there applications according to conditions (sweep speed etc)
I also now own both the 705 and Etrac.Although the Etrac outperforms the Xterra in the wet salt sand the two of them side by side will perform equally as good in the dry sand and soil....enjoy
 
Randy, I thoroughly enjoy your responses to questions like this. You are a wealth of information and have the unique ability to put things into layman's terms that us new guys can understand. Thanks for that and thanks for taking the time and effort to share your wealth of knowledge with us.
 
Im also looking for a second detector and the E-trac or Explorer se Pro is my main choice.But since I tried the Rutus Jupiter, Im wonder if I maybe will give that MD a chance.Think it will be a hit...even though its not the most deep seeking machine.But separation its fantastic..people in UK sell their XP Deus and go for the Rutus..But then again I think I need the depth..so a E-trac would probably suit me better..
 
The main reason I would want an E-Trac is to be more surgical to 'knock out' near worthless and bothersome 'newer pennies(1c)' better than the X-70(5) can. But I do want to accept the older pennies at the same time.
 
Trust me my friend, you will still dig those worthless, chewed up zincolns with an Etrac if you don't want to miss other good targets. Even the Etrac gets fooled by proximity of other targets, soil conditions and ground mineralization.
 
You're entirely welcome. Glad to know that people actually read what I write. Thanks for the kind words. HH Randy
 
Randy, thank your for great help.

DirtAngler said:
Trust me my friend, you will still dig those worthless, chewed up zincolns with an Etrac if you don't want to miss other good targets. Even the Etrac gets fooled by proximity of other targets, soil conditions and ground mineralization.

DirtAngler, that helps. Also the E-Trac may get fooled if a coin is on edge and/or is corroded. I am sure you get the nice lovely consistant 2 numbers on the E-Trac on a nice lovely particular coin in the air. Then in the ground in the real world if that exact type of coin is on edge(or angled), surface corroded, in the proximity of other targets, different soil conditions and ground mineralizations. Thus and therefore those 2 numbers can change and be different.

But why buy and have an E-Trac then.? Well because most of the time in most cases it is correct, just not all of the time and I think overall it will cut your odds down on digging new pennies and junk better than the X-70(5) can.
 
That is my thinking David..."overall" it will cut down on junk digs and therefore increase hunting time and the odds of finding good things! I don't expect my success rate to increase drastically but to increase steadily as I learn the E-Trac and the extra information it provides. I still love my 705 though. Definitely a lighter unit to swing.

HH
Kim
 
hi digger i was reading some of your comments and they are very interesting regarding the x terras .... i use a se and was looking for another detector that is simple to use yet efficent .....My daughter and girl friend made mention that they might like to try detecting.... and i have just started trying to find the rite unit for them .......... to try ...
i have been reading up on the garretts,fishers and the x-terrras .... all the lower end units ....not sure which would be the best ...any ideas ......i dont want to spend a lot on a unit that they might not like detecting ..... you know.. any help would be appreciated ....
also you say you hunt farmers fields .... how do you determine which one might have stuff in it and ones that dont ..... and why would there be coins in the fields ????... i hunt mostly old home sites and do fine .... but the fields ???
thanks
don
 
Several good questions. I agree that it doesn't make a lot of sense to purchase a high dollar detector for someone who may or may not enjoy the hobby. On the other hand, nothing will discourage someone so quickly as digging a ton of junk when others around them are digging the good stuff. Since you use the SE, I'm sure you've seen that happen with those who hunt along side of you. So, depending on your budget, you are in the same spot that so many of us parents (and grandparents) have gone through. Top priority is to get one that offers the ability to "turn and go" or to be set up to perform more difficult tasks. Get one that is durable and well balanced. I'd also suggest you consider getting as good of detector that you can afford, with the flexibility to adapt to various types of detecting. Not only for the sake of your daughter. But for the possibility of resale, should she decide she doesn't enjoy it as much as her dad. :twodetecting: Whatever you get, I'm sure you'll want to take the time to learn it, so you can help her understand what makes it tick. As such, if you get the "right one", you may find that you're using it as much as you are now using that SE. :shrug:

I've used just about everything available today, and still believe the X-TERRA series offers the most bang for the buck. (quite a comment when you consider I still have several other Minelabs and some Whites) If you've not read the eBook that I wrote (Understanding your X-TERRA), I'd suggest you take a look at it to learn the capabilites of the X-TERRA. The eBook is available FREE on Minelab's website. And a link is provided at the top of this forum.

As to hunting farm sites........ around here, yesterday's rural homesites are today's farm fields. This part of the Country was first settled back in the mid-1850's. When the earliest settlers arrived, they homesteaded on a 40 or 80 acre plot of ground, broke the soil, farmed the ground and raised their families. Some of these folks were wealthy businessmen from the East who wanted to take on the wild west. However most of them were of modest means, just hoping to be able to raise enough crop and livestock to support their families. They believed in education and built country schools so that no child had to walk more than a couple miles to get there. Regardless, since that time farming has changed greatly. Instead of a 40 acre plot with a house and barn, the majority of farms today are comprised of 1200 - 1600 acres or more. Being farmground now, except for the current owner's homesite, those old family acreages are now farm fields. The country schools are gone and they too have once again become farmground. So when I get permission from a farmer to hunt his 1600 acres, what I am getting is permission to hunt the sites where 20 - 40 homes and an old school house amy have been, back in the late 1800's. I use old plat maps to determine where the house and old schools were, in comparison to today's Plats. Do I get a lot of coins? Not always. But I certainly find enough old coins to keep me interested. The thing I really like about hunting a farm field is that it is much easier digging than sod! The biggest "complaint" I have is that, farmers stopped using plows about a generation ago. Back in "the day", I could hit the same spots year after year, and find new stuff turned over by tilling the soil. With today's minimum tillage, going back isn't what it use to be. But if you have a good detector and know how to use it, you'd be surprised what is laying out there in those farm fields. As an example, if you take a look at the eBook, you will see LOTS of pictures of my finds. And when you do, keep in mind that probably 90% of them came from (what is today) just another corn field or bean field.

Hope this answers your questions. If not, let me know. HH Randy
 
thanks digger
I'm in Yuma AZ no snow have spare bed room. COME ON DOWN
 
Yuma? My inlaws wintered there for many years. They had a place near the East edge of town, on the north side of the main highway. I remember my father in law telling me about a couple guys who lived in their "neighborhood" that would load up their ATVs every morning and head for the hills in search of gold. He never knew if they found any. But I suspect that if they did it everyday for years and years, they were!

Managed to get out for what may the "last hunt" of the season today. Not much to show for it except for a small handful of Wheats. But there is always next, year after the snow melts!

Have fun in the winter sun!!! HH Randy
 
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