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