Might be a loaded question but???

[Whitetail]

Hey guys I'm looking to see if any of you perhaps were like me and had a Whites unit and jumped to the Etrac? I have a Whites MXT and it does really good on the clad. I have found only 4 silver coins with mine since July, 1 Indian, a couple rings, silver pendants and a gold diamond ring. Like I say...I find a lot of stuff with the MXT...just not a ton of silver. So I'm looking for opinions. I'm just wondering if I'm missing silver with my MXT at times? Strange why I do get silver with the MXT at times though? It could be the depth? Perhaps it is because the silver I've found is only shallow silver? I'd say they all came from <4" deep.
I'd say I've paid for my Whites already with my diamond ring find....so I won't sell it, as it is a great "all around" unit in my opinion. I'm just wondering if you guys think a ETrac purchase would up my silver findings? I always think that perhaps with my Whites I'm just not passing over the silver and thus don't find the silver. The other side of me thinks that perhaps the unit I'm using is simply missing the silver for whatever reason?
I'd really appreciate some of you guys opinions on this issue. Thanks guys!
Whitetail

 

[treasure sstate]

My detector wasn't a White's it was a Garrett but close enough s far as depth goes. For the years 2008,2009,and 2010 I found a total of 2 silver coins and 6 wheat pennies. Bought my E-Trac this spring and this year I have found 13 silver coins, 32 wheat's plus 2 buffalo nickels and 2 Liberty Head nickels. My opinion you will find silver if you use an E-Trac on the same areas, I sure have and I have hunted these spots for almost 50 years.

 

[mike4663]

I started with the mxt and found alot of silver coins with my mxt, since i got my etrac in spring my silver count has at least doubled and picked out coins at sites the mxt missed. The etrac gets coins much deeper than i ever found with my mxt, that being said my gold finds have dropped to 0 with the etrac, I no the etrac will find gold but you have to dig signals in the gold range, I find myself hunting by sound more now because the etrac does a great job with the sound on silver coins. It took me awhile to start finding nickels with the etrac because the sound is not anywhere close to sounding like silver, but now that i've been finding more nickels the gold should come also if its there. Like you I kept my mxt, its a great turn on and go detector. Hope this is helpful from one mxt person to another. Mike

 

[moonshine]

i have basically owned two "real" metal detectors, after my first radio-shack detector my dad and I bought a whites 6000 dipro when i was about 14. heaven! now im 40 and i thought about it for a couple years and finally bought an etrac. it was a very difficult decision for me because of the cost and wondering if it would really be worth it. well i can say confidently that im really glad i bought the etrac. it was a good decision. there was a lot of growing pains but i would never choose the whites 6000 over the etrac. i dont know about the capabilities of the mxt though, sorry. but the etrac is definitely superior to what i was using before.

 

[DukeOBass]

I don't have any experience with White's but I can tell you that I've hunted spots that White's guys have told me they hunted before me and I've found silver coins they have missed. I had a MineLab SE for 4 years before I got my my E-Trac. I found more old coins period in a one year than I ever did with my SE. I am very happy with it!

 

[Seatedhalf]

Here is my two cents on your question. I have had an M6 and DFX(4+ yrs with DFX) and my brother has an MXT. My E-Trac was purchased in June of this year after watching a couple people in the club find deep coins that my machine would not pick up with multiple coil changes and settings changes.

My first two weeks with Minelab I dragged my DFX with me. I found 14 silver in that time and my DFX would not give even a hint of a good signal(worst trashy areas of silver producing park and school with DFX) on those coins that the Minelab gave excellent signals. These were from an area that three Whites machines had gone over multiple times.(I stopped taking the DFX along)

I had my brother(MXT) along at an old school and he said he would not dig that target I had found. It was a perfect 11-45 at 7 inches plus with junk near it but not close enough for it to distort signal for Minelab. He was getting total garbage signal. I have repeated this with him many times since with him changing settings and coils and very few are signals that one would dig in a park with a good high tone on a whites.

Long story short. My best year with DFX(mainly schools and parks)was 16 silver. I went back to all the same spots(With E-Trac) and have recovered 75 silver coins, 300+ wheats, three indians, 8 silver rings, and two gold rings.

 

[jmaryt]

wow! that is outrageous! thanks for sharing! tell me,how do you set up your trac at these sites?
do you use the factory coins program,and auto #3? just curious!..thanks!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

Wow!! Thats good info there!

 

[jmaryt]

was wondering the same! thanks!..it appears the trac is a "kick a**"
detector for "garbage" sites! just sayin'.hope so.cause they sure as heck are NOT givin' 'em away!
from what i understand though,you can get most of your dough back if you have to dump it for any reason!
good to know!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

 

[Seatedhalf]

Standard coil used. Factory coins. I usually run manual 20-22(Midwest soil pretty good here) but sometimes use auto +3. I recommend Andy Sabisch book on E-Trac.

The E-Trac has been amazing in and around trashy areas pulling good stuff out of these areas done multiple times with other machines. Make sure you go slow swing speed this is a huge key.

 

[jmaryt]

thanks!..i got pretty good soil here too! it seems a lot of guys are using auto # 3
with really good results! apparently the factory coins program is doin' the deed!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

 

[banditicey]

My husband and I had DFX's until about 2 years ago
Up until getting the Etrac we had less than 20 Silvers together
Well, we recovered 53 Silvers in July and August with our Etracs and have well over 100 Silvers currently
Oh, and I just found my first Gold Ring

Here is my two cents on your question. I have had an M6 and DFX(4+ yrs with DFX) and my brother has an MXT. My E-Trac was purchased in June of this year after watching a couple people in the club find deep coins that my machine would not pick up with multiple coil changes and settings changes.

My first two weeks with Minelab I dragged my DFX with me. I found 14 silver in that time and my DFX would not give even a hint of a good signal(worst trashy areas of silver producing park and school with DFX) on those coins that the Minelab gave excellent signals. These were from an area that three Whites machines had gone over multiple times.(I stopped taking the DFX along)

I had my brother(MXT) along at an old school and he said he would not dig that target I had found. It was a perfect 11-45 at 7 inches plus with junk near it but not close enough for it to distort signal for Minelab. He was getting total garbage signal. I have repeated this with him many times since with him changing settings and coils and very few are signals that one would dig in a park with a good high tone on a whites.

Long story short. My best year with DFX(mainly schools and parks)was 16 silver. I went back to all the same spots(With E-Trac) and have recovered 75 silver coins, 300+ wheats, three indians, 8 silver rings, and two gold rings.

 

[Whitetail]

Wow guys thank you so much for the responses. It seems that the Etrac does have some great reviews. I find it difficult to believe I've been looking at a college from the early 1800's and haven't found a single silver. All clad?? I've been in other areas where I think I should be finding silver and just come up with shallow clad. Any more stories from you Etrac users? Love hearing about them. Congrats to all you guys out there and your success stories. Love hearing them! Keep it up!!
Oh...my MXT recently found LARGE SILVER in a new area I tried! I actually found a Silver Dollar. A Walking Liberty Silver Eagle 2002. It was in perfect condition....obviously as it was only 9 years old. I was shocked. It was only down 3"...pulled the plug and it was so heavy it just fell out of it...I think my eyes darn near popped out of my head! Doh't know how someone could've lost that beauty? That is just the beauty of this hobby! You just never know what is out there to discover!
Happy hunting guys/gals! Whitetail

 

[Smack]

Etrac all they way. Great on silver, and everything else.

 

[ryanchappell]

Is this the don't ever tell anyone where you are from forum???

If you happen to be from the southeastern US or the Appalachian mountains and over 100 miles inland, then you will probably not get but a fraction of the depth that the guys in the midwest are getting. Some in the midwest display a 31 with autosens +3. Still the ETrac is probably the best detector even in bad soil. The junk setting gives you amazing separation, and see through ability. In my town there has been a very active detecting club since the 1970s, and virtually no virgin public sites, and with only 4 inches of detectable soil, you are not going to find that many silver coins by using "better technology" than they had in the 80s. The 11 silver coins I have found in 5 months have been found, out of town, washed out areas, disturbed soil, or just not seen in junk until an e-trac detected it. I have found a WLH, 1899 Barber dime, 4 mercs, 2 rosies, a silver Washington, 2 war nickels, 2 IH, and 70 wheats. None deeper than 3-5 inches deep. BAD SOIL.

Whether you are in good soil or not. I recommend looking for better sites, door knock, look for sidewalk tearouts, and find sites by comparing old and new maps, or reading old papers.

Etrac all they way. Great on silver, and everything else.

You get so spoiled knowing that it is going to be a coin on the Co 41-47s, as well as 13, that you start dreading and getting lazy on the gold numbers 08-37. That is why other detectors find more gold. The E-Trac sees all the gold over .5g that the other detectors see, but you are just to spoiled to dig any of it.

 

[Goes4ever]

look at the forums all the internet, the guys pulling 100, 200 or more silvers a year are swinging minelabs, mostly etracs and explorers....the proof is in the pudding!