Jim upstate NY
New member
I went to one of my pounded sites this morning, hunted for 4 hours in the solid nails and iron.. here is the mush..
You can not hunt in relic mode in conductive..
you can not hunt in relic mode in ferrous with 4 tones or 2 tones
reason for above you will hear high tone falsing all over the place, I dont think I could get used to it if I used it a year.
I would think in some of the iron infested fields in england they would be seeing this also.. unless they are strictly using other patterns with more iron notched out?
I should have tried a coin pattern on the few signals I did get, just to see if that much disc would mask the response from those targets
you can however and this is the strangest thing to me and maybe its in the manual but I dont remember reading it
you can set the tones to multi in relic mode and ferrous.. this will stop the high tone falses, however it seems you only get a low tone on iron and a very slightly higher tone on everything else? maybe its the same as one tone, but when I set it to one tone it seemed everything read the same
running in relic mode, ferrous, high trash and difficult ground in multi "two"tone mode
sens at 20 manual.. quite a bit of nulling, with pops and crackles. got a piece of rusty tin and a small piece of lead
Auto sens quiets it down and not as much solid nulling, however I think it really lowers the sens down quite a bit, all I could manage was a couple pieces of small foil on top of the ground and a couple small caliber bullet casings less than an inch deep.
I tried burying a dime at 6 inches in the crap, and auto would not peep, manual would high tone/low tone, but I think enough to make you check it out.. at least in a site you pounded pretty good..
I did dig two small bent square nails, that actually read solid high tone, same as the other non ferrous stuff I dug.. dont remember where they were reading on the screen as I just dug them with the good tone they were giving..
I also don't know where the cutoff was from low to high in the multi "two" tone mode is on the ferrous scale
Haven't found much of anything with the explorer at this site last couple times either, but was hoping the "faster" processor would get a few things, I know its there...
Other findings, it definitely hits on hot rocks, not with such a squelch the explorer does, but more like an in and out high tone..
the readings were always 1 ferrous and jumped around from 30-46 in conductive.. each one would hit with a different conductive reading, come and go across the top of the screen.. but because they don't come in solid, they make you stop and check them out closely.... explorer hot rock hit was always high top right and a high washed out tone.. easy to tell
was having a hard time seeing the screen in the woods, was overcast and not very bright in there, I did put on the minelab rain cover and it fits.. maybe that was affecting being able to see as well.. problem with this is if you do get that higher tone it can be difficult to get an exact reading off the meter.. one of the reasons I liked ferrous mode wide open on the explorer in spots like this.. just by by tone alone
I think I will try and modify the relic screen a bit more to knock out some more of the iron and hope it doesn't mask anything, the way it looked most of those hits were coming in the bottom right part of the screen, hopefully far enough away from the 12 line it wont knock out much
More mush to follow as I use it at some more pounded sites, wanted to stop at my old park I got the three silver dimes at last time with the explorer on the way back home to try park mode and conductive, but they had some fall festival going on and a million people were there.. if the rain holds off maybe I will try another spot before dark..
I know I havent posted much here in a while, and it may seem like I only came over to find faults, but I was pretty excited seeing the iron video as much as anyone hoping for a better machine in iron, which was what cinched me buying one and this is the place where the users are, but
If my posts really do seem like mush to you guys, and don't want me to report my thoughts and findings on the Etrac, just let me know.. I can make my own decision on whether I keep it or not, but thought maybe someone would want to hear how I am making out, and maybe someone else hunting the same types of areas can compare what I am seeing.. I suppose it could be my ground here, as its not all that good.. But I gotta think more people than me hunt old cellar holes loaded with iron. I am also quite in tune with the explorer so there's not much to think about while using it.. maybe this machine has just too many options and you might start doubting your settings or pattern you should be using as well, but I do know I can not handle 5 or 6 high tone falses per swing and try to concentrate on good ones... time will tell I guess
Now the Etrac I am sure will be a fine machine, and perhaps much easier for beginners with all its modes and settings, I cant say..
And I am not trying to knock it, I am trying to figure out the reasons for the changes and what it might do better than the explorer, but the price is not set for beginners in my opinion its for those that consider themselves experienced and are looking for something better than they have. I think had they added all the features and advancements while preserving the true ferrous readings and audio, it would be a cut above the explorer.. I know I know its not an explorer, but its close enough they could surely have kept one mode for us explorer users.. and it still would be the same for those that dont want to hunt in relic mode, which I think the majority will be unable to do anyway
I guess that's why I dont get asked to field test anything anymore, they might not want the truth as I see it.
You can not hunt in relic mode in conductive..
you can not hunt in relic mode in ferrous with 4 tones or 2 tones
reason for above you will hear high tone falsing all over the place, I dont think I could get used to it if I used it a year.
I would think in some of the iron infested fields in england they would be seeing this also.. unless they are strictly using other patterns with more iron notched out?
I should have tried a coin pattern on the few signals I did get, just to see if that much disc would mask the response from those targets
you can however and this is the strangest thing to me and maybe its in the manual but I dont remember reading it
you can set the tones to multi in relic mode and ferrous.. this will stop the high tone falses, however it seems you only get a low tone on iron and a very slightly higher tone on everything else? maybe its the same as one tone, but when I set it to one tone it seemed everything read the same
running in relic mode, ferrous, high trash and difficult ground in multi "two"tone mode
sens at 20 manual.. quite a bit of nulling, with pops and crackles. got a piece of rusty tin and a small piece of lead
Auto sens quiets it down and not as much solid nulling, however I think it really lowers the sens down quite a bit, all I could manage was a couple pieces of small foil on top of the ground and a couple small caliber bullet casings less than an inch deep.
I tried burying a dime at 6 inches in the crap, and auto would not peep, manual would high tone/low tone, but I think enough to make you check it out.. at least in a site you pounded pretty good..
I did dig two small bent square nails, that actually read solid high tone, same as the other non ferrous stuff I dug.. dont remember where they were reading on the screen as I just dug them with the good tone they were giving..
I also don't know where the cutoff was from low to high in the multi "two" tone mode is on the ferrous scale
Haven't found much of anything with the explorer at this site last couple times either, but was hoping the "faster" processor would get a few things, I know its there...
Other findings, it definitely hits on hot rocks, not with such a squelch the explorer does, but more like an in and out high tone..
the readings were always 1 ferrous and jumped around from 30-46 in conductive.. each one would hit with a different conductive reading, come and go across the top of the screen.. but because they don't come in solid, they make you stop and check them out closely.... explorer hot rock hit was always high top right and a high washed out tone.. easy to tell
was having a hard time seeing the screen in the woods, was overcast and not very bright in there, I did put on the minelab rain cover and it fits.. maybe that was affecting being able to see as well.. problem with this is if you do get that higher tone it can be difficult to get an exact reading off the meter.. one of the reasons I liked ferrous mode wide open on the explorer in spots like this.. just by by tone alone
I think I will try and modify the relic screen a bit more to knock out some more of the iron and hope it doesn't mask anything, the way it looked most of those hits were coming in the bottom right part of the screen, hopefully far enough away from the 12 line it wont knock out much
More mush to follow as I use it at some more pounded sites, wanted to stop at my old park I got the three silver dimes at last time with the explorer on the way back home to try park mode and conductive, but they had some fall festival going on and a million people were there.. if the rain holds off maybe I will try another spot before dark..
I know I havent posted much here in a while, and it may seem like I only came over to find faults, but I was pretty excited seeing the iron video as much as anyone hoping for a better machine in iron, which was what cinched me buying one and this is the place where the users are, but
If my posts really do seem like mush to you guys, and don't want me to report my thoughts and findings on the Etrac, just let me know.. I can make my own decision on whether I keep it or not, but thought maybe someone would want to hear how I am making out, and maybe someone else hunting the same types of areas can compare what I am seeing.. I suppose it could be my ground here, as its not all that good.. But I gotta think more people than me hunt old cellar holes loaded with iron. I am also quite in tune with the explorer so there's not much to think about while using it.. maybe this machine has just too many options and you might start doubting your settings or pattern you should be using as well, but I do know I can not handle 5 or 6 high tone falses per swing and try to concentrate on good ones... time will tell I guess
Now the Etrac I am sure will be a fine machine, and perhaps much easier for beginners with all its modes and settings, I cant say..
And I am not trying to knock it, I am trying to figure out the reasons for the changes and what it might do better than the explorer, but the price is not set for beginners in my opinion its for those that consider themselves experienced and are looking for something better than they have. I think had they added all the features and advancements while preserving the true ferrous readings and audio, it would be a cut above the explorer.. I know I know its not an explorer, but its close enough they could surely have kept one mode for us explorer users.. and it still would be the same for those that dont want to hunt in relic mode, which I think the majority will be unable to do anyway
I guess that's why I dont get asked to field test anything anymore, they might not want the truth as I see it.
Maybe we just got two crappy machines cause mine is not getting depth for nothing either, unless it's some really large piece of junk, which I can't tell the size or depth of by sound, even when I turn down the gain. And am I tripping, or do you also get high tones barely audible in your nulls that change tones like pitch hold, but in the nulls themselves???