I have had my E-Trac for two months and have found over $140 in clad, 4 rings, several other silver pendents etc and two silver quarters plus a few wheaties.
I found it has way more depth than I ever imagined. I set the sensitivity down to about 17 and still bring up quarters at 8". I don't like digging much deeper in 90 degree heat when the ground is hard. I am a coin shooter so this is the perfect detector for me. The deepest quarter I found was 15" when I had the sensitivity turned up but that's a lot deeper than I am willing to dig. It seems many soda cans ring up in the 46 -47 range if they are beyond 8". I rarely ever dig a bottle cap even in trashy areas. Pennies can be confusing because I dig a lot of them in the 44 - 46 range. They disguise themselves well.
I have used TTF and a cpl settings I have modified but I even love the Minelab coin setting. I rarely find tabs or foil and the occasional aluminum can but most often I can tell by the sound and how strong it is if it is a can. On mixed signals more often than not I can pick out the good signal even if it only flashes once or twice. The signal is so strong from the coil that it will sometimes start to beep when the target is 1' away. I use the wiggle method most often because the pin point in my eyes is so so due to coil strength. Many times the target is at the edge of the coil but I use my pin pointer to scan the ground before I cut a flap. When I make a pass I rarely miss a thing unless I don't over lap my swings. As far as swinging slow I don't think it is slow at all. Actually it fits perfect for my swing speed.
I don't find the weight burdensome even at 71 yrs old. The 1st few days I thought my shoulder was never going to quit hurting but now I can swing it 4 hours with no problems. I am surprised that Minelab hasn't dome something to make the screen easier to read but since I detect more by sound than anything I only use the screen to confirm what I hear.
I have used it a few times on the beach but if there is nothing there you can't find it. Our beach is hunted daily by tourists and even some locals . The locals are hoping for the elusive ring and the tourists will dig anything. For the most part a good day at the beach yields maybe $1. In other areas I been averaging $4 - $5 per outing which is most often about 2 hours.
Hopefully I never have to use customer service but from what I have read it appears to be less than desirable. Both Whites and Garrett pride themselves on customer service and that equals brand loyalty. I am performance loyal so brand don't mean much to me. Depending on the price point of the detector you buy the differences are small between any of them and each brand has their strong points and weaker points. It boils down to what you detect for and your detecting preference.
Right now I am a big fan of the E-Trac performance. One of the major pluses of the E-Trac is it is easy to learn aside from being a coin hog. I know it's not known for finding gold jewelry but with any detector you find jewelry from experience or by accident and most often it's by accident.
E-TRAC IS AWESOME
I found it has way more depth than I ever imagined. I set the sensitivity down to about 17 and still bring up quarters at 8". I don't like digging much deeper in 90 degree heat when the ground is hard. I am a coin shooter so this is the perfect detector for me. The deepest quarter I found was 15" when I had the sensitivity turned up but that's a lot deeper than I am willing to dig. It seems many soda cans ring up in the 46 -47 range if they are beyond 8". I rarely ever dig a bottle cap even in trashy areas. Pennies can be confusing because I dig a lot of them in the 44 - 46 range. They disguise themselves well.
I have used TTF and a cpl settings I have modified but I even love the Minelab coin setting. I rarely find tabs or foil and the occasional aluminum can but most often I can tell by the sound and how strong it is if it is a can. On mixed signals more often than not I can pick out the good signal even if it only flashes once or twice. The signal is so strong from the coil that it will sometimes start to beep when the target is 1' away. I use the wiggle method most often because the pin point in my eyes is so so due to coil strength. Many times the target is at the edge of the coil but I use my pin pointer to scan the ground before I cut a flap. When I make a pass I rarely miss a thing unless I don't over lap my swings. As far as swinging slow I don't think it is slow at all. Actually it fits perfect for my swing speed.
I don't find the weight burdensome even at 71 yrs old. The 1st few days I thought my shoulder was never going to quit hurting but now I can swing it 4 hours with no problems. I am surprised that Minelab hasn't dome something to make the screen easier to read but since I detect more by sound than anything I only use the screen to confirm what I hear.
I have used it a few times on the beach but if there is nothing there you can't find it. Our beach is hunted daily by tourists and even some locals . The locals are hoping for the elusive ring and the tourists will dig anything. For the most part a good day at the beach yields maybe $1. In other areas I been averaging $4 - $5 per outing which is most often about 2 hours.
Hopefully I never have to use customer service but from what I have read it appears to be less than desirable. Both Whites and Garrett pride themselves on customer service and that equals brand loyalty. I am performance loyal so brand don't mean much to me. Depending on the price point of the detector you buy the differences are small between any of them and each brand has their strong points and weaker points. It boils down to what you detect for and your detecting preference.
Right now I am a big fan of the E-Trac performance. One of the major pluses of the E-Trac is it is easy to learn aside from being a coin hog. I know it's not known for finding gold jewelry but with any detector you find jewelry from experience or by accident and most often it's by accident.
E-TRAC IS AWESOME