need a quick review of the E-Trac vs the Explorer SE

[JASONSPAZ1]

Hey guys, I had an Explorer SE, and I sold a Sovereign GT to put towards the purchase of the SE. I knew and could tell that the SE was great on deep silver,( So was my GT)
anyway I became frustrated with the SE and missed my GT, so I am now using the GT again and Love it as usual. Now that the winter is around the corner I could see myself obsessing over another detector. I just want to know what are some of the big differences of the E-Trac over the SE. I used to run my SE in all metal and use the tones only, I didn't like how it ran in disc mode with its constant nulling. I couldn't decide if I liked the smart find or the #'s better. I could never find a pattern that worked and I was made to feel as though I was missing many targets. I found myself fiddling with the machine to much in the field.
Now with the E-trac I hear all kinds of gripes and praises with its Ferrous tones or lack of, I also like the idea of downloading programs to try out. I hear reports of better disc mode operation, faster response, and little features hear and there that work and don't work better than the SE. So in a nutshell what do you like better or worse on the E-Trac over an SE. I used my Sovereign GT, yesterday at the NH fall hunt and kept up with all the others no problem. Lots of E-Tracs and SE's where there and I did not get a chance to discuss the differences with some of the great people that where there. One thing for sure, If I do get an E-Trac I wont get rid of My Sovereign Gt again, it has just worked to well for me

Thanks in advance
JASON

 

[BlackX]

That way I can check it out some when we head out.

Well, semi-seriously, at least we could compare SE/E-trac signals.

 

[Ron (CA)]

SE for park hunting
E-Trac for relic hunting.

Only my opinion---

SE has better tones on coins and allows for better "cherry picking" as the silver tones are higher than the clad dimes and copper memorials/wheats. Indians hit slightly lower on the smart screen vs zincs and nickels are real easy to tell on the SE the way they hit and jump to the right and then back. The odd coins seem to have their own little area that nothing else really hits. I dig a lot of "odd" hits and get neat stuff. (Foreign coins, tokens etc) The E-Trac lumps everything and I tend to dig more clad and trash in the parks. Easier to "tone hunt" with the SE as the wider range of tones doesn't force to to check the screen every hit.

E-trac is faster in the iron. And it runs pretty smooth. But I found that deep targets will not always hit in Auto- even if you back off and let the E-Trac "read the ground" prior to re swinging over the target. I have not seen any depth advantage to the E-Trac in the ground that I hunt when in manual. Both my SE and E-Trac are finding the 8 inch coins so depth is comparable. I am constantly looking at the screen (that is tough to see) due to the common tone of most high conductive coins. Quarters sound sweet on the E-Trac but silver dimes sound like a lot of other stuff (memorials/clad dimes/etc) so I have to look at the cond number and try to figure it out. The SE screen is tough to see too, but I don't have to look at it as often so it is perceived as a lesser issue on the SE.

I have both and that is my assessment so far. *I will probably keep both but since I coin hunt more than relic hunt these days I have a pretty pricey back up!!

If someone has no prior experience with the Explorer, I think the E-Trac would be the better machine as the learning curve would be shorter and no "retraining" has to take place. I know the SE pretty well so I am not taking real advantage of the benefits that an E-Trac offers to a newer user.

Just my two corroded zincs worth.

Ron