On question of depth with E-Trac

[Ray-Mo.]

Posts from a year ago when I to was wondering about the depth department compared to the SE With
pro coil.Sounds like Bryce came to the same conclusion this week in his testing,Ray.

I was getting worried like some other ET owners about depth.Went over same erea I had hit earlier but this time I cranked the gain up and man. sen. to 29 in preset coin mode.What a difference in depth if you forget the numbers and dig the signals that sound good with the depth guage pegged out.Just had less than an hour but dug 3 early wheats and Indian head all over 9" measured depth with tape measure one was a solid 10-1/2".The numbers were jumping around but the sound said dig!
I was digging as deep a plug as the lesche would go and still no signal with the Uniprobe as have not put the Sunray on yet.I would then take another scoop out and the probe would scream and some times it would be a penny and part of the time it would be a rusted nail and then a penny in same hole.
The more I use this machine the more I am impressed,just need more time to hunt,Ray.
PS. yes I dug a little more trash but well worth it to me as the oldies are all that interest me.
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?19,805993,805993#msg-805993

It quit raining a couple of hours before dark so I took the Etrac for a depth test to an old country church parking lot with about 5" of gravel under about 2-3" of sod and it had no problem hitting the coins pictured at 9" plus. In auto it ran at 21-23 and would not hit solid on them but in manual at 27 they hit solid and ID decent as well.Yeah the depth thing bothers me to,digging that deep in gravel is tough but worth it.Ray.
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?63,823653,823653#msg-823653

 

[Don in South Jersey]

Thanks for the info Ray.

Last year I hunted in auto +2 or 3 based on the recommendations from a Minelab dealer who I bought my E-TRAC through, (stating you could lose signals hunting in manual) but it looks like based on the ground conditions, manual would make the sound come in more pronounced which would make the difference with those deep signals. Based on the location, I am going switch from auto to a manual setting & see what kind of results I get.

 

[C&RHunter]

Ray, you said you cranked the gain up, but didn't say to what number. I normally hunt with sensitivity in the high 20s and have set gain at 27. I have dug fairly deep targets, but don't believe I have ever dug as deep as you have. I would imagine I have left many good targets at depth. The soil up here NE of KC is not bad to hunt in usually. I hunt in a lot of areas that are farm fields now days, and could account for the shallower depth on the coins. (I did find the depth for the SunRay pin pointer, isn't very good unless the sensitivity is cranked up very high)

 

[gibsondan]

I also figured out I get more depth hunting with manual sensitivity. At some sites I can hunt with sensitivity maxed out. But most of the time I look at the suggested sensitivity and stay about 3 or 4 numbers above it in manual. I also like to hunt in auto sensitivity because the detector runs so quietly. I've gotten silver in both auto and manual. But if you want max depth, hunt in manual sensitivity.

 

[Ray-Mo.]

I was running the gain 28 - 30 and the places I was getting the best depth were nice black hard packed dirt that was very moist.I have a lot of sites where the soil is quite bad and auto will run around 10-15 and I am lucky to get a Silver dime past 7".You are right on about the Sunray on the E-Trac and that is one of the reasons I used the uni-probe so much as it gets 5" or better on most coins but no disc,Ray.
PS at the max depth the targets start to break up and it takes a lot of digging to realize that some ultra deep targets are desireable and not iron false or some very small spec of metal at say 2".I still dig a fare share of iffy signals but if it is an old site with coins at depth I don't mind some trash with my treasure.

 

[Ray-Mo.]

I think you will see an improvement in your older deeper coins.I must say I still run in auto +3 a lot when I am in heavy trash as I get much better seperation plus I can only stand so much noise before I get tired ears,Ray.

 

[Ray-Mo.]

I think you nailed it and it depends a lot on each individual site and many times even what small section of a given site you are working,Ray.

 

[rbholt80]

iv been preaching manual high sense and running hot for a year now after i did the trashy park test. im glad to see others pushing the etrac. i can tell you iv dug nickels at a measured 12 inches with those setting. i guess iv got it down good cause i never find sites were i cant pump up the sense to the high 20's and sometimes i can run 30 with my gain set 29.
once you learn how to hunt in those setting you will hate to run anything lower.
im still amazed each time i go hunt at how deep this detector will hunt and still give a good audio target id

 

[tewk01876]

I have a Minelab Explorer 2 with a new 11" Double D Coil. Will I gain anything with an E-trac other than the computer interface?
Do I gain any deepth?
What is "Exclusive Smartfind 2D target identification"?
Will it tell me the size of the item.

Thanks
D.

 

[JohnTN]

Manual 30 will have alot of chirps that are not repeatable but once you get your ears used to it your depth will definitely be improved over auto +3. I agree Ray-mo there are some spots that the detector will not handle the high sensitivity. Check out my video on U-tube I was running manual 30 in a trashy old fairgrounds. The areas I was detecting in the video had already been cleaned in auto +3 and when I went back over them with 30 manual I managed probably another 40-50 silver dimes auto +3 simply couldn't see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaCONrDiC3I

 

[gibsondan]

John, that's one of my favorite E-trac videos ever. I've been waiting for you to post more.

 

[Bilko]

I have given up sometimes in holes 12 inches deep with loads of pinpointing done. How deep does the e-trac go on larger items, please?