Quick hunt in the city park with the Racer, Deus and E-Trac

[Southwind]

Went for another quick hunt to the city park with the Racer, Deus and E-Trac. One quick keeper out of the hunt. A 1941 wheat. It takes so long to run these kind of test. I have to get a signal I think could be a deep coin, takes about 5 minutes analyzing to decide if it is worth running the video. Then I have to take that detector back to the truck and get the next, and then video it, then go get the other one. Takes about 30 minutes just to video one dig. Anyway, all three detectors did a good job on this roughly 8" wheat. I'm still looking for that really deep one to tax the abilities of one or more of these machines.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0UQgwOsRVg[/video]


All did a great job on the coin. The only difference was only one of these detector costs under $1,000

 

[KyJoe]

Very nice vid, thanks for the effort. In my soil 2 tone gives better #'s and is deeper in my tests. Maybe it didn't make the vid, did you try 2 tone?

 

[Southwind]

Yes I do actually hunt in 2 tone. I switch over to 3 tone to listen for that higher tone. I guess it is a habit from the E-Trac.

 

[HaroldILL.]

WOW! I thought I made a post? Am I crazy or was it deleted for some reason? What did I say that was wrong if it was?

 

[Wayfarer]

Looks like the Racer had the least stable ID. The E-trac had the most stable ID but (surprisingly) the Deus was also very stable.

 

[Monte]

Looks like the Racer had the least stable ID. The E-trac had the most stable ID but (surprisingly) the Deus was also very stable.

Kind of correct, but I noticed, looking at the ground and positions of coil presentation, that it appeared to be undisturbed with the Racer tests, but when the Deus was used, and the Minelab, the spot tested appeared darker colored as if the ground were a little disturbed as it looked like damp brown dirt.

Also, we don't know the specific settings used with each of the models that were compared, and the non-Racer models do have more adjustment features. Also, the non-Racer models were using larger-sized search coils, and they were round in shape and that created a little different functional EMF which, in some cases of lower mineralization or a sparser target site, could produce a little stronger or improved response.

What we can see, however, is that all three detectors gave a digable audio response to the coin. I also noted the Ground Phase was '75' on the Racer and I think only '1' 'pie' segment on the Magnetic Mineralization Indicator. Where I hunted yesterday the Ground Phase ranged from '79' to '85' and there were '4' to '6' slices of MMI segments lit-up, and that can pose a little more challenge. For a detector that sells for half, or less, than the other models compared against, I would say the Racer is a winner. I know it is for me.

Monte

 

[Wayfarer]

Looks like the Racer had the least stable ID. The E-trac had the most stable ID but (surprisingly) the Deus was also very stable.

What we can see, however, is that all three detectors gave a digable audio response to the coin. I also noted the Ground Phase was '75' on the Racer and I think only '1' 'pie' segment on the Magnetic Mineralization Indicator. Where I hunted yesterday the Ground Phase ranged from '79' to '85' and there were '4' to '6' slices of MMI segments lit-up, and that can pose a little more challenge. For a detector that sells for half, or less, than the other models compared against, I would say the Racer is a winner. I know it is for me.

Monte

Good eye, Monte. You're right, the test is being conducted in low mineralized soil, which probably has the effect of evening out the performance of the three detectors. It'd be interesting to see how they'd do in more heavily mineralized soil for sure. As for the conditions of the test, I'm assuming Southwind did his best to eliminate variables and conduct a fair test. Not sure how much that small "marker" hole on the top would have affected the results.

No doubt the audio is digable on all three. Really clean audio on the Racer. Most experienced detectorists are audio hunters anyway, so that's another plus for the Racer.

What I'd also like to see is the same test on that Wheatie with an MXT and 10x12 SEF coil.

 

[Southwind]

OK explain this one. Same city park and on a 10" wheat the Racer has the far better sound AND the more accurate target ID. I was a bit surprised myself as was my hunting buddy.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V-2MNniBwo[/video]

On the above video the only difference in the ground was I marked the spot with a screw driver while I went to my truck to get the next detector. There was nothing changed in the ground other than a screw driver stuck in the spot down to about 1".

 

[Low-Boy/LCPM]

the other machine has that huge coil on it could there be any iron in the ground....

 

[Southwind]

I thought about that but my buddies E-Trac has the stock 11" coil and it wasn't any better. Mine has the 13" Ultimate coil which generally does a bit better than the stock 11".

 

[HaroldILL.]

Like I said before your running to much disc. on the Etrac. Open the screen up and you should hit it no problem.

 

[Southwind]

Like I said before your running to much disc. on the Etrac. Open the screen up and you should hit it no problem.

I test the way I hunt. What good is it to make special adjustments just trying to make a test look good? John, the guy I was hunting with, uses a very open pattern and in fact, like me, switch to Quck Mask to check targets. His fared no better. I have found that while using an open pattern does sometimes let you hear targets more, it also lets you hear more false iron targets. This park is full of those. I dig just as many keepers as John does with his open pattern, I just dig less junk.

 

[oregon_dragonfly]

What good is it to make special adjustments just trying to make a test look good?

I think to have a fair test would have all machines maxed out to there fullest capability not dumb them down so they are all the same.. obviously it doesn't matter what detector you have if you don't know how to use it to it's fullest, it will look bad,, any thing under 6'' just about any detector will work the same what separates them is how they perform in trash, mineralized ,and beach/ salt situations and ability to reach down at depth and tell what is there,. the more you have to turn down sensitivity to cope with difficult situations the shallower you will detect,. the more expensive machines have processors to deal with it and you will pay extra for that technology. but if you don't know how to use it or take the time to learn any machine it will never perform to it's fullest capability. dfly

 

[The Dark]

I think this video will make some Etrac users sore. Getting better performance out of a machine that costs so much less will do that I reckon.

 

[Southwind]

I guess my point is as far as I'm concerned all my machine are running at maximum performance for me. We can argue all day long about whether your idea of what I should be running in my conditions is proper or not, but in the end I run my machines the way experience in my conditions and needs has told me are best. I'm sure there are plenty of E-Trac users who feel I should be running a wide open screen with balls to the wall maxed out everything or I'm wasting my time. I used to run the E-Trac with nothing but FE to 26 and CO wide open. I'm sure it helped me find a few keepers in the plethora of trash it also found, but after weighing out the good vs the bad, I tend to believe in our trashy city park my limited time is best served with a tight pattern. Any target that sets off any kind of sound with this pattern gets my attention to stop and change to Quick Mask to check it further.

Like I stated I prefer to do my testing just as if I were using the machine which is not balls to the wall. I want to know what to expect in normal everyday hunting. There still is the fact the target was also checked with my buddies E-Trac with the stock coil and a pretty much wide open screen. In this case it just so happened the Tracer gave the better response. If it helps at all I used the E-Trac to find the deep wheat in the first place. I'm not familiar yet with what to listen and watch for on the Racer so I'm using a detector I'm very familiar with, the E-Trac, to point me to the deep ones then seeing how the Racer responds.

My plan was to find a target at the very limits of my E-Trac's ability and see how the Racer and Deus stacked up. It just didn't turn out how I expected.

 

[Justin E]

Exactly. That's why I like to ask how their ground conditions compare to East TN red clay. That's what I have. If this was in a clean test bed, that'd be one thing, though I discredit those to a certain extent as they're usually optimum conditions and not what you can expect out in the field. The ultimate test is a true field test with unknown and uncontrollable variables such as trash.

 

[Ray-Mo.]

What was your disc level on the Racer ?

 

[Albert]

I thank you for the video and I believe you are correct in your assessment in the way you are testing out and comparing detectors . Keep up the good work and keep on testing and making videos. Thanks. Albert

 

[Southwind]

What was your disc level on the Racer ?

On the Racer I do nothing but turn it on and ground balance.

 

[Justin E]

I'm curious how it handles emi over the Etrac as well as ground mineralization.