Monte ! I didn't expect someone from MD royalty to chime in on my question but glad you did. Your reputation and name seem to be revered in many different forums on different sites. Congrats on acheiving a good solid reputation, knowledge base then being gracious enough to share it with the community so consistently over the years. Yes, I've dived through many, many forums trying to learn and your name is one of the very few that consistently pops up in glowing terms. The only other one that comes to mind right now is Dave J. Anyways, on to the questions!
The video if you can't see it goes like this. A 5gal white bucket filled to the brim with dirt, placed on the dirt are two nails and a coin like this.... -- o -- In one test about an inch separates the nails and coin. So nail, inch of space, coin, inch of space, nail. --- o --- With this the etrac pro would sound on the nail only at fast swing speed the coin being invisible. Slow crawling swing speed and the etrac pro sounds on the nail, coin, then nail again as 3 tones (two tones being the same). The comparative eurotec pro with 11" DD sounds on all 3 items at slow or fast swing speed. So the eurotec "sees" all 3 items. When the test is adjusted tighter with only a quarter inch or so between the coin/nails --- o --- So now it's nail, quarter in gap, coin, quarter in gap, nail. When it's this tight the etrac only sounds on 1 target maybe 2 the coin being totally invisible at either slow crawling swing speed or fast swing. The eurotec would still sound off or "see" all 3 targets even at the fast swing speed with quarter inch gap. Now I'm only guestimating the distance from watching the video. However it does seem like the etrac cannot see targets close to iron "trash" where the much cheaper eurotek pro can. My question is if this really is a problem or just a demonstration that really is not very significant in practice. I hope that explains the video and my original question.
Your post already answers most points I was concerned with however some still remain.
1. I seem to have narrowed down the list to 3 detectors. T2 ltd (5in dd/11 dd coils) or the etrac pro these two are a toss up. I'm having trouble eliminating the g2 from the list as many, many people just rave about it's abilities in iron infested sites. I'm thinking though that the t2 using the 5in dd would be very close in performance to g2 5in dd in iron infested sites. Between the t2 ltd and the etrac just comes down to which good used deal I can find first. What do you think of these 3 detectors between each other ? My intent is mostly beach, park, totlots with the possibility of prospecting. Beach being likely the primary focus. Also, I have zero MD experience so it's all academic right now. I just want to be careful in making a rather (to me) substantial purchase even used.
2. The etrac seems to be quite the quandry. Some people say it's the most easy to use, turn on and go. Some people say it's most complicated to use and not good for a first detector. They both can't be right can they ? Also the etrac seems to be one of the few detectors that seem to be kept and used long term the other being the t2/f75. I figure I can't go wrong with either side. etrac or t2/f75 I know your big on the white's detectors and I've read your posts about mx5 etc. However it seems whites have stood at the top for too long and become complacent. Their product line seems to be old, heavy and lack innovation. It's good that they have not slacked off on product/customer support.
3. Your questions on what I intend to dig... I intend to dig anything that comes up in the foil, nickel, pultab range and also anything crackly low conductor tones. I will pass over any solid iron tones but may still dig up crackly jumping iron tones depending on where I am. Again this is all academic right now. Who knows what I'll really do when I realize digging 15in down in hard packed dirt a zillion times an hr only to be junked 40 out of 42 times is no fun.
