Thinking about upgrading to Etrac....

[Southwind]

If you like Beep-N-Dig keep the Safari. If you are a more selective hunter, get the E-Trac.

 

[enderman]

Stay with the Safari.

People get talked into the Etrac all the time, people automatically think it's better, but it's not IMO.

The Safari is easier to use, has a nice screen and is $500 less.

I have lots of hours on an Etrac, when I would swing a Safari, I could close my eyes and not tell the difference. I always found silver whenever I used one, easier to ID things then the with Etrac.
What I mean is, the 2nd "Fe" number really doesn't gain you any ID accuracy with the Etrac except on shallow targets.

The Etrac can't ID anything that a Safari can't, practically speaking.
You don't need the "Fe" number of the Etrac, if the tone goes squirrly on the Safari, rest assured the Fe number has dropped, if it were there.
So the screen can seem useful, however it consumes time and doesn't seem to result in any "extra" targets.

Perhaps with the Nox out now this may not be relevant, however maybe someone looking to pick up a deal on a used machine will find it useful.

I loved the Etrac, but it was a touch overrated when compared to the Safari which for whatever reason became the red headed step son of the lineup.

IMO they are all Explorers. They are more alike then different.

 

[Happa54]

Stay with the Safari.

People get talked into the Etrac all the time, people automatically think it's better, but it's not IMO.

The Safari is easier to use, has a nice screen and is $500 less.

I have lots of hours on an Etrac, when I would swing a Safari, I could close my eyes and not tell the difference. I always found silver whenever I used one, easier to ID things then the with Etrac.
What I mean is, the 2nd "Fe" number really doesn't gain you any ID accuracy with the Etrac except on shallow targets.

The Etrac can't ID anything that a Safari can't, practically speaking.
You don't need the "Fe" number of the Etrac, if the tone goes squirrly on the Safari, rest assured the Fe number has dropped, if it were there.
So the screen can seem useful, however it consumes time and doesn't seem to result in any "extra" targets.

Perhaps with the Nox out now this may not be relevant, however maybe someone looking to pick up a deal on a used machine will find it useful.

I loved the Etrac, but it was a touch overrated when compared to the Safari which for whatever reason became the red headed step son of the lineup.

IMO they are all Explorers. They are more alike then different.

I've been away from this forum for a bit and see people are still commenting on this post.

Yes, I'm now leaning towards keeping the Safari instead of the Etrac upgrade.

It seems I've arrived at a certain plateau now where my silver/wheatie count has shot way up. I haven't been skunked on silver for the last 12 consecutive hunts in heavy trashy parks in Los Angeles.

My successes are due to knowing my machine. Once you master those tones and learn to separate the good stuff from the trash you will be finding the silver and lots of wheaties.

The shallow coins sitting by themselves is the easy way (ie; clad) but then all it is, is clad. I'm not complaining cuz I love clad too.

With the SEF 8x6 butterfly coil, manual sens at 16 - 18 and a lot of manipulation of the coil (wiggling) I've been able to suck up coins from the trash.

It's really fun and amazing how you can see the good stuff mixed in with the trash and selectively separate it out and retrieve.

I find that as I'm swinging (slow and low) and hear the slightest high tone (mixed in with trash) I will back up and work the hell out of those signals. It's amazing how the good signals surface after working for a good 10 seconds of wiggling. The TID display will roll around throwing various signals, but when I see a high TID among all the numbers and it is in sync with the tone, I know it is a good coin, or it can be a screw cap or rusted nail, etc. But more times than not, it is a coin.

I've switched back and forth from stock coil to the 6x8 and there is no comparison on separation. The 6x8 is permanent now.

Also, I've gone back and forth from auto sens to manual and without a doubt I am getting deeper signals and more coins running in manual sens. The more sens I apply, the deeper the machine detects. I stay between 16 and 18 and toggle back and forth depending on what the machine is telling me. The more power lines and electricity in the area seems to drive my sens down a bit, but all-n-all, I rarely run my machine in auto anymore.

Just the other day, I bumped into a fellow detectorist who has a reputation out there for killing it with the silvers. He has been swinging an Etrac for many years. After a long introduction to each other we hunted a small area side by side. I dug a rosie, then he dug one. He dug 3 wheaties, I dug 2 wheaties plus a pesos coin. He digs screw caps the same as I do because they sound like silver on the Etrac. He disc's out very little and I disc out only iron. His Etac has bells and whistles and mine doesn't. But the bottom line is, we are both getting silver and wheaties. I don't see a difference on performance between the 2 machines.

For me it's all in knowing the tones and aggressive manipulation of the small coil.

At this point in time, I'll keep my Safari and wait it out on the reviews of the Equinox and just maybe, I'll buy one of those.

 

[enderman]

Ya maybe splurge for the Nox when it comes out, it does have features that would be usefull that the Explorer's don't have. (Safari, Etrac etc.)

It's lighter, apparently has multifrequency.

I've had a similar experience to you. I've hunted side by side with a Safari and Etrac and the coin count and type are eerily similar. Even when machines are switched. I just found the Safari easier to use.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

A friend of mine and I bought two new Safari's about 8 years ago - I really liked the machine and so did my friend.
My first week I found three Large Cents in one day on an old cellar hole in the woods, near our farm.
No doubt about it - the Safari is a great machine !

After about a month or so my friend called me and said - "do you think we should have gone "all in" and bought E-Trac's" ?
Is the E-Trac really that much better ? - Are we missing any targets because we don't have the best ?
I told him that I had been thinking the exact same thing for the last two weeks ... Dual target ID - more setting options - a night light ( I love night hunting ), etc.

We both decided to sell the our Safari's and bought E-Trac's - after many thousands of great finds over the last 8 yrs. was it the right thing to do ?
Would the Safari have done just as well - there's no way of ever telling - but myself - I'm really glad I went to the E-Trac !

Good Hunting !

 

[Goldstrike]

This may have been mentioned before but the other option is to keep your Safari and also buy an E-Trac if you can afford to do that? You can always sell one of them afterwards! The display backlight on the E-Trac is a great thing to have. I hate having to pack up when the sun goes down and like E-Trac-Ohio pointed out, I too like to continue detecting when it's dark, especially on a beach when the crowds leave and it isn't so darn hot. I've tried a cap light and other light configurations but your dealing with glare off the screen etc;.One of these day's, I'd love to try an E-Trac in the field and see how it performs!

 

[Happa54]

This may have been mentioned before but the other option is to keep your Safari and also buy an E-Trac if you can afford to do that? You can always sell one of them afterwards! The display backlight on the E-Trac is a great thing to have. I hate having to pack up when the sun goes down and like E-Trac-Ohio pointed out, I too like to continue detecting when it's dark, especially on a beach when the crowds leave and it isn't so darn hot. I've tried a cap light and other light configurations but your dealing with glare off the screen etc;.One of these day's, I'd love to try an E-Trac in the field and see how it performs!

Thanx for your responses Etrac Ohio and Goldstrike. This post will be active for awhile I guess because it comes up in other forums as well.

The upgrade to Etrac is a given for me but not to replace my Safari. It will be an addition to the Safari. And I'll never sell my Safari and here's why.

I cut my teeth on this machine and I'm glad I did. I dove into this hobby in January of this year. The first couple of months I was digging everything and learning the tones. During this time I was not that keen on researching where the good stuff lies. I was just going wherever.

I think it was in my 2nd month when I got my first silver dime. Initially, I was losing hope that I would get any silver due to some of the negative feedback from other detectorists. Then the wheats were coming in in quantity. Kept reading and watching videos on the Safari daily. Lots of trial and error with settings, etc.

As of yesterday, I have 55 silver coins (one being a dated 1923-S Standing Liberty Quarter), close to 300 wheats, 2 1800's buttons, 1 early 1800 relic, several silver rings, a couple of pieces of sterling silver, a few gold plated jewelry pieces, 2 dozen tokens, oddball rings, and tons of clad. Not a bad take for my first year into this hobby. My first 2 months were not productive due to the learning curve.

Logging in approx 700 + hours on my machine, I have learned to work in both conductive and ferrous. In fact, I work in both modes in a single hunt. Running in manuals sens 18 and little to zero discrimination I hear everything and my ears can take it for hours.

The bottom line is "will the Etrac give me more than what the Safari has thus far?" I don't know...maybe, maybe not?

I used to think that I needed to upgrade to get more and deeper finds but I'm finding that my Safari can keep up with the best of the Minelab machines.

The Safari is a beast. It goes deep enough and oozes out the silver/wheat signals from the iron and trash in some of the trashiest parks in Los Angeles.

I've been hunting side by side with a partner who has an AT Pro & Max and his machine doesn't pick up the silvers like the Safari. My latest partner who is an Etrac hot shot is impressed with what the Safari is producing for me.

All in all, do I NEED to upgrade to Etrac? Probably not...but I want to, just to keep the hobby exciting and something new to learn.

I have read Sabich's Etrac book twice and I work with the Etrac emulator. It's an easy transition going from Safari to Etrac this way as I plan on running the Etrac settings the same way which is little discrimination and high sens. All the other settings are pretty much self explanatory as you get into it. All those complicated Etrac patterns are of no use to me. Open screen is the way I like it. Pretty easy stuff.

I read the posts coming in from people who are getting into Etrac with no FBS experience and it seems to them a complex learning curve. But starting off with the Safari, the transition seems to be an easy one due to the similarities in the tones... IMO.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Yes ... since you have already spent so much time with your Safari - the transition to the E-Trac should be very easy for you.

Also, when hunting in iron infested areas many E-Trac users run in 2 Tone Ferrous with a small coil ( 6" to 7"or less).
I've made countless finds in junkie areas with this combo, that the stock sized coil missed.
You can visit "Goes4Ever" ( a Findmall E-Trac forum member) website for details.


Good Luck & Good Hunting !