Things that will cost you great finds -vs- things that will make you great finds.
I bought my E-trac in October of 2008 and feel like I am pretty close to knowing how to get the most out of it.
I know there are others here that have had a lot of time with this detector as well. So what do you say we all pitch in and see
if we can improve one anothers game and help out the greenhorns. Please contribute if you can.
With at least 1500 hours of using my Etrac on different sites in different areas of the US and Canada and endless hours of
testing in my coin garden and I have learned:
1. Sloppy coil technique will miss many great finds. Keep the coil low and progress only 1/2 coil width per swing.
Do not swing a half moon shape with the coil, keep the center solid line of the coil perpendicular with your body throughout your swing.
2. The Etrac is very sensitive to correct swing speed. Too fast=Bad or To slow=Bad. Ground conditions ie. mineral content
and iron content directly affect acceptable swing speed. Practice your target approach in your test garden and you'll get a feel for the proper speed. I find that in most ground conditions a 2 second swing responds better to deep targets than a 3 or 4 second swing -unless- you have excessive iron content in the soil then you'll want to slow down a bit but not too much. Too slow will not respond as deep in my testing. Too fast may not respond at all to a lot of targets
To much discrimination will slow your swing speed down as will too many filters running - difficult, high trash etc.
3. Listen for short chirps then go back and try to isolate the exact location and see if the tone will pick up solid "use the old minelab wiggle". If the target comes in solid then approach the target from different angles and pay attention to the audio more than the visual ID. If the signal changes tones from different angles it means one of three things A. it's trash B. it's not a round target C. it's round but near another target with a different conductivity reading. Note: round targets will usually vary in tone very little as you circle the target swinging over it.
4. To much discrimination will mask good targets near trash. Try to black out as little of the screen as you can, this will give you your best shot at un-masking a target near trash. Let your ears be your discrimination.
5. High manual sensitivity will excite the signal of a deep target more than auto sensitivity in the right environments. There are some cases where high manual sensitivity will really make a deep target lock on and give a good diggable signal as opposed to auto sensitivity giving on the a sort of weak "umph" sound. High manual sensitivity can be counter productive if you are in an area of possible EMI (audible or not) it will affect the performance of your Etrac. If EMI is likely in the area you are detecting stick with auto sens. If there is a lot of iron or high mineral content in the ground, high manual sensitivity will either make the iron sound better, cause audio masking or simply not penetrate the ground as well as auto sens. I read where someone quoted that too much sensitivity in the wrong ground conditions is like a cars headlights reflecting off water and I believe there is a lot of truth to that statement.
6. The Etrac will signal on targets through the null. I have hundreds of silver coins to prove it. Maintain proper coil speed and technique and it will prove it to you as well.
7. Don't be afraid to dig a few iffy signals when they are deep. I'd rather dig a deep nail than take the chance of missing a nice seated dime. I am rewarded 20%-30% of the time. I've counted
8. If you don't have a test garden make one. Believe me you can learn more in 2 hours there than 20 hours in the field.
9. Get a variety of coils the more you can change your attack on any one site the more nice finds you'll have in your pouch, also make note of the weather and soil conditions each time you hunt a site. I'll try to switch it up and hunt areas I've already pounded in different weather conditions. Sunny, overcast, dry soil, moist soil, soppy wet soil. Each time I am rewarded and amazed at how great targets will suddenly appear when I was certain I'd cleaned a spot out.
10. The most important thing I have learned about the Etrac. " Positive Attitude " I've watched if I'm feeling crappy or not really into it when I'm detecting I'll leave feeling worse than when I started. I think when I'm not focused sharply on what I'm doing all the above goes right out the window along with my chance of making good finds. I've learned to be excited before each dig and really feel like it has the possibility of being something great and my good finds rate goes up significantly.
OK now I've told you guys everything I can think of. It's your turn to spill your brains.
John
I bought my E-trac in October of 2008 and feel like I am pretty close to knowing how to get the most out of it.
I know there are others here that have had a lot of time with this detector as well. So what do you say we all pitch in and see
if we can improve one anothers game and help out the greenhorns. Please contribute if you can.
With at least 1500 hours of using my Etrac on different sites in different areas of the US and Canada and endless hours of
testing in my coin garden and I have learned:
1. Sloppy coil technique will miss many great finds. Keep the coil low and progress only 1/2 coil width per swing.
Do not swing a half moon shape with the coil, keep the center solid line of the coil perpendicular with your body throughout your swing.
2. The Etrac is very sensitive to correct swing speed. Too fast=Bad or To slow=Bad. Ground conditions ie. mineral content
and iron content directly affect acceptable swing speed. Practice your target approach in your test garden and you'll get a feel for the proper speed. I find that in most ground conditions a 2 second swing responds better to deep targets than a 3 or 4 second swing -unless- you have excessive iron content in the soil then you'll want to slow down a bit but not too much. Too slow will not respond as deep in my testing. Too fast may not respond at all to a lot of targets
To much discrimination will slow your swing speed down as will too many filters running - difficult, high trash etc.
3. Listen for short chirps then go back and try to isolate the exact location and see if the tone will pick up solid "use the old minelab wiggle". If the target comes in solid then approach the target from different angles and pay attention to the audio more than the visual ID. If the signal changes tones from different angles it means one of three things A. it's trash B. it's not a round target C. it's round but near another target with a different conductivity reading. Note: round targets will usually vary in tone very little as you circle the target swinging over it.
4. To much discrimination will mask good targets near trash. Try to black out as little of the screen as you can, this will give you your best shot at un-masking a target near trash. Let your ears be your discrimination.
5. High manual sensitivity will excite the signal of a deep target more than auto sensitivity in the right environments. There are some cases where high manual sensitivity will really make a deep target lock on and give a good diggable signal as opposed to auto sensitivity giving on the a sort of weak "umph" sound. High manual sensitivity can be counter productive if you are in an area of possible EMI (audible or not) it will affect the performance of your Etrac. If EMI is likely in the area you are detecting stick with auto sens. If there is a lot of iron or high mineral content in the ground, high manual sensitivity will either make the iron sound better, cause audio masking or simply not penetrate the ground as well as auto sens. I read where someone quoted that too much sensitivity in the wrong ground conditions is like a cars headlights reflecting off water and I believe there is a lot of truth to that statement.
6. The Etrac will signal on targets through the null. I have hundreds of silver coins to prove it. Maintain proper coil speed and technique and it will prove it to you as well.
7. Don't be afraid to dig a few iffy signals when they are deep. I'd rather dig a deep nail than take the chance of missing a nice seated dime. I am rewarded 20%-30% of the time. I've counted
8. If you don't have a test garden make one. Believe me you can learn more in 2 hours there than 20 hours in the field.
9. Get a variety of coils the more you can change your attack on any one site the more nice finds you'll have in your pouch, also make note of the weather and soil conditions each time you hunt a site. I'll try to switch it up and hunt areas I've already pounded in different weather conditions. Sunny, overcast, dry soil, moist soil, soppy wet soil. Each time I am rewarded and amazed at how great targets will suddenly appear when I was certain I'd cleaned a spot out.
10. The most important thing I have learned about the Etrac. " Positive Attitude " I've watched if I'm feeling crappy or not really into it when I'm detecting I'll leave feeling worse than when I started. I think when I'm not focused sharply on what I'm doing all the above goes right out the window along with my chance of making good finds. I've learned to be excited before each dig and really feel like it has the possibility of being something great and my good finds rate goes up significantly.
OK now I've told you guys everything I can think of. It's your turn to spill your brains.
John
