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Weight and balance?

B

B Spa

Member
I have been considering an new E-Trac but I am concerned about the weight and balance, more the balance. The weight is not really the problem. I have the two Nautilus detectors I use in the woods and relic digging but they are setup with the Whites rod conversion to compensate for weight. For years I used and loved an Explorer 2 but sold it due to how it made my arm ache, it was just to front heavy. My question is if the E-Trac lighter towards the coil and better balanced. Finally, is a conversion to a hip mount easy? To tell you the truth I miss the performance and identifiable tones of these great detectors.
Thank you for any help, B Spa
 
The E-trac can test your arm with a big coil. The trick is to shorten the shaft so the coil is swinging right in front of your shoes. This means that you are supporting less 'lever arm' force and most of the force is straight down. The balance shoudn't be a problem...at least I have found that it is well-balanced as long as you make the appropriate adjustments for each coil.
 
I've only had mine out 4 or 5 times but it is about the same as my DFX. As the day goes on the arm aches a little. In Andy's Sabisch's book. it says Minelab changed the handle 15 degrees up from the Explorer to compensate a little for balance purposes. The Beep Goes On is right about holding it closer and swinging in a closer arc. You get better coverage and depth by doing that too as far as I can tell.
 
Well this is interesting becuase when I got my E-Trac yesterday and set it up (without the battery) I was immediately struck by how weightless it feels.

Now let me qualify two things. Firstly I understand i may have to fit the battery before detecting, I am crazy enough to try anything so I will give that a go when I get out (maybe this evening after work). Ive heard rumours you find more anyway.

Secondly I have come from 4-5 years of Gold Prospecting with a SD2000 then 2100 then a GPX4000. Compared to them... the E-Trac feels like im holding a toothpick with a cheeze wafer on the end LOL :rolleyes:

However I will reserve any comments about its operational weight until I actually spend a few hours with it. But my initial thought was... damn this is a picnic compared to the crap you lug around for gold. I was worried I was going to end up looking like a one armed version of Popeye when I first got my 4000, but you get used to it.

Also i would agree (from the initial feel) that its very weighted toward the front. It seems to have a greater lever effect than the 4000 and thats even with a bif aftermarket coil on. For some reason the 4000, despite its weight... is a surprisingly easy unit to swing... but I did always use a pretty heavy bungy.
 
I have the Safari and with the 11" Procoil it is well balanced. The 8" Minelab coil is heavier and is fatiguing to use.
 
The E-Trac is very balanced to me and is not coil heavy at all, unless of course you put on an aftermarket coil it can get very heavy after a couple hours. It feels comfortable and ergonomically correct.

BCOOP
 
Even though the E-Trac is 4 oz. heavier ( I believe ) than the Safari or the Explorer it's seems to be much better balanced.
I could only swing my Safari for one hour without having to take a break - I can swing my ET for at least three hours without taking a break !

The reason for this is that the ET's handle is 15 degree's more vertical than the Safari or Explorer.
This handle angle makes for a lot less pull on your arms and shoulders - this slight change makes the ET much more comfortable to use !
I've seen many other ET owner's post similar comments in this forum.

Good Luck ! --- Mark
 
It's not the wieght that fatigues me. It's the swinging so slow. I can swing it all day in an area I'm searching for shallower targets but after about 30 minutes of sweeping slow for the deep stuff I need a break.
 
I can say that with confidence with hundreds of hours on the F75 and now about 30 hrs on the E-Trac. Mainly because the shaft to coil vertical axis has been increased....so your body is more "over the coil", instead of swinging the coil way out in front of you.
 
n/t
 
I agree with The Beep Goes On about shortening the shaft but be aware of the kind of shoes you wear hunting. I did this and had all kinds of weird nulling and falsing that didn't make any sense until it dawned on me I was wearing steel toed boots with many brass lace guides. Duh! Switched to a pair of WalMart velcro tennies and had no more problems! ;) Mike
 
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