Why I like the Quick Mask Program.

[tippyhound]

First of let me say my favorite mode of operation with my E-Trac is the Mine Lab factory coin mode with a few modification's.

I have been a owner of a E-Trac metal detector a very short time. In fact only since September of 2010, and while I must confess there are many functions on this detector I really like I must say my favorite is the Quick Mask program.

I have been in this hobby many years and have used many different makes of detectors. If I had to bring up one problem that was consistent with each and every one of them it would be with detectors with discrimination abilities, and the falsing of iron making you dig good sounding targets only to find rusted bottle caps or a bent rusted nail

I have always been a coin hunter that likes to run as open a discrimination pattern as I possible can letting my ears do as much of the discriminating as possible. Now along comes a detector with a program called Quick Mask and by using this program I have found a way too isolate. those iron targets. Many times I will get a signal that will be broken with the FE/CO numbers jumping all over the place and a audio that does the same, and other times I will get a target that will be really clean on one side and chattering or a null on the other side. These are the targets where the Quick Mask program helps me the most.

I prefer to use a open screen (no discrimination) Quick Mask. This gives me a program with no filters to interfere with what I hear or see on the screen. When I switch over to Quick Mask I prefer to use short (1 to 2 inch) sweeps and completely circle the target. I will get a very clean audio as I circle the target and I watch the screen looking to see what the target box is doing as I sweep. If it wants to stay in the lower right corner I know I have a piece of iron and I walk on. If I see the target box stay in the upper part of the screen I have a conductive target and I am digging. Sometimes I will see the target box bouncing back and forth between the lower right hand corner and the upper part of the screen, when I see this I have a good target and a piece of iron close together in the hole and I am digging.

I have found many good coins, token's, rings and other good targets by using this method and I personally feel it is by far one of E-Trac's biggest assets, as I get some really good targets out of some really heavy trash using it.

My son really loves it to as he hunts with a Fisher CZ-6. Now these are detectors that get really good depth, are really fast on recovery between targets and pin point great, but they have one really bad problem and that is iron targets that read as good targets or cause the signal to break up making you think you have a piece of trash under your coil when really you have a coin right next to a piece of iron or a bent nail. Many times he has asked me to check targets for him saying they sound like trash and when I checked it I received a good coin reading saving him from walking away from a good target. Nice for him but it eats up a lot of my hunting time.

I know this is a long post but I'm hoping it will help some E-Trac users get better use of their Quick Mask program.

Rick "IL".

 

[willisjj]

Excellent, excellent post and thanks. I am a new E-Trac user and with only about 10-12 hours on my machine so far, I am obviously still very early in the learning curve. I have had some questions about Quick Mask, but wasn't exactly sure how to word what I was going to ask lol....fortunately you took care of it....thanks alot!

 

[silvereagle]

wow never thought about just using that for FULL TIME?will have to investigate,thanx

 

[3394hunting]

Are you using quick mask full time or do you just switch to it with questionable targets? i also thought your post was great, I'm waiting for mine to come in the mail.

 

[Mike Gresham]

I hunt coins exclusively and always run in the Quick Mask mode with the ferrous line around 20. This way I hear all "good" targets and can determine which targets to dig by evaluating sound and meter reading. If I get a hint of a high signal, even if its choppy and reading erratic on the scale, I work it from several angles to see if I can find a "sweet spot" with a repeatable, sustained signal. Some of my best coins have been recovered from high trash areas, where the nulls were non-stop. If you go slow and change coil directions constantly, you will hear that high silver tone. I have found my best settings are deep off, fast on, normal response, 4-tone, automatic sensitivity +3. I have recovered 47 silver coins since last Thanksgiving, my best being a 1895-O Barber dime and a great 1815 Bust quarter. The quarter was 10" deep and mixed in with some scrap iron. When my coil ran over it, it nulled out and I heard nothing. But when I changed coil directions several times, I would get just a hint of the unmistakable high silver tone in between the nulls. I shortened my stroke and continued to change coil directions until I found one tiny spot where the signal was constant both ways and reading 12-47. I switched over to pin-point directly over the signal center and the meter was reading 10" deep. I dug a paint can-size plug and started pulling out nails. I ran the coil back over in Quick Mask and got that wonderful silver sound. At a meter-reading 10" deep, I knew it had to be a good find, so I took my time to extract the coin. I will try to post a photo tomorrow when I get to my office and have high-speed Internet.

 

[LostNowFound]

I'm a new ETRAC user, only 4 to 5 hours with the machine.

I apprecaite the advice on how to use the Quick Mask.

All the best and HH!

 

[markg]

Great story.
Look forward to the picture.