help me! V3I or E-trac

[Kolby72]

This can be misleading because while the E Trac does have 28 frequencies and it runs them all at once it can only read one at a time...

 

[Rudy]

This can be misleading because while the E Trac does have 28 frequencies and it runs them all at once it can only read one at a time...

Neither machine "simultaneously" transmits multiple frequencies. Instead, they change from one frequency to the next at a very fast rate compared to the motion of the coil. In this way, they "illuminate" the target with multiple frequencies. On the receive side, the receiver is clocked synchronously with the frequency being transmitted. In the case of the V3, there are three receivers, one for each frequency. In the case of the Etrack, they don't reveal how many receivers they have. If they are following pretty close to their patents on it, they may have a single receiver and they clock the output of it into several sample and hold amplifiers (how many?) to determine the target's response at multiple frequencies.

Sorry if this was more detail than you wanted.

 

[Kolby72]

Neither machine "simultaneously" transmits multiple frequencies. Instead, they change from one frequency to the next at a very fast rate compared to the motion of the coil. In this way, they "illuminate" the target with multiple frequencies. On the receive side, the receiver is clocked synchronously with the frequency being transmitted. In the case of the V3, there are three receivers, one for each frequency. In the case of the Etrack, they don't reveal how many receivers they have. If they are following pretty close to their patents on it, they may have a single receiver and they clock the output of it into several sample and hold amplifiers (how many?) to determine the target's response at multiple frequencies.

Sorry if this was more detail than you wanted.

No not at all I learned something new today, thanks for posting that because I was told something a lot different. Which ever detector he decides to get he can rest assured he will have a ton of people to help him run it LOL

 

[RWJR13]

Good stuff for sure Ol' Wise Rudy........Thanks.....

 

[bigboar]

All I can say is you better check this out

 

[RWJR13]

All I can say is you better check this out

Now that's what I'm talking about !!!!!

 

[Mykie]

V3i ........I don't

have one, nor have I ever used one, but I have to say.....What is the question? I don't understand the question! Why is there a decison to make here? OK OK OK OK mea cupa, I jest with you........It's just that if I could afford one and I could if I'd stop doing stupid things like paying my mortgage. Man I would just jump on and for a V3i by White's ........ maybe one day a slightly used one.......humm, the bank will wait. Right? They shoot metal detectorists. Don't they? Regards, best of luck with decision, Mike

 

[bigboar]

 

[CoiltoSoil]

Multi freq will help depending on your region but here in my section of PA a single freq is just as good. From my experience the Fisher's held the depth advantage here and this is from someone who's owned 6 minelabs and 4 whites. Granted my CZ's where dual Freq but my F75's and previous 1266's back in the day owned the parks.

 

[Rudy]

 

[bigboar]

I thought you might get a kick out of that

 

[YARDBYRD]

I don't think i'd ever rely 100% on the polar plot. From my limited experience with the V3i i'd have missed a few good coins relying on that 100%. The best is to dig until you understand. I find better results by checking the frequency that's hitting the hardest verses VDI number on a good target.

For example if i get an 83 in my ground and the 22.5 hits the hardest then almost always it's a smashed aluminum screw cap, if it hits hardest in 7.5 it's almost always a rusted bottle cap, if it hits hardest in 2.5 then it's a quarter.

But like i said Nothing is 100% but i've dug enough of em to know what to pass up on here. Now a change of location might change that.

Also, wet ground will skew those rusults some so the best way to know until you get familiar with an area is to dig all good signals.

 

[IronClad]

I just can't beleive the e-trac is as bad at picking up gold as everyone is saying. You would think at that price and the technology it would hit on anything you wanted it to hit on!

 

[CoiltoSoil]

I just can't beleive the e-trac is as bad at picking up gold as everyone is saying. You would think at that price and the technology it would hit on anything you wanted it to hit on!

It can't be that bad, my Explorer's have all done well picking up gold granted they are not the best but they will find gold. Only believe about 50% of the stuff you read. According to what i've read online my F75 should chatter like crazy and make me turn the sens way down when in reality I max out the sens with very little chatter and find some of the deepest targets i've found with any of the dozen or more detectors that I have owned. Some people hype up some machines way too much and other put down machines way to much and most of those people have little or no experience on the detectors in question. Also take into account some of these people are telling the truth, soil conditions vary around the country and while my machine might kick @$$ here in PA it might not do well at all in NY or VA.

 

[Cherry Picker]

I think really it is a matter of your needs. Each detector has strong points and weak points. I believe there is a good reason why you see those who mainly hunt parks for old coins use mostly E-Trac, relic hunters use mostly F75 and those who hunt a variety of places use the V3i.

My experience has been that the E-Trac makes finding the deep old coins in hard hots site easier. The V3i and F75 goes as deep but takes more experience to spot the signs of a potentially deep coin. On the down side the E-Trac doesn't do so well on small gold. As much as I wish my E-Trac was a gold monster like its a deep coin monster, it isn't. Here is the response I got from Andy Sabisch, the author of the Minelab Explorer/E-Trac handbook, when I asked him about what it would take to get the E-Trac to hit on small gold.

Well I hope this helps . . .. Minelab FBS detectors are super detectors for the deep targets others tend to pass up and the worse the ground gets the better it does in comparison. Unfortunately, the circuit does not do well detecting small mid-to-low conductive targets. The BBS detectors (Sovereign and Excalibur) have the same issue; i.e., great depth on a ring but in terms of earrings, chains, charms and the like, there are many models at far less money that do a better job. Going with a smaller coil - 8" or smaller - will help in high trash but will not improve the sensitivity to small pieces of gold that you are looking for. When I hit tit lots, I tend to use either an Ace 350 or A Teknetics 8000 , , , my son uses a Tesoro Silver uMax - all three of which will detect targets far smaller (but not as deep) as the Minelab;s will.Unfortunately there is no one detector that will do it all and this is one example - I have had people ask me if the Explorer or E-Trac would be a good gold prospecting detector and I have told them that as long as the only thing they were looking for were larger nuggets yes, but if you wanted grain sized pieces, a gold detector was the only way to go (and for half the cost)Hope this helps - feel free to give me a call if you have any more questions at xxx-xxx-xxxx Andy

I got the opportunity to see the Fisher F75 in action last weekend when a friend brought his F75 down to try a head-to-head with the E-Trac at the city park. It saw the deep coins but wouldn't give an identifiable ID to make a call to recover or not. No comparison to the E-Trac on ID'ing deep coins.​

The V3i is second to none in versatility. Truly the Jack of all trades. It may not be the very deepest coin hunter, the very best relic hunter or the very best prospector, but it does it all better than any others.

At the end of the day it's the experience of the user with a given detector that makes the most difference on what you take home. A very experience F75 user can do just as well on coins as the E-Trac user, the V3i User can do just as well on relics and old coins and the E-Trac user can do just as well as the others. The difference is each of these have a strong point which gives them a slight edge in a given area of hunting.​

 

[Kolby72]

I don't think i'd ever rely 100% on the polar plot. From my limited experience with the V3i i'd have missed a few good coins relying on that 100%. The best is to dig until you understand. I find better results by checking the frequency that's hitting the hardest verses VDI number on a good target.

For example if i get an 83 in my ground and the 22.5 hits the hardest then almost always it's a smashed aluminum screw cap, if it hits hardest in 7.5 it's almost always a rusted bottle cap, if it hits hardest in 2.5 then it's a quarter.

But like i said Nothing is 100% but i've dug enough of em to know what to pass up on here. Now a change of location might change that.

Also, wet ground will skew those rusults some so the best way to know until you get familiar with an area is to dig all good signals.

If you use Polar plot for your coin hunting it will show the different lines that represent the different frquencies. For example a good coin will show a good tight arc and when you analyz it will show the frequency that it picks up best. When it is a bottle cap you will see that the arc is further apart and the frquency for the bottle cap isnt as high when you analyz. Use the VDI numbers of course but the polar plot is going to be a very useful tool in high trash areas.

 

[YARDBYRD]

My experience with the polar plot has been limited but when i used it i was digging coins that the polar plot was not identifying as a good coin hit and dug a nice coin. I only dug because of a good signal and going by frequency plus vdi. I'm not saying that polar plot or the anylize screen are not useful tools because i think if your coin hunting and digging coins in the 4 to 5 inch range they probably are but when digging a 9" deep indian head penny i don't think i'd trust either. I gotta say though the V3i is an excellent machine and is finding things. I've pulled out over 400 coins in two months with some silver, some Indians, a V nickel, a couple of buffalo nickels and a few rings and a minnie ball in an area there probably shouldn't be any along with several wheats. all from spots previously hunted with the MXT. So i'm not complaining. As much as I like the V3i (i won't ever sell it). I would still like to have an Etrac too. Guess i'm a detector junky and not much help on which to buy.

 

[IronClad]

I think really it is a matter of your needs. Each detector has strong points and weak points. I believe there is a good reason why you see those who mainly hunt parks for old coins use mostly E-Trac, relic hunters use mostly F75 and those who hunt a variety of places use the V3i.

My experience has been that the E-Trac makes finding the deep old coins in hard hots site easier. The V3i and F75 goes as deep but takes more experience to spot the signs of a potentially deep coin. On the down side the E-Trac doesn't do so well on small gold. As much as I wish my E-Trac was a gold monster like its a deep coin monster, it isn't. Here is the response I got from Andy Sabisch, the author of the Minelab Explorer/E-Trac handbook, when I asked him about what it would take to get the E-Trac to hit on small gold.

I got the opportunity to see the Fisher F75 in action last weekend when a friend brought his F75 down to try a head-to-head with the E-Trac at the city park. It saw the deep coins but wouldn't give an identifiable ID to make a call to recover or not. No comparison to the E-Trac on ID'ing deep coins.​

The V3i is second to none in versatility. Truly the Jack of all trades. It may not be the very deepest coin hunter, the very best relic hunter or the very best prospector, but it does it all better than any others.

At the end of the day it's the experience of the user with a given detector that makes the most difference on what you take home. A very experience F75 user can do just as well on coins as the E-Trac user, the V3i User can do just as well on relics and old coins and the E-Trac user can do just as well as the others. The difference is each of these have a strong point which gives them a slight edge in a given area of hunting.​

Thank you Detector, I found that very helpful!

 

[Kolby72]

My experience with the polar plot has been limited but when i used it i was digging coins that the polar plot was not identifying as a good coin hit and dug a nice coin. I only dug because of a good signal and going by frequency plus vdi. I'm not saying that polar plot or the anylize screen are not useful tools because i think if your coin hunting and digging coins in the 4 to 5 inch range they probably are but when digging a 9" deep indian head penny i don't think i'd trust either. I gotta say though the V3i is an excellent machine and is finding things. I've pulled out over 400 coins in two months with some silver, some Indians, a V nickel, a couple of buffalo nickels and a few rings and a minnie ball in an area there probably shouldn't be any along with several wheats. all from spots previously hunted with the MXT. So i'm not complaining. As much as I like the V3i (i won't ever sell it). I would still like to have an Etrac too. Guess i'm a detector junky and not much help on which to buy.

Hahah I get what your saying! I was just introduced to polar plot and by using that the tones and the VDI numbers I am able to detect a lot faster!

 

[YARDBYRD]

You teach me how to use polar plot to hunt faster and i will start using it more. I hunt a lot of trashy ground and it slows me down, maybe i just need to find cleaner ground to work.