How do you run your Etrac or any other detector

Manual sens is deeper but you'll get fooled on some rusty bolts and such. Worth it when you hit a 10 inch silver though!! Remember set trash to high and ground to difficult.
 
Etrac here. I like auto the best. Simply because I spend too much time chasing ghost signals than I do digging targets. You get better at ID'ing targets by digging, digging, and digging some more. So I will take the dig over the chase.
 
I look at it completely different. You get to learn your machine way better running higher sensitivity. You really learn what a good signal is vs a false. After a while you know most of the time what you are looking at extremely quickly, and you find the deep stuff. If you run auto you are missing deep targets, no 2 ways about it.
 
Update on this post. I have been making an error running my Etrac. I discovered that I had my Audio Gain on 30. This was creating way too many False Signals. I backed the Gain down to 27 and was able to increase Sensitivity. I went back to an area where I was not finding much and really cleaned up in a short time. The grass was way too tall but using my little Coiltek 10X5 I was hitting Wheats at a measured 8" in the ground. That is deep since I am swinging over or maybe through 6" grass. So the fact that I found 6 Wheats, 6 Quarters, several Memorials, and a really nice Hot Wheels in an hours hunt was amazing. On this hunt I had no iron targets, except Crushed Screw Caps fool me. I swear my ETRAC can find a Crushed Screw Cap at 12". They ring in at 12-36 or 38 so you got to dig them. This place had a 1919 Wheat so when I get the time to hunt, no telling what I might find. So far two Quarters were 1965.

In the picture below there is a question as to the year. It looks like it could be 1918 but after some rubbing, it was easy to see the longer tail on the 9 so I am confident it is a 1919. I would not call this Mint Condition uncirculated but I found it for sure.

 
Sounds good.

When you do say a weaker sounding signal flashing 44-46 conductive number on screen while using higher manual sens,,,,flip to auto sens and listen.

Also a good way to tell a deeper target along with depth meter.
 
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all very good tips here for us etrac users. Im going on my 2nd year with my etrac. This past season, i always started in auto plus 3....THEN i would switch over to manual and bump it up 2 from what auto plus 3 was. Seemed to work well. I need to go in and check my audio gain setting like indicated in above posts. I run Bills trashy park pattern in trashy areas and switch over to Andys open coin pattern/mode when in a area with less trash. Im constantly learning the etrac..
 
I prefer the quiet and ID consistency Auto sensitivity brings. I'm lazy and rather skip a few iffy 10" dimes over digging hundreds of pieces of trash.

But my hunting time is limited and patience thin. For me it's getting out and having fun more than the finds.
 
I prefer the quiet and ID consistency Auto sensitivity brings. I'm lazy and rather skip a few iffy 10" dimes over digging hundreds of pieces of trash.

But my hunting time is limited and patience thin. For me it's getting out and having fun more than the finds.


To each their own for sure but for me I don't dig any more trash than the next guy. It seems to me once you spend some time learning the machine you quickly learn what is a good signal. The deep ones I don't want to pass..
 
I am of the opinion that running a good quiet machine makes you miss less good signals where otherwise you would maybe miss the faint blip when mixed with all the false signals.



I prefer the quiet and ID consistency Auto sensitivity brings. I'm lazy and rather skip a few iffy 10" dimes over digging hundreds of pieces of trash.

But my hunting time is limited and patience thin. For me it's getting out and having fun more than the finds.
 
There's a happy medium between running max manual sensitivity and auto. Just run your manual sensitivity up until it becomes erratic, then back it down a notch until it stabilizes. The sensitivity is now optimized for the specific site/conditions.
 
That pretty much sums it up. Rarely have I ever rand max. Just can't do it. But I will say that I run way above what auto is and makes a huge difference. Like I was saying earlier, I found a colonial coin last week that auto would not break threshold. You make your own choice.. again you won't miss what you will never know was there :)
 
If you get into a specif area and you find some good finds at say9" deep,,, a place like this,,,pour the coal to the Sense in manual,,,,,and go low and slow,,,you never know you might latch onto a real good deepy.

Make your running real high sens,,,situational,,,not all the time.
 
After 2 seasons of running a Minelab(Explorer2 the first and CTX this season) in my area,which is not terrible soil for the most part,if I'm not running Manual it's not as deep. It's more stable for sure in Auto,but not as deep,95% of the time. I do,once in awhile,get really good ground where Auto will see a 9" dime but very very infrequently. If you want to see a good video go to YouTube and search for "Minelab Explorer". There's a video called "Explorer maximum depth part 1" and a "part 2". Watch part 2. This is an example of running the FBS wide open manual 32. It's VERY obvious when he hits a signal,though he's looking for lower to mid conductors. Some sites are going to have too much EMI to get rid of via noise canceling so Sens must be lowered. The point about GAIN is a good one,high Manual Sens and high gain can get pretty squirrelly. But pound for pound,I've almost always found Manual Sens to have more raw depth. That might not equate to more coins for a particular person,but you will eventually find deeper ones,all but guaranteed.
And what TN said....situational adjustment will optimize to site.
 
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Here is a picture of a hole I dug today that had a Wheat at the bottom. This is a Mars Pinpointer so it is longer than a Carrot. I am pretty sure this was a full 8" with a Coiltek 10X5 coil. This place is running me nuts with Crushed Screw Caps.

See Edit below



Well I may have to edit that 8". I took the time and measured my Mars Pinpointer and it is actually 10" long.

 
I would like to comment on this thread.

Recently I have been thinking of this....

Couple weeks ago I did a simple air test.

Oh boy another air test.

Auto+3 gave me a silver dime at 4.5 -5 inches
just changing to manual same silver dime 6-6.5 inches.

Running in Auto and missing deeper targets in my opinion is a fact.

So my thought is get the biggest ideal coil (15x18 SEF) comes to mind and still run in Auto+3 and by having the bigger coil will make up for any loss in depth.

I know you can run in manual higher sens, with the bigger coil, but wouldnt it be nice to run in auto+3 and still pick up a silver at 10" every now and then?
DD
 
I would like to comment on this thread.

Recently I have been thinking of this....

Couple weeks ago I did a simple air test.

Oh boy another air test.

Auto+3 gave me a silver dime at 4.5 -5 inches
just changing to manual same silver dime 6-6.5 inches.

Running in Auto and missing deeper targets in my opinion is a fact.

So my thought is get the biggest ideal coil (15x18 SEF) comes to mind and still run in Auto+3 and by having the bigger coil will make up for any loss in depth.

I know you can run in manual higher sens, with the bigger coil, but wouldnt it be nice to run in auto+3 and still pick up a silver at 10" every now and then?
DD

Will a coil that big,,,pick up a dime??

Or maybe this is what we all should be running?? Lol

http://www.metaldetectingforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=265&t=90451
 
Lol If the ground is clean enough it would. I guess there lies the problem. TRASH! lol
DD

I have actually been reading some reviews of that coil, seems it does pick up coins. Seems also it has the nickname or has the trash can lid feel though.
Actually weights what a total Deus unit weighs,,,if you can beleive that!!
 
Seems like something is wrong Dime should hit at 6" anytime under any conditions. I am willing to bet my machine will hit a dime at 6" in Auto at -1. Hunting in Manual for me is not an option 95% of the time. I hunt mainly old houses and I always grid. Ground changes drastically from one end of the house to the other. One thing I really learned from swinging a V3i was that jacking up Sensitivity does not help depth much, greatly increases false signals, and kills ID.




I would like to comment on this thread.

Recently I have been thinking of this....

Couple weeks ago I did a simple air test.

Oh boy another air test.

Auto+3 gave me a silver dime at 4.5 -5 inches
just changing to manual same silver dime 6-6.5 inches.

Running in Auto and missing deeper targets in my opinion is a fact.

So my thought is get the biggest ideal coil (15x18 SEF) comes to mind and still run in Auto+3 and by having the bigger coil will make up for any loss in depth.

I know you can run in manual higher sens, with the bigger coil, but wouldnt it be nice to run in auto+3 and still pick up a silver at 10" every now and then?
DD
 
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