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Goodbye AT Pro, Hello e-Trac

I bought my ATPro back in March. I'm probably on my 10th set of batteries. I wouldn't say I'm an expert with it yet. I'm wondering if 3 months of use wasn't sufficient to really master it before moving on to the e-trac?

My own personal opinion is that it takes a full year to really learn a machine. And that's with getting out every chance you can.
 
I bought my ATPro back in March. I'm probably on my 10th set of batteries. I wouldn't say I'm an expert with it yet. I'm wondering if 3 months of use wasn't sufficient to really master it before moving on to the e-trac?

My own personal opinion is that it takes a full year to really learn a machine. And that's with getting out every chance you can.
10 sets of batteries?
Oh man! Get yourself 2 sets of eneloop AA rechargeables and never buy batteries again.

I spent a lot of time with the AT-PRO in the 3 months I had it. It's a nice detector, just not the right one for me. If I water hunted it would be a keeper for sure.
Time will tell but so far I really like the e-Trac.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
 
Took me at least couple years of heavy use, before I really understood its 3rd language...

1) Standard mode
2) Pro mode
3) Deep target vocabulary

YMMV...

<°)))>{
 
10 sets of batteries?
Oh man! Get yourself 2 sets of eneloop AA rechargeables and never buy batteries again.

I spent a lot of time with the AT-PRO in the 3 months I had it. It's a nice detector, just not the right one for me. If I water hunted it would be a keeper for sure.
Time will tell but so far I really like the e-Trac.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
Yeah 3 months is definitely not long enough to master the at pro or any detector for that matter. That being said the etrac is a great machine as well and once mastered it is a coin killer! I own and use both regularly and I love them both. There are certain scenarios where I prefer one over the other but I am confident I don't miss much with either. I have confirmed this by combing areas many times with both and also inviting club members out to help me double check areas I have hit hard.

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Follow up:
I have found 16 silver coins and 4 pieces of SS jewelry in the 6 weeks that I have owned the eTrac. I owned the AT-PRO for 3 months and found 1 silver coin. Not saying the AT-PRO isn't a capable detector but the the numbers tell me that the e-Trac is more capable in my hands.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
 
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Follow up:
I have found 16 silver coins and 4 pieces of SS jewelry in the 6 weeks that I have owned the eTrac. I owned the AT-PRO for 3 months and found 1 silver coin. Not saying the AT-PRO isn't a capable detector but the the numbers tell me that the e-Trac is more capable in my hands.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
Congrats! Gotta love FBS, they flat out PERFORM!
 
Going from my AT Pro to the E Trac was one of my better decisions. I love the AT and have 100's of hours on it, the E Trac just makes it so much easier. Next the move from the E Trac to the CTX3030 is a breeze!
 
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I also have an A T Pro and I bought a etrac in March since the beginning of the year I document what when and where on my hunts unlike you I have yet to find any Deep Silver have dug a bunch of Rusty Nails by my count I have been out with it 47 times I've got 17 silver coins up to 227 Wheaties for the year and probably 30 or $40 in clad it still seems that I am struggling with the machine total silver for the year I'm up to 33 with the a t Pro accounting for the first 16 I am not going to give up but I feel I have much more to learn I'm glad to see that you're doing well with your etrac good luck mark

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I also have an A T Pro and I bought a etrac in March since the beginning of the year I document what when and where on my hunts unlike you I have yet to find any Deep Silver have dug a bunch of Rusty Nails by my count I have been out with it 47 times I've got 17 silver coins up to 227 Wheaties for the year and probably 30 or $40 in clad it still seems that I am struggling with the machine total silver for the year I'm up to 33 with the a t Pro accounting for the first 16 I am not going to give up but I feel I have much more to learn I'm glad to see that you're doing well with your etrac good luck mark

Sent from my SM-S902L using Tapatalk

Mark,
Are you running manual or automatic sensitivity ?
Do you have a test garden setup?
I am averaging 1 silver per hunt right now with the e-Trac.
I keep good records as to where I've hunted and what I found there.
I pulled at least 5 silvers out of areas that I hunted previously with the AT-Pro.
Most of my silver coins so far have been 5-7" deep.
I usually do not dig targets that are less than 4" deep if I'm in an area with a lot of shallow clad. Call me a cherry-picker but I want to dig silver, not clad :)
The deepest silvers with my e-Trac so have been a dime at 8" and a quarter at 9". I can hit coins deeper than that in my test garden but so far I haven't had to dig a foot-deep hole yet :)

I did chase some deep iron the first few times out. Seems to happen less now that I'm using the 10x12 SEF coil. If you run your sensitivity too high, iron falsing will happen more. I use a wide open quick-mask screen to help me decide weather or not to dig an iffy signal. If I make a "desperation" dig it always turns out to be junk.
You just need to find that sensitivity sweet-spot for the area you are hunting in. Easier said than done I know.
Happy hunting!!
 
Wiz, do not have a test garden. I usually run Auto +3 but ocassionaly will swtich to manual 22. I mostly use the trashy park program, but also use the coins mode and the Andy S. When i get a signal I'm sure of and the numbers are right, its usually less than 6 inches down, its no problem. However they say silver has a special pitch,to me whether its a clad or silver dime or quarter they sound identical. Now the wheatie has a woop-woop, more so than a memorial and an IH has a coo-coo more like a dove, but so do zincolns. When I geta iffy signal I switch over to quickmask, check numbers and cursor, switch to TTF, and also check with a very discriminated coin program I created from the Andy S book. Heres where I'm getting frustrated, checking from at least two directions, telling me I got a digger and all I find is rusty Iron. I will recheck the hole and dig a little deeper and rescan but its just junk. I'm think i am pretty thorough and doing due diligence in my recovery. Another thing is after I do get rusty iron and run it past my coil its discriminated out, but in the ground it gives a sweet signal. This I don't understand. Also have nulling over large areas , Have gotten advice from TnnSS and IDX that seemed to help me understand an cope a little better but I feel I still as of yet to see the potential I hear this machine is capable of. I'm not sure if its the machine, the soil, or me, Probably me. On a good note, I received my sef 10x12 this week and looking forward to trying it out. Good luck Mark.
 
Wiz, do not have a test garden. I usually run Auto +3 but ocassionaly will swtich to manual 22. I mostly use the trashy park program, but also use the coins mode and the Andy S. When i get a signal I'm sure of and the numbers are right, its usually less than 6 inches down, its no problem. However they say silver has a special pitch,to me whether its a clad or silver dime or quarter they sound identical. Now the wheatie has a woop-woop, more so than a memorial and an IH has a coo-coo more like a dove, but so do zincolns. When I geta iffy signal I switch over to quickmask, check numbers and cursor, switch to TTF, and also check with a very discriminated coin program I created from the Andy S book. Heres where I'm getting frustrated, checking from at least two directions, telling me I got a digger and all I find is rusty Iron. I will recheck the hole and dig a little deeper and rescan but its just junk. I'm think i am pretty thorough and doing due diligence in my recovery. Another thing is after I do get rusty iron and run it past my coil its discriminated out, but in the ground it gives a sweet signal. This I don't understand. Also have nulling over large areas , Have gotten advice from TnnSS and IDX that seemed to help me understand an cope a little better but I feel I still as of yet to see the potential I hear this machine is capable of. I'm not sure if its the machine, the soil, or me, Probably me. On a good note, I received my sef 10x12 this week and looking forward to trying it out. Good luck Mark.

Mark,
You really need to make a test garden. See just your detector is capable of doing in your area's soil condition.
The tone of a silver coin isn't really that much different from a clad.
Most clad dimes will hit a 12-44 for me. A silver dime will hit a 12-45.
I've had deeper worn dimes come up as low as 12-42
A clad quarter usually hits at 12-46 and a silver quarter @ 12-47
If you have your Variability set high ( I keep mine on 29), you may notice a tone difference. With the stock headphones it's hard to hear the difference between clad and silver. I honestly can hear more of a difference without headphones. Unfortunately sometimes I am hunting an area where headphones are an absolute must.
Turn your threshold pitch up too. That will really make the better stuff scream!
You're going to love that 10x12 coil. It's a bit heavier but worth the extra
weight.
 
So after hunting with my At Pro for 3 months I decided to part with it and pick up Minelab e-Trac. With everyone getting ready to upgrade to the AT Max, it's a buyer's market for the used AT Pro Shopper. I found this out big time when I tried to recoup as much money as I could on my AT Pro :(
The AT Pro is a good detector but I wanted something with more depth and VDI accuracy and the e-Trac delivers both! I picked it up from Colonial Metal Detectors (site sponsor). Got a great price and excellent service.
I had intended to keep the AT Pro but after a my first hunt with the e-Trac I knew my AT Pro would be gathering dust. It's going to take me a while to fully understand this detector but it's going to be fun learning it.
I always have the Tesoro to fall back on if I want to get back to basics.

Congrats! I dont think there is a better coin machine than a Minelab E-Trac!

There is a reason they call them silver suckers!
 
I have both of these machines as well and have made great finds with both but hands down I make more finds with my at-pro. I hunt cellar holes with lots of iron and the at-pro really picks the targets out while the E-trac just nulls them out. I find I have to be going to swing a field or something to want to bring the e-trac.
 
Showtime, if you don't want the etrac to null over iron just run an open screen, you will hear the same as you hear with your at pro, bla bla bla eep bla bla bla eep...
 
Nice silver finds..You will like the Etrac better than the AT...less trash for sure ( at least I dug less. If you get a great tone signal under coil, then the target is about a foot away when pinpointing..you know its deep iron. Its the smaller deep aluminum that used to get me with the Etrac. PballWiz where in NE Ohio are you?
 
You'll love the E-Trac. Myself I, currently, have the AT Pro & E-Trac. Really covers all needs. The E-Trac is second to none when pulling those deep old coins from hard hit sites, but if you're a gold hunter, as I am, then the E-Tracs loses to the AT Pro for gold.
Ditto.. I use both.. I also use the AT Pro in the water to locate the "heavies" good to find panning or dredging spots..
enjoy your new E-Trac
 
I've gone out 5 times in the last 2 weeks. Found 4 more silver coins (total of 20 now) and another piece of sterling silver jewelry.
Since I've gotten the e-Trac I literally have found silver on every hunt.
 
I've gone out 5 times in the last 2 weeks. Found 4 more silver coins (total of 20 now) and another piece of sterling silver jewelry.
Since I've gotten the e-Trac I literally have found silver on every hunt.

The E-Trac is a silver magnet. I've found silver at all of my old hunted spots..
 
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