Big Boys Hobbies

An e-trac lesson

S

stapler101

Full Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
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138
I did some tweaking to the coin program in my e-trac and took it out for the first time.
It was all over the place! Beep, Bong, Squeal and worse.
I could not figure out how the simple changes I made could have caused this.
My son was hunting close to me and was finding several coins,
I could not have told a coin from a car.
Finally, I realized that I had accidentally changed from auto to manual sensitivity!
Dumb newbie error cost me about an hour of hunting.
 
I have one ordered, and see some that say put it in manual and "run it hot" while you say manual produced too much instability. What did auto say the setting should have been and would anyone care to help a new owner and almost owner out?
 
I learned that anything Minelab presets from the factory including auto sensitivity is about as useless as a plastic spoon in a rock quary.

Trash the factory coin program and download one from online. I think the Andy S. program is what I have and further modified.
 
Jressman said:
I learned that anything Minelab presets from the factory including auto sensitivity is about as useless as a plastic spoon in a rock quary.

Trash the factory coin program and download one from online. I think the Andy S. program is what I have and further modified.
Click to expand...

Care to elaborate?
 
Please elaborate, and a link would be awesome. I am finding everything as well. And I am kinda building a profile BUT ya have to dig to determine if the target is something ya want to reject. And when you do is this gonna eliminate good stuff?
 
the factory coin pattern has worked great for me over the past month, the only thing i did was open the top right corner for large silver. i also made my own tighter coin pattern but after seeing how my FE numbers are all over the board i won't use it for fear of discriminating out good targets.
 
Well I run in Manual when the +3 is really low. Even when it is decent I see what it is giving me and running mine at +6. I tried maxing it out but that was too annoying.
 
Jressman said:
I learned that anything Minelab presets from the factory including auto sensitivity is about as useless as a plastic spoon in a rock quary.

Trash the factory coin program and download one from online. I think the Andy S. program is what I have and further modified.
Click to expand...

The factory coin program with the top right unblocked has scored me over 60 silvers this year. You mean I could have found more in a different program? Dang it!

:shock: :lol:

G2M
 
dogpound said:
the factory coin pattern has worked great for me over the past month, the only thing i did was open the top right corner for large silver. i also made my own tighter coin pattern but after seeing how my FE numbers are all over the board i won't use it for fear of discriminating out good targets.
Click to expand...
i thought the top right was open? ill have to look closer:?:
 
Jressman said:
I learned that anything Minelab presets from the factory including auto sensitivity is about as useless as a plastic spoon in a rock quary.
Click to expand...

That's a bit of an exaggeration to say the least. While it is true that you'll "find more" in manual than in auto I would hardly call auto useless. Same goes for the factory programs. For the beginner I would definitely recommend running in Auto +3 and then switch over to Manual once you get a bit more confidence in discerning all the different sounds. Same goes for the discrim patterns - you can find a lot with the factory presets but it is true that you'll be missing certain targets. I started in the factory 'coins' settings and then slowly started removing bars of discrimination as I gained experience with the machine.

Suggesting that beginners start running full, cranked-up manual with hardly any discrimination is a recipe for frustration. I am not saying that this is what you are recommending, but I do think the factory presets and auto sensitivity can be useful, especially at the beginning.
 
Weezbad said:
i thought the top right was open? ill have to look closer:?:
Click to expand...

nope the factory coin pattern is blacked out from 1-43 thru 1-50, i just opened mine up from 1-43 thru 1-48 and kept 1-49 and 1-50 closed ta help stop wrap-a-round effect.
besides that i just changed some of my settings.
 
Last edited:
The coin program is decent, you must open up the upper left for big silver. I also recommend setting your quick mask to all metal to double check those choppy signals. If they come in loud and clear, but the FE numbers are in the 30s than more than likely it's iron. Once you get comfortable using quick mask and get used to all the sounds and tones give hunting in relic mode a shot. There is very little discrimination and it will be like learning your machine all over again, but chances for quality finds increase.

As for the Auto vs Manual sensitivity. I would use auto in your beginning phase, but keep an eye on what sensitivity auto+3 is running at. If it's below 19 than your really losing depth and if your shooting for old and silver coins you would be really limiting yourself. The Etrac is remarkably quiet at higher sensitivity. If the machine gives you say a 17 in auto+3 than try bumping it to 22 on manual. I bet it doesnt get too chatty and your chances for deeper targets increase.
 
I've found auto +3 and manual(29) each have a place where one out performs the other. The best way to find out is get a signal you feel is probably a deep coin and test it in both auto + 3 and manual. Do this ona bunch of targets. I think, like me, you'll find sometimes the manual is deeper, sometimes the auto + 3 is deeper.

I learned a good lesson about using exotic patterns this weekend. I had been using a custom pattern I got from someone off the Internet, while my buddy was using the stock Coin pattern. He got a signal he said he was sure was silver and wanted me to check it out. I ran over it from all directions and got nothing what so ever. I was sure it was going to be junk but to my surprise it was a silver dime. Needless to say I went back to the stock Coin pattern.
 
I personally LOVE the stock coins program. Take out top right for a few big silvers, noise cancel and hunt away. I have found many silvers over the years and hunted with many guys comparing targets. I have yet to not hear one they could.

Minelab knew what there were doing.
 
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