Big Boys Hobbies

E-Trac users

T

ToYoungForThis

Junior Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2012
Messages
56
I bought a used E-Trac about two months ago and couldn't be happier. I decided against the at-pro because I just didn't see all that much difference between it and a F-2 with a larger double D coil. And for 300 more I was able to score an E-Trac. I read Andy's book and have been having great luck thus far. I would still like to hear other etrac users advice and set ups. I've been noticing that depending on the settings you use, even small changes really do effect the readings. This discovery leads me to think I still have a lot to learn about this machine. For example I was running the C shaped coin setup and not having much luck, I switched to relic mode and adjusted a few settings and it made a world of difference. So far in the last two months I've pulled out 6 Rosie's, 3 mercs, 5 buffs, 1 sheild, 6 Indians, 3 1700s coins, civil war button, two colonial cufflinks, 1700s communion token and 35 wheats. Even with all my success I still feel like I'm missing something. And want to hear some advice from experienced etrac/minelab users.

Also I just realized that if you don't extend the coil far enough and have it at 23+ you get readings of the metal shaft. I am a short guy, and like to run my detector near my feet. So if there is one thing I dislike about the etrac it is this. Not really a short mans detector.
 
Andy's coin program is a very open pattern. You will hit just about everything with that one. Why don't you give us a run down of all your settings. I think the etrac is the one machine that will find good targets with just about any setting. I don't know why your having issues with the shaft? As long as it's not moving you shouldn't get a signal from it just the same as the coil cable. You may have a coil issue because I shortened mine all the way and it was stable and hit all my garden coins with proper id. Do you have any metal in your shoes? Steel shank? Eyelets? I know at high power mine will pick up my pouch as I get it full. I usually run manual of 27 or higher.
 
Hmm. Interesting. It wasn't a problem untill a few days ago. It may have been something else then. I turned the machine off, reattached the cable inside and also lengthened the shaft and it stopped. Maybe it was the cable wasn't attached correctly, I am going to look into that.

The reason Andy's program wasn't working was because at this site, the coins were hitting loooow on the ferrous. Indians were ringing up 3-33 2-35 and the 1794 half rang up at 2-47 3-50. The shield and the large cent rang up perfect. The counterfeit half rang up weird at 9 inches but that seems logical. Also the Indians were 7.5 and the half was 4.

Rundown on how I have my settings AUDIO- threshold level 20, volume limit 30, volume gain 27, response normal, pitch 16, tone multi, sound ferrous(i usually prefer this over conductive), variability 25, limit 30. EXPERT- deep on, fast off, density high(50/50), ground difficult(80% of time), noise cancel auto. Sensitivity I usually use auto and tune it from there. Recently I've been running relic mode or basically all metal, I use my quickmask screen often and have it set to black out everything over 23. Also I usually work out of the screen with the big numbers and the small graph, I like how it shows the last 2 targets, or readings.

If you guys could teach me some things or help me tone my settings I would much appreciate it. I attribute all my success to research and feel I have massive amounts to learn about this unit. I'm also using the stock coil.
 
I hope your coil issue is solved.
Those are some low F numbers. I've never seen any even close to that in my soil.
What do you mean the machine holds the last 2 targets?
Not that it matters but where is your threshold pitch set?
 
You can't get readings from the upper shaft. Response requires movements and there is no movement of the shaft in relation to the coil.
 
khouse said:
I hope your coil issue is solved.
Those are some low F numbers. I've never seen any even close to that in my soil.
What do you mean the machine holds the last 2 targets?
Not that it matters but where is your threshold pitch set?
Click to expand...

Pitch is set to 16. I honestly haven't messed with it because I heard it messes with everything. Also I have a video of the dig and the reading it gave. It was close to on edge in the hole very deep and covered by rocks. It kept switching between 3-33 24-34 but the audio never wavered even on ferrous mode. That is why I dug it. The next indian did the same, so I knew to dig it. Also I dug a 1901 indian yesterday that hit in the perfect 12-35 range.
 
Jason in Enid said:
You can't get readings from the upper shaft. Response requires movements and there is no movement of the shaft in relation to the coil.
Click to expand...

Yes. It must have been something else, but it is a non issue now. I cleaned the coil cover, reattached the cord and took of the coil and cleaned it. Since the reading was like 03-04 it was prolly a small piece of foil or something that knocked loose when I adjusted the coil length.
 
You can mess with the thresh pitch to get the tone just right. Like scan a silver dime while adjusting the pitch to get it to sound sweet to your ear. You can quickly adjust it on the fly back to 16 if you want.
You may be on to something about the connection or trash in the coil cover to screw up those numbers.
 
masking...thats where most of your funky numbers will come from. once you got the indians out of the hole I would bet they didnt read the same as they did in the ground....
 
You might want to give Two tone ferrous(TTF) a try. Goes4ever tells how to set it up at his website by the same name. There have been times where my numbers were off, but the audio was good. Also, this detector can be slow in updating the ID. Especially when there are several targets close to one another and the threshold can't reestablish.
 
you said :I decided against the at-pro because I just didn't see all that much difference between it and a F-2 with a larger double D coil.

Well, for starters, the AT Pro operates on 3 times the frequency of the F2.

AT Pro 15Khz F2- 5.9Khz

AT Pro has many features the F2 doesn't have. Like, the ability to ground balance, iron audio, DD coil, pro mode, tone roll audio, waterproof etc

They are completely different, and i know this because I still swing an F2 and have for 4 years. The AT Pro, is a completely different machine, no matter what coil you put on the F2. I have both machines....

Not sure where you did your research, but the F2 and AT Pro are in different classes of detectors!
 
LittleJohn said:
masking...thats where most of your funky numbers will come from. once you got the indians out of the hole I would bet they didnt read the same as they did in the ground....
Click to expand...

Hmm was too excited to get an air read. So that's very possible. In the video I did hit it while it was uncovered in the hole and got the funky readings but since it kept switching to a ferrous reading I think that was it. Also prolly the reason the other detectors didnt pick up the signals at this location, because it was masked.
 
ToYoungForThis said:
Hmm was too excited to get an air read. So that's very possible. In the video I did hit it while it was uncovered in the hole and got the funky readings but since it kept switching to a ferrous reading I think that was it. Also prolly the reason the other detectors didnt pick up the signals at this location, because it was masked.
Click to expand...
Where's the vid?
 
NectarDetector said:
you said :I decided against the at-pro because I just didn't see all that much difference between it and a F-2 with a larger double D coil.

Well, for starters, the AT Pro operates on 3 times the frequency of the F2.

AT Pro 15Khz F2- 5.9Khz

AT Pro has many features the F2 doesn't have. Like, the ability to ground balance, iron audio, DD coil, pro mode, tone roll audio, waterproof etc

They are completely different, and i know this because I still swing an F2 and have for 4 years. The AT Pro, is a completely different machine, no matter what coil you put on the F2. I have both machines....


Not sure where you did your research, but the F2 and AT Pro are in different classes of detectors!
Click to expand...

My research came in the field. Like you know, experience. I was very disappointed with the at-pro and I really didn't see much difference in its abilities and my fisher. Blah blah blah technically this technically that, at the end of the day you put a big double d on a fisher f2 and it will compete with the at pro. Plus I don't like it's chinsy build. Even at pro users realize it's cheap. I'm saying the reason I went with an E-trac is because it is leaps and bounds above both the fisher and at pro. I didn't see the money in upgrading from an f2 to an at pro. Yes the at pro works great at the park for new jewelry. But the amount of places it performed terribly is too high, it falses on iron way to often and some times my friends just starts going nuts for no reason at certain locations. I am not an at pro fan, I think they are overated and too middle of the road.
 
ToYoungForThis said:
My research came in the field. Like you know, experience. I was very disappointed with the at-pro and I really didn't see much difference in its abilities and my fisher. Blah blah blah technically this technically that, at the end of the day you put a big double d on a fisher f2 and it will compete with the at pro. Plus I don't like it's chinsy build. Even at pro users realize it's cheap. I'm saying the reason I went with an E-trac is because it is leaps and bounds above both the fisher and at pro. I didn't see the money in upgrading from an f2 to an at pro. Yes the at pro works great at the park for new jewelry. But the amount of places it performed terribly is too high, it falses on iron way to often and some times my friends just starts going nuts for no reason at certain locations. I am not an at pro fan, I think they are overated and too middle of the road.
Click to expand...


No matter your experience, an F2 with a DD coil is not going to be anywhere near the same with an at pro...:laughing:


You can't just blow off the technology of the at pro and say its the same thing as the F2 just because thats your opinion....LOL

I swing both, I speak from experience... not even close...
 
ToYoungForThis said:
My research came in the field. Like you know, experience. I was very disappointed with the at-pro and I really didn't see much difference in its abilities and my fisher. Blah blah blah technically this technically that, at the end of the day you put a big double d on a fisher f2 and it will compete with the at pro. Plus I don't like it's chinsy build. Even at pro users realize it's cheap. I'm saying the reason I went with an E-trac is because it is leaps and bounds above both the fisher and at pro. I didn't see the money in upgrading from an f2 to an at pro. Yes the at pro works great at the park for new jewelry. But the amount of places it performed terribly is too high, it falses on iron way to often and some times my friends just starts going nuts for no reason at certain locations. I am not an at pro fan, I think they are overated and too middle of the road.
Click to expand...

Your first post said "I decided against the at-pro because I just didn't see all that much difference between it and a F-2 with a larger double D coil. "

Now you're saying "my research came in the field. Like you know, experience. I was very disappointed with the at-pro and I really didn't see much difference in its abilities and my fisher."

Which is it, did you decide against the at pro or did you get one? I just read every post you have, not one post where oyu mention using the at pro... did I miss that post? Seems you upgraded your Bounty hunter 2200 to a Fisher F2... so when could you have had over 20 hours experience with the at pro to make the claims you're making about the two?


If you dont have both, you can not make the assumption you're making, and even if you do, they are nowhere close to the same thing...
 
I got to try one out multiple times and get to see an experienced user use it in action on multiple occasions. It was on my short list when I was planning on upgrading. But after seeing that there wasn't a single target it hit that my fisher couldn't, plus the amount of iron falsing I decided against it. I realize the at pro has a cult following but it just wasn't what I expected. Why pay 500 bucks when you can spend 800 and get a used e-trac with warranty left? I stick to my opinion that the at pro is just too middle of the road, and really not any better then the f-2 given its price. The e-trac has been absolutely amazing, yes I'm still learning and have a long way to go but my finds speak for themselves. Finds that the at pro and f-2 missed due to either depth or masking.
 
ToYoungForThis said:
I got to try one out multiple times and get to see an experienced user use it in action on multiple occasions. It was on my short list when I was planning on upgrading. But after seeing that there wasn't a single target it hit that my fisher couldn't, plus the amount of iron falsing I decided against it. I realize the at pro has a cult following but it just wasn't what I expected. Why pay 500 bucks when you can spend 800 and get a used e-trac with warranty left? I stick to my opinion that the at pro is just too middle of the road, and really not any better then the f-2 given its price. The e-trac has been absolutely amazing, yes I'm still learning and have a long way to go but my finds speak for themselves. Finds that the at pro and f-2 missed due to either depth or masking.
Click to expand...


Oh so you watched someone else use their AT Pro and came to the conclusion that the F2 was the same thing. I see...:lol:

Iron falsing? The AT Pro is designed to work in iron! That's where it shines by design!:cool: Show me a machine that doesn't false on iron sometimes!

Your opinion is your opinion, fine, but I disagree wholeheartedly having used the F2 for years, and the at pro for awhile now, they aren't even close to the same.

Glad you like your minelab. but unless you tested it side by side with the f2 and at pro on same targets, you can't honestly say "Finds that the at pro and f-2 missed due to either depth or masking."

I stand by my statement: You can't just blow off the technology of the at pro and say its the same thing as the F2 just because thats your opinion....
 
I can see that it's possible for the lower frequency F2 can work better than the higher frequency machines in your particular soil. So this makes sense. I've personally had 4 Atpros and after getting the 4th one back I had to sell it after an incident I'll address below. It worked nice when it worked. I've heard others that's had one for years and others that's had 6 before they got one that didn't leak or have other issues.
Like I said the ATpro is a nice machine for sure. But the F2 has a lot of features for 200 bucks. Sometimes even a Compadre can out perform higher priced machines.
Now the etrac is on a level very few if any machines can compare. I was one of the guys that said "you don't need no 1500$ machine to find coins" I held this thought for years. Then I was hunting with one of my buddies that had an etrac. I had my 4th ATpro and my modified M6. Both machines were super deep and sweet to run. My buddy located a few deepies that he said were 8 plus inches down. I brought both my machines over and couldn't hit each target. I cranked up the power and the M6 said iron (sometimes) and ATpro nothing. His etrac hit these targets at 22 sens which actually goes to 30. The target ID was dead on. They hit every sweep and were not iffy targets. I watched as he dug a Barber dime, deep wheatie and a merc. Two weeks later I sold my machines and bought an etrac and my silver finds and actually all good finds have increased. I went back to my old spots a picked silver. I'm not saying the M6 or ATpro are bad machines. This is just my experience - your may be different? This is a true story as told by me.
 
I stated that I got to use the at pro on multiple occasions. I don't understand why you are picking only the parts of my posts you want to read. Yes I don't own one because I tried it...multiple times and hunted next to a guy who has been using his for a while. I didn't like it hence why I took it off my short list. There were parks he couldn't even hit because his machine just kept going crazy for no reason. And works great in iron? You have to be joking! His machine reads perfect signals on old iron. Old foundations where the house has been demolished are a nightmare for his machine. Also we could argue about frequency aaaalllll day it doesn't mean anything. Plus I have seen too many people sending their machines back to garrette because of shoddy craftsmanship.

Lastly I want to say that if I wanted to find people's recently lost jewelry in semi clean parks I would have stuck with the fisher or bought an at pro, one thing that machine does right is sniff out gold, but that's not why I started metal detecting. I got into this hobby to uncover history, going to historical library's and reading old tax records and examining rare maps. Traveling into the middle of the woods, and walking miles to remote locations to unearth history that has been buried for century's. The AT pro just can't deal with iron infested sites and the harshness of the deep woods underbrush. The fisher was the same, they both were equal in the situations that I found myself in. Maybe where you live and the yards and parks you hunt, there is a big difference between the two machines, but for me that isn't the case.
 
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