dcturtle
Full Member
Well I put my buddies new E-trac to my XS.
I thought I was using a beeper with a stick.
He spent 3 days studing the manual and playing with it. The results:
Beach: Hands down kicked my but. We buried pennies, dimes, silver dime and wifes ring (she did not know). We buried them at 3-11". Wet and dry sand. Etac had clearer tones, louder tones and no problem pin pointing. In fact after he dug the dime at 11" in wet sand he got another signal 3" below it. Mind you the hole was open but he got a very, very cruddie what we think is a nickel.
Ball field: He follwed behind me and picked up a 44 wheat at an easy 10" that I got no signal on.
I used the stock XS coil. The ground unfortunatly was so hard he had signals we could not did, today, but rain is a comin.
Trash Area: This was a toss up. He was able to pinpoint a little better, but I did not use 5" coil.
Weight- Etrac wins hands down.
response speed: Really I do not hear a differance.
Ease of Use- Have some spare time to experiment. You may need an engineering degree. Good news is as others toy with it also you can share programs. This is my favorite part. I thought there was a learning curve with XS the Etrac is NOT for the impatient.
I do like the swingbelt option and straight arm coil. Reduces weight alot.
Make this into a waterproof version and I can quit my job.
Overall 41/2 out of 5.
For minelab lovers it is heaven, for the anti-ML people they will have a plethera to complain about but little to defend their toys with.
I will have more comparisons with him soon, and some pics of his machine "vaccuming the ground it goes over".
I thought I was using a beeper with a stick. He spent 3 days studing the manual and playing with it. The results:Beach: Hands down kicked my but. We buried pennies, dimes, silver dime and wifes ring (she did not know). We buried them at 3-11". Wet and dry sand. Etac had clearer tones, louder tones and no problem pin pointing. In fact after he dug the dime at 11" in wet sand he got another signal 3" below it. Mind you the hole was open but he got a very, very cruddie what we think is a nickel.
Ball field: He follwed behind me and picked up a 44 wheat at an easy 10" that I got no signal on.
I used the stock XS coil. The ground unfortunatly was so hard he had signals we could not did, today, but rain is a comin.Trash Area: This was a toss up. He was able to pinpoint a little better, but I did not use 5" coil.
Weight- Etrac wins hands down.
response speed: Really I do not hear a differance.
Ease of Use- Have some spare time to experiment. You may need an engineering degree. Good news is as others toy with it also you can share programs. This is my favorite part. I thought there was a learning curve with XS the Etrac is NOT for the impatient.
I do like the swingbelt option and straight arm coil. Reduces weight alot.
Make this into a waterproof version and I can quit my job.
Overall 41/2 out of 5.
For minelab lovers it is heaven, for the anti-ML people they will have a plethera to complain about but little to defend their toys with.
I will have more comparisons with him soon, and some pics of his machine "vaccuming the ground it goes over".
