I don’t do much speculation. The way I understand it is the detectors pictured are still being manufactured. Any model not shown is done. So there may still be support for the Safari and X-Terras but no more production. E-trac is clearly still being produced.
Etrac discontinued
- Thread starter woodbutcher
- Start date
choppadude
Forum Supporter
I tried to buy a new E Trac and was told by every dealer that they have been discontinued
detectingMO
Forum Supporter
They have been out of stock for dealer orders for nearly 2 years. FWIW
I will speculate here….there could be an electrical component that is out of stock and has been since the start of COVID-19. Some FTP detectors (CZs) have been discontinued or slightly modified (Gold Bug II) because parts are not available.
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Cherry Picker
Forum Supporter
Shoot, I'd be happy just to see new technology that can tell aluminum from gold.
towboater2013
Full Member
All I know is I own the Etrac ctx and nox 800 and will be owning the new 0nes after the round are sent out
IDXMonster
Elite Member
On Minelabs website it is NOT listed under the discontinued models, so I would agree that it could have something to do with a component shortage…
Minelab's discontinued list is not up to date. Some detectors like the Safari and the X-Terras are not on that list, but from everything I have heard from friends and dealers in Australia and New Zealand, those two models are done.
The Etrac is such a great detector. But it does have some older parts, so hopefully a parts shortage really is the problem.
randy
Forum Supporter
I think it is hard to make a general statement like that. I say "the right tool for the job".
One thing I will say, is given how flimsy the Nox seems, I don't see it going strong with no repairs or aftermarket replacement parts like my E-Trac has after 10+ years. The only thing I have ever had to replace was the battery. Given this, I believe the E-Trac actually would turn out to be cheaper to own over time.
No worries, there are plenty of used ones out there. I bought mine used all those years ago so it had miles on it before me.
zeemang
Forum Supporter
That's simply not true. I have a spot that has both tons of old bottle caps and aluminum tokens. The equinox will hit a solid 38 on either where I am, but the etrac, because it has both a ferrous and conductivity readout, you can easily avoid the bottlecaps while digging only on the tokens.
Etrac is still a very good detector, only drawback is it's a bit heavy after a few hours...
Rattlehead
Forum Supporter
Whether that statement is valid or not totally depends on your style of hunting and the locations you’re hunting.
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Yes I admit that the Equinox is not very good in the bottle cap dept. I have a Sovereign GT for dry sand hunting just because of bottle caps. But as far as detecting good targets like small gold or just about any masked good target the Equinox will find them with much more success. That is my opinion and you are entitled to yours. The ETrac had it's day and it was a great detector in that period. But here comes the competition to the Equinox. The New Deus. The new Nokta. Times are good.
TorqueMaster
Elite Member
Every once in a while I wonder about the future of metal detecting -- surely someday the technology will exist to "see through dirt" -- or at least a 3D MRI of sorts. With today's technology (in almost every smartphone), between GPS, electronic compass, and the accelerometers and gyroscopes in tiny microchips, it's possible for a detector or know "exactly" where it is, and add up the data from multiple passes over an area, and build a map of what's down there. Not a "picture", but a grid of target IDs. Then you can zoom in and out on any area you've swept. The more you sweep a spot, the more data it has to identify what's in that spot. Foolproof? No way, but one more incremental advancement in the hobby.
I don't expect to see images of buried objects in my lifetime-- hells bells think of the resolution needed to tell a coin from a bottle cap, even if you can "see" its outline. Maybe someday the Fisher MRI2051 will outperform the Garrett CatScan2049, but neither one will be able to tell a ring from a pulltab missing it's beavertail. LOL keep digging it all!
So I don't keep track of new detectors, but somebody mentioned the Notka Legend, which led me to their web page, which led me to this $8000 Invenio Pro. $8000. Take a SMF detector, add the 3-axis accelerometer (as cheap as a buck a pop) and maybe some other sensors, integrate it with software to compile and show the data...voila!
I guess my point is how overpriced this is for what the actual hardware costs, but the good news is this tech should trickle down if it works in the real world anywhere near as well as the demo images show:
Attachments
Not even remotely, you actually say that with a straight face ?
Not the way I recall it, maybe they added single frequency VLF detectors later, initially they said it would obsolete all other detectors.
Diga
Elite Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2022
- Messages
- 2,602
Target imaging detectors, in which an outline of the target is produced, are the future of metal detecting.
The Invenio is where it's at, but Nokta needs to get the Invenio's resolution up, and the price down. I could be wrong, but I don't think there is anything else like the Invenio, because Nokta has 2 patents on the technology.
EDIT and correction: Nokta applied for three patents when they designed the Invenio. I don't know how long ago that was though.
The Invenio is where it's at, but Nokta needs to get the Invenio's resolution up, and the price down. I could be wrong, but I don't think there is anything else like the Invenio, because Nokta has 2 patents on the technology.
EDIT and correction: Nokta applied for three patents when they designed the Invenio. I don't know how long ago that was though.
harleyhummer65
Full Member
The only Invenio user that I ever recall was a youtuber named 'Chill Bill" or something like that. He did not use it for very long at all, and switched over to a Deus.
Here is a link to the Minelab Knowledge Base article that includes the statement using the word obsolete in reference to single frequency detectors.
https://www.detectorprospector.com/...inelab-multi-iq-technology-details-explained/
I don't know of any other source for that statement. It has been misconstrued, exaggerated and maligned since it was released to the public to the point where even many Etrac and CTX users took offense for no reason. It wasn't about them.
For me anyway, it's true. I used to own several single frequency detectors. Now I just own one and it is an XP ORX. The Equinox, Legend and Deus 2 are SMF and single frequency detectors so I just don't need single frequency only detectors anymore.
The only reason I have an ORX is because XP hasn't fixed Deus 2's Goldfield gold prospecting program yet so it can be as good as the ORX for small gold nugget prospecting. If they fix it with an update in the future, the ORX will get sold.
