Minelab E-Trac Field Reports

[etrac x]

Hey all,

Just got a new E-trac and tried it out finally. At an old park, got one old wheat and a Merc. Not bad, but not great for 5 hours. Spent a lot of time trying to learn the machine.

I just read a post by "Detector", where he found a Merc dime at 34-48 reading. Is this normal?? I passed those numbers up quite often. Do you guys just search a small area, and dig all the 40+ numbers?? Also, I was getting pretty messed up with old iron nails and screws. Tried to dig a few. I definately heard the flute sound, an 8 inch deep wheat. Funny too, I got that "flute" sound on a totally green covered old wheat. . Those type usually gave a more broken signal with the Whites machines. With iron, the E-trac had more of the "grunt" sound mixed in. Not sure if you call that the null sound or what, but iron was not as smooth. Also, had hard time pin pointing. I must have dug more than 10 deep holes, never found metal. The Merc was under an old rusty screw, Merc was also at least 8 inches. So, not sure if I heard merc, or was chasing rusty iron, and got lucky.

As for deep holes, I dug 2 or 3 real deep spots, one at least 13 inches. My Lesche was all in the hole plus one inch. Never did find target. Any help on how to recover deep targets? I had a lot of hits at 10 inches or more. This spot is sort of a construction spot right now, but I still covered holes pretty well. How do you dig a bunch of 8 inch plus holes and not leave a mess?? I have a hard time with deeper holes. I guess with more shallow targets, you usually can not tell I even dug there. I prefer not to carry a short shovel, but would actually work best with these deep ones. I could dig a better, deeper plug to start. Trying to pull out loose black dirt with the Lesche takes time. The blade is too narrow, and I just broke my gardening trowel with a wider blade... Guess I better hit Menards or home depot.....

 

[Cherry Picker]

I can't speak for other E-Trac users, but my FE numbers are only reliable on shallow targets. Anything below 4" and my FE can display pretty much any number. The CO numbers are very accurate.

 

[Dirt Driven]

I agree. The FE #'s to me only seem to work good on shallow targets and it seems to me with the target laying more flat. I normally have got into a habit of looking more at the CO #'s myself

 

[NiagracountyNY]

It works best for me to set up the quickmask screen in all metal,then when i get those iffy signals i tab into quickmask(all metal) and re-scan.if its iron it will lock on iron99% of the time.If it doesnt say iron in all metal dig it.Ive been experimenting with 2 tone ,Ferrous sounds.I using all metal or very little discrim.Its a good way to hear every target in the ground,without iron sounding like Good targets. As far as deep holes..I dig a large U shaped hole and flap it back(larger flaps seem to have less grass die off,grss roots grow along the surface,need to keep a large bio mass intact)use a drop cloth of some sort to hold the dirt ..It feels like everyone is watching you when u have this huge mound of dirt next to you in a park i know LOL..But if u leave little to no sign u were there its all good .Set up a few diffrent modes to Hunt with and Hunt with each one a Full day or 2 and get the feel for them..Once u find one u like its prob best to use it 99% of the time In my personal opinion. good Luck..HH P.S A large drop cloth lets u spread that dirt out so the piles not so tall .

 

[etrac x]

I carry one of those vinyl fabric pieces used to line the bottom of a drawer or cabinet in the kitchen, for my drop cloth. It works great. About $6 will buy a roll, and you could probably cut 2 to 4 pieces from it. I carry two, one for the dirt, one for my knees to avoid grass and mud stains. Works great until it falls out of the tool belt and gets lost!!

This thread is not very active. I thought with all the new E-trac users, there would be tons of posts here.

I tend to dig a lot of old rusted iron bolts and screws and washers. They sound good on E-trac. Only 3 silver dimes this year so far....... Last one was a 1900 barber, so that was kind of cool.....

-X

 

[Cherry Picker]

I set my tone variability to 30(max) so that iron that hits in the upper area(wraparound) has a very high tink sound. Most of the time you can tell iron because it doesn't pinpoint at the same spot it gives a solid tone at.

 

[ColoKid]

This is all good stuff guys. I have been using my E-trac for the last couple of months, and I struggle with the iron. Yes I have opened my variability to 30, but when you're on a silver drought, that false silver like sound can grab ya. The ET does like to find deep rust, and hopefully with experience I will convert that process to finding deep silver. These days when I go out I purposely try to look for only deep signals to improve my deep seeking skills. I will be trying the all metal mode to assist with pinpointing, but as detector says, when ya dig and the metal pinpoint heads to the side of the hole, there's a major chance that you are digging for a rusty metal part.

Keep the posts up here, together we will become silver experts. Now about that gold.................

ColoKid

 

[etrac x]

I set my tone variability to 30(max) so that iron that hits in the upper area(wraparound) has a very high tink sound. Most of the time you can tell iron because it doesn't pinpoint at the same spot it gives a solid tone at.

Thanks for the info!! I need to find a DEEP, old silver dime, with no iron in the hole, to make sure I am doing this correct!! ( only deep dimes HAD rusted iron also, and single silver dime was pretty shallow, less than 6 inches. )

 

[BlackZ51Vett]

You guys are making me jealous. I've got my E-Trac on order along with a SunRay Probe. Cant wait. In the mean time, I'm playing with the emulator, reading the manual, and all the posts I can find. Seems like this is going to be a great machine. I also have Andy Sabsich's book coming. Thanks for all your input........

 

[kireta]

Does Andy show any of his favorite settings in his book?

 

[etrac x]

Does Andy show any of his favorite settings in his book?

I got the book and have to say I was a little dissapointed. He gave a few settings that some people use, but a lot of the material was for older detectors, and did not appy completely to the E-trac. I am still very new to my E-trac, so i am sure there are some nuggets of info in the book that i did not recognize as being helpful.

I think it would help tons if we posted some of our settings on the forum. Has anybody done that yet?? is it allowed?? I would post mine, but they probably are not too good because i generally am still trying to figure out what i am doing with the E-trac. I have only had it out a few times now.

 

[Cherry Picker]

I think the value in Andy's book is getting you to understand how things work in more of a layman's terms. You can copy the settings others use, but to really get the best out of any detector, you really need to understand what each setting does. This way you can better understand what your detector is telling you, and better, how to adjust for maximum performance in any given situation.

 

[etrac x]

I think the value in Andy's book is getting you to understand how things work in more of a layman's terms. You can copy the settings others use, but to really get the best out of any detector, you really need to understand what each setting does. This way you can better understand what your detector is telling you, and better, how to adjust for maximum performance in any given situation.

It will probably take me 3 more months before I even BEGIN to understand my E-trac. I was hoping to learn a little, and find some beginner's settings just to get started, when I bought Andy's book. Some of the material, it took me a few minutes to realize they were not even talking about the e-trac, as it was settings or info about the explorer. I have no experience with Minelab detectors, and this is only my second year detecting. I guess we all want to find short cuts so we don't have to do all the work!!

I browsed throught the book 2 or 3 times, and now am more confused than before. I think I need to tackle it with a yellow highlighter, and separate the actual entries specifically about the e-trac.

 

[Cherry Picker]

If there is one thing that can never be express enough on the E-Trac and first time users is slooow dooown. It is east to get overwhelmed by all the tones when you're moving too fast. Slow down and you'll find everyone of those sounds is a potential goody. Thats the payoff.

Load up the factory Coin program set your sensitivity to Auto +3 and prepare to be amazed. Oh, and always always noise cancle when you start.

 

[Jack Flynn]

I'll have to agree with Detector on that point. Great book, not a "magic book" let's say. It has taken me almost a year to get to understand my E Trac and I feel like I am at probably 80-85%. A lot more to go for sure. If there is one thing I would recommend to any and all new ET users is to put the machine in two tone conductive and dig all the high tones. I wish I had taken that route, I got frustrated and well just thought there was nothing to find where I hunted for a good while. If you try this notice all your TID's while swinging and get used to matching up what you dig to what the numbers are. After you feel warm and cozy switch to four tone conductive for a little while and when you get that high and medium high tone with a good TID switch it over to multi to see what it sounds like before you dig the target. It only takes a couple of seconds to do this. You will be amazed at what you will find letting it make the decision for you to dig by the higher tones. Amazing is an understatement running the ET. Good luck and go slow and be patient. One more thing, I feel a lot of users have the impression that when they get a machine like this stuff just jumps out of the ground, it won't....homework homework homework is what it takes or rather groundwork.

I think the value in Andy's book is getting you to understand how things work in more of a layman's terms. You can copy the settings others use, but to really get the best out of any detector, you really need to understand what each setting does. This way you can better understand what your detector is telling you, and better, how to adjust for maximum performance in any given situation.

 

[etrac x]

Load up the factory Coin program set your sensitivity to Auto +3 and prepare to be amazed. Oh, and always always noise cancle when you start.

I never even tried noise cancel yet. maybe on the last trip out i used it by "accident" .

Guess i better do that , huh??

Will it eliminate some of the false signals, or just give better, deeper readings??

Thanks again Detector, for great help that probably seems obvious to some....not me though....

 

[DWtexas]

I never even tried noise cancel yet. maybe on the last trip out i used it by "accident" .

Guess i better do that , huh??

Will it eliminate some of the false signals, or just give better, deeper readings??

Thanks again Detector, for great help that probably seems obvious to some....not me though....

It will eliminate or minimize EMI. You would be surprised what you'll find near powerlines. Other machines just can deal with it like Minelab.

 

[RustySilver]

When noise cancelling, set the manual sens as high as it will go without driving you nuts, go into all metal (quickmask), scan the ground and find an area relatively free of targets, hold the coil about a foot off the ground, and press noise cancel. ( For those who didn't know )

If auto sens does not go up or is not atleast above 19-20, and you are still getting chatter, then try selecting the noise cancel channel manually until you find the quietest channel that allows for high sens without falsing.

I can usually get a liiiitle more depth by going to manual sens. I just transfer to manual whatever I am running in +2 or +3 auto. Slightly more noise but is usually tolerable. If it becomes too erratic in manual, I just switch back to auto.

Question: has anyone experienced two etracs on the same site running waaay different sens settings in auto? Any theories?

 

[frhamlet]

The fer. reading bounces from 11 to 13 on silver and copper with my e-trac. Generally will give a 12 but varies with each swipe and ground condition plays a factor. Co. is pretty steady.

Frank

 

[frhamlet]

I can't speak for other E-Trac users, but my FE numbers are only reliable on shallow targets. Anything below 4" and my FE can display pretty much any number. The CO numbers are very accurate.

Same here...
Frank