Minelab E-Trac Field Reports

OkieDigger

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I thought I'd follow Cybersage's lead and create an E-Trac field reports thread since his V3 thread has been so successful. I hope you don't mind Jack. :D

The E-Trac is the latest high end offering from Minelab and there seems to be a lack of information on this forum compared to some of the other machines out there. This thread should be for the discussion and sharing of ideas, problems and settings. Comparisons to other detectors are welcomed as long as they are helpful and friendly. THIS IS NOT A THREAD FOR BASHING OTHER DETECTORS AND THEIR MANUFACTURERS!!!

So let's begin!

I took my E-Trac out for the first time this weekend. I'd like to post some of the responses I received from coins in the ground. I dug a wheat at 7". The FeCo numbers were 12-44 and the tone was pretty solid. I was running sens at auto +2 for a total of about 26 at the time. Deep on. I also hit an IH at 2" @ 11-37 with the same settings. This is also about where zinc pennies hit I noticed. Does anyone else find coins in the Fe 11 column often? Do they ever go to Fe 13? I dug several wheats between Co 42 and 45. I expected a dime at Co 45, but it was a wheat. I'm still learning, so some feed back would be nice in this area.
 
Andy Sabisch book

Just a small tip for the new E-Trac owners, I bought the book, "The Minelab Explorer & E-Trac Handbook" that was written by Andy Sabisch. I read it before I received my E-Trac. I found the book to be very useful in understanding and learning how to use the E-Trac. The book is so good, that I think it should come with the detector.
Flapjack
 
@FlapJack

I concur with your latest post.

And this latest book by Sabisch is much much better than his first one some years ago on the Explorers S & XS
 
E-Trac Emulator

This emulator is great....and I quote:
"The Minelab emulator is a great tool. Written by Max Derouen, it's a fully functional metal detector simulator that can help you become familiar with the detector's interface and menus. It also shows you how the detector responds to targets."
thebeepgoeson.com

Try it out, it's alot of fun to play with.
Flapjack
 
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I took my E-Trac out for the first time this weekend. I'd like to post some of the responses I received from coins in the ground. I dug a wheat at 7". The FeCo numbers were 12-44 and the tone was pretty solid. I was running sens at auto +2 for a total of about 26 at the time. Deep on. I also hit an IH at 2" @ 11-37 with the same settings. This is also about where zinc pennies hit I noticed. Does anyone else find coins in the Fe 11 column often? Do they ever go to Fe 13? I dug several wheats between Co 42 and 45. I expected a dime at Co 45, but it was a wheat. I'm still learning, so some feed back would be nice in this area.

Silver dimes will hit solidly in the 12-44 and 12-45 range up to a certain depth, depending on ground condition and trash density, but on deeper dimes the Ferrous number will have a considerable bounce. You may see numbers from FeCo 11-45 through FeCo 24-45. The Conduct numbers may have a very slight bounce upward, though it tends to be consistent overall. I have seen such on dimes that were 8+ deep. Andy Savisch provides good information on this very topic in his book, The Minelab Explorer & E-Trac Handbook, which I highly recommend by the way.

You will note that the factory set coin program has Fe numbers to 17 discriminated out, and I'm not yet certain what impact that may have on such deep targets. I am currently using Andy Savisch's coin pattern, which Paul (Flapjack) already had loaded in the E-Trac I obtained from him (thanks Paul!), and which I like. It accepts Fe numbers down to 27. It provides me (along with tones and the SmartFind display) with all the information I need to help me in my 'to dig or not to dig' decision process.
 
But you said the tone was your main information in the 'to dig or not to dig' process.

I forget that I need to be much more concise with you. :lol:

I meant it as part of the overall information the E-Trac provides. Yes, target tone is my primary driver, followed by the SmartFind display and then digital numbers. Others may have a different preference of course, but this is what I rely on. :)
 
I also don't fully understand the distinction between Variability and Limits. Anyone?

A very good analogy is provided by Andy in his book. He explains it this way:

"...imagine a box filled with a set number of index cards and one moveable end. The LIMITS option dictates the overall length of the box and then the VARIABILITY option dictates how much space or difference there is between each of the cards."

You can make note of this difference while using the Emulator.
 
I was also told that it is a great way to develop discrimination patterns.

Yes Epi-Hunter you are correct. Download it and play with it, you will like it.
I'm not sure if it is Mac friendly yet, incase anyone is using a Mac.
Flapjack
 
Angel,
I'm glad that you like Andy's coin pattern, it's much better than the stock coin pattern. I'm almost sure that it's the only pattern that I ever used the whole time that I hunted with the E-Trac. Salemscott also uses the pattern too.
Flapjack
 
I'll download his pattern tonight after I install the E-Trac software on my machine. Probably won't get a chance to test it out until after work tomorrow.

From what you're saying then Angel, I shouldn't dig FeCo 16-45 numbers when they're only 4" deep? I'll have try and dig some of those deeper ones though.

Flapjack, I'll get the emulator and play with it also when I get some time. The tones don't always correlate with the FeCo numbers when I'm detecting and I think it's throwing me off as I'm more of a visual person than an auditory.
 
Hey Angie, I just downloaded it (Andy's program) as well while I was off for lunch. I got the E-Trac software installed and uploaded it. I'm running Vista 64 bit and didn't have any problems. GL this evening Angie!

To answer an earlier question on the E-Trac software, it's pretty straight forward. Just rememeber that opening a program into the software doesn't actually upload it to the machine. Once you open it, you then have to upload it. ;) Personally I thought there would be much more to the program, but there's not.
 
I haven't found any nickels yet Angie, but I can tell you that FeCo 12-15/18 was canslaw and pulltabs when I dug it. The question I really have is, can the E-Trac better determine a small 10k gold ring from such signals and where does its FeCo show up at?
 
From what you're saying then Angel, I shouldn't dig FeCo 16-45 numbers when they're only 4" deep? I'll have try and dig some of those deeper ones though.

I wouldn't say that you shouldn't dig them, as there would be variables to take into account, such as trash density and ground mineralization, which may affect the signal from a good target. However I have found such shallow targets, falling within the FeCo 16-45 range, to be trash. The Ferrous numbers on good shallow targets won't have as much of a bounce and will tend to be more consistent.

But what about targets in the middle? For example, is it really true in the field that you can tell the difference between, say, a pulltab (F 12, C 15-18) and a nickel (F 12, C 13)? Are the C numbers really that reliable?

From my own experience I can say that the Conduct numbers are that reliable. Most nickels I have dug have read between F 12 and C 12-13, though the F number did bounce on the deeper ones.

I haven't found any nickels yet Angie, but I can tell you that FeCo 12-15/18 was canslaw and pulltabs when I dug it. The question I really have is, can the E-Trac better determine a small 10k gold ring from such signals and where does its FeCo show up at?

If you want to see where the small 10k gold ring falls within the FoCo range you may want to consider using the Emulator and load the jewelry target file. The file has a variety of gold rings and other gold items to play with. I had provided the file link in one of the e-mails I sent you. It's worth the time. :)

(Angel would say "I can tell from the tone".... )

With gold? :shock: With nickels I can tell. :)
 
That's great to hear Angie. I'm looking to get out for a couple of hours tomorrow evening at a near by park. I'm hoping it has some deep silver, but I'd be happy to find a wheat there. In five years I've dug one silver dime (42 merc) and one wheat (50's) in that park. I know where the old swing sets were, so I'll start there. You can bet I'll be digging those 12-13 and 14-12 numbers now.
 
The E-Trac does false off the edge of iron alot. The way to deal with this the method that I think Angel is referring to above. When you get that good tone
and your deciding what to do, put the detector in pinpoint mode and see if it pinpoints in the same spot that the tone is coming from. If it is, dig, if it's not it's usually the edge of something iron. But I have dug my share of square nails and small pieces of small iron, with this method.
I hope this helps.
Flapjack
 
Also, Salemscott and I discovered that if you're digging a good sounding deep signal and the target is not where it should be, then you will usually find a small piece of iron on the side of the hole that you dug. This is where a Sun Ray probe comes in very handy.
Flapjack
 
What Paul indicates is what I had in mind. The target may go silent when sweeping from another angle in discriminate mode. When pinpointing, the target seems to disappear, or to be to the side from where it was expected to be. You may also hear double blips when sweeping the coil while in pinpoint mode. I have not experienced this with any of the deep silver dimes I've dug.
 
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