Using the E-Trac ferrous VDI for deep coins

Minelab definitely hit a homerun with that detector. Nice video.


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You forgot to mention the thunk thunk sound as well.. Etrac is just a flat out animal on deep coins,great video Detector

I was making out the depth on my etrac today.. I basically found an old coin spill including a few silvers.. Most VERY deep..

I noticed that my FE was going to 0 even on a deep nickel and CO was still high.. So this is a very good tip!
(That may have been the silver war nickel I found)

What do you think about threshold nulls on targets that are even deeper yet?

In the same place I dug all these very deep coins, basically a coin spill including a silver quarter, couple silver dimes, silver nickel, bunch of wheats etc..

I dug everything I could get a decent lock on with the etrac, even went through setting testing everything I could think of to try to eek out a touch more depth..
I got it to give me a few more unrepeatable 01:27-50 ish signals that I’m sure are more coins I just can’t get a lock on, and even more threshold nulls in this same spot..

I’m going back with a real shovel and am going to do some real digging..

What do you think about these threshold nulls? They seem repeatable..

Also.. I got a couple of barely repeatable signals, dug them, and then once the hole was 8-10” deep the signal would disappear..

Do you think the etrac can possibly detect slightly better through dirt than air?
Therefore I can barely get a tone with depth meter pegged deep, but then once I dig the hole the tone goes away? (Hole still too small for coil)
I think that’s what happened to me a couple times too..
Pretty sure it still gives a threshold null over the holes though..

I’m talking threshold nulling with no mask/discrimination on at all/all metal mode..
Nulls similar to if it was discriminating something with a mask on, but nulls with no mask on at all..
I think it means a very deep target..


I’m going to find out…
I’m gonna go dig like 4-6” of overburden off this entire area and see what happens..


This thread has some commentary on what I’m talking about..
https://www.metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=230317

I also may take a big 18” coil with me there and see what that does first..
This was with a s.e.f coil by detech.. 12x10 I think..

I have a big 15” or 18” excellerator E coil by detech too..
And I think another in between..

This is NOT the place for a big coil, this is basically in the woods..
But this one spot is very clean except for these coins..

I might be spazzing a bit much about a couple silvers, but they are rare in my area because things aren’t very old, and these are my first silvers found..

Some of these readings mentioned here aren’t what I’ve observed with the CTX. A Ferrous reading of 0 on a nickel in what mode? High Trash and Ground Difficult? If I am in High Trash with the CTX it would be quite easy for a coin to register in the lower 20’s or even mid 20’s on the Ferrous side and still be a coin. I had the eTrac for only a short time but don’t recall a reading of 0 and a coin appearing. I would expect 12-10/11 on a deeper nickel, 12-12/13 on a shallower one and perhaps 12-08/09 on a super deep old nickel like a Shield. Not set in stone because those tend to make a good halo, but still…not a Ferrous number of 0. Perhaps this is being caused by multiple targets in the area?

What do you think about threshold nulls on targets that are even deeper yet?

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My experience has been nulls on deep targets can be reveling to some degree.

More often than not, on a good deep coin you may get that "thunk", which is often good, but generally if the E-Trac nulls, either there are other targets within the coil field, or it is iron. I use it sometimes to make a call, but not very often because in our city park there is just so much trash the null can be caused by the junk, but still have a coin at dept. In short, I put little value on a repeatable null. It can go both ways. You've really got to read the ground you're hunting to know if you can trust a null as good or bad. Sorry, not very helpful.

Do you think the etrac can possibly detect slightly better through dirt than air?

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Without a doubt. At least what I have found is that the E-Trac hates fluffy freshly plowed dirt, but loves that hard-packed dirt.

That deep target "thunk" is also a sign of a good target. Not sure where the thunk comes from, but I like hearing it along with that sweet tweet of a coin.

I will try to now get a video of what a piece of deep rusted wire/nail looks like on the FE. You'll find the sound the same, and the CO will jump around just like a coin, but the FE will read no lower than 15 and up to 20.

You notice instead of a constant swing I'm swinging once, analyzing the tone first to see if it was a clean hit, if so, then I look at the VDIs to make a call to recover or not. Low FE, and depth are the two indicators I use mostly. The CO I use to get an idea of what it might be.

Some of these readings mentioned here aren’t what I’ve observed with the CTX.

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The CTX does react a bit differently. I believe the ferrous range was compressed on the CTX. Anyway, my experience with the CTX was I love the detector, but it is a different animal as far as tones & VDI.

I have said I was hoping the Equinox would be a lighter CTX with an expanded FE again. Now the Manticore is closer, but in my opinion, the muitl frequency is only of value to beach hunters. Being able to pick a single frequency is nice tho.

IDXMonster said:

Some of these readings mentioned here aren’t what I’ve observed with the CTX. A Ferrous reading of 0 on a nickel in what mode? High Trash and Ground Difficult? If I am in High Trash with the CTX it would be quite easy for a coin to register in the lower 20’s or even mid 20’s on the Ferrous side and still be a coin. I had the eTrac for only a short time but don’t recall a reading of 0 and a coin appearing. I would expect 12-10/11 on a deeper nickel, 12-12/13 on a shallower one and perhaps 12-08/09 on a super deep old nickel like a Shield. Not set in stone because those tend to make a good halo, but still…not a Ferrous number of 0. Perhaps this is being caused by multiple targets in the area?

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This is my experience with the etrac as well. Deep deep coins were typically in the 22-40+ area.. Only the mid-depth 'deep' coins would be doing the lower FE numbers..

I'm using a Deus 2 now, and I'm still sizing it up, but the countless hours I put on the etrac gave me some good confidence in it, if not a bad case of tennis elbow.

Just to clarify. This is what I use to tell if a very deep, generally 8"+, is conductive or ferrous.

When I hit a single target in our city park that is very deep I often ended up spending 15 minutes recovering a rusted nail or piece of wire very deep. I have found, in our city park, I can use the FE on my E-Trac to help the odds that what I recover will be worth it. So far, everything I've gotten a FE of 15 or higher, especially if I get a FE in the 20s, it has been junk. So far, if I get a very deep target and the FE reads 15 or lower, it has always been a coin.

Saves me a lot of time now because I trust the FE. It could always be wrong, but so far, it has been right every time.

Low trash
Ground neutral
Fast recov off
Deep recovery off (seems a little deeper?)
Noise cancel 1 or 2 seem the best on them
Sensitivity manual like 22-23 seemed the best before it goes nuts


Found nothing at all but like 10 old coins in this patch, so basically no trash, leading me to believe that these super deep signals are more coins..


This ground is woods, top layer is like a sponge of small roots, under it is quite light grey dirt with bigger roots and even seems to have voids/pockets in it in places I imagine from tunneling mice or something.. Possibly dirt washing out of the roots..

E33 said:

Low trash
Ground neutral
Fast recov off
Deep recovery off (seems a little deeper?)
Noise cancel 1 or 2 seem the best on them
Sensitivity manual like 22-23 seemed the best before it goes nuts


Found nothing at all but like 10 old coins in this patch, so basically no trash, leading me to believe that these super deep signals are more coins..

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The 31 seems a bit low. if it doesn't get a CO in the normal coin range at least on several swings I'd call it not a coin. steel cap possibly? If the FE remains below 15 on 90% of the swings I'd dig it.

I dug like crazy and their are no more coins..

Must have been falsing..

And me wanting so much for their to be more!