E-Trac vs. F75 LTD test coming...

Just bought a clean used Etrac specifically for testing in my red clay test bed against my familiar LTD. I won't get it for a week or so but I'm eager to test it on my deep silver dimes and known masked targets.

In the end one will go.

Any recommendations from existing Etrac users for common coin hunting setup parameters?

Thanks in advance!

go-rebels --

This is gonna be a really cool test. Please let me know what you find out. I think I have similar soil, and I know several guys here with Etracs, and they do really well on deep silver; don't know which machine will do better with masking issues. I can't wait to hear what you learn.

Steve

In that type of soil...my moneys on the Etrac.
Looking forward to your results.
Thanks



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2011 02:23AM by Aaron.

Also my money will be on the E-Trac... Especially if looking for silver.........Target ID will be more accurate I think...Let us know as I am getting another E-trac.. Wish I had never sold mine as I did real well looking for old coins...Not Relics here in Indiana

I cant wait to see this review either! I have both and love both!!

Sonny not sure if your old Etrac was a Irish made one however are you concerned with the Malaysia Etrac if you are buying a new one? I've got a new one coming soon and have given it some thought. I started a thread on FindMall asking those who have bought the Malaysia Etracs and most claimed they had no problems. My SE Pro is from Ireland and 1yrs old and never had a problem, however my Excal is from Malaysia and its problem free also. I guess I'm just fortunate...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2011 11:32AM by Aaron.

I always wondered about this.... I always worried that the Malaysian Minelabs would be inferior to the Ireland ones... kind of like what happened to Fisher CZ-3Ds

I think it will be interesting..... however, you mentioned you were familiar with the F75 and were asking for settings on the Etrac. If the Etrac is close to the SE most people tend to find their own settings that work in their location. I think you are going to have to spend some time with the Etrac to be convenced one way or the other. My rule..... never trade a machine until its paid for its self. By then you should be familiar with both and ready for a real test.

Dew

I have not heard of any problems with the 2 loscations making them.. sure hopenot anyway..I wish that I had nver sold mine as I found a lot of silver with it..I will be ordering one soon..Chroming up the Harley a little first...$$

That's a good saying Dew but if I wait until it's paid for itself then the test will probably never happen. I'll document my test setup and describe what I hear; that's the best I can offer.

I had an early Etrac and traded it away when I couldn't tame the iron falsing. But there was little in the line of good online help at the time and some of the early users were writing of the same problem. Anyway, I've read a bit more on the Findmall Etrac site (a wealth of knowledge there) and will try a couple different setups.

I'm not so interested in depth between these two machines but rather the Etrac's unmasking abilities and sensitivity to deep silver using my preferred swing speed. My test bed has some iron masked silver that should present a good test to both machines.

And I'm not taking any 'bets' on either machine. I'll just describe my experience in my test bed in my red clay dirt.

That's all.

Looks like I'll need to run the Etrac with "Fast" on and "Deep" off to minimize filtering.

I'll use Andy Sabisch's coin program in conductive tones and the standard relic pattern with two tone ferrous.

Any other suggestions?

I've been using the old f-75 for over 3 years now. I borrowed an e-trac and have about 40 hours in the field with it. I have hunted areas with the e-trac after being over the same area with the f-75 and found a couple more old coins. I've hunted areas behind the e-trac with the f-75 and found many more old coins, musket balls and buttons. I really like the e-trac but I gotta tell ya, after using the e-trac for a few hours and then hunting with the f-75, it was like going from slow motion to fast. The targets are easier to find with the f-75 in a moderate to trashy old site, not a lot of hovering over the target and trying to seperate the flute tones like on the e-trac. You get crisp fast signals on the 75 and bam! you dig it, retrieve the target and move on. I know I know, there are many variables and influences to a hunt such as settings, emi, direction, ground minerals, time of day, solar activity etc. For me, the 75 is the one I would prefer to use. In the field, I don't see the e-trac having more debth than the 75. The E does have many more features and is fun to use as a change of pace, but a little cumbersome for me. I really don't want to give it back to my buddy but he'll want it soon as the weather starts to warm. I keep telling him "you didn't lend me your e-trac, what are you talking about?" Anyway, without getting techinal,,, to sum this up, the e-trac IS a keeper machine and if its better than the 75 as far as finding old coins, I don't see it. If it's deeper, I don't see it. It does give better ID and a bit more info than the 75, I do see that. After my in the field comparison, I feel comfortable knowing that the 75 is no slacker, and I have a tool in my hands that will find the goodies as good or better than most.

Good post.
Its not often you get a real fair and honest opinion from someone who has used both machines and does like the new machine but still prefers his old one. I'm figuring you have a ton of hours on that 75 and that's obviously why you are so successful with it.
If it wasn't for the problems I had with my 75LTD I would have kept it. It was the fastest machine I ever had along with the best balanced and well built.
Unfortunately FTP wasn't able resolve the issues after I sent it back and I let it go at a loss.
Id get another one if I was sure I wouldn't have the same problem again.

What was the problem you were having, with your F75 LTD, Aaron? Just curious; I missed the story if you shared it previously.

As for the Etrac vs. F75 -- I own an F70, don't have alot of hours on it yet though, but I hunted recently with some very skilled Etrac users. The results of that hunt would have had me saying the very same things as ozzie said. If they hit a deep coin, and then I ran my machine over it, I'd see it, too. Mine did a better job on some targets, theirs did better on others, ID-wise. Theirs did ID better (from a VDI perspective) the deep silver, but they also IDd some things as deep silver that my F70 said "no way" to. There was not a "clear winner" overall, in my opinion, in that very limited test. ozzie's last sentence above was "After my in the field comparison, I feel comfortable knowing that the 75 is no slacker, and I have a tool in my hands that will find the goodies as good or better than most." I would make the very same statement about the F70 compared to the Etrac.

Will be very interesting to hear/see the results of your much more extensive test than what I performed, go-rebels.

Will also be interesting to see if Keith Southern feels that the AT-Pro is a clear upgrade over an F75 LTD (or even the Etrac); he likes 'em so much, apparently, that he got TWO!!

Steve

Steve the problems were very bizarre to say the least and lest not to leave myself open to uneeded criticism as to "did you do this or try that". Everything was tried over a period of 7months and can be validated by my fellow hunters on this forum. I would rather not rehash issue. I would like to say that I have great respect for this forum and the members on it . However in complex electronic manufacturing there are anomalies in all products some of these are for the good i.e. the CZ 3D that air tests a dime @ 12" and the other 3D that tests under the same exact conditions at only 10.5" There's no explanation that's just the way it is. Other anomalies can be for the negative i.e. the one person who has a 75LTD that operates perfect with minimal amount of chatter or emi inteferrance. Another guy who has the same machine and it is exactly opposite same settings same ground and the machine is simply impossible to work with. Nuff said.
HH! Aaron

Aaron --

I am sorry; I didn't mean to open a "can of worms." I was simply curious. I know most people love their LTDs; I don't have one, but it would be one that I'd at least think of upgrading to someday. That's really the only reason I asked.

Thanks,

Steve

No apology is needed Steve : )

Were all here for the same reason....to learn.

Steveg, I don't think there is much of an up-grade from an f-70, as far as recovery. It's a more simple (compared to the ETs and V3s) tool to get the same job done. After a certain amount of time with it, you will become one with it, so to speak, you'll see.

ozzie --

I hear you on the F-70. The "boost process" is what has me intrigued with the F75/T2 LTDs...the "air gap" ability would help, I think, in some of the overgrown places I hunt. When I decided on the F70 instead (a cost issue), I presumed that it was a "second best" to an LTD. But, I will say that my opinion of the F-70 was boosted substantially (and not that it was "low" before) after hunting with those Etrac guys. This thing is NO slouch, for sure. "Becoming one with it" is still a ways off, but I can tell I'm alot closer than before. I have learned how to run it more stable/quiet; I just need to find a good spot to hunt with lots of good targets (who doesn't?!! ), so that I can speed up the "learning curve" as to what a good target sounds like, how the F70 "hits" the good stuff, etc. I've found way too much "junk" and very little "good" stuff so far, to learn the subtleties of the machine and truly "know" it.

Thanks for your comments; I trust that you are correct.

Steve



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2011 07:57PM by steveg.

Aaron,...anomalies, perfect word to your point.

In mineralized dirt......the Minelab is the trump card. In medium mineralization.......or less.......the F75 LTD/SE is the ticket.......and for more than one reason;

Iron handling abilities
Recovery speed
very narrow coil footprint

to name a few.

I wonder about my dirt...

Fe3O4 = 0.03 maximum and the best hardware can't see beyond 6" in bone dry conditions.

I'm looking forward to this test. While I would rather be swinging the lighter, faster F75LTD, the ability to pull coins out of trashy areas would be the deciding factor. I've heard a lot of people say that the etrac is the best detector they've ever used for that purpose.

mrwilburino, if you want a light, fast detector able to pull coins out of iron trash, I've heard many reputable folks say that the Fisher Gold Bug SE or Pro, or its twin -- the Teknetics G2, might be THE machine. Just thought I'd throw it out there...

Steve

I am mostly concerned with how the 2 machines will compare in trashy areas and their ability to unmask targets, and work around iron. 6" still isnt bad depth if you are working in bad soil, do you have a 5" coils to use on both machines?
Thanks



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2011 11:43PM by Aaron.

steveg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> mrwilburino, if you want a light, fast detector
> able to pull coins out of iron trash, I've heard
> many reputable folks say that the Fisher Gold Bug
> SE or Pro, or its twin -- the Teknetics G2, might
> be THE machine. Just thought I'd throw it out
> there...
>
> Steve

Yes Steve, I've had my eye on both of those machines.

Mark

Rick......you may have more than just Fe3O4 magnetite......which will give you mineralization problems. The only TRUE test.......is a real test; that being, a head-to-head comparison test.....with your feet planted in the exact same spot (body facing exact same direction....for 'sweep direction' purposes).......and see what each detector presents. Careful of a sweep-speed bias.......including coil height above ground.

Yes, do some exact side by side comparisons.

Oh yes, the test will be concurrent, and repeated on different days in an attempt to improve confidence. As to the sweep speed, I'll find a comfortable pace then measure how many cycles I make in, say, 60 seconds. Commonizing sweep speed may prove to be one of the more difficult tasks but I'll certainly try.

Anyone have any ideas related to taking a steady video using the iPhone?

Etrac rec'd.

Quick functional test in my test bed after noise cancellation... after a good rain yesterday unit settles at AUTOSENS=16.