Perspective...

How much more would you pay for an E-trac which is half the weight and totally wireless.

To me, it would be worth another 2-300 bucks.

I used to love my Explorer, but damn, so heavy!

No.
The weight is not a issue with me. As far as wireless, I have wireless for my v3 and its a cool feature however I got the headphones for free, and I wouldn't have paid $200 for them.
I look at the wireless feature as kind of a gimmick. I would much rather invest another $500-$1000. just to be able to get around iron better.

The Swingy Thingy was a 30.00 investment to take the load off. I would not pay any more money for a lighter unit. I think that should be a priority of the detector manufacturers. If the next version of the E Trac is as heavy as this one I think Minelab will see defectors. Wireless I don't care about. In fact I like my RAT MSA phones. And my Coil wire is inside and I can submerge it in water with no loss of communication. So to answer your question: not one cent. The real question is to Minelab. What are you going to manufacture to keep me a loyal customer?

I would MUCH rather have enhanced performance over a weight reduction. And............ while on this subject............. I prefer a heavy coil........ so as to dampen oscillations imparted from ground aberrations into the unit............. which usually causes the unit to become electronically unstable........... due to constant and sudden velocity changes in coil sweep speed.

I totally agree with Tom #@>)^?%. Give me performance . . . #1 DEPTH, Disc. , Separation, Sweep Speed and Anti-EMI
My HipStick can handle any unit at any weight. . . all day long . . . and carry my tools incl. my short shovel.

Shave some weight off , Better screen ,faster,longer battery life

Detectorist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How much more would you pay for an E-trac which is
> half the weight and totally wireless.
>
> To me, it would be worth another 2-300 bucks.
>
> I used to love my Explorer, but damn, so heavy!


lightweight is nice,and from a comfort perspective,
is desirable for some folks,however,i don't care 2 craps
about that!.i want performance,and results.if the detector
is a proven performer,and has "better' performance,then this is
what we live for!..just sayin'


(h.h.!)
j.t.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2012 09:13AM by jmaryt.

After years of trying different machines I have finally found one that works at depth in my iron mineralized ground - in the E-Trac. But, my back is sore this morning as is my elbow and that is with the Swingy Thingy, albeit I have an old injury regarding my back so it's not completely due to the E-Trac.

I am a one detector guy, so spending 2k on a unit that will be what I use for years is not a big deal, though it is a lot of money to me! Being light is at the top of my list and to be honest, it isn't that hard to do these days. There is no excuse (outside of a new heavier technology - which is an oxymoron! )to not build a very light machine across the board.

Having had the V3i the wireless headphones are no big deal. I actually like taking them off during the dig so I can hear a bit of nature as where I hunt is usually outdoors. Also, the V3i headphones, though they had pretty good sound and were INCREDIBLY well made and comfy, don't sound as crisp as quality cabled headphones imo.

What I do think manufacturers can do is have the coil wire in the rod (like the E-Trac) but plug in to detectors at the coil junction. There must be some kind of snap on magnetic connection (or something similarly quick) that would work and if you hunt in tough conditions with grass or water, you could use a screw on adapter. Changing coils quicker would be nice.