E-trac vs. V3 - Minelab smackdown

Minelab diss on White's V3. Brutal.

[www.nwimetaldetectors.com]

I read it when it first was published. As I recall it was a publication sent to Minelabs dealers and not customers.

It made me pissed cause everything is turned east-west and upside down to point in Minelabs direction.

I wonder why Whites let it pass, maybe Carl can inform us more about this.

One thing is for sure, Minelab made the decision to publish this out of fear for the V3 s.

It seemed remarkable uncharitable toward White's technology and in my mind showed some level of contempt toward another multi-frequency detector.

It was probably in White's best interest not to respond to it.

Both machines are comparable - with different strengths and weaknesses. It would be like arguing a football is inferior to a basketball - it just depends.

My hunting buddy uses the V3i with a tremendous amount of success. We have compared many signals and I'm not convinced the Etrac is superior to the V3i.

I was one of the fortune ones selected to test the V3i as prototype. I can say that using factory modes, the eTrac is superior. But once you get into the expert menu settings of the V3i it changes dramatically in favor of the V3i. There are only so many settings you can play with on the eTrac....the V3i is fully tweakable to your hearts content. I'm thinking hard on trading my eTrac for one if I don't sell and put everything towards a GPX.

There's something to be said, about getting out of the car and detecting ANY spot without fiddling with your detector. I personally don't want to do a soil and RF interference test when I arrive so I can adjust 15 menus for best practice.

White's saw no reason to respond... it is what it is, and is very obvious to anyone who reads it.

I think most veterans of the hobby realize that it is a very one sided slam. To be honest I have only seen a few V3I's being used. But those guys were kicking butt. And that is coming from a guy ordering an Etrac tomorrow.

You don't HAVE to do all that setup to go out and hunt sites with the V3i. Just a few minor tweaks of the factory preset programs and you've got a VLF capable of depths exceeding any other VLF I've ever used. Just upping the gain and speeding the recovery rate up made it do that. I haven't picked one up in about 2 years and I guarantee you could hand me one today out of the box and I have it up and tweaked, ground balanced and hunting deeper than an eTrac before you can do a noise cancel scan on the eTrac.

The versatility is what appeals to some. They designed the V3 to be user friendly but with capability to being tweaked. A lot of the menu items are nothing more than customizing for that particular user....such as menu colors or which ID screen or icons you like. If you've got hearing loss and can't hear certain frequencies you can set it for the frequencies you hear best....just things like that. The basic preset programs are hotter than most machines are...but by upping the gain and such you can really throw the nitrous to it. It's made to be a turn on and go machine OR for the tweakers you can set it up and save programs for optimal performance at particular sites you have...once again....not a must but the capability is there. It is in my top 3 of all time favorite VLF ID machines.

OK, I read that piece...that, to me, it very clearly announces that indeed, Minelab is/was "threatened" by the V3. They would not have put that piece out, if the V3 wasn't something that could legitimately challenge or exceed the E-Trac, and thus take away "market share." Being "threatened" by the V3 is a good thing. It's good for them -- for ANY company, for that matter -- to be challenged by competitors. Makes for better, more affordable products, in the end. I have not used a V3i, but am very interested...Minelab's literature above only makes me MORE intrigued, not less...and this from a Minelab user...

Steve



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2012 07:56AM by steveg.

Ive used the DFX before switching to the Exp. I like the machines ability to do more adjustments, but if you dont know what you are doing with those tweaks you arent ever going to get it right. I noticed a lot of people relying on other peoples settings so tweak tweak tweak. I think thats the down side to the V3..... a great machine but many just dont take the time to learn it correctly. The Etrac out of the box really competes with even an experienced detector user. Took me some time to get the Exp SE down that learning curve was really reduced on the Etrac. Both have stong points but not everyone knows how to properly set them up especially the V3. I think most beginner find the Etrac competive and very forgiving as far as settings.

Dew

Guess there are tweakers and some guys like it simple.

Years ago I used a CZ and my buddy used an XLT and at the end of the season wasn't much difference in our pile of finds.

Explorer series for me is just a simple setup and well the Whites is a tweakers delight...again different strokes for different folks and whatever works.

Unfortunately competition shows its ugly side at times...

I have both the V3i and E-Trac. I just love the V3i and it's flexibility. It has a superior color screen, superior pressure sensitive "buttons", great shorcuts, brilliant live menu. I don't think it is that complicated unless your start playing with certain settings. It you stick with sensitivity, filters (I keep them at 5 mostly), recovery speed (tested this and it is VERY forgiving) and such, it is pretty easy. I think running correlate can be great and/or dangerous. You have to get it set up right.

On the negative side the V3i weighs .8 pounds more than the E-Tac, both with stock coils and I weighed this on a sensitive scale. I can swing the E-Trac much much longer, not sure if it's the weight or the handle angle? But I have noticed that and others have said the same. I wish the V3i was just a tad lighter and worked better in my iron mineralized soil.

The E-Trac, where it shines imo is that 2D screen and the two sets of numbers (Fe & CO), particularly on deeper targets. In my soil (V3i says it's 1% - 3% iron mineralized and gives it a VDI of -92 or -93, which is high iron mineralization of that 1%) the E-Trac is clearly deeper. (Now my Omega said it was a bit higher than that in mineralization, so perhaps it is).The V3i has solid VDI numbers down to 7" or so and beyond that the VDI jumps around a lot (due to the iron mineralization I guess). I have played with the settings, correlate, sensitivity (dropping it and raising it), etc to no end and can't get it any better. Anyway, on deeper coins the E-Trac's CO numbers are very very solid, amazingly so, like on a 9" coin they vary by 3-5 max most of the time. The Fe numbers do jump, but within a pattern. Now, when you couple this with the 2D screen you are getting different information than you would on any detector with just VDI numbers. It is difficult to describe but if you can think of the adage, " A picture is worth a thousand words", then you have an idea of what I mean. Oh, the machine is deep right out of the box. Playing with most of the settings, I have found, still hit deep targets. Perhaps things like the trash density setting and recovery settings are most important (from my brief time with it). I think the E-Trac is better with coins in iron and that shocked me. My Omega was very very good and the V3i was noticeably better and the E-Trac a bit better (both exceptional though). I absolutely love the sounds on the E-Trac. Very hard to describe but it's almost like a mini all metal mode, likes shortened.

The negative on the E-Trac, it's still a bit heavy but swings easier. The buttons are no where near the V3i's - terrible when you have gloves on. The backlight does nothing in daylight, even dim daylight. The contrast is more effective then. The screen can have a problem with glare so I put a glare guard on it.There is no shortcut menu - so you have to go back into settings. Not terrible but for testing a pain (Even when you find a target to see what sounds best - on the V3i it is EASY).

I could run both machines hot in my ground and checked the V3i's probe function to make sure I wasn't running it too hot and even dropped the Rx weigh down to get it better.

So, I really wonder if there is a more substantial difference between the two units when it comes to iron mineralization. I have been in contact with a few others with the V3i and they to have problems with depth in iron mineralized soils (but higher % than mine, much higher). I wonder if Yeasty is on to something in the other thread. I have all the respect in the world for Carl at Whites, brilliant and always a friendly man, but I wonder if the E-Trac is doing something more? I just wonder is all I'm saying.

Here are some videos I made comparing the V3i to the E-Trac on deeper targets 8" to 9". The E-Trac was just superior at this depth. I had hunted this spot with my V3i for 10 hours first (virgin spot) and was picking up coins down to 5", maybe 6". When I started with the E-Trac I was suddenly and consistently getting 7" and 8" coins. The V3i hits on them but as trashy as the ground is with iron, you just can't investigate all the jumpy signals and the sound seemed to mimic that to a degree.

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EMS -- When I was testing the V3i prototype, I took it to some of the hottest red dirt in the United States.....Culpeper, VA. This was for Civil War relics. I found the V3 to struggle in the red dirt UNTIL I hit on the magic settings. Once I did that I was feeling good as relics began popping out of the ground at some awesome depths.

The key tickets are two settings with an extra tweak or two. In your Audio menu...put it in All Metal mode. Then up your All Metal sensitivity. Ignore the machine's suggested RX gain....this is a proven bad thing and was eliminated with the V3i final software...on the original V3 it always suggested too low of a number so Whites decided to take it out with the i software update. Now you basically run it like any other machine...run it as hot as you can without it falsing. The next big setting change....SINGLE FREQUENCY. In my particular case I found the 7.5 kHz to work best. All metal....bump the all metal sensitivity up...single frequency of 7.5...auto GB off....manual GB when it starts getting false signals.

I could not believe the difference just changing those few things made. My only thing with relic hunting was not wanting to dig nails....everything else I wanted to dig. I found by putting the recovery delay at 40 that it made the recovery time much like a F75...REAL fast. And it gave distinct and fast double blips on nails. I actually dug my deepest relics ever with the V3i in red soil...dug minie balls breaking into the 15" mark with the stock D2 coil and above settings. A buddy of mine bought a 10x12 SEF coil for his V3i and he was done really well with it.

Man now I'm wanting a V3i instead of my e-Trac lol

Daniel Tn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> EMS -- When I was testing the V3i prototype, I
> took it to some of the hottest red dirt in the
> United States.....Culpeper, VA. This was for
> Civil War relics. I found the V3 to struggle in
> the red dirt UNTIL I hit on the magic settings.
> Once I did that I was feeling good as relics began
> popping out of the ground at some awesome depths.
>
> The key tickets are two settings with an extra
> tweak or two. In your Audio menu...put it in All
> Metal mode. Then up your All Metal sensitivity.
> Ignore the machine's suggested RX gain....this is
> a proven bad thing and was eliminated with the V3i
> final software...on the original V3 it always
> suggested too low of a number so Whites decided to
> take it out with the i software update. Now you
> basically run it like any other machine...run it
> as hot as you can without it falsing. The next big
> setting change....SINGLE FREQUENCY. In my
> particular case I found the 7.5 kHz to work best.
> All metal....bump the all metal sensitivity
> up...single frequency of 7.5...auto GB
> off....manual GB when it starts getting false
> signals.
>
> I could not believe the difference just changing
> those few things made. My only thing with relic
> hunting was not wanting to dig nails....everything
> else I wanted to dig. I found by putting the
> recovery delay at 40 that it made the recovery
> time much like a F75...REAL fast. And it gave
> distinct and fast double blips on nails. I
> actually dug my deepest relics ever with the V3i
> in red soil...dug minie balls breaking into the
> 15" mark with the stock D2 coil and above
> settings. A buddy of mine bought a 10x12 SEF coil
> for his V3i and he was done really well with it.
>
> Man now I'm wanting a V3i instead of my e-Trac lol


Daniel - Great post and thanks for that. Almost all of those videos I posted I am running very hot. I forget exactly but I think Rx was around 12 or more and Disc was at 90 to 95. I dropped Rx way down to see if it would go through the mineralization but it didn't appear to help. I can't run in AM mode, I just can't handle the barage of signals. And would doing that clear up the jumpy VDI. You see, there is lots of iron here and a fair amount of targets, so running in AM is a bit much. I loved the V3i at iron tone 0 and just slowing down in those nulls, much like I do with the E-Trac. (And I think the E-Trac is also audio nulling and not really discriming out the iron, as it does just too well).

You are right, the single frequencies hit better on the deeper targets. Oddly enough, it was the 22.5 I believe, that hit best an then 7.5. I got all of this and what I said above in some of those videos.

When running the 5X9 coil I had the RD at 40 or 45. With the stock I had it ranging from 50 to 90. Again, it always picked up the targets the same, the only difference was the length of the hit. I was almost always running one of the 5 filters but played with the others, 5 was best.

I love the V3i, it was really really fun to use and learn and play with. But, I am really loving the simplicity of the E-Trac and feel like by playing with it less I am more in touch with what is in the ground. I can focus on less in a way and thereby be better. I can go to a new site and not worry about testing settings so much. Understand, I used the E-Trac to find the deep coins to compare against with the V3i. I was very very comfy with the V3i and used it for around 6 months before getting the E-Trac. No, I didn't master it or come close, but I communicated my settings on forums, got suggestions from other testers and great detectorists and still couldn't get it to go deep on coins in my soil. Maybe I did miss something, but I really tried all the main setttings at every possible combination it seems. I know the V3i is a great machine, but my soil gave it fits, which is weird as I didn't think it was all that bad. But my T2 and Omega rarely found coins at 6", so...

Thanks again,
EMS

Quote
Dan
I haven't picked one up in about 2 years and I guarantee you could hand me one today out of the box and I have it up and tweaked, ground balanced and hunting deeper than an eTrac before you can do a noise cancel scan on the eTrac.

I haven't noise canceled my 8 year old Explorer in a year, and I'll gladly take this challenge. I'm two states north. If you're up that way or in the state between us, send me a PM and maybe we can get together. BUT only if you're willing (as I am) to compare signals and video tape the digs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2012 04:02PM by Shambler.

Shambler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I haven't picked one up in about 2 years and I
> guarantee you could hand me one today out of the
> box and I have it up and tweaked, ground balanced
> and hunting deeper than an eTrac before you can do
> a noise cancel scan on the eTrac.
>
> I haven't noise canceled my 8 year old Explorer in
> a year, and I'll gladly take this challenge. I'm
> two states north. If you're up that way or in the
> state between us, send me a PM and maybe we can
> get together. BUT only if you're willing (as I
> am) to compare signals and video tape the digs.

Ithink I will put my money on the E Trac...Might lose but I have lost before

Shambler -- You gonna provide the V3i? All I have is the eTrac. But I will tell ya what what I'll do. As far as depth goes I'm confident I can put you in some ground you'll want to wrap your explorer around a tree after hunting in. And I'm fairly confident you'll not get a diggable signal on a Civil War bullet over 10"...maybe not even 8" but I'm confident about 10"+. I've ran an Ex 2 here and now the eTrac...and Ive found their limitations. So I will give ya $100 bill for gas and provide the spots to dig if you want to come down and give it a crack. Video all ya want. I have folk come up all the time from the forums that just want to see if the dirt really is that bad. I've even had one tell me I didn't know what I was talking about regarding one particular unit not being able to handle the dirt.

He came up with a huge chip on his shoulder. I had just figured out the F75s motion all metal and we had been on site about 30-45 mins. He came over and asked if I had found anything yet. I knew I had a few bullets already and took them out of my pouch. They were still damp from the dirt and he tells me I hadn't dug them since we had been there that I had brought them with me. I just so happened to be getting ready to dig what I was confident was a bullet. I said "I got one right here if you want to listen". I tapped the spot with my coil and moved over. I turned my machine off and he ran his over it...back forth...back forth...he tells me I'm crazy. His machine said it was a HOT ROCK or iron. I turned mine on...unplug my head phones and let him listen. He still didn't believe it was gonna be a bullet. So I dug it right then and 8" or so out comes a bullet. He said he wanted to follow me around. I was in a little hot spot and a few yards away we repeated the same thing. He was trying different settings and doing what he could. The only way he got a signal was going to his machines prospecting mode and then everywhere he swung the coil it made a sound. I dig several more bullets with him following me and he finally got mad and said he was going back to GA...he had enough of this TN iron dirt lol

I just shot a clip this morning of the eTrac on some targets here...hopefully will give a taste of the dirt and how it altars everything you think you know about hunting in it.

My eTrac is for sale if you know of anybody looking for one. Going back to a Minelab GPX.

Quote

You don't HAVE to do all that setup to go out and hunt sites with the V3i. Just a few minor tweaks of the factory preset programs and you've got a VLF capable of depths exceeding any other VLF I've ever used. Just upping the gain and speeding the recovery rate up made it do that. I haven't picked one up in about 2 years and I guarantee you could hand me one today out of the box and I have it up and tweaked, ground balanced and hunting deeper than an eTrac before you can do a noise cancel scan on the eTrac.

Wait...what? In the post I quoted above, you were pretty general about whipping out a V3i and digging deeper targets before somone else can even noise cancel an Exporer/Etrac, but then in your last post, you're taking me to places you've already proven give the Explorer issues. Even though hot rocks and iron sound totally different especially in bad dirt (so I question his experience), I'll pass on those spots.....duh!

I didn't say what machine he had...it wasn't an Explorer or eTrac though. In his case it was an MXT (thus the prospecting mode) I was giving an example of a person who knew his machine for his area and was dogmatic about saying other people were wrong or ignorant if they said anything other than positive about his machine of choice. I invited him up when he blasted me on one of the forums and he was the one that came with a chip on his shoulder and got humbled.

Like I say...the V3 can be set to go deeper than the eTrac & Explorer here and I will stand by my saying that it don't take an engineering degree or much time to set it to do so. The eTrac does noise cancel faster than the Explorer that I had. I think it took 20-30 seconds on the Explorer. By the live menu on the V3, swapping it to all metal, upping the sensitivity of all metal (since by default it is turned down for pinpointing) and single freq...is a matter of seconds and a few button pushes. It's a totally different animal than what you had to do on the XLT or DFX (menu pages after pages). Everything is right there on the screen bottom...it's like upping or lowering sensitivity on the eTrac....no need in pushing the menu button each time, just use the hot key buttons...quick adjustments and you're done. And since it saves your last settings, there's no in doing it every time for every site you go to.

You still ought to come down and give hunting a go. Heck I'm offering to pay for at least 400 miles worth of gas for you and providing the sites with relics on them. If you went on any of the organized relic hunts offered, you'd have to pay $200-$250 entry fee, all of your gas, and be put on property in which you have no idea where to go. Down here you'll have no entry fees and have a guide too. Whether you find anything is totally dependent on how well you can adapt your machine to handle the red dirt. I'm working on getting a GPX because I know nothing can touch it in depth.

Daniel Tn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I didn't say what machine he had...it wasn't an
> Explorer or eTrac though. In his case it was an
> MXT (thus the prospecting mode) I was giving an
> example of a person who knew his machine for his
> area and was dogmatic about saying other people
> were wrong or ignorant if they said anything other
> than positive about his machine of choice. I
> invited him up when he blasted me on one of the
> forums and he was the one that came with a chip on
> his shoulder and got humbled.
>
> Like I say...the V3 can be set to go deeper than
> the eTrac & Explorer here and I will stand by my
> saying that it don't take an engineering degree or
> much time to set it to do so. The eTrac does noise
> cancel faster than the Explorer that I had. I
> think it took 20-30 seconds on the Explorer. By
> the live menu on the V3, swapping it to all metal,
> upping the sensitivity of all metal (since by
> default it is turned down for pinpointing) and
> single freq...is a matter of seconds and a few
> button pushes. It's a totally different animal
> than what you had to do on the XLT or DFX (menu
> pages after pages). Everything is right there on
> the screen bottom...it's like upping or lowering
> sensitivity on the eTrac....no need in pushing the
> menu button each time, just use the hot key
> buttons...quick adjustments and you're done. And
> since it saves your last settings, there's no in
> doing it every time for every site you go to.
>
> You still ought to come down and give hunting a
> go. Heck I'm offering to pay for at least 400
> miles worth of gas for you and providing the sites
> with relics on them. If you went on any of the
> organized relic hunts offered, you'd have to pay
> $200-$250 entry fee, all of your gas, and be put
> on property in which you have no idea where to go.
> Down here you'll have no entry fees and have a
> guide too. Whether you find anything is totally
> dependent on how well you can adapt your machine
> to handle the red dirt. I'm working on getting a
> GPX because I know nothing can touch it in depth.


Daniel, thank for the info regarding the V3i and depth, but I think the problem is many of us don't want to hunt in all metal mode, especially when the ground contains a fair amount of iron - it's just not fun. I didn't spend as much as I did for my V3i with all it's features to run it in all metal mode to get the depth that I get on my E-Trac in discriminate mode.

Why did you decide to go with the E-Trac over the V3i? Is it also do to your soil or ?

Thanks,
Albert

I kept seeing on the forums how in mineralized ground the eTrac was supposed to be better than all the other VLFs. I had to see for myself. It's a good machine, don't get me wrong. But for relic hunting I opt for all metal mode and when compared to an F75 or V3i in all metal, the eTrac can't keep up.

IF...and here is the big IF. IF I hunted with discrimination, it would be worth taking a depth loss and going with the eTrac...it does work better in disc mode than the other two as far as correctly IDing things. The other two can actually detect deeper BUT because the IDs are often off or jumpy at mid-deeper depths, you would be in a position to dig everything in order to capitalize on the depth. Whereas the eTrac can ID more consistently past depths where the other two start to lie...you can cherry pick deeper and not dig everything. Does that make sense?

I've found for my style hunting and soil type, there are better machines for the job. But I had to see for myself due to the forum talk. No biggie...have it for sale and should move it fast and then the decision is whether to just go for the cheaper VLFs or spring for the GPX again.

Thanks Daniel. Yeah, I understand and that makes total sense. And after using the V3i I would choose it hands down over the E-Trac on both gold (or small items) and relics as well. I guess I'm just looking for deep coins in my iron mineralized ground so it suites me well... until...?

Daniel and Albert --

The last two posts from you, Albert, and the last post from you, Daniel, really summed it up, in my mind. Great job, you two, in hashing all that out. Albert -- I am a coin hunter, looking for old (often deep) coins amongst trash, in irony soil, just like you. As I've said in other posts -- I had a Fisher F-70, and that thing was DEEEEP -- in all-metals mode, and even deep in disc. mode BUT -- in disc mode would lose ID capability in the 6-7" range, in my soil. The FBS units can do much better -- and thus, EFFECTIVELY, the FBS units are deeper (for a coin hunter who wants to hunt in disc mode and have the best ID with depth possible). But, I'll tell you this -- I would NOT have put my FBS Minelab head-to-head in an "absolute depth" war -- the Minelab would have LOST, hands down, to that F-70. I felt that if I were a RELIC hunter, or maybe even a coin hunter in mild soil, that F-70 would have been an outstanding machine, especially for the price. BUT -- it does not hold a candle to my Explorer for the type of hunting I do, at the sites I do, in the soil I do. I, like you, did NOT want to hunt that F-70 in "all-metals mode" as a coin hunter, but WOULD have had that option, as a relic hunter. Daniel -- makes sense why you'd like the V3i (or a PI unit) to hunt your soil, as a relic guy, and Albert, makes sense why you chose FBS. Perfect arguments presented by the two of you, IMO, as to why different units are better at different tasks, and no one unit really "does it all." Different tools in the tool box, for different jobs.

Thanks for the entertaining back-and-forth discussion, guys. Very informative

Steve

EMS -- Did you get around to testing the Detech Ultimate 13" coil? I would love to see results on it before I up and rid myself of the eTrac. I would love to have a GPX right now but our relic season is half over (turkey season opens in April and its too dangerous in the woods). So even if I got one it would sit in the house til the fall or so. The eTrac may be enough to get me through April anyway. There's a magic depth number I'm looking for out of it and a different coil may make it obtainable.

.

SteveG - You bring up a good point in your analysis our of discussion - For years I really wanted one machine that was "The Best" but the thing was, I wasn't considering that I just wanted coins, especially deeper ones. It was a painful lesson to start with a Nautilus IIB and be using it for coins. I was quite successful, but I should have went with the Fisher ID Excel and just had lots of fun and less of a learning curve. But I had to go for the biggest challenge. Then I got a T2, again not the best choice for coins and at that time I didn't really understand the nuances of coin hunting, ground, etc. I should have gotten an FBS then and almost did but did want to go with the crowd. Then I moved to an Omega and that was the best decision I had made to that point. Now, seeing success, I decided to go deeper and stick with something that was good on coins, enter the V3i. It sure did the job with the 3 frequency pinpoint to aid in coin hunting, but the depth was being affected by my soil. The only thing was, I didn't know it until I got an E-Trac. That was another painful lesson to learn but only because I thought my soil was mild this whole time and suddenly I realized the iron mineralization had been killing me. I really wish there was a cheap machine available to analyze soil so we could compare results and know what is best for our ground and I'm not talking about geological maps. Just a little metal detecting device, similar to what the V3i does in Ground Probe. Boy would that have saved me a headache.

So, now I know there is no best machine, at least in my ground. Minus the mineralization the V3i would have been tops, for sure. Outside of performance the weight is another factor. The balance and .8 lb lighter weight of the E-Trac make a huge difference to my back - very noticeable. I do look forward to what White's can do with the weight and and VDI stability in iron mineralized soil. Also, I am really really looking forward to that new CZ from Fisher. But I love the E-Trac's 2D screen and wonder how the CZ will do at depth without it...

Daniel - Things are warming up again and the snow is melting. So, hopefully I can get out in the next few weeks. Don't worry, I'll make a video of it and post it here. Hopefully I can find some coins in iron and at depth and then compare it to the stock coil, NEL 12X13 and 6X8SEF.

EMS

earthmansurfer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------


> an FBS then and almost did but did want to go with
> the crowd. Then I moved to an Omega and that was
> the best decision I had made to that point.

you're right on the coin omega is the best. I was at a rally in the Czech Republic every other user has the omega

What a great thread!!!

Daniel Tn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I kept seeing on the forums how in mineralized
> ground the eTrac was supposed to be better than
> all the other VLFs. I had to see for myself. It's
> a good machine, don't get me wrong. But for relic
> hunting I opt for all metal mode and when compared
> to an F75 or V3i in all metal, the eTrac can't
> keep up.
>
> IF...and here is the big IF. IF I hunted with
> discrimination, it would be worth taking a depth
> loss and going with the eTrac...it does work
> better in disc mode than the other two as far as
> correctly IDing things. The other two can actually
> detect deeper BUT because the IDs are often off or
> jumpy at mid-deeper depths, you would be in a
> position to dig everything in order to capitalize
> on the depth. Whereas the eTrac can ID more
> consistently past depths where the other two start
> to lie...you can cherry pick deeper and not dig
> everything. Does that make sense?
>
> I've found for my style hunting and soil type,
> there are better machines for the job. But I had
> to see for myself due to the forum talk. No
> biggie...have it for sale and should move it fast
> and then the decision is whether to just go for
> the cheaper VLFs or spring for the GPX again.


I agree, when using a true all metal mode in these areas the performance is fantastic. I wish the Etrac had a true all metal mode. In these places I sure miss my LTD.