Etrac with 6x8 SEF or Goldmaxx Power on iron sites

Hi all,

I was wondering which you guys would choose if you were to go on an iron infested and mineralized site and how would you set each?
This is going to be interesting.

HH
Goldmanjace

Iron infested area w the Etrac?
Forget it, that GMP will smoke that Etrac even w a x-5 coil!

Hmmmmmm, then why have I done so good in iron with my Etrac and 5" coil?

I keep hearing this statement but I keep producing stuff in heavy trash with the right setup. I'd love to try a GMP but they aren't the easiest things to find here and the Deus is mighty pricey.

I've found a lot of silver in iron areas, but not in iron infested. Fort Meade comes to mind w Tom last spring, the Etrac w x-5 was rendered useless.

If you haven't used a GMP/DEUS in heavy iron you don't know what your missing.

Want to loan me one? ;-)

I've pulled stuff out of nail beds when there was literally ten plus iron hits in each swing. That's about as bad as it gets where I hunt! TTF with a Bill_S TTF trashy park setup. Maybe one day I'll hit the lottery and get a Deus.

That's TTF wide open screen? Im pretty sure I had used those settings at Ft Meade.
I'm going to a old homesite this weekend, I'll bring the Etrac and the Deus
Thanks

I knew this was going to be interesting. I am particularly wondering about sites that have been settled sind the roman eara in Europe. Will the MXT Pro be of any use in this enviroment or perhaps even the xterra 705 gold edition?

No, not quite. Bill_S over on Findmall found that using his trashy park program but with the bottom iron area opened up for some reason yielded imroved performance in heavy iron trash. It was almost like letting the iron sound but filtering out everything but silver and nickels gave better audio on good targets in between the iron. Still in TTF and working slow with my Sunray X-5 but indeed it did seem to help. I can't give a technical explanation as to why it's better other then anecdotal evidence. The high tones were fewer in number but if you heard one you'd better dig it. Sometimes just a small but repeatable squeek an the edge of a low tone.

He discusses it here:
[www.findmall.com]

I figure since I can't afford a Deus or GMP right now I make the most of what I've got!

I cannot comment on the MXT or 705 as I've never used one.

I'm pretty sure I've got Bills trash park program loaded in the Etrac even though I hardly use disc. I was experimenting w it and did find a war nickel in a real junky area.
I'll take a look at the link...

BTW....kudos to you for making the best w what you have

sailorman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No, not quite. Bill_S over on Findmall found that
> using his trashy park program but with the bottom
> iron area opened up for some reason yielded
> imroved performance in heavy iron trash. It was
> almost like letting the iron sound but filtering
> out everything but silver and nickels gave better
> audio on good targets in between the iron. Still
> in TTF and working slow with my Sunray X-5 but
> indeed it did seem to help. I can't give a
> technical explanation as to why it's better other
> then anecdotal evidence. The high tones were fewer
> in number but if you heard one you'd better dig
> it. Sometimes just a small but repeatable squeek
> an the edge of a low tone.
>
> He discusses it here:
> [www.findmall.com]
>
>
> I figure since I can't afford a Deus or GMP right
> now I make the most of what I've got!


very interesting vid. BUT I would never ever run that kind of discrimination on roman site. You will loose way to much good stuff.

The Xterra 705 will be deeper than the MXT coil size for coil size..

The prospecting mode on the 705 is in a world of it's own..

An etrac with a small coil is a very good Coin getter in iron...But once a XP detector is UNDERSTOOD and used as a tool for artifact retrieval you will have a huge eye-opening experience...

The etrac will I.d. better at depth ..But the Xp's will pull stuff out of iron that a Etrac will not CAN not see....

Actually a Tejon/F75/T2/GBPro/G2 to name a few will find stuff in iron an BBS/FBS will not...

This is all in iron...

If I was living in an area that held roman artifact's and plowed fields the XP would have to be #1 on the list of available machine's..

Look at it like this....use the right tool for the right job.....all detectors are good but in some certain instances one will out do the others in certain scenario's...artifact retrieval in iron is one instance....

If all I cared for was Roman artifact hunting I would want an XP....Maybe an Nautilus for the open area's..If your dirt is nice...


Dont place so much emphasis on not digging iron that it becomes detrimental to your sucess...

Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2012 12:42AM by Keith Southern.

Keith wrote: "Dont place so much empasis on not digging iron that it becomes detrimental to your sucess..."

Keith are you referring to digging large or nulling iron that may be co-located or masking?

Thanks

I have settled in with both the E Trac and Deus for hunting. I have hunted iron rich sites with the E Trac in TTF and a 5 x 9 NEL coil and 6 x 8 SEF coil. This combination of tones and coil size along with sweeping slow has produced good finds. Sometimes I am amazed at what this combination does to an area I have hunted in the past. Even applying the right amount of discrimination is important.

But the Deus in such an environment is at home. A stock program like Deus fast will find more keepers with ease. The first hunt with a Deus is an eye opening experience that will leave an impression on you. There can be all kinds of discussions about high mineral soil, wet salty sand and even depth. But when it comes to unmasking targets the Deus leaves the E trac at the starting gate and never looks back.

In my opinion the E Trac does some things better than the Deus. For one it is a quieter hunt to me. Some days the quietness of the E Trac allows me to have a more relaxing hunt. I like the target id on the E Trac better. Especially at depth. And I think the E Trac is deeper. Especially this time of year with leaves a few inches thick. I have never hunted with the Deus on a salt water beach, but I do know that FBS is very stable.

Your question was about iron sites. And in the Highlander movie quote I will tell you "there can be only one" and that is the Deus. The Deus in GMP mode I should say.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2012 11:51PM by goodmore.

GMP

In a way Yes Aaron...

But it so much more than that...

One really needs to get a good clear picture of a historic or otherwise type site then hunt accordingly...

Any iron larger than nails need's to be removed from a site....But read a site KNOW a site that warrants such measure's...Know the spots in the area that are the most productive then work on those area's...


Iron is a weird thing...Mention it and people get a frightend look on their face..
They get mad when their machine digs iron but says it's a coin.....

But I have my best luck without exploratory trenching by simply removing all the iron bigger than nails...thats kettle pieces,,,,spikes ,,,,hoe's,,,and any other imaginable implement....

But also one of the neat things about that in a Historic site is alot of that iron is going to be artifact's...


Look at people's collection's.....How much is iron artifact's....I bet not alot......I actually dig more iron artifact's in sites than I do non-ferrous ...But they are some valuable pieces to me and Historically speaking also a clear picture can be drawn of the site with stuff people hate to dig...


Keith

Keith, there is a lot of value/inspiration in what you said and VERY much appreciated, especially by those of us working and re-working old homesites, battlefields, camps and ect.

Thank you

Keith,
In what environment do you use the 705 in the prospecting mode?

Keith,

makes sense but time is a factor, at least where I am. The other thing, in Europe some of the Iron is going to be dagerous iron (munitions from WW2). You do not want to dig this. I have found tons of bomb shrapnel. I think my problem is that I am not really setting my GMP correctly or that I dont understand it. Would the 705 be a good choice with the 18.75 elliptical in AM on a site like this?

Open area's isolated DEEP target's...Thats my choice for prospecting mode Possum

theres a learning curve to running a 705 in prospecting mode...Set IM at 5..

When you get a whisper of a hit in the threshold and it's small or deep the thersh will not null even if it's iron...you have to dig till you get close enough for the Iron I.D. to work...it will null once it knows if it's iron ...

But the trick is hearing a legitimate good target to a smaller piece fo iron...small nails will null quiickly and warbly..but a good target at depth will warble slightly but not null...so Like anything else till you get a good psoitve I.D. visually or otherwise dig it....

The beauty of the 705 is just the ultra smooth running in even bad dirt....

Again a learned trait.. and a style of hunting thats for some and not other's..

If you have a 705 a couple hours spent exploring with it in open area's will be an eye opener...dont use auto tracking on deep hunting though the 705 is quick to track out good target's...the 705 is very aggresive at tracking out good target's for some odd reason....The MXT does not track out a target as easily as the 705...


I mentioned the 705 being deeper coil size for coil size earlier vs the mxt.I do not want to give the wrong impression about the MXT..It's a very very good machine that does other thing's better than a 705... for me anyway... but depth comparison in my dirt is alittle less...

Lots of good machine's once used properly for intended purpose...

Keith

I would not like to use the 705 in prospecting mode in an iron dense site....the null recovery is too slow for co-located work...IF that makes sense...

But all metal 2 tone is the only way to really unmask with a 705 and works really really well...

remember what the 705 calls all metal mode is really a disc mode.....just zero disc with 2 tone factory set tone break...

The prospecting mode is the true all metal threshold based mode with waiver when target's are detected...With added iron null to threshold...

I wish I really Knew what a roman site was like to Hunt Goldman,I can only speculate...I hope to one day know before I go to the big hunt in the sky what it's like to retrieve 2,000 year old artifact's...I believe if I lived in Europe i might not ever get any sleep...Medieval sites would really excite Me too...

But unless its a virgin site I would think all the large target's even iron have been dug...So you are after smaller non-ferrous target's in the shortest amount of time available...planting season on a tilled site...Pasture site low grass season....

A 705 does not like a very fast sweep..compared to an XP...If you have the GMP ..I think you are on top of the game....that's the machines Forte.Ancient habitat sites;;

I hate to hear you are not getting in tune with the GMP...its a straight forward approach really...good depth in disturbed ground also...I have severe Mineral and I never got to noon on the ground bal...I was always in the 10 oclock area...I am actually impressed with the mineral handling ability of the GMP...Italy must have some severe dirt..I hear they Do...It shows in the design...

Have you considered a G2 for your site work...Very simplistic and get's the job done on the smaller stuff at decent depth..I would think the 13" Ultimate on a G2 would/could be a real productive setup .The G2 does not like larger target's at depth like some other high freq machines I have noticed and this might help on not digging artillery ...Just a thought...

Still think the GMP is the way to go though if you have one...Very conveying,intuitive detector...



Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/2012 02:39AM by Keith Southern.