Newbie question : E-Trac or Explorer SE Pro ??

I've been using an MXT for the past 9-10 years or so and have decided to add one of the two aforementioned in the title to my clutch before I pull the plug on this working for a living stuff in a year or two from now. I hunt early sites ... farm fields only. I enjoy finding relics as much as I do any early coins. My good buddy, an excellent hunter and fairly well known on a few of the webs popular forums recommended that I purchase an Explorer SE Pro, his personal favourite. I'm leaning strongly in this direction but wanted to pose my question to any here who have sampled both because I have the opportunity to purchase either machine, the E-Trac or the SE Pro for virtually the same money. Both under a year old and both in excellent condition. My buddy's belief is that the E-Trac, in it's quest to be a tad more "user friendly" out of the box trails slightly the full potential available of the SE Pro in the hands of an experienced user. A penny for your thoughts ... and thanks

Rob

In my opinion the E-Trac is not quite as deep as the Explorer.....

But I find the XS Explorer with white coil to be the deepest of the explorer series also...

This is all from depth perspective though...

Keith

"In my opinion the E-Trac is not quite as deep as the Explorer..... "

Thank you for replying. These are the type of unbiased responses I was hoping to see. My buddy is of the same opinion as you.

Welcome to the forum uncle fester.

I think the e-trac is easier to learn vs the se because of the 12 line, but not necessarily a better unit. The e has a few more features. Some se users were disappointed in Minelab when the e came out, because of the coordinate changes and the 12 line.
As far as I can see, depth is about equal.
I think I'd lean towards the e-trac. You can't go wrong with either unit though...Good luck!

I also had better results with the Explorer SE Pro than I did with the Etrac....

Tom in SC

Thanks for the input gents. Just want to give proper and due consideration with as much input from experienced Minelab users as possible. Much appreciated

Not your question, but it may factor at some point... The E-trac has a better balance and FEELS lighter with less fatigue and a longer hunting potential. It took me a while to get where I could go 4 or 5 hours with my SE Pro.
Unsolicited free advice, how lucky can you get?
Tom

Past(or)Tom
Using a Legend, a Deus 2, an Equinox 800, a Tarsacci MDT 8000, & a few others...
with my beloved, fading Corgi, Sadie

If you can get an Etrac for the price of an se pro - it's a no brainer...

I love my Etrac :-)

MichiganRelicHunter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you can get an Etrac for the price of an se pro
> - it's a no brainer...
>
> I love my Etrac :-)


The price would be within $50 of each other ... so at this point, I consider it essentially the same bucks. If I may ask, without trying to interject any pretence that I have knowledge or experience with either of these two machines because I don't, ... were you an Explorer user prior to the E-Trac ? My thinking is that it would difficult to make a "mistake" going with either unit. And a machines balance and comfort level definitely do weigh into the equation. I've been around the hobby just long enough to know that a die-hard's advice .... particularly with an upper end machine is extremely valuable. I currently use the MXT and have been using it for the past 10 years or so. Have two of them and have done well with them. It's just maybe getting that lil' bit extra depth here and there. Early sites in farm fields only is all I ever detect.

Pasttom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Unsolicited free advice, how lucky can you get?
> Tom

I'm here for all I can get .... free of charge, of course ... lol

HELLO
I own the se pro and so far I am very happy with it. My buddy mark has the etrac so I had plenty of time to try a minelab before I decided to switch from whites. I went with the se pro because at the time it was a $400 dollar difference and I wanted the lithium battery and the 6" coil and rod. If it's only a $50 difference I would get the etrac. From what I have found the depth is very similar. The learning curve was about the same between the two for me because I was transitioning from a different company so everything was different anyway. What I have noticed is the response is a bit faster on the etrac but not for $400 bucks and there are a couple nice features on the etrac that the explorer doesn't have but I would never have noticed if I didn't try an etrac. I almost turned away from the se pro because of all the talk about the weight and balance difference but I was very pleased when I got it. IN MY OPINION it feels more natural than most of the detectors iv owned and very similar to the etrac. I was very surprised when I first tried the etrac because I expected a tank. Yea compared to tesoro its heavy but overall feels similar to most BUT it looks a hell of a lot better. I think you cant go wrong either way.

Just my 2 cents hope it helps.

Justin

NO way is the Explorer..Deeper than the E-trac......They both go plenty deep once you learn them....Numbers don't mean crap....you have to learn the sound and run the gain around half way....so you can tell, the deep ones. It is easier to tell a Dime and a Penny on the Explorer....But I think the E-trac...runs a lot more Stable(and I run mine on manual 25 all the time)..unless smaller coil!...................If I was new I would go with the E-trac....I used the Se for three years...than the E-trac came out and set in my trunk for three months..Didn't want to change ...but glad I did....I have a 3030 to......but I like the E-trac better.......May just be me...................You can't lose with any of the Explorer's !!!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/2013 06:06AM by mascard1.

No sir - I was not an explorer user before the Etrac

I did own/use an Ex-cal 1000 for a while in the past so I'm fairly familiar with ML equipment

my statement above in my 1st post is based more on the way I view technology as a whole from a resale standpoint

meaning --- the explorer is an older machine losing value far faster than the Etrac and therefore in the future when one wants to trade/sell the machine - it would be at an advantage to own the Etrac as it will hold more resale value for a longer period of time.

Also - with the wide range of coils available to the Etrac - you'll never have to worry about "depth" or separation

Currently I use the 13" ultimate on mine when I want depth and the 4.5x7" DD excelerator when I want target separation in iron/trash --- the standard 11" pro ML coil sits in the closet
(in fact - I'm trying to sell/trade it for the 5x10 coiltek joey coil) and am looking to add the 15" WOT or 15x18 SEF also

Out of the 35/40 machines I've had over the yrs (a good 10 or 12 top of the line) - the Etrac is the deepest machine I've ever used/owned outside of a couple of PI machines I had in the past and including many CZ's over the yrs too.

Currently I run a Deus and an Etrac and it's a deadly combo leaving very little for others to find after I'm done with a patch of ground!

Good luck no matter what direction you take :-)

On a side note just to clarify. Every odd,solid or weak signal my buddy has found with his etrac was also found with my se pro. Most good detectors would find them also. Just got to learn the machine and get your coil over ground at good sites.

compared to the multi-tones on the Explorer even with ferrous sounds...you can run the manual sensitivity as high as you can on the E-Trac and get some serious depth, especially with a NEL Tornado coil. I love the Explorer for relatively iron free sites with deeper coins...good luck with your choice. On Findmall, a member, Goes4ever, uses an E-Trac mainly at old farms and farm fields with the E-Trac and does super...all the best to you with your choice...I have had many of both, the E-Trac is just easier and less tedious for me in old sites with lots of iron

I don't think you could go wrong with either unit, but there is an ace in the hole sorta speak....if your good friend has an SE Pro, does well with it, and it's his favorite, then you have a wealth of knowledge to lean on if you get an SE Pro.

Newer is not always better...what really counts is your ability to get the most out of the unit in hand and can't go wrong with either.
Have to agree with Keith and feel the original XS of the Explorer series was as deep or deeper than the Explorer series units that followed.
Many of these are still being used with super efficiency as the fellows have learned their units well. Good luck in your choice....

Just one more thing to consider is, I think they are going to stop making the Explorer's. So how long can they can service them ?
I have an Etrac but never owned an Explorer so can't help ya there as far as comparing the two.
GL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/2013 03:52PM by docbars.

The Explorer Models might be a hair deeper,But the E-trac response time is way faster so it is better in trash. And with the sunray 8'' coil it is deadly picking silver coins out of trash be it iron or anything else!

The etrac has a problem with trying to null ground mineral instead of reporting it and that is where the depth is different form the explorer...the explorer rings on mineral's the etrac nulls on mineral's when both are ran wide open screen's...

I know theres alot of users on here of both but if you have bad ground you will notice the explorer will be deeper...Not that the etrac is not deep but its like anything else when you get down to the really really finite hunting at depth you will see a differennce then its not alot and you probably will never know it...But I have ran both in hard hunted area's and theres no way to tell on some of the deepies since it nulls...

that was the main problem with the explorer.. it would RING on bad ground when high gains were used...but that's the only way to get the depth in certain dirts is to run it wide open sens wide open screen...well they addressed the issue with the Etrac so that it nulled the ground noise ringing considerably even with wide open screen and wide open sens...but the problem with that is the deep targets in bad dirt like other machiens ring up as hot rock's so they get nulled.

but to the trained ear on the explorer the legitimate hot rock ring and legitimate good target coming in as a hot rock will have slight variance in the audio.. one rings one is flat but both are high silver tone....

the etrac takes that area and nulls the good and that bad for the most part...

So you dicide how hard you want to hunt and how bad your dirt is...


if you are gong to run alot of patterns and stay in trash get the etrac if you are after real deep non ferrous in open areas you will see a difference with the Explorer over time.. but it might takes many many many hours to notice the extra gain.. then you will have to learn to interpret the false hit form the real hit's... but when you do objects past 15 inches will show up...
nothing wrong with the etrac...

The 30/30 can be set up like an etrac and null hot rocks or you can let it report them...when the 30/30 report's them its as deep as the Explorer and deeper than the etrac,,...

Keith






Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/21/2013 02:00AM by Keith Southern.

Great info. Keith,

I had the SE for just a short while and honestly didn't give it enough time to sink in before I returned to the Whites Spectra series. Although the flutey tones drove me nuts, I was very impressed with its depth/id capabilities. I will say that I have never used an Etrac, so kind of one sided there. But SE's are selling cheap on the sites now, I bet if you pm some of the dealers you can pick up a new one for a song. ML should have parts available for a while on that model, I wouldn't let that sway ya.. Either way, I don't think you could go wrong.

since it has a tendency to high tone false more than the Explorer II, whereas in two tone ferrous with the E-Trac, there is much less falsing and an ability to hear something non-ferrous amongst the iron with some decent level of ID...I have proven that to myself many a time by going over areas with the E-Trac after the Explorer...some out there are super proficient with their Explorers and move like a snail to do it...I just have never been able to enjoy tedious hunting like that...to each his own for sure...it just depends a lot on the type of hunter you are and the types of areas you hunt

I just have to say it because some talk here sounded confusing, Explorer and E-Trac use the SAME coils so there is not a difference here.

Past(or)Tom
Using a Legend, a Deus 2, an Equinox 800, a Tarsacci MDT 8000, & a few others...
with my beloved, fading Corgi, Sadie

Get a Se or E-trac and USE it...and get used to it....and you will have no problem......once it clicks in ...you are SET!!!!!!!!!!!!

One mroe thing Fester...

I Know you did not ask and its just free info anyway...

But if you can swing it Get the 30/30....

It's that good.!!!!

When set up properly its the best all around detector on the market in my honest opinion...

the moveable tone bins is spectacular....Combined mode is on another level!

I like to look at the 30/30 as what they wanted to do 13 years ago but they were limited so we got the explorer as we know it and the way the exploer runs and what we got used to was a quirky detector not realized like the engineers envisioned...The 30/30 now can run more like a regular detector with response and separation and such but utilize FBS...it's not quirky no more!

People like the 2 tone ferrous on the Etrac....its way to masking in iron ...you can set the 30/30 up in two tone and you decide the tone break not the factory...

Its the first FBS machine made that can really start to challenge other good unmaskers in iron....

Anyway I thought I would lay it out there for you...

I am real close to obtaining another one ...I am thinking a couple of strictly iron hunter's and then 30/30 and my arsenal is complete...I am just waiting to see what FT does first...if it does not blow my hair back then 30/30 must be back in the arsenal...and the small coil MUST be bought!!


Just putting it out there for you if it's feasible for you...Its pricey but its worht it if its your go to machine...



Keith

Busy day yesterday and was able to read the subsequent posts just now. Wow ... thanks to all for contributing your thoughts and expertise. I've enjoyed perusing some of the threads on this forum for a while now prior to registering. I suspected that any question asked would be duly addressed with thorough answers ... and I haven't been disappointed in the least. Again ... thank you all kindly. As stated earlier, I've pretty much made up my mind to acquire a Minelab machine. All that remains to be decided now is which one. I'm not feeling "rushed". If one of the machines that I'm considering happens to be moved, I'm thinking that I have some rather attractive alternatives.

I opted to buy a new Explorer SE Pro. Received it yesterday. One thing that I am kinda surprised with is how comfortable and balanced it feels to swing. Then again, I do use a 12X15 SEF butterfly on my MXT at least half of the time ... so it is a significant reduction in weight at the toe for starters. Gonna play with it this weekend and bring it along to a new spot that my buddy and I have been waiting to hit. I'm thinkin' I'm looking at a bit of a learning curve in becoming familiar with what it's telling me but I welcome it. Always been a believer that swinging slow n' easy wins the race anyways. Good experiences ahead I hope ... and expect. Thanks again to all for your input

Unclefester, good unit, and yes, there is a learning curve with the SE, especially if you're use to a simpler machine. If you learn it and it becomes second nature to you, look out coins and relics.....good luck and bring your bag of patience to the field.