Etrac fisher question

I want your opinion ... I have an etrac and have 140 or so hours on it. 2 months ago i picked up a nice f70. I have the ultimate coil and a x8 coil for etrac and been using 11" f75 coil on my f70. I started finding quite a few good targets with f70 in yards ive went over hard with etrac. Good clear dig me signals. So i started testing side by side. No matter the settings or coil i have been able to find every target with f70 that etrac has found.some were very deep... But the etrac will not find every target the f70 finds... Is this normal? Last one was yesterday at my brothers house. F70 found a nice 76-82 target with a hint of iron grunt at about 7" deep. The etrac only showed iron and no matter the tone options had iron tone. I tried several settings and both coils. So i said it has to be iron and the f70 is showing false reading. Dug target and did find a square chunk of iron 1.5x1.5" Next to it was a wheat penny and it was 8" deep. I would have for sure missed this target with etrac. I usually run TTF and goesforever settings are close to same. I have found 4 silver dimes with f70 that etrac nulled over with iron reading. I have found coins with the etrac next to iron but this is happening too much to dismiss it. What are your thoughts guys?? Ive been detecting since 1978 so im not new.

Well the Etrac has a lot of programing and the F70 is almost a turn on and go. It seems like you have a real nice tuned F70 because that machine never preformed like my F75LTD. Some hunters like the f70 but for relic hunting it would be the T2 the F75 LTD and I really like the At Gold. Everyones soil is different. Now I have the Deus and this is the machine of the future in our hands today.

LowBoy

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I have an f75, which is very close to the f70. A couple of years ago I was at an old park where two guys with e-tracs were also detecting. One was pulling silver dimes fairly easily, and after a while I scanned some of his "diggable" targets. Every one was a deep, scratchy signal on my f75, and the VDI was very bouncy. I would have dug those targets, but some people probably wouldn't. They were rock solid dime hits on the e-track. When it came to deep, gold targets, the e-track wouldn't respond well, while my f75 hits were very loud and clear. You are probably right, the e-trac will not see some targets the f70 can, and the f70 will see most of them, although some high tones may not be as clear.

I used the etrac and f75 for a few years.When iron is in the equation my F75 trumped my etrac.. My etrac never found anything that my f75 standard could not find.. I dug less thrash with the etrac but that is about it. loved using both. Both are great machines, and I think everyone should have a fbs unit and a F75 type of unit in their arsenal.

Now on the etrac, the first thing I would do is to stop using the ttf program, masking is a killer. Folks are to hung up on ttf, it has its place but you will have better luck staying in multtone condutive or go to 4ttf. You need to hear it to dig it.
HH
Corey



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2014 12:06AM by docbars.

When there is a presence of iron (in close prox to a coin)...... even if the iron item(s) are fairly small........ the Minelab has a stronger propensity to 'iron null'. The T2/F70/F75 will most likely only present a higher numerical ID 'bounce'.

If coins are TOO masked (which does not take much)........ no detector will acquire the coin.

I guess i should clarify something. I usually run ttf in an area full of iron. Otherwise its always multi tone.

Some units just work better in certain ground or area may be the answer...However E-trac is a multi facetted slow unit and many use settings and programs in conjunction with each other that do more harm than good while the f70 doesn't really have the learning period and is a fast unit thus less chance of the above which may be the answer...Guess that's why they make so many types and each of us have our favorites..
plus a couple more just in case....

Well ive used whites for so long and did ok in the nail infested yards and got the etrac and thought i was doing fine until the f70 came along. To be honest ive always found good targets in the nails but never this easy. Glad i took a chance with the f70.

docbars Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I used the etrac and f75 for a few years.When iron
> is in the equation my F75 trumped my etrac.. My
> etrac never found anything that my f75 standard
> could not find.. I dug less thrash with the etrac
> but that is about it. loved using both. Both are
> great machines, and I think everyone should have a
> fbs unit and a F75 type of unit in their arsenal.
>
> Now on the etrac, the first thing I would do is
> to stop using the ttf program, masking is a
> killer. Folks are to hung up on ttf, it has its
> place but you will have better luck staying in
> multtone condutive or go to 4ttf. You need to hear
> it to dig it.
> HH
> Corey

Only asking because I don't know.
Why would ttf mask more than 4tf?

Also wouldn't using multi conductive require some iron disk to keep nails and such from high toning. At the same time causing nulling which would mask the good target.

I run combined on my ctx which is basically ttf with four tones instead of one for everything above the Fe line. Only thing is really see different is that on the etrac the Fe line is set at 17 which my be to low number wise.

Just asking any info will be appreciated.

Thanks
Pac Man

basstrackerman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I want your opinion ... I have an etrac and have
> 140 or so hours on it. 2 months ago i picked up a
> nice f70. I have the ultimate coil and a x8 coil
> for etrac and been using 11" f75 coil on my f70. I
> started finding quite a few good targets with f70
> in yards ive went over hard with etrac. Good clear
> dig me signals. So i started testing side by
> side. No matter the settings or coil i have been
> able to find every target with f70 that etrac has
> found.some were very deep... But the etrac will
> not find every target the f70 finds... Is this
> normal? Last one was yesterday at my brothers
> house. F70 found a nice 76-82 target with a hint
> of iron grunt at about 7" deep. The etrac only
> showed iron and no matter the tone options had
> iron tone. I tried several settings and both
> coils. So i said it has to be iron and the f70 is
> showing false reading. Dug target and did find a
> square chunk of iron 1.5x1.5" Next to it was a
> wheat penny and it was 8" deep. I would have for
> sure missed this target with etrac. I usually run
> TTF and goesforever settings are close to same. I
> have found 4 silver dimes with f70 that etrac
> nulled over with iron reading. I have found coins
> with the etrac next to iron but this is happening
> too much to dismiss it. What are your thoughts
> guys?? Ive been detecting since 1978 so im not
> new.

I'm confused as to how you would get a iron tone using multi conductive. Unless iron is disc.out won't it give a high tone.
I can understand it by using ttf if the Fe number drops below the preset 17 Fe line. What kind of Fe numbers were you getting?


I am trying to learn here so please don't take my questions and comments the wrong way.

Thanks
Pac Man

Etrac open screen numbers on the target at my brothers was 35-47,35-48,35-49. I got no numbers at all above that. Etfac said 100% iron. Tone was not smooth and clear .. I would have passed on the target. F70 had a good signal 3 of the 4 times around it. Target was a square piece of rusty thick iron and almost touching it was a wheaty. I tried smaller coil on etrac and diff settings. The target was found with f70 and i checked it with etrac and got nothing good no matter what i did. I love my etrac but this concerns me is why i brought this up.

Pac Man
In TTF some nonferrous targets in heavy iron will fall below the 17fe line,this will give you the iron tone. You will more then likely skip those targets. I liked using TTF in thrashy parks or fairgrounds but in the ghost town sites I'Am looking for coins and relics. Small buttons with the iron backs and Evan small buckles will iron out on you. There are a few folks here who use the 4tf . 4tf with open screen does pretty good.
I think on your CTX you can adjust your tones or bins so this probably isn't a problem with the CTX?

TTF is not the best for heavy iron sites. Dont believe me? Try this..lay a penny and a rusty nail down beside each other and sweep over it using TTF...only sound you will hear is a low tone.
Once I discovered this I never used TTF again. I did try 4TF for quite a while and it was ok, but I still felt like I was missing stuff. So I hit all my sites I pounded in 4TF with Multi Tone Conductive and wa-la, found a few more goodies. The thing is, a detector "up averages" (for lack of a better term) the metal it sees in conductive mode versus simply trying to find the best target in ferrous mode.

I used to hunt with a very wide open screen till I realized that this may be counter productive with a machine like the E-trac. If youre in lots of iron, the machine will be seeing the iron but may not be able to react fast enough to let you know there is a coin or other goody nearby. Running more discrimination will allow the detector to actually focus on the good targets and let you know they are there. IMO this is why most people do so well with this machine in the stock coin mode (with big silver opened up).

This is just my 2 cents and what I have found after hunting in different modes for quite a while on the E-trac.

I have noticed that if i use an open screen good targets mixed with iron will read 34/35-47 down in that corner but use disc and target flutters in the good range. Or vice versa use disc and get an iffy signal that shows promise and use iron mask and suddenly the target jumps straight down to iron. Dig it and its a coin mixed with nails. Happens alot with me using etrac..not every target is good but alot are. Today i hunted with both etrac and f70 again found a good target with f70 numbers were jumpy but never going below 35. Tone was good and digable. Checked target with etrac and didnt get much anything that made me believe it was a good target. Numbers were all over and tone was breaking up with no tone most of time. This was using stock coil on both 11" dd's. Well dug target and was a buffalo nickel about 9 inches deep. But was a couple nails and a rusty can bottom in hole. Etrac did locate some 22 short shell casings mixed with nails on several occasions today. Very deep too so i know at times the etrac will do it. Must be luck of the draw and is why no place is hunted out lol

Believe it or not, I think nails actually help detectors find coins that are next to them. Think about it, a nails conductivity is very similar to a coin. How many times have you got an iffy signal and it turns out to be a nail? How many times does that iffy signal turn out to be a coin? How many times do you dig a nice signal and dig a coin with nails in the hole? I always thought it was funny when people would brag about how their $1500 detector found a coin in a hole with a nail or two...my Tesoro was doing the same thing. This theory only works in conductive mode.

Try a 4.5x7 or 6" Excelerator coil on the Etrac if you really want an eye opener.