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Opinions on buying a Minelab E-Trac

Bayard1908Bayard1908 Posts: 3,987 ✭✭✭✭
in Metal Detecting
I've pretty much outgrown my Ace 250 and am seriously thinking about purchasing a Minelab E-Trac. Many youtube videos show great success with this machine.

Any pitfalls with buying a used E-Trac? Any machine with comparable performance without the high price? Thank you in advance.

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    HiBuckyHiBucky Posts: 582 ✭✭✭
    E-Trac what can I say .. Super machine, very deep, but for a rookie a very long learning curve. High end machine different tones many options for operator. Keep it simple forget downloading programs. GO with someone who has a machines it cuts down on your learning curve. IF you like finding militsry buttons this is the machine for you. I have paid for mine many times with my finds. I see many used ones so if I would buy another it would be used. Find you best deal and go for it...... Some of my finds include, George Washington Button, I found the first gold coin a 1873 $5.00 gold ( First Gold Coin Found With the E-Trac) Check Minelabs web site. 1560 Hammered Silver Penny Found in NY State, Spanish Cob 1655 and many bust, Large Cents, Gold Rings and alot of silver.. I love it and once you get past the learning curve Get ready for the finds of a life time.. Jim
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    pcgs69pcgs69 Posts: 4,266 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>E-Trac what can I say .. Super machine, very deep, but for a rookie a very long learning curve. High end machine different tones many options for operator. Keep it simple forget downloading programs. GO with someone who has a machines it cuts down on your learning curve. IF you like finding militsry buttons this is the machine for you. I have paid for mine many times with my finds. I see many used ones so if I would buy another it would be used. Find you best deal and go for it...... Some of my finds include, George Washington Button, I found the first gold coin a 1873 $5.00 gold ( First Gold Coin Found With the E-Trac) Check Minelabs web site. 1560 Hammered Silver Penny Found in NY State, Spanish Cob 1655 and many bust, Large Cents, Gold Rings and alot of silver.. I love it and once you get past the learning curve Get ready for the finds of a life time.. Jim >>



    I've been using an E-trac since 2009 and absolutely love it. As HiBucky said it takes a while to learn all of the tones, but I just use the "quickmask" function and block out Ferrous 25 and above. If I recall correctly, the Sabisch book states deep coins can actually have a ferrous of 27, but I find that the detector signals more iron as "good" if I go that high. I don't play around with all of the discrimination modes where you can block out this or that, but I've seen people have everything blocked out except for silver signals. You never really know what's down there, so pretty much just dig everything. There will be some good surprises with the unsuspecting signals.

    There are some options such as "two tone ferrous" where it gives two tones - one for iron, and one for everything else. I believe this helps if there are targets near iron, but I tried it once and it drove me crazy. With the e-trac you have to take slow sweeps and let it "think".

    In terms of other machines, I've heard good things about the V3i and the T2, but I'm not familiar with them. I've seen videos of the CTX 3030, and honestly, I don't see what makes it worth that much more than the e-trac. Of course the 3030 goes in water, which could come in handy.

    For e-trac, the Andy Sabisch book is a must.
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