whats your e-trac use "thought process", any advice for a noob?

[moonshine]

whats your e-trac use "thought process", any advice for a noob?

put in my first 6 hardcore hours with the e-trac yesterday. made me feel like a rookie again, although im looking forward to keep using it....its definitely an interesting machine. first half hour or so i was just looking and listening. it is VERY different than what im used to. pinpointing is a snap (im very impressed by the pinpoint) but my depth perception is back to "noob". also i cant tell how big detected items are, thats back to "noob" too. also using different muscles, lol i was using two hands occasionally like a little kid. and my right arm was killing me last night. oh yeah and digging up a LOT of junk because I dont know what specific numbers besides the 12-40's to dig. I dug many things to get a feel for what the detector is trying to tell me. like learning a new language.

its funny how you get used to a detector. i am used to hearing a tone and looking at my display (and it telling me dime, quarter, etc.....there is no lag time), but with the etrac sometimes, why is it that sometimes "numbers" seem to lag by about 3 seconds and sometimes they display right away? is that normal? seems like sometimes it does that and sometimes it doesnt. ill get a signal, look down, and have to wait a few seconds for any numbers to display.

another different thing was on a shallow quarter signal, it was a quarter, maybe 1" deep, but with the DD coil at first i thought there were three targets. (left, middle, right parts of the coil all rang out to me)

also, i know that you dont have to sweep the coil fast but does a faster sweep speed increase depth?

i think i got a real good feel for it yesterday....i learned a lot already. there are some things that stay the same....i did play around with the settings a bit, seemed fine, i didnt have any trouble or confusion with anything. I did find a wheat penny

I have no complaints, and I cant wait to get back out with it.

Any advice or comments are appreciated! Any reading material or links or anything, i would like to read.

Thank you.

 

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[RHoward]

Re: whats your e-trac use "thought process", any advice for a noob?

I am new to the E-Trac also. I have been at this game for 49 years and after a few trips with the E-Trac I have realized it is pretty much like any other machine with the same quirks just more bells and whistles, just don't let it intimidate you. The one thing I have done that has helped the most is to take a note pad with me on a hunt and record every signal I dug, Fe and CO number depth and what I found. When you decide to dig pass the coil over the hit and listen to the sound, after awhile it starts coming together. I dug a 12-04 signal yesterday that was a 10K gold ladies ring. Have fun.

 

[moonshine]

Re: whats your e-trac use "thought process", any advice for a noob?

thanks buddy, good luck to you as well. i guess its because i have used ONE detector for the last 27 years....its hard to change but im willing to do so. im noticing things that i like a lot better about the etrac, 1. it gives you a lot more information, 2. i really like the DD coil compared to the concentric coil on the 6000, seems like it covers a lot more ground. today i tried to understand more of what my R2-D2 was trying to tell me...dug A LOT again....mostly junk but had some good luck too! the e-trac is a very interesting and informative machine. i havent dug anything good real deep but i am pretty impressed so far.

second trip with the e-trac goodies:

 

[moonshine]

Re: whats your e-trac use "thought process", any advice for a noob?

i have seen a couple videos where the e-trac user found old wheaties and indians that read in the area that the stock coin program disciminates against. can someone please suggest an area that i can "open up" within the stock coin program to let the e-trac "hit" on these items? I dont mind digging junk if it might give me a chance to find these. secondly, how about older nickels as well. from the videos ive seen it seems like the older coins might read with a higher ferrous content than the stock coin program will "allow"

thanks very much for any help, i really appreciate it!

 

[RHoward]

Re: whats your e-trac use "thought process", any advice for a noob?

Might try this program a lot of people do.

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?63,894336,894336#msg-894336

 

[cntrydncr1]

Re: whats your e-trac use "thought process", any advice for a noob?

I have been using mine for over a year now and still learn new stuff all the time. I have learned to move very slowly with it and most of the time I use the stock settings. It is a silver magnet!!

 

[moonshine]

Re: whats your e-trac use "thought process", any advice for a noob?

thanks both of you for the information! so far it has been like learning a new language but sort of like...a language i already understand in some ways. i love the e-trac.

 

[DeArmitt Pa]

Re: whats your e-trac use "thought process", any advice for a noob?

I exclusivly use the E-Trac. I can give everybody a few quick tips, but if you want more in depth information you can call me or my father-in-law, were Minelab dealers. I am home during the day he is home during the night. You can find our numbers on our website. www.fortbedfordmetaldetectors.com

First, SOUND IS MOST IMPORTANT! Ground conditions can change the numbers, on any machine. Good sound dig the target, iffy sound, then go by the numbers as a confirmation. Iron also effects the numbers depending on how close it is to the good target. I have dug large cents that read 25-46 because it was close to a piece of iron, but it had good tone.

Second, To learn any machine to its full extent takes about 100 hours of use.

Third, DO NOT USE THE STANDARD SEARCH MODE! I exclusisvly use the QUICK MASK MODE. This makes the screen wide open. Then you can adjust how much iron you want to block out. That can be adjusted anywhere between 35 (no blocking of iron) to 1, blocking everything. I am so use to this machine that I run it at about 32-28. I hunt colonial sites so I want to accept more targets.

 

[DeArmitt Pa]

Re: whats your e-trac use "thought process", any advice for a noob?

Forth, Pinpointing is dead center of the coil. Now, with very shallow targets, because it goes so deep, pin-pointing can be tricky. Back off the target and "sneak" up on it with the very tip of the coil, this will give you a better pin-point on shallow targets.

Fifth, if you use the automatic sensitivity, DO NOT HAVE IT AT +3. This is actually worse for the machine then better. You will not get as deep as a lower + setting. When you max it to +3, When you have very deep signals, +8", you will actually miss more targets because you are pounding that signal into the ground which over-powers the response from the target in the ground.

Need, more information. Call or email.

John, FBMD, Relic Hunters

 

[moonshine]

Re: whats your e-trac use "thought process", any advice for a noob?

thanks a lot for the info and offer, good stuff. i have noticed that the pinpoint on shallow items is center/"south" rather than dead center. im still getting the hang of pinpointing and estimating size and depth but i am starting to get a feel for it. starting to understand what the sounds are telling me. it compells you to keep swinging and learning.

 

[DeArmitt Pa]

Re: whats your e-trac use "thought process", any advice for a noob?

One more thing, if you have a good target and you go to pinpoint and it pinpoints away from the target, you can have a big chunk of iron pulling that pinpoint away from a good target. Go back to the good target and just get a good sense of where it is at without pinpoiting, 75% of the time it is a good target. This is more in very old areas where most of the trash in the ground is iron.

John, FBMD, Relic Hunters