E-Trac depth and calibration

[BigCladWolf]

What's the best way to check if an E-Trac is functioning properly? I'm speaking moreso in terms of depth as opposed to ID. Is the best way to bury a coin at x depth or is an air test sufficient? I'm asking because I just aquired an E-Trac and it air tests a quarter at 6" max. Dimes at 4" or 5". Thanks in advance!

 

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[Vino]

Minlabs do not air test well..
You need a coin in the ground for a long time...Just buried coins dont work either. ..

 

[Jackalope]

Air test with E-Trac and CTX (yielded identical depths) with 11" coil on clad dime. Use as a guide.

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Minlabs do not air test well..
You need a coin in the ground for a long time...Just buried coins dont work either. ..

Agreed! FBS machines need natural undisturbed ground to get proper feedback. At minimum one year under the ground.

 

[madforclad]

My Etrac will barely pick up a dime at 6" in an air test however outside in my test garden I have various coins at various depths and they have been there a while. The eTrac will bang on the dime at 11" no problem.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Drat, I must live in a bad part of the country, I have never found a coin floating in the air, heck I haven't even seen one when I wasn't hunting. I know my Excals, Sov GT and ETrac have no problem finding them buried deep in the ground and in the beach sand, but they must be broke because they are terrible on coins in air tests....[emoji6] [emoji12]

 

[BigCladWolf]

Thanks for the responses. I called Minelab and the tech told me 4" is about normal for an air test according to their specs, and for a test garden the soil needs to be hosed down many times with water over a period of a couple of weeks or more until the dirt settles properly. That's the best way to simulate a scenario where a coin has been buried for a long time.

 

[Jackalope]

tech told me 4" is about normal for an air test according to their specs

4" on a dime!? That's normal?

If all the E-Trac can do is 4" in an air test you'd better sell it and try another unit.

Apparently ML has a low opinion of their own detectors. Certainly with such a low standard they don't have to try and fix them.

The chart above was created in an area where EMI was problematic but I still could repeatedly ascertain a clean audio with a diggable signal on a dime at 7.5" in Auto+3. With Manual at 25 you're around 12" on a dime. That's with the standard 11" coil. Same figures for the CTX and E-Trac.

Disappointing to think ML will repair your detector to the level that it will find a dime at about 4". No thanks.

Jackalope

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Air test and Planted coins dont do well with any machine, Even on my first machine ACE 250, I could bury a quarter and it barely read it at 4"....But when I would go to a park, i was able to pick out coins 6+ inches deep.

If you ever get a coin signal deep, remember the number. Then when you pluck it out, go over it again, it will usally be a different number.

This weekend I got a solid 85 at 4" and dug out a Merc....I rescanned it on the ground and it was bouncing 82-83

 

[CBAILEY]

Etrac depth

Etrac sick have used could get 11-12 inch air on quarter. 9-10 dimeCourse that is max sens. ManualIs your machine running auto sense or do you have on manual?