Big Boys Hobbies

Etrac Settings Sensitivity figured out

I want to be clear I was doing very good using Auto even though here in my ground rarely was Auto+3 usable. Most places Auto+3 produced a Null whenever the Coil was moved. It did not matter how fast or slow it nulled out. I was dropping my Auto settings to get a good threshold and finding a lot of coins.

I know it was an air test but changing to manual increased detection on a dime by two inches instantly. This stuck in my mind.

I went out yesterday with a low 22 manual setting and increased my depth and I really did not get many false signals, Most of the false signals I got were highly suspect before I dug them. One was a can way down there.

With the higher manual settings I got the same nulling that I got in auto which to me is

A Nulling over Iron
B Over driving your machine

You have to be able to tell which to get machine to run correctly and ID. Remember that good signal that will not ID until the coil stops and the threshold returns.

Manual is a pain because you do have to adjust it to get maximum depth and it has to be low enough to allow your threshold to bump passing over that iron.

It could be much worse you could be running a V3i where you have a bunch of settings including ground balance that are constantly needing adjustment.

I run pretty good discrimination all the time (Park Pattern) except I open up to Ferrouse 23 so I really have to pay attention to make sure those nulls are not bad targets, and the only way to do that is pay attention to the threshold.

Really something to this Manual Sensitivity so if you are not running it know you are cutting out at least 2" or more of depth.
 
I used to be of the opinion that Auto was just fine also,until I learned to use Manual at lower levels. Auto CAN find you stuff for sure,but like they say..."not round here"...
Randy Horton says it's 3 channel in Manual....my mistake if he's wrong.:grin:
 
I completely agree on being able to find plenty in Auto. Thinking about it I bet 90% of all our finds auto is great, or heck any detector for that matter. It is that last 10% that makes me love the Minelabs so much. This and the I'd accuracy make me such a minelab fan.
 
Some good points made here.

Think about this.

A person who has been in their mind,,"doing good",,using any detector really.

Could they be so satisfied,,,they just press on with pride,,,the way they run and or set up their detector???

And in doing so,,,could it be possible they don't realize what they have left behind??

Truly targets that were detectable with more appropriate setting(s).

Welcome to the world of Internet,,and detecting forums.

Dial back 30 years ago,,,,,just think of all the trial and error being down with detectors to get increased performance.

Really only treasure magazines to give info,,,and maybe,,,just maybe a person would have a bud or 2 to maybe shed more light.
 
beam said:
I'm not new to the e-trac and I use Auto sens a ton. I would say probably 70% of my hunting is in auto. It boils down to this: how much time do I have to hunt and how much ground do I want to cover?

In auto +3, I can move WAY more quickly through an area. Am I missing an occasional deep target? Maybe...but I will tell you that covering area is better than getting depth when you don't have much time to be dorking around checking every false chirp.

Now, if I'm hitting a spot I know has been hunted out or that I've hit multiple times, then yes, I will crank it up. The keypad shortcuts that OP mentioned should be second nature to any e-trac user. Many hunts I am switching back and forth.

If I'm hunting and notice the ground is clean - manual and crank it up.
If I have 2 hours and am hitting a trashy park - auto +3

I have a video where I found my first Barber quarter. I was hunting an area of a fairgrounds that had been a shotgun range in the early 1900's I was running manual sens at 10! Hot machines in trashy areas don't always produce results. The coil will pick up adjacent !!!! and mask good targets.

I guess what I'm saying is that auto sensitivity isn't a bad thing. And you're not a noob if you use it.
Click to expand...

A voice of reason in the chaos. I use both manual and auto, and I PREFER to use auto because I like to enjoy my hobby, not be tortured by it. If I find that coins are deeper than usual I might switch to manual. It also depends how clean the site is and how much time I have to hunt. Most places I go the targets are 6 inches or less so using manual is not going to make any difference except to make me aggravated.

I see some people on here making claims about how they lose coins when using auto. Well go out there in your test garden or whatever, make a video with your phone and prove it! Until then I'm not buying it.

The deepest coin I ever found was with my Sovereign, a standing liberty at 10-11 inches and I had to do the coil wiggle..in AUTO. In fact if I remember Minelab recommends using auto not manual. Manual has it's place but that does not mean auto does not.
 
I don't need to prove anything to you. I have shared my HONEST experience with using these machines. If you choose to keep your blinders on that is 100% up to you. It is not hard to believe you can find a deep coin in Auto. I think your comparison is like a apple and oranges kind of thing. You can be in clean ground the sensitivity can go way high, cool deal. A broken clock is right twice a day as well.

Either way, do what makes you happy. That is the key if you ask me.
 
JackalopeZL1 said:
I don't need to prove anything to you. I have shared my HONEST experience with using these machines. If you choose to keep your blinders on that is 100% up to you. It is not hard to believe you can find a deep coin in Auto. I think your comparison is like a apple and oranges kind of thing. You can be in clean ground the sensitivity can go way high, cool deal. A broken clock is right twice a day as well.

Either way, do what makes you happy. That is the key if you ask me.
Click to expand...

I guess I'll just have to go test it out my ignorant self. I know of several places with deep coins.
 
IDXMonster said:
Everyone remember...in Auto you are using 1 channel,the most stable as determined by the machine. In Manual all 3 channels are used. Since you don't get to choose the channel,Manual at lower levels seems to give a better chance of finding what you're after,since all 3 are now in play. It would be better to go to a smaller coil and work slowly than to give up 2/3 of the machines capabilities. If Manual is unbearable to the user then Auto is better than not hunting at all,I guess...JM2cents
Click to expand...

Not sure if this is true but this seems to be my findings as well. That is Manual turned down low is most times better than Auto.
 
I did some testing last weekend. I didn't really find anything deep enough to perform a legit. test, but in general I found auto +3 was about the same sensitivity as the maximum I could stand on manual. My auto was running around 22-26 when the most falsing I could deal with was at manual 24. In no situation was I not able to see a target in manual that I could not see in auto, in fact auto usually presented a much better audio response than manual did. Unless you have some funny soil conditions or you know there some really deep targets I would go with auto +3. You will dig more targets and enjoy it more.
 
johnmusk said:
I did some testing last weekend. I didn't really find anything deep enough to perform a legit. test, but in general I found auto +3 was about the same sensitivity as the maximum I could stand on manual. My auto was running around 22-26 when the most falsing I could deal with was at manual 24. In no situation was I not able to see a target in manual that I could not see in auto, in fact auto usually presented a much better audio response than manual did. Unless you have some funny soil conditions or you know there some really deep targets I would go with auto +3. You will dig more targets and enjoy it more.
Click to expand...

Most likely you did get falsing in manual. However, you probly ran over deep coins that seem like falsing. On real deep targets the Etrac doesnt always give you a perfect tone.

Run in manual, swing when you seem to false, take a second and see if the target stays in the same exact spot. It takes a bit to learn if a target seems to keep moving, if this, it probly is falsing.

Now if you feel the target has not moved at ALL, flip it to quick mask. If the tone gets better/louder, LEAVE it. Most likely deep IRON.

After flipping to quick mask and the target/tone seems exactly the same DIG!

DD
 
johnmusk said:
I did some testing last weekend. I didn't really find anything deep enough to perform a legit. test, but in general I found auto +3 was about the same sensitivity as the maximum I could stand on manual. My auto was running around 22-26 when the most falsing I could deal with was at manual 24. In no situation was I not able to see a target in manual that I could not see in auto, in fact auto usually presented a much better audio response than manual did. Unless you have some funny soil conditions or you know there some really deep targets I would go with auto +3. You will dig more targets and enjoy it more.
Click to expand...

Was always my experience as well...
 
johnmusk said:
I did some testing last weekend. I didn't really find anything deep enough to perform a legit. test, but in general I found auto +3 was about the same sensitivity as the maximum I could stand on manual. My auto was running around 22-26 when the most falsing I could deal with was at manual 24. In no situation was I not able to see a target in manual that I could not see in auto, in fact auto usually presented a much better audio response than manual did. Unless you have some funny soil conditions or you know there some really deep targets I would go with auto +3. You will dig more targets and enjoy it more.
Click to expand...

If you had nice clean ground and where able to hit a 26 in Auto then this would be expected.
 
JackalopeZL1 said:
If you had nice clean ground and where able to hit a 26 in Auto then this would be expected.
Click to expand...

My soil let me run it manual 27 at times in certain fields

We all gotta realize that we run our machines in different environments, different soils, different mineralizations, different swing speeds, different swing techniques, etc, so while our results will be similar, we can't expect the same reaction from our machines as some other guy 400 miles away.

If there was one perfect setting then Minelab would have had us push one button and start swinging, but they gave us options for a reason....
 
NectarDetector said:
My soil let me run it manual 27 at times in certain fields

We all gotta realize that we run our machines in different environments, different soils, different mineralizations, different swing speeds, different swing techniques, etc, so while our results will be similar, we can't expect the same reaction from our machines as some other guy 400 miles away.

If there was one perfect setting then Minelab would have had us push one button and start swinging, but they gave us options for a reason....
Click to expand...

I agree 100% and that is why you can see my replies saying I always run as high as I can get away with or as high as I can stand it..

When I flew out to new Jersey here a couple months ago to detect I was blown away with the soil we were hunting in. Firest time I have every been able to run manual 30!! It was awesome soil.
 
In my soil at times I can not run Auto+3 just can not do it. In fact at times I was running Auto+0. I have found at times I was down to 16 Auto with Ground on Difficult. Running Manual 16 to 17 I was still able to hit 8" coins with a Sunray 8" Coil. I know Air Tests and Minelabs dont mix but just changing to Manual gains 2 ". I have found more Silver in the last week with my Etrac than I have for the last several months running Auto. I do get Falsing at times but you learn what is good and what is not.
 
I can equate this to every day hearing and everybody's different ability to filter out background noise. I HATE somebody blabbering in the next room or an air tool running in the shop when I'm trying to carry on a conversation,it's not only distracting but I don't think I can process information as clearly with other noise mixed in. Now,both the guys in our office can be on the phone at the same time,carrying on two different conversations and actually NOT be tuned in to the others words...it's tough for ME to do that. In the same way,Manual Sens has some of that "other conversation" going on in the background,and it can be daunting to work out any good signals with that all going on. Some of my signals absolutely DO clear up in Auto,due to other stuff being in the vicinity. It's really all about what suits the user better,if you can't tell a bad blip from a good blurp in Manual,it may very well be counter-productive to use it,at least until you get better at it. A non-trashy place is really better to learn this,IMHO. I TOTALLY understand both points of view on this subject,been there-done that! I still struggle at times when really going for the deepest coins that I think might have a chance of being there...you know the ones I mean!:lol:
 
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