Minelab E-TRAC
Price: $1500
Avg. Score: 
4.1
Based on 69 reviews
4.1Based on 69 reviews
Avg. Durability:
3.55
Avg. Ease of use:
3.27
E-trac rocks!
July 06, 2013
While I'm still learning some of its fine details, I love this detector. On
my very first day with it, I found a Spanish two reales and an Indian cent.
It IS a bit noisy/chattery, but it's also great at picking out coins among
junk. Once you get to know what the E-Trac's many sounds are really telling
you, you will cut way down on the number of "junk targets" you end up
digging. If you're thinking about an E-Trac, I would say to go for it. I
know I won't be needing or wanting another detector for a long time.
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Jim M. from
Central PA
2412
Its OK
March 18, 2013
I have owned many high end detectors over the past 40 years. I sold the
Etrac on Ebay after a year and purchased the Garrett Ace 350. So simple,
great depth and doesn't sound off near as much as the Etrac, the Etrac is a
good detector but by no stretch of the imagination is it worth $1250.00
more than the ACE 350. I went to my favorite spot with the new Garrett for
a few hours and pulled two wheaties out at 8 inches, more clad than I ever
dug with the Etrac. What more do you need? Can hit coins I drop in 10 inch
holes with a clear bell tone. Why spend another $1250.00? What more can it
possible do for $1250.00? Its ridiculous. You have to be R2 D2 to decipher all the sounds coming at you from the Etrac when you lower the discrimination. I know how to setup the detector, been metal detecting for 40 years and I'm an electronics tech, its what I do for a living.
A $297.00 detector with VID, 3 tones for iron, nickels and silver, depth meter, DD 11" coil for singling out targets, super light. 95 percent of what your going to find will be less than 10", much less. Not near the chatter of the Etrac, a joy to use. The Etrac wont do anything more than the 300 dollar detector (for 98 percent of detectorists) I have and its much easier to use and lighter, when in coin mode I can hit 8 and 10 inch coins and discriminate out junk. Detector technology has not changed any in the past 20 years.
Still the same old core technology with some bells and whistles added with color LCD's and fancy bar graphs. But there is no technology that can single out a coin with a nail on top of it and it not sound like junk.
I don't care if you spend a million dollars on one, its still going to be a broken tone with a big ol QUESTION MARK by it and you have to dig it see what it is anyway. I'll spend the extra $1250.00 on a detector when it can tell me there is NAIL and a Merc dime in the same hole, until that day comes, save the money and buy something cheaper.
Just hunt with no discrimination and dig everything and save 1300 bucks. That's what I like about the Ace 350, simple and when you get a good repeatable bell tone. ITS A COIN, and it tells you what kind it is and how deep. Anything else is a questionable dig which is EXACTLY what the Etrac did. I sold it for 1200 bucks bought the Ace 350 and pocketed 900 and I'm enjoying the ease of use and finding more with the simple Ace.
I thought the more I spent the more I would find and it would be easier. WRONG! Don't believe the hype. I'm sure Ill get bashed for my input but facts are facts no matter how you slice it.
Overall Rating
Daniel Holland from
Houston, TX
7170
TTF MODE rocks
January 12, 2013
Hey all, I spent some time badmouthing my etrac but when I looked back
over the past year my silver count was way up from the year before. It
takes practice for sure. I discovered that the depth in TTF mode is about 5 inches more then using discrimination.
I went to a union camp here in NC that had long since been hunted out but they had some dirt moved around and I dug over 100 bullets, 20 buttons and several other relics and lots of camp lead all in about 16 hours of hunt time. Some of the bullets had to be 14-15 inches down. TTF mode is deep here in NC soil.
I have heard the Etrac has problems in some soils but here in my NC soil it rates a 5.
Overall Rating
T Nunley from
Seymour Johnson AFB NC
189
E-trac deep silver
January 11, 2013
This is my second Minelab my first was a Safari. With the E-Track you will
dig less trash to concentrate on the goodies, you can swing it like a beep
and dig.I have dug silver coins with rust stains from a nail and with nails in the same hole, my best coin was a 1889 o silver dollar. This machine really locks on silver and with your settings it will give different sound then a regular clad coin.
My only complaint is the id numbers are hard to see some times in the sun or with sunglasses on, tone id is the key with this machine. If your looking to buy a E-Trac go for it you wont be sorry. You will find what all the other machines have missed, in my opinion I would use no other brand Minelabs are the best.
Overall Rating
Mike from
Ohio
251
Detector Truths !
June 29, 2012
Well, I have tried almost every top end detector on the market. I have
noticed that each detector will detect differently. For example, I can
detect a virgin site with a Whites V3i and find stuff. If I then take an
E-trac over the same spot, I will find more stuff. If I then take a XP
Deus over the same spot, I will find yet more stuff that the other 2
detectors had missed and Vice-Versa. BUT, what does this tell us?
Well- basically just one thing. It just means that each detector has it's own specific way of detecting. i. e one will detect a coin on it's side better than the other and the other will detect a different coin or object better or worse than the other detector. It does not mean that one is better than the other - it just means that each detector has different strengths and/or weaknesses. The trick is, to get a detector that you are comfortable with, stick with it, learn and master it and then really you will find everything that you possibly can - providing you walk over it. It really is that simple. Is a $1500 dollar detector better than a $200 detector? Yes - and no. Is a $200 dollar detector better than a $1500 dollar detector? Yes - and No. Get it?
Overall Rating
Mike from
UK
3641
Etrac
May 26, 2012
I hav had my Etrac for 8 months, 40 hours, 40 coins 1754-186x-1954
Overall Rating
Sergaqlex from
Russia
4228
Etrac
March 18, 2012
I will tell you the whole true and nothing but the truth about the etrac.
I got the etrac and the first time I used it I was
Not impressed at all and was very mad and wanted to sell it this thing was acting crazy. (I was at a crappy place).
Then day 2 I was so impressed with this detector
I found 2 gold rings, a cross charm, and 2 silver rings, and about $6.00 in change. I had it listed on the Internet for sale and had to call about 5 people back and tell them that I changed my mind about selling it, this machine really impressed me today and almost paid its self off with the gold rings found today.
So if your thinking of buying one and have the money to afford one I would say its got my approval. It is kind of tricky and takes time to learn it but when you learn it is great .
I had a minelab explorer 2 for a couple month and is very similar but better.
Overall Rating
Joey from
Michigan
5719
E-Trac coin hunter
March 09, 2012
Been on holiday this week so detecting every day for about 4 hrs apart
from Tuesday when it rained. Got permission off a local farmer to hunt in
four fields used for a fair. I have managed to do just under half of the
first field and have found just over £80 pounds in change. It has never
been hunted before, because I presume, the amount of trash just under the
surface. What's great about the E-Trac is its precise discrimination which allows you to hunt for discrete targets. At the moment I have mine set to detect 1and 2 pound coins 50p and 20 pence coins. There is a lot of blanking and I am sure I am missing a lot of targets because of this, but without the very high level of discrimination what you hear is a blizzard of signals.
I am fairly new to detecting, so I don't know if there are better detectors out there. All I can say is that I am very pleased with my E-Trac.
Overall Rating
Tork from
Uk
456
Diggerman
February 12, 2012
My friends V3i is constantly finding coins at depths around 10 inches that
my E-trac will not locate.My opinion is this machine is all hype without any bite and mine is on its way to retirement cause I've been skimmed too many times
Whites V3I is in my near future! !!
Overall Rating
Jackie Brown from
Madison Tn
4181
Deep Silver
January 17, 2012
Finding silver my white's spectrum xlt missed. Especially in grassy areas
of parks where the silver and older pennies are deeper than 6 inches. Once
you get a little time in and read your manual you will be happy. With both
my minelab and my spectrum in hand, I was able to recover deep targets that
my whites did not register. Most of those deep targets were old coins.
Overall Rating
Jon from
USA
527