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
Waste of money, do not buy.
February 03, 2009
I have a musketeer and I would not change it for anything else, the stuff I
have found with my musky to the stuff my friend has not found with this
machine.(this patten and that patten)rubbish. The diffence between my
machine and this one is I MAY DIG A LITTLE MORE RUBBISH UP.WOW.
Overall Rating
LEE from
WALES
4745
E trac conclusion
January 11, 2009
Its well built, but its still on the heavy side for long sprees of
detecting.Its more sensetive than the Explorers and has a faster recovery speed for working in and amongst iron.
However after buying it a few weeks later it kickstarted an olde Tennis elbow complaint of mine into action again and after a detecting session lasting 4 hours, it saw my Elbow off.
I had still kept my Fisher F75 on buying the E trac and after selling the E trac, I've realized now, I was a fool to buy the E trac. Because there's nothing the E trac could do that my Fisher F75 can't. The F75 is as Deep and Faster than the E trac in recovery speed, And half the price.
The E trac is without doubt a very capable detector in its own right.
But the F75 is lighter, as deep, and Faster and of the two I'd choose the F75 over it any day.
Overall Rating
Jeb from
N Wales in the UK
4148
Minelab has landed a winner!
December 11, 2008
I have owned several detectors in the past and still own four. I have used
White's, Tesoro Tejon, Explorer XS and the Explorer II. I read several
forums about the Etac and decided to go with one since I had a few years
experience with the Minelab Explorers.My first impression when I received the Etrac was very good. It was sleek and well built. The hand grip was a great improvement and in the field it is a blessing (trust me!). The Etrac was well balanced and LIGHTER than the Explorers (thank you Minelab!) My only negative with the Explorers was the weight after a couple of hard hours in the bogs and swamps of Southeast Virginia. Etrac has solved that problem.
Finally the field trials....and the Etrac has performed very well. It took just a couple of trips out to learn the new target locations on the screen, but now no problems. Took it to some CW battlefields and camp sites and it has done very well finding bullets and flat buttons and some coins. I am a relic hunter not much of a coin hunter. Depth is what I expected from Minelab 5" to 10" is quite normal for this machine when you have some hours in the field. Target seperation is great and the discrimination is also great, some big iron will sneek through when I am hunting non CW areas.
As a relic hunter and a hobbiest of this fine past time of metal detecting, I will say that the Etrac is one of the best machines I have ever used. It does take time if you are new to the hobby, but do not lose sight of why you chose this to be your hobby...fun, thrilling, exercise, preservation of historical artifacts, educational for kids if you have them, etc.... Learn the sounds, listen to the machine and have fun!
Etrac is a winner!
Thank you!
Overall Rating
Wes from
VA
4416
Not worth 1500 No Way
December 10, 2008
After 150 hours use Im still digging nails at 12 inches' My Troy Shadow x5
will smoke this machine!
Overall Rating
Rich A. from
New Orleans La.
7874
2 1/2 months, and I HATE IT
December 06, 2008
I have been M.tecting since 1995. I have owned Bounty Hunter, Compass,
Tesoro, Garretts, Whites, and Troy detectors.Now..................................
Two and 1/2 months with the E-Trac, and I HATE IT !!!
I am having to dig holes 8-10", sometimes 12",
and at 12" Most of the time I come up with a bent Nail.
If you stopped reading at the last paragraph.....Hopefully you have no plans of buying one.
Now for the rest of the truth.
I made those statements above because to be honest, I have enough competetion !
The rest of the truth is. Once you have about 40-50 hours experience with the machine, you start to learn it. You start to trust what it is telling you. You start digging deeper, and deeeeeper coins. Yes it is true I still dig 12"and + bent nails. But it is mostly because my mind is trying to tell the machine THERE IS! A Deep coin down there. I am trying to FORCE a find !
If I just follow my 120+ hours experience with the E-Trac, and trust that in coins mode it will not often lie to me, then I WILL DIG some solid hits that will be an 8-9" I.H., wheatie, or merc or barber dime.
AN example of a time (after I had more thn 50 hrs hunting time with it)that I got really discouraged was
an hour after I dug a 10" ..1905s barber dime -near a tree- in one area....
(in Black & corroded condition---Sigh---)....I was about 150-200 foot away from the trees, and,
I got another Deep but solid hit...It gave a fairly high flutey tone, and registered in the lower wheaty range, but in my modest experience with the E-T. I determened it had to be deep silver.....The 12" depth gauge was almost burried
so Yes....I will dig.....After some 5 minuites, and 10-11" later......I was still trying to pinpoint it with my SunRay X-1 Probe, and I found it....A decent looking 60's Mem cent...W.T.F.!!!!!..The next 40 minuites or so I dug several other 5-8" mems, and decided that that particular area had to have been back-filled with newer earth in the last 20 or so years...
...............................................
My buddy had convinced me to get an Etrac after I had watched him dig 10 to 1 silvers on me, with his Explorer SE. He said he had ordered an E-Trac, and I followed suit.
There are now 3 of us that hunt together, and we post our finds sometimes on the TreasureNet Forum, in the Illinois section.
................................................
I post either under McNickle, or McEtrak, and my hunting buddies post as GOIO, and Tmanfromtexas, we all live and hunt NW.Indiana and Chicago Ill sites.....So before you decide wheather or not to beleive what I am telling you....Check out our posts there, expecially GOIO's, he was the one with an Explorer SE that convinced me to by an E-Trac....It is now the end of the 1st week of December.....An inch of snow is on the ground today,and this 7am this morning My buddy GOIO called and invited me to go along with him and Tman to a newer site.
........................................
I declined ( Having the runny nose cold).
................................He just called me an Hour ago and said in 2 1/2 hours he found a merc, and Tman found a Rosie...I can't wait for spring because, I found as much silver in the last 2 months as I have in the last 3 years.
Come on Spring 2009!
Overall Rating
Dave. from
From NW. Indiana
3772
For 1500 it better be the best and it ..................
November 26, 2008
I've owned many metal detectors in the last 25 years. The most I ever paid
for one until the E-Trac was just a little under $1000.I was a little worried about paying $1500 for a metal detector. Was all the talk about the E-Trac that I have been hearing just hype?
I can now say that I own a metal detector that costs $1500. Can I say that it was worth it?
You bettcha!!!!!
The E-Trac I have found is the most accurate at ID'ing targets and is the deepest detector I have ever owned. The Explorer I had was also almost as or as deep. I sold it to get the E-Trac and I have no regrets.
I've owned White's. I've owned Tesoro. I've owned Garrett. Every one was a top of the line machine from each. All fantastic machines and I would recommend them to anyone.
E-Trac is a machine that I have owned for just a short time. But in that time, I have discovered that none of the machines I have owned in the past can compare to the E-Trac.
The E-Trac is very easy (at least for me) to learn. Very intuitive menu system makes changing settings so easy. The E-trac gives readings for the ferrous and conductive properties and gives you numbers along with a position on a graph to give you the most information of almost all other machines (except of course the Explorer) to decide to dig or not to dig.
Depth measurements are usually off on most machines. No exception on the E-Trac, but it is closer than all the others I have owned.
The E-Trac is fantastic in trashy areas and allows for precise ID'ing of targets which allows for less digging of junk.
The E-Trac has awesome depth and is a real silver magnet. The Minelab machines are legendary for finding silver. The Minelabs are very popular in Europe finding old (real old) relics.
Battery life is OK. If you get rechargeable NIMH 3000 MAH AA batteries, available on the net, you can expect around 20 hours on a charge. The supplied battery pack gets you around 10 hours per charge. The E-Trac has a back light and if used will shorten battery life, but not by much.
If I had to choose a machine that would perform best almost anywhere in the world on dry land, hunting for relics, coins or jewelry, it would be the Minelab E-Trac.
Overall Rating
Steve from Ohio from
Cleveland
788
THE BEST EVER ! ! !
November 21, 2008
My Partner & I love his unit. What a wonderful & romantic day at the beach
with the one you love. Each of you enjoying the day treasure hunting.
Purchase 2 and discover the world together. Susan McCool Coulombe of
California We have more adventures to come ... :) Stay tuned.
Overall Rating
Sue McCool Coulombe from
Paradise, California USA
2158
E-Trac does it better
November 12, 2008
All I can say is WOW. I have metal detected of over 30 years. To build my
belief in the machine I have went back to areas that I have gone over
carefully with all types of units. This thing is finding coins that I (and
everyone else) have missed. 9 to 10 inches on a penny is not uncommon. Do
not think you have to make a lot of adjustments, it's not needed. Turn it
on and have fun. Listen to what the machine says and you will be
surprised. Easy to use and to learn. Not everyone will like it but most
people will love it. Hats off to Minelab, you did great.
Overall Rating
Terry R from
Nebraska
7017
Top Notch
November 10, 2008
Have been Metal Detecting for many years, and have used many different
types of metal detectors. This one is in a league of it's own.A bit of a
learning curve, but well worth it.
Overall Rating
John from
MD
5620