Metal Detecting with Pulltab Pirate: Is The E-trac Really THAT Much Better?

[236Herbinator]

Hello, I just bought a used garret GTI 1500 and the garret pro pointer. It's my first metal detector. I hit a couple parks and found some wheat pennies and a hand full of clad. Still waiting for the first silver, but I am happy with Lincoln pennies being a novice. I really enjoy your videos, HH!

[pulltabpirate]

@236Herbinator: Congrats on your first detector! Take time to learn your machine and be patient, it will come. 've only been at this for 4 months but I find that if I take time t get to know my machines before heading out I'm much more productive. If there is anything I can help with let me know. Thanks for the kind comments about m videos and finally, welcome to the addiction!

[swinginsouthjersey]

"Is The E-trac Really THAT Much Better? ".... Yup

thanks for the shoutout

looks like you definitely figured it out.

I'm going back to my old hunting spots that I did with my MXT, not having the luck that your having though. trying to put together a vid of iffy signals & what to look & listen for but baileytown is being stingy with the goodies.

Congrats on the finds

HH

[pulltabpirate]

@swinginsouthjersey: I had a few signals that I definitely had to rely on tone...the most impressive being a dime that had a nail directly above it. Tone....def silver, sound..... Nice warble with a quick penny tone in between, VDI - 22-38! This boosted the confidence. I had asimilar things happen with the wheats which would explain why the Ace missed them.

[swinginsouthjersey]

@pulltabpirate I videoed a dig of a round brass whatzit with a nail through it, VDI - 22-40. where the Iron dropped the F VDI down but the C VDI was relatively unchanged. sure wish it was a coin with a nail but the principal is the same.

HH

[GrizzlyGroundswell]

@pulltabpirate Impressive! Just when I think I have my e-trac figured out, I have to change strategies!

[REDDIRTDIGGER]

Way to go Pirate..congrats on you finds..imagine how good you will be a year from now with that e-trac...Good luck...R.D.D.

[pulltabpirate]

@REDDIRTDIGGER: Each hunt I'm getting a little more confident with it, which is scary as I did very well right out of the box! Each hunt is a lesson. Thanks for watching RDD and HH!!

[Steelgreyeyes]

Can you get some close ups on that coin with the hole in it? Think I can figure it out .... and it is not from anywhere around here!!

[MichaelSwan66]

Great finds :) cool video!

[pulltabpirate]

@MichaelSwan66: Thanks MS! Hope you enjoyed and as always, HH!!

[GrizzlyGroundswell]

What mode are you hunting in? I am hunting that old school and finding nothing but wheaties. There should be silver there! But I am having no luck with my e-trac! I have a feeling this site has been cherry picked before I got there! I hunted in coin mode and then a combo coin and relic mode that I made. I upped the sensitivity and found some relics but thus far only wheaties! This leads me to think this site has already been pounded before I got there!

[pulltabpirate]

@GrizzlyGroundswell: I usually run Sabisch's coins pattern. I run the following settings: Deep - On; Fast - Off; Vol. Gain - 24; Auto Sensitivity +3; Threashold Level - 30; Variability; 30; Limits; 30; Response - Normal (occasionally will switch to Long if getting choppy signals); Tones - Multi; Sounds - Conduct. If hunting a workedout or trashy area you may want to have fast on and open up your discrimination a little more but I'm relatively new with the e-trac too just guessing. Hope this help

[GrizzlyGroundswell]

@pulltabpirate Hey thanks, here are my settings: following settings: Deep - On; Fast - on; Vol. Gain - 23; Auto Sensitivity +1; Threashold Level - ? Factory; Variability; ?Factory; Limits; ?Factory; Response - Normal (occasionally will switch to Long if getting choppy signals); Tones - Multi; Sounds - Conduct. I have the e-trac all packed up for tomorrows hunt, so I put factory for those I am unsure on. I use Factory Coin mode expanded to allow targets essential in Conductive 8 to 30 unmasked

[pulltabpirate]

@GrizzlyGroundswell: I forgot to mention, Sabisch suggests pretty much always running with Ground - Difficult. I do a noise cancel at the begining of the hunt and as I move to diffeent areas of the property as well. I'm going to do an old school this weekend and maybe I can play with the settings and see how I do.

[swinginsouthjersey]

@GrizzlyGroundswell

Hey Grizz

if your pulling wheeties it hasn't been cherry picked

"I use Factory Coin mode expanded to allow targets essential in Conductive 8 to 30 unmasked" how far down do you run the ferrous line? there's a drop in ferrous VDI at about 7" on a dime. 1-7" you'll get Good F & C VDI's unless it's with Iron (12-45ish). ..... Cont.

[swinginsouthjersey]

@GrizzlyGroundswell Cont...... at about 8" 14-42 ish, 9" 18-40ish & probably choppy, 10" 24-40ish & choppy ... the deeper you go the higher your F VDI will be while your C VDI's will drop slightly.. I use an open screen for quickmask, if I get a 18-25 F & 42-38 C, & the target is at or near the bottom of my depth gauge, & the numbers don't bottom out (30's) when I hit it with quickmask.... I assume it's a dime. use the same principal for the other coin VDI's.

Hope it helps

HH

[GrizzlyGroundswell]

@swinginsouthjersey Shit! I may have been passing up the deeper goodies then! I knew I was doing something wrong, but just could not figure it out! Then I was getting 12-44(45) Pop cans that was throwing me off my game as well. So youre saying that the deeper the target, the More the Ferrous bounce. So a 12-04 may read 14-04 7" down and 16-04 8" down and so on? I think I need 2 hit some of these locations again and take this into consideration! There should be good stuff there, UserERROR!

[pulltabpirate]

@GrizzlyGroundswell: Griz, Definitely go tone first! The one large cent i dug had junk all around it and was over 8 inches deep and gave a good solid tome but the VDI's were bouncing around between 17-22 (ferrous) and 36-44 (Conductive) Tone was good and I dug. Are there times this will lead to junk....yep, but I personally feel the reward is worth it.

[GrizzlyGroundswell]

@pulltabpirate I will try this new strategy here tomorrow if I don't get rained out like today. I will try to get a video up if successful! Thanks!

[swinginsouthjersey]

@GrizzlyGroundswell the conductive VDI will drop as well but not as much. to learn the drop try penny digging a park that has deep pennies. the reason I say try it on pennies is there's a lot of them out there & they have a common VDI (12-43). 8' 14-41ish, 9" 18-39ish, 10' 22-35ish.... these aren't exact numbers you'll have to try it to figure out the range & drop.

[GrizzlyGroundswell]

@swinginsouthjersey I also use the open screen for quick mast and find I use that more and more on these historic locations!

I am going off the air test values and actually carry that diagram with me to refer too. I have not had much luck listening to the tones, but rely more on numbers. The sites I am on right now are so trash filled, that even if there is a good target, it is masked by all the crap targets. So it is definately a challenge! But this helps a ton! Maybe this week!

[swinginsouthjersey]

@GrizzlyGroundswell I gave up on VDI hunting with the E-trac, use the force Luke... ;-)

I set my discrimination as wide open as I can on Conductivity & to the 25 line Ferrous & hunt by tones & sounds when possible. if there's too many targets I'll open it 30 to the max on conductivity & down to the 25 on ferrous.

I use VDI as the last factor to determine weather to dig or not & it's usually to determine iron or not & when park hunting change.

HH

[pulltabpirate]

@swinginsouthjersey: Had you explained it that way in the beginning i would have got it!...hahaha

[swinginsouthjersey]

@pulltabpirate yea, I suck as a teacher....the example I gave to Grizz is for depth, trash is another thing.... I started putting together a tutorial vid of deep & trashy signals, it will take a while to do. sure wish Neswiper still had his old vids up, his vids were a split screen of his coil & screen so it showed VDI, tones, sounds, depth & coil speed & he shown all digs, trash or treasure. everything a newbe (me at the time) needs to learn the e-trac.

[GrizzlyGroundswell]

@swinginsouthjersey @pulltabpirate The e-trac is powerful as hell, and I love it, but most times I feel like I am flying a stealth fighter with no owners manual and only a prayer. Still digging a ton of iffy signals and finding all the trash I can dig! The damn depth guage is Horse poo on ice, but honestly, I would not go to detect without my lovely e-trac. It just consistently kicks my arse. My goal: Walk into site and remove all targets of Historical & $ Value then tell the story.

[Truetone30]

ive so sick of the rain, so you missed all that with your garrett 250? that stinks i use a 250 and now im starting to think im missing out on alot..

[pulltabpirate]

@Truetone30: The Ace Macines are great for non-trashy areas where targe ae expected o be 6 inches or less. My 350 served it's purpose well.

[ALABOTTLES]

Grate hunt PPT keep going back there is steel a lot more there Thanks for shearing HH

[pulltabpirate]

@ALABOTTLES: Thanks for watching AB and as always, HH!!

[88schwyptrlcar]

Great job PTP. I had the same experience. We searched a yard with an Ace 250 and Whites XLT. We went back with Etracs and it was like we had never been there before. So the etrac is a great machine.

[pulltabpirate]

@88schwyptrlcar: Thanks 88, there was a time when I questioned the difference and thought for anyone relatively new to the hobby this might give some idea of how much better the E-trac is. Thanks for watching and HH!!

[AmericanCoinHunting]

Outstanding hunt PTP....Amazing finds man

[pulltabpirate]

@AmericanCoinHunting: Thanks ACH! I've got a few other old farm houses in my crosshairs, just gotta work up the nerve to ask permission. Just like asking the prettiest girl out to the prom, you gotta work up the nerve and then remember, the worst she can say is, "no".

[TheTony111111]

another great hunt

[pulltabpirate]

@TheTony111111: Thanks alot Tony! HH!!

[Daddydigger1]

Hey PTP, awesome finds! I would love to get a triple silver like yours! Ain't that e-trac something else? I am amazed at how often I find trash in the hole with the coins. With the ACE, it was the other way around. I would dig a trashy signal and be surprised to find a coin! HH brother.

[pulltabpirate]

@Daddydigger1: DD! What I find amazing is how, for the most part, the E-trac takes the work out of it. With the ace I would have to make a whole circle sweping to try to isolate a signal and then end up not digging anyway. The E-trac just seems to KNOW what to lock on to and hit that coin regardless of the trash. Deepies are the only ones that still get me but I'm working on that too. I was suprised that it still gave a silver tone on the one dime though the VDI's read 22-36. Nail above coin.

[TejasDigger]

Oh, and as far as the etrac being better than the ace 350, the ace 350 doesn't stand a chance. Their in two different categories.

[pulltabpirate]

@TejasDigger: Yeah, I guess I did this so that others could see, but I suppose I was already convinced of the superiority of this machine. Thanks again for watching Tejas!

[TejasDigger]

Those older Mercs are usually worn. They were in circulation for longer than the ones in the 40's. Sometimes you'll find one that was dropped early though. You've dug a lot of silver to start your detecting career. I hope you can keep it up. Congrats and HH!

[pulltabpirate]

@TejasDigger: Yeah, that was the first oldie Merc I dug so It suprised me until I saw the date. Thanks for watching Tejas! Happy hunting!

[garbageguru1]

The e trac is worth the money!Great finds!

[pulltabpirate]

@garbageguru1: I've no doubts now. I wasexpecting to pck up 1 or 2 more silvers....not 6! Thanks for watching Guru and HH!!