If you had 2000.00 and wanted a new detector

[leebowhunts]

and you wanted a machine to relic hunt with and coin shoot old homesiites. what would be the machine for both. Not to complicated but adjustable in in discrimination. I am in this situation and cant decide. :bangshead02:

[coinnut]

and you wanted a machine to relic hunt with and coin shoot old homesiites. what would be the machine for both. Not to complicated but adjustable in in discrimination. I am in this situation and cant decide. :bangshead02:


I am biased since I love my machine lol but I find the E trac to be a great turn and go machine that can be adjusted even better with some practice. I don't know much about the F75 LTD or the V3i's, so I can't comment on them. But the E trac can be used right out of the box with some great success. $2000.00 is enought of a budget to even get the 5 Sunray coil, a nice set of headphones and a great pinpointer (inline or handheld). Hope others comment on some of their favorites. Perhaps there is a multi- line dealer near you where you could get a feel for them. I'm in western MA so that probably doesn't help you try my detector out lol

[wingmaster]

I'm pretty biased as well but I would have to say the MXT, I wouldn't trade mine for any 3 other detectors no matter what they cost. The new MXTpro has some more options that would be nice to have as well. Plus with the extra money you could a few extra coils, carry case, and pinpointer as well as a digging tool and pouch. HH

[russellt]

i do know a guy who has a v3 and an MXT . he likes the MXT and the V is for sale /.. i have a love hate relationship with my V. i would get an e trac or mxt if i had it to do it all over again but at this point i have all the accessaries so i am in kind of deep with my setup money wise

[leebowhunts]

Thanks guys, I have a V3I and I struggle with it coin or yard hunting, but in the relic field its awesome. I just want something a litlle easier to use. Every setting on it has a option with a option that effects a option from the first setting you made. sounds like I am making a joke but its capable of almost anything. Exspecially driving me crazy. lol

[Evan/tn]

i do know a guy who has a v3 and an MXT . he likes the MXT and the V is for sale /.. i have a love hate relationship with my V. i would get an e trac or mxt if i had it to do it all over again but at this point i have all the accessaries so i am in kind of deep with my setup money wise

Hmmmm wonder who that could be lol
I have the V3I and the MXT. Some people have great success with the V but i find myself using the MXT most all the time now.
And yes the V3I is officially up for sale.

[CTDirtFisher]

I'm with George (Coinnut) Etrac Etac Etrac...

If you head to say... www.findmall.com (http://www.findmall.com) and look at the etrac forum.. then the V3 forum... Etrac forum is filled with finds and the V3 forum has finds more more usage/howto/whattodo posts than finds... *shrug*

In my humble opinion...as I have no experience with the V3/V3i...

[v3ikid]

If you are an experienced detectorist I would say either the V3i or the etrac. If not i would say MXT. It is a great machine to learn on. If it was me I'd do a combination of new and used and get the Etrac & the MXT or the V3i & the MXT. One used and one new should get you close to the $2000.00 and you would have two good detectors to play with. Use them for awhile and see which fits the bill.

[MartinL]

Thanks guys, I have a V3I and I struggle with it coin or yard hunting, but in the relic field its awesome. I just want something a litlle easier to use. Every setting on it has a option with a option that effects a option from the first setting you made. sounds like I am making a joke but its capable of almost anything. Exspecially driving me crazy. lol


Every setting on it has a option with a option that effects a option from the first setting you made.

Maybe this is the achille's heel of the V3i. Those touting the machine as stellar, but say you have to tinker with the stock program settings and get a personal feel for it, either leave out the fact that the V3i's brain gets easily confused with a simple change here and there, and more than usually demands a restore of a lib file to recover, OR, they are trying to sell you one ;-)

The V3i would NOT be my choice, yet I bought one since I am a techy guy in all other parts of life. I hear great things about the Etrac, and if buying in the White's line, the MXT. The V3i is a tinker's toy in metal detectors IMO. I doubt there are hardly any veteran THs who'd honestly say that they'd reach for the V3i first from their quiver, if beginning a group competition hunt. Betcha you'd see many MXT machines, as well as Etracks when the starting gates are opened though ;-) Martin

[top pop top]

I use the MXT with the D-2 10 coil and it is a great combination. The MXT is easy to use and costs around $1,000.There are lots of coils to pick from to. With the cost of gas you will need that exta money to get to places to hunt lol Hope that helps and good luck.

[Carver]

I was gonna say an E-Trac or an MXT ,,but having used a Whites M6 as much as I have,,,for simplicity and great depth,,,,,and price,,,the M6 is an awesome choice thumbsup01 thumbsup01 thumbsup01 thumbsup01 thumbsup01

[1147SILVER]

I was talking to a gentlemen on the beach and he told me this fact i have used the best machines over the past 20 years there is and I have wasted a lot of money till I found the etrac nothing beats it simply nothing.


Steve

ps no site is hunted out till it is etacd out.

[CyberSage]

I would wait another 6 months and save some more, and by both the V3, and the Etrac. It's not all about the detector you choose to swing. Irregardless of your choice, you have to dedicate yourself to learning the machine. Hunting technique is more important. I know the potential of the V3. I see what E-Trac users dig up, and know it's capability. It's all about dedication to the craft at this level. If you think the right machine is all that is standing between you and great finds, you are mistaken. just get one of them and do the work.

[yazoo]

Amen, Jack well said!!It just takes the time and understanding of what you got to be successful.I have about 3 main things I adjust on a hunt,because I have settled on a program and deviate very little. You do not have to use all of the options and sub options to get great function.A lot of those are for the teckies I feel. Not really needed but fun to play with.It comes down to what you are comfortable with, if you doubt what you have ,you already started defeating yourself.That's why we are all called individuals. Learn and Love what you got and you will find the goodies. Its all for fun anyway. Proud user of the V3i. Yazoo

[JTGOLD]

I have used a dfx,xlt, e-track,but if I had 2000.00 I would buy myself another M6 and DX-1 and use one as back up,great depth and eazy turn on and go machine.

[Spike]

I have never used a V3 but I own a DFX and as far as out of the box good I would find it hard to believe you could beat the E-trac it is simple and hassle free adjust it to the way you like it and there is hardly ever a reason to change any settings or fight EMIs just hunt thumbsup01 If not for discrimination not as adjustable believe it or not the At pro for the money is not that far behind

[MartinL]

I would wait another 6 months and save some more, and by both the V3, and the Etrac. It's not all about the detector you choose to swing. Irregardless of your choice, you have to dedicate yourself to learning the machine. Hunting technique is more important. I know the potential of the V3. I see what E-Trac users dig up, and know it's capability. It's all about dedication to the craft at this level. If you think the right machine is all that is standing between you and great finds, you are mistaken. just get one of them and do the work.


You do have to admit though Jack, that the V3i seems to get the thumbs down way, WAY more than most any other expensive machine these days. I can't say that I've heard anything bad about the Etrak. I respectfully have to disagree with...It's not all about the detector you choose to swing. If a machine such as the V3i gets SOOO much flack like it does, then I have to think it does make a difference what detector you swing, and which one not to toss over a thousand bucks into. I personally thought that the V3i was at least parallel to the MXT out of the box, and THEN improvable with the myriad of parameters to trick with. Turn on and go, it aint, well maybe in a tot lot with no need to read universal depths without making changes and losing hunting time. White's overstated when they made that advertisement about turn on and go. JMPHO, martin

[LEROY]

I turned my V3i on and went. Started finging cions as soon as i turned it on and I've never had an MD in my hand before. I've had it about 1 1/2 months and found 13 silvers. I dont adjust alot just run it wide open and dig the coins. Target ID is right almost all the time and the V3i will tell you what each adjustment does its great. I LOVE IT . Leebowhunts get the V3i. Martin get an E-trac.

[RWJR13]

......Look at Garretts AT PRO.............

[MartinL]

I turned my V3i on and went. Started finging cions as soon as i turned it on and I've never had an MD in my hand before. I've had it about 1 1/2 months and found 13 silvers. I dont adjust alot just run it wide open and dig the coins. Target ID is right almost all the time and the V3i will tell you what each adjustment does its great. I LOVE IT . Leebowhunts get the V3i. Martin get an E-trac.


All my money is tied up in livin', along with the V3i. It was supposed to be the last detector I'd ever need, and it may very well be in time. Post #5 indicates that Leebowhunts already owns a V3i himself. I suspect that you were generalizing. Me? I would have to move the V3i to make room for the Etrac, unless I hit the lottery, THEN, Etracs for everyone! martin

[RWJR13]

.....Well I hope you hit it Martin... :happydance01:..until then I'll hold my breath........... <}........

[MartinL]

.....Well I hope you hit it Martin... :happydance01:..until then I'll hold my breath........... <}........


So you do want me to include you on my list for an Etrac when the pick6 rolls in my direction ;-)

I would enjoy seeing the AT Pro in action, they sound like winners so far. Let me know if you ever have a planned hunt in N. Dallas, Richardson or even further north. I still want that stuff for the v3i. You have my e-mail address. martin

[Toadman]

I would stay away from the v3... seems it's 90 % nightmares.....

[Spike]

Just a review I found so you all dont think I am :crazy: rofl


AT Pro sets a new higher bar
Detector in Dodge City, KS -
I've used many of detector in my 30+ years of metal detecting, and enjoy trying all the different models. Every now and then I find a detector that sets a new height in the bar of standards, and the AT Pro has done just that.<br /> <br /> All new detector seem to be subject to close scrutiny and so they should be. The AT Pro is not without fault, but, greatness often gets misunderstood. My AT Pro exhibits the coil issue I've seen others call a faulty coil but I'm not fully convinced that it is indeed a faulty coil, or just the nature of the beast. All my other detectors exhibit the same false'ing when adjust to be very very sensitive. The AT Pro by default is very very sensitive.<br /> <br /> I had my AT Pro from box to front yard testing in 20 minutes. It hit every target in my test garden accurately and easily. I did some air testing and was amazed at the AT Pro's sensitivity to gold. Nothing less than amazing. It hit on 14k gold rings at greater than 12. Absolutely NONE of my other detectors have come close to that depth on gold period.<br /> <br /> I did a good head-to-head with my E-Trac in the city park and the AT Pro could see every coin the E-Trac saw even at the E-Tracs limits. I will say the E-Trac did give a more accurate TID and tone ID, but time with the AT Pro would undoubtedly narrow that ratio. The AT Pro was far superior in depth on gold than the E-Trac.<br /> <br /> The AT Pro has very good recovery time and even helped recover 2 deep old coins that the E-Trac could only see from one direction. The AT Pro hit well from all sides. I also attribute a nice gold bracelet found at a tot lot to the AT Pro's fast recovery. It was found 3 away from a metal swing poll and had been there for some time as it had dirt packed in the lettering. We had hunted this tot lot many many times with many different detector and had missed this one. Probably due to being masked by the metal poll.<br /> <br /> I think Garrett has a real winner in the AT Pro and the others will be playing catch up. The task now for competitors is to produce this quality of performance at the same price.






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[exsquid]

Sorry but sounds like more Ford vs Chevy chit chat... lol

Jack said a mouthful...Learn what you got at your disposal and you will do great...don't learn it and you will find reason to whine and pout all the time. There are still guys using 25+ year old machines that could kick most anyones tail using whoever's technology cause they are one with their machine. Opinions are like belly-buttons and everybody's got one... do the time with the machine and you will find stuff.

On the programmable machines start with the factory settings and put a good 100 hours in so you can see the differences when you tweak a setting. Don't change 50 things and wonder why you cannot find anything anymore when you don't know why you changed something in the first place.

The more technical the machine the slower you better take it till you know how to use each setting individually then with the in relation to the other settings. Even the turn on and go knob machines need your undivided attention when starting to truly understand the language they are using to talk to you.

All the machines are basically great that is why you have M6 users (and others with other brands) for example not spending more money to buy some higher dollar machine...

To each his own...just keep it fun, and if the machine makes it frustrating or makes you feel like your missing something then get something else..if you don't believe in your hardware, your finsihed you just don't know it yet. :yes:

Most important put your coil over targets or it really does not matter what machine you use... lol

Happy Hunting!

[MartinL]

I would wait another 6 months and save some more, and by both the V3, and the Etrac. It's not all about the detector you choose to swing. Irregardless of your choice, you have to dedicate yourself to learning the machine. Hunting technique is more important. I know the potential of the V3. I see what E-Trac users dig up, and know it's capability. It's all about dedication to the craft at this level. If you think the right machine is all that is standing between you and great finds, you are mistaken. just get one of them and do the work.


I would wait another 6 months and save some more, and by both the V3, and the Etrac.

That would be sweet Jack! The V3i is fun! I give the V3i shots at times, but it is a surprising machine once tuned. I am getting better because of the support here, and by personally slowing way down, plus by not fiddling with it a lot . Having an Etrac too would be the bee's knees, as Mel would say ;-)

[LeoninCali]

I went side by side with an e-trac recently with my V3 and it seen ever signal that the e-trac seen with acurate results....I have been useing the V3 for about 2 years now...At first it was frustrating...I would shelf it an go back to old reliable XLT.....But eventually I got use to the V3 and have never looked back. I have pulled barber dimes from at least 8+ inches knowing I was digging silver....granted i did have to build a program in the machine to do this.....I like the V3 and have not even upgraded it to the V3i.......If you don't get used to a machine you will not be happy with none of them that are on the market.