Mark,

My experiences with sensitivity on the E-Trac were almost exactly like yours. I would read of other E-Trac users having success hunting in manual sensitivity, but when I would try it the extra chirping and falsing would drive me nuts so I would switch back to Auto +3.

Then one day I was hunting at my favorite park where I had found many great coins over a period of several months. I had gridded this park from every conceivable direction and the finds were really becoming few and far between. So I decided to try hunting with my sensitivity set in manual at 27. In short order I found 4 deeper Indian Heads and 2 Barber Dimes in an area that I had gone over many, many times in Auto +3.

That made a believer out of me. From that day on I have hunted with my sensitivity in Manual 27 almost exclusively. Eventually you get used to the extra chirps, and you just ignore the signals that don't repeat.

Yes, you will still find some good, deep targets while hunting in Auto, I certainly did OK in that mode for the first year of owning my E-Trac. But it became clear to me that by hunting in Manual 27 I was finding targets that were just an inch or two deeper. I was missing these targets by hunting in Auto.

My advice would be to hunt in the mode that is most enjoyable for you. If you can't stand the extra chirping and falsing in a high manual sensitivity setting, then you will still find good stuff in Auto. However, you might try forcing yourself to hunt in Manual 27 for a couple of long hunts just to see if you eventually get used to it.

Best of luck!