This past week I was able to do some side by side comparisons of the Equinox 800 and the Etrac. I have used the Etrac since 2012 and have done quite well with it over the past 6+ years and then this past Spring I bought the Equinox 800. I do not believe I know/understand half of the capabilities of the Etrac and probably less than 25% of the capabilities of the Equinox.
The spot where I did the side by side detecting was the spot that my kids and I found 40 buttons that are War of 1812 era. The area is iron nail infested and covers about a 30ft by 50ft rectangle and has a burn pile inside of the area that is even denser with iron. In this area 35 of the 40 buttons were found. Outside of this area the nails are much less dense and I feel pretty confident that the Etrac would have seen these targets if I would have had the forethought to grab the Etrac and swing it over the target before I dug it. It was not until day 3 when we spent the entire time in the nail infested area that I used the Etrac to see what it could or in this case could NOT see. BTW I had both machines with the stock 11'' DD coil and I did the normal ground balance or noise cancel when I would start swinging.
So day 3 yielded 31 buttons and all came from this area. My kids and I shared the Etrac and the Equinox...5 people detecting with 2 machines. To make this short the Etrac saw NOTHING! An iron peep here and there but that was it. I found nothing using a 2 tone ferrous program on the Etrac. Now the Equinox was finding targets AND some ended up being some great big old square nails but most of the targets were non ferrous items.
Since no one was having any success with the Etrac I asked my mom to get the 6 inch coil. All of the targets (not including the burn pile) were anywhere from 2-6 inches deep. I have had no issues detecting button size objects 6 to even 8 inches deep with my 6 inch coil on my Etrac. Success! a burnt button was detected with the Etrac! Well a little tongue in cheek there. It pains me to say it since I LOVE the Etrac for so many years and it has been SO good to me but the difference was VERY clear! The Equinox kicked BUTT!!!
My boys were taking a shovel to the burn pile and then probing it for buttons with the Garrett Carrot. They had success doing this but would also run the Equinox over it and hear a tone or 2 and then probe those areas pulling out 3 or 4 nails before finding the button. My guess is that at least 20 of the buttons on day 3 were found by the Equinox. For those keeping score that is Equinox - 20; Carrott - 10; and Etrac - 1
Is this the "perfect" side by side comparison? No. Did I write down all of the settings? No. Did I video it? No. But it was real! I was there. I experienced it. I believe it! Pass me the Cool Aid because I'm thirsty!
Another thought to chew on...why were there 40 buttons found at a previously detected site? Did the guy who discovered this place grid this iron area? I have no idea but I would think so. He has a very nice machine too...A White's...
I must say this as well...This was the perfect site to show the Equinox's strengths and the perfect site to show the Etrac's weaknesses. If I was detecting a site that has little to moderate iron then the Etrac will find just about everything. BUT if you have a site that is iron infested and you want to dig every non ferrous target then you might want to consider trying an Equinox.
Thanks for reading all that. I hope I did not rub anyone the wrong way but just trying to be honest about what I experienced this past week.
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