explorer,excaliber or etrack?

[dances with badgers]

hello peeps .i just got a pay rise and the missus starts a new job tomorrow so i am saving for a minelab .what would you say was the best for finding gold at the beach an explorer,excaliber or etrack?is the etrack really worth the extra dosh?appart from the extra programing capabilities is it really that much better on depth?cheers guys any info would appreciated.mike

[Chef Geoff]

Hi Mike, the Etrac is no deeper on the beach than either the Explorer or the Excalibur, but what it does have is a better target id in the way of tones and so you don't dig as many rubbish targets. the Excalibur is the deepest for beaches by far but if you are not intending going in the water with it then save your money and buy a Sovereign, as it's only a Sov in a wetsuit. In fact I have an old Sov xs2a which goes a little deeper than the new Excalibur.
But if you want an all around detector for beaches and inland then the Etrac is the king.

PS. no detector is going to be better than any other at finding gold, gold is only a metal the same as any other. It's conductivity is only about 80% efficient as copper and so has nothing special about it other than it's obvious value, but because of this value it tends to be only found as a small target and so the higher frequency machines are slightly better at detecting it. The fbs and bbs machines are of course multi frequency.

[waltonbasinman]

Chef your knowledge and understanding of all things detecting never fail to astound me. You should buy out all the shops and become a Master like figure in Doctor Who ( if you ever watched it ). Seriously though Chef we should have a section on here called Ask Chef. I will have a word with Rob.

[dances with badgers]

cheers chef.i will be having a go with an explorer and a sovereign this weekend.let you know how i get on

[nobby]

i would seriously consider a p.i detector for the beach!!.........i m sure chef can tell us why 

[Chef Geoff]

Your right Nobby, but unless you are going to spend mega bucks on a top class P.I. machine then you are not going to get much advantage over the Sovereign. Also British beaches are notoriously trashy and remember PI's have no discrimination to speak of.
The reason that the P.I. machines are deeper than conventional VLF machines is for two reasons, 1/ they are not effected by normal mineralisation and so can use greater power, 2/ and most importantly is, in a simplified sense, their coils only have one one element. It sends out a pulse as a transmitter then changes and receives the returning signal with the same element (thus the name pulse), this means that the element is not effected by the proximity of another element. (if you were to send as much power through a VLF coil it would start detecting the other element). All this apply's to land as much as beach, but who wants to dig a nail at 2 foot.
Good ones will cost you a lot of money eg the new Minelab gpx5000 will set you back a cool £5000, but keep an eye out for any of the older Eric Foster GoldScan machines as they are great on the beaches and can be had for under £200 on ebay.

[JRD]

I have just got my E-Trac and I am loving it - well worth the money. The target id tones (like Geoff said) is awesome - you really know when you got a coin and I have only used it for a couple of hours so far.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

[Chef Geoff]

Well done JRD glad to hear it, You give weight to my argument that the Etrac is an easy machine to learn, regardless of what certain Minelab "Guru's" would have you believe. Also Taff picked it up within a couple of days use, I think it is easier if you are coming to it "fresh", Neither yourself nor Taff have used any Explorers before and you are not having any major problems, But I and quite a few other ex-Explorer users felt like hurling over the hedge after a couple of weeks.
Keep it up and good hunting

[dances with badgers]

i have wangled a lend of an explorer tomorrow so will see how i get on. i would love to get an etrack but the prices are a bit steep (the missus says there a bit steep).lol.thanks for the advice guys

[Pipster]

I also have just had a new E-trac and with the help from Geoff and Taff I'm now finding my way around this beast , After just a couple of hours I was feeling very confident  a super machine 

[dances with badgers]

i had a go of my cousins explorer for a couple of hours on his farm yesterday but found it difficult to pinpoint a target,is this common or just due to my lack of experience with it?going to borrow it again next weekend and try it at the beach.

[The Doc]

Until you get used to it (sometimes not even then), the Explorer is notoriously bad at pinpointing.

[Chef Geoff]

As Peter has said they are or more correctly were notorious in pin pointing, this was more down to the coil than the actual machine. but pin pointing has got better with each model. I have never had a problem with either the SE or Etrac and although I can't be positive I believe that the original (and by the way arguably deepest) Explorer XS fitted with a Pro coil would work better than with the standard coil.

[Neil]

I still struggle to pinpoint with my Explorer II which can be very frustrating, why they haven't added the increasing tone and circle of the X Terra models is beyond me. Easy to pinpoint with an X-Terra.

[davtec (dave)]

E/trac is the best at pinpoint without a doubt