Value Of E-trac

[Mike Hillis]

I just recently paid $600 for an great condition Etrac with 2 weeks of warranty left on it (basically three years old) and I thought I got a STEAL of a deal at that price.   Felt like a bandit and still do.    I find the Etrac to be an excellent metal detector.   Already found 1 diamond engagement ring with it, which I'll post about later after I get the picture taken.   

Most are selling around $750 to $850.

HH
Mike

[bado1]

If I were forced to choose between my E-Trac and my Nox...I would keep the Nox!  It wouldn't  be a tough choice actually. The E-Trac is a back-up unit now. I wouldn't sell my E-Trac for less than $750.

Dean

  

[Norm S]

Well I am going to ask $650 including shipping.. I just got my E-600 and my E-800 back from being repaired and the E-600 is every bit as good as the E-800. I only bought the E-800 for the gold feature because I go to AZ and NV every year and want to try searching for gold. 

Again I took out the 600 today for the 1st time and hunted the same park as I did with the 800 and I found 9 quarters and one dime in less than a hour and I found 7 quarters and 8 dimes with the 800 in an hour. 

I have now pulled out over $100 in that park and as many pock marks as there are someone else had to do equally as good. 

I need to grid the park because i am finding coins in areas I already hunted so by extrapolating I am guessing there is another $50. 

I also hit a hunted out soccer park and it is finally hunted out. I found one penny in an hour and the last time I was there I only found about $1 with my E-Trac

[☠ Cipher]

I personally think the prices of all machines not named Equinox have nowhere to go but down. Now is the best time to unload machines like the etrac and CTX-3030. Once those 600s and 800s reach enough hands and production is keeping up with demand, values will begin the plummet.

In line with Steve's comment about old computers, I remember when I first purchased my 2012 MacBook Pro. With its maxed out specs it was once a $3,200 machine. Now I think I'd be lucky to get $500-$600 for it. Metal detectors hold value longer than that obviously, but that downhill slide is coming very soon with the Equinox meeting most people's expectations, and other machines about to hit the market over the next year or two.

I've spent significant time with many FBS machines, including the CTX-3030, and countless hours in research about any machines that matter. and my personal opinion is that the Equinox is every bit as deep as those machines, and not just with silver. But the Equinox is also more sensitive and deeper on Gold than the FBS machines. It's faster than the FBS machines, lighter than FBS machines, and better balanced across all conductors. All it lacks is access to some of the playthings.

It could very well be possible that Minelab's marketing did not expect the Equinox to be as good as it actually is against machines in its own stable. But in neither case do I think they are shooting themselves in the foot. The Equinox is a huge success. The high demand for it is something you usually only see in mainstream tech devices. You look at the CTX and it has to be expensive to produce. The Equinox looks comparatively much cheaper to produce and they are better off selling boat loads of machines at $649-$900 (mostly $900) than a few CTX and etrac at $1,500-$2,500.  

[Norm S]

For me it's pretty simple. I never took to the Etrac and never took to my V3i even though I did well with both. The Etrac was simple in comparison to the V3i but I just never liked either.  

I prefer to swing faster and although I don't like digging coins over 8" deep I like the depth. I never got used to the faint sounds either of them were giving me and I dug way more trash than I should have. I love the separation of the Equinox it seems hit on every coin even there are multiple coins close to each other. 

It's all about what we like.  

I hunted with a buddy that had a CTX and he'd been hunting over 30 years and I did as well with my AT Pro and V3i as he did with his CTX. I chalked it up to luck. He hit a find of $240 silver dollars at an old tavern site that had been hunted to death.

[Luki]

I'm sorry guys, but I think many e-trac users are wrong with the settings. if programmed well in every subfunction the e-trac will reveal every type of target and material. impossible to think that a VLF can beat etrac fbs, especially in medium and highly mineralized soils. now the vlf have reached their peak, e-trac is more than a vlf .. is more similar to Gpx even if not pulse induction. Equinox will be one of the best single-frequency or multiple detectors, but it will never beat e-trac. why the minelab writes: "the equinox beats every single frequency vlf on today's market!" but attention, to "single frequency"! not fbs tecnology! only on the low mineralization grounds equinox will have all the advantages, but as soon as the mineralization rises, things change! even Chales Garrett years ago advertised his Garrett 2500GTI as a single frequency vlf deeper than any FBS or multifrequency, indeed this is true and provable simply in air tests. but in the ground with minerals the situation is reversed above all in disc mode!

I had hundreds of metal detectors of all prices and made various tests on my Italian lands, beware, in Italy the land has many more minerals than in America or England. especially in my Italian areas but FBS, if used well, remains at the top of the vlf ranking. obviously the GPX pulse series is a separate category

[Luki]

with what I wrote, I do not want to say that equinox is not a good car, indeed, it is one of the best detectors ever made. It has many advantages over the ETC, such as waterproofing, lower weight, integrated wireless headsets and more responsiveness ... but it will not find more than etrac. except if the user of etrac is not expert in his

[Luki]

a trivial example on etrac ... if you want better sounds and more speed you can switch from Multitone to 4 tones, it gets faster and acquires the sounds of its predecessors explorer, but it stays faster with the processor increased compared to explorer!

in fact, many users have complained about the ugly sounds emitted by etrac compared to previous explorer models, in fact many have sold etrac to buy back explorer xs or explorer if, for me the two best models in the explorer series ... but as I wrote just switch from Multi to 4 tones to get back the sounds so loved .. this is an example of the most trivial, but makes the difference, since the metal detector also becomes faster and more responsive than Multitoni! There are few settings on etrac, which must be set according to the type of search, the type of target and especially the type of terrain, this is essential to better appreciate the technology fbs etrac! the equinox already has the largest settings made by the factory, it is more a "turn on and go" and then the most beginners will see an immediate advantage compared to etrac ... but who is using etrac ??

[Luki]

the Multitone mode, however, has its advantages compared to the 4 tones for other types of research ... then we want to talk about "Neutral" or "Difficult"? of "Fast" or "Deep" ?? etc ... etc ... many users leave the factory settings or make a program and use it without changing the settings for each type of research, how can you expect to have the best performances ?? this was the biggest mistake made by White's! and keep doing it for many years !! its detectors are too difficult to use and have too many sub-functions, menus, etc. .. but who can ever be able to make the most of it? so it will go like a mid-range detector and is practically useless. The etrac is much faster to program and has few basic parameters, but the ones it has must be rightly set

[Luki]

I can probably be wrong about equinox, as I also read that it has 5 simultaneous frequencies. This can also make a difference on mineralized soils. Unfortunately I had hundreds of metal detectors of the best, but these latest models like Equinox, Makro Multikruzer or Nokta Impact have not had the chance to try them. but the fact remains that if well used etrac can find most of the signals in all conditions.

I would never sell my etrac for other vlf.