Mike - thanks for the excellent read! I would rather read a dozen in-depth, lengthy responses like that than see pictures of what everybody's finding....that really helps in my understanding of it and helps me improve. I think it's interesting...I had my Etrac for about 2.5yrs before I sold it and got this 3030. I was really good (IMO anyway) with it and knew how to address the subtleties of what it was telling me. I have only had the 3030 since February/March and although I knew it was a different detector, I never expected the learning curve to be this high based on what I knew from the Etrac. I still feel like I'm throwing a hail mary every time I go out because I feel like I'm only confident in digging the best, clearest signals. For example, while I was reading your response there I was thinking about some of what I see on my screen with target trace. I have noticed there are a lot of signals that, if I was going on audio alone (i.e. using my Etrac) I would have dug. With target trace on though, I have not dug certain signals that sounded decent but had a lot of "splatter" on the screen. I remember reading several times that "splatter" indicated dispersed rust, so I'd move on in search of something more clear. Wonder what I've been passing over!? I'm kind of tempted to turn trace off for awhile to see how it goes.
Right around when I switched to the 3030, a good friend of mine went from the AT Pro to an Etrac because he had seen how well I was doing with it. I've been working with him on it but I was telling him the other day there's certain things that I can't really explain about how to interpret signals and that it's just something you have to "see for yourself". I can think of two major times with my Etrac that were serious "a ha" moments for me where it completely changed how I looked at situations or signals. I have yet to have one of those moments with my 3030 (granted, my hunting time is maybe 1/3 of what it was last year - my son was born in November. Now I just have to get him interested when he gets older so we can go together!)
Anyway - I wanted to ask you...you mentioned the "pinpoint trace/lock hunting mode that has been discussed here before". Are you talking about the videos that sube has been posting where he's getting poor trace marks until he uses pinpoint mode? If not, could you link something so I can see what you're talking about? I've read through about two years' worth of stuff on here since getting my 3030 so I'm sure I've seen it, just not sure I'm thinking of the same thing you're talking about!
Thanks again!
Right around when I switched to the 3030, a good friend of mine went from the AT Pro to an Etrac because he had seen how well I was doing with it. I've been working with him on it but I was telling him the other day there's certain things that I can't really explain about how to interpret signals and that it's just something you have to "see for yourself". I can think of two major times with my Etrac that were serious "a ha" moments for me where it completely changed how I looked at situations or signals. I have yet to have one of those moments with my 3030 (granted, my hunting time is maybe 1/3 of what it was last year - my son was born in November. Now I just have to get him interested when he gets older so we can go together!)
Anyway - I wanted to ask you...you mentioned the "pinpoint trace/lock hunting mode that has been discussed here before". Are you talking about the videos that sube has been posting where he's getting poor trace marks until he uses pinpoint mode? If not, could you link something so I can see what you're talking about? I've read through about two years' worth of stuff on here since getting my 3030 so I'm sure I've seen it, just not sure I'm thinking of the same thing you're talking about!
Thanks again!