Makro Racer GOLD - Field Test

I have had a Makro Racer Gold for quite some time now...... but have been putting all time/labor/effort into the Racer-2. I received the Racer-2 and Makro Racer Gold in January. It is now March. All of this time (winter) .... is 'inland hunting season'. There are virtually no beach-goers........ so the beach is not time/efficient.

So far, I have been testing the Racer Gold on the test-bench....... and have graduated it to the test-garden. When beach season starts...... I will test/use the RG on the beach.

On the bench...... and in the test-gargen....... the RG is stunning. It fully qualifies as a 'micro-jewelry' capable hunting unit. There is even a strong possibility that it will trump the Fisher Gold Bug-2. More testing & evaluation will determine this.

* The RG is much more powerful/sensitive in DISC2 mode........ even over ALL METAL mode.

* Sens does need to be at 93 or higher.

* ID filter does need to be set quite low........ which allows more audible intelligibility.

* iMask best selection is '0'

* So far...... Tone Break best setting is '33'.

* Dry silica/quartz sand allows a Grnd Bal setting of (factory) 90.

* Dry silica/quartz sand also allows for 'Tracking' to be off. (Preferred option/selection).

* Unit will detect a nickel (in real beach sand) at depths slightly beyond 13".

Some quirks about the unit: Some of my gold micro-jewelry targets will ID in the high 30's. Beware! As....... the iron scaling of this unit is 00-40. Hence, my ID Filter (Disc) being at lower settings.... and...... especially...... Tone Break at '33'.
A clad dime ID's as '86'. A clad quarter ID's as '89'. Neither of these two conditions are any form of a problem.
So far....... I have only tested the 10" elliptical coil. . . . . . . which is the preferred coil for nearly all dry sand beach hunting conditions.

It really feels like this RG detector is a cross-between of a Fisher Gold Bug-2 and Fisher Gold Bug Pro. It would not surprise me if Fisher (very quietly) sold the I.P. & associated patent(s) to Nokta/Makro. TOO many similarities. ((((And this may not be a bad thing either)))).
I am very 'comfortable' with this unit. Very little learning-curve.

More to follow...... as beach season starts to open.

Sounds great! Thanks for the info Tom.

John

Thanks for the report Tom.
I'm glad to see your Disc. 2 findings as being more powerful than All Metal.
I noticed this too when I first got mine but thought maybe I just didn't have it set up right when testing.
The Gold Bug Pro/Gold Bug 2 cross also struck me.
I ran the GB Pro for a couple of years and the Gold Racer does feel a lot like the GB Pro only hotter and much more
sensitive. Very smooth.
I have very little time on my Gold Racer so far but it does seem like a very unique detector.
Nothing out there like it that I know of.
Can't wait to put some time on it.
Bryan

Super start to testing the Gold Tom. I'm seeing on the new Gold models they have gone to a 2.4 set of headphones with no dongle . Has anyone seen them yet? Thanks JR

The dongle free units are not out yet I found after talking to the distributor. Not a problem as I like to use earbuds in the summer. Ordered mine and should be here this week. Coil is waterproof and the RG fits the way I will be hunting in the dry sand. My ET will cover the wet sand. Hope to use it in the Fla. Keys when on vacation in the next week.

Sounds great Tom! I'm inching on getting a Racer gold, for nugget hunting and maybe for Relic hunts.

Thanks for report!

Paul

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NASA-Tom
Makro Racer GOLD - Field Test
I have had a Makro Racer Gold for quite some time now...... but have been putting all time/labor/effort into the Racer-2. I received the Racer-2 and Makro Racer Gold in January. It is now March. All of this time (winter) .... is 'inland hunting season'. There are virtually no beach-goers........ so the beach is not time/efficient.

So far, I have been testing the Racer Gold on the test-bench....... and have graduated it to the test-garden. When beach season starts...... I will test/use the RG on the beach.

No salt water beaches where I live in Eastern Oregon, but there are a lot of Gold Nugget hunting locations 'out west' with the closest gold mining towns to me only about 40-55 miles away. The Makro Gold Racer is an exceptional performer for its intended purpose, chasing smaller-size gold nuggets, but it is also a very capable detector for hunting gold jewelry, and works pretty well in the Relic Hunting locations I work, like the gold mining camps and towns, homesteads, stage stops, etc.

I prefer my Nokta FORS Relic and Makro Racer 2 for most of my Relic Hunting, but have toted my Gold Racer along while evaluating the Racer 2 and Relic and have had the opportunities to work both the 5½1X10 standard DD coil and smaller round 5" DD in many applications doing evaluations. I usually don't have a 'test garden,' but since I moved here to Vale, Oregon last October, I plan to re-do some of my yard and make a dedicated 'test garden' this spring ... for what it's worth. I have always preferred to just hunt and find targets in their natural lost environment because there are often challenges that we can't really duplicate in a 'test bed' scenario.

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NASA-Tom
Makro Racer GOLD - Field Test
On the bench...... and in the test-gargen....... the RG is stunning. It fully qualifies as a 'micro-jewelry' capable hunting unit. There is even a strong possibility that it will trump the Fisher Gold Bug-2. More testing & evaluation will determine this.

* The RG is much more powerful/sensitive in DISC2 mode........ even over ALL METAL mode.

Interesting. I do a lot of hunting with all my detectors in a Threshold-based All Metal mode at times, and I have worked a couple of Gold Racer models using both the 5½X10 and 5" DD coils, intentionally doing some search mode comparisons, and I have always had a slightly deeper response in All Metal than in the Disc. 2 position. I have matched the Gain settings at '85', '90', and '95' to check performance, and while the Disc. 2 mode has a much noticeable increase over Disc. 1, by design and for a purpose, the All Metal mode gets just slightly better depth or a deeper target response. I am referring to both my 'in air' and 'in-ground' target tests or encounters.

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NASA-Tom
Makro Racer GOLD - Field Test
* Sens does need to be at 93 or higher.

* ID filter does need to be set quite low........ which allows more audible intelligibility.

* iMask best selection is '0'

* So far...... Tone Break best setting is '33'.

I also run with a very low ID Filter (Discrimination) setting, and my Tone Break is set at '30' just to give a little more cushion. Those very low conductive gold jewelry items can read down into the upper Ferrous range, and some of the fresh water beaches I hunt and park and recreation locations where gold jewelry might be hiding out have some very higher mineralization and coarse dark iron-rich sand or pea gravel. That tends to influence some desired targets to produced a lower numeric ID response.

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NASA-Tom
Makro Racer GOLD - Field Test
* Dry silica/quartz sand allows a Grnd Bal setting of (factory) 90.

* Dry silica/quartz sand also allows for 'Tracking' to be off. (Preferred option/selection).

I seldom use 'Tracking' and only at times in the All Metal mode. Never in the motion Disc. modes. I do hunt some interesting alkaline areas, and when wet, as they have been recently, they can require manual Ground Balancing because the reading is quite low and the automated GB doesn't function well. This condition can result in a 'no-change' of the default GB of '90' at times, or even give me a varying GB reading in the '30' to '50' range when I try the automated GB function over some ground and rocks that typically report a '78' to '87' Ground Phase read-out.

I have mixed a salt water solution to try and mimic hunting a salt water beach over mineralized soil and I usually get my best setting my doing a manual GB. I won't be working a salt water environment until May when I get to the Great Salt Lake in Utah, which is much more of a challenge than any of our ocean coastal beaches. I'm glad the Nokta/Makro Detector 'team' wisely provided us the benefit on Manual GB in addition to the Automated 'Ground Grab' method or Tracking.

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NASA-Tom
Makro Racer GOLD - Field Test
* Unit will detect a nickel (in real beach sand) at depths slightly beyond 13".

The LF 56 kHz Gold Racer does lose a bit of depth potential over the other lower-frequency Makro and Nokta models, but it is still quite impressive on the lower-conductive targets such as the US 5¢ coin and gold jewelry. And that's working in very mineralized ground environments. You have the ideal environment on your very nice beaches, Tom. n I haven't hunted Florida since '88 but remember the results I was getting back then. Nice!

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NASA-Tom
Makro Racer GOLD - Field Test
Some quirks about the unit: Some of my gold micro-jewelry targets will ID in the high 30's. Beware! As....... the iron scaling of this unit is 00-40. Hence, my ID Filter (Disc) being at lower settings.... and...... especially...... Tone Break at '33'.

Those low-reading targets can easily spill over into the ferrous TID range, especially as the ground conditions are worse, and I use a Tone Break setting of '30.' Another nice adjustment feature to have on the Gold Racer.

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NASA-Tom
Makro Racer GOLD - Field Test
A clad dime ID's as '86'. A clad quarter ID's as '89'. Neither of these two conditions are any form of a problem.
So far....... I have only tested the 10" elliptical coil. . . . . . . which is the preferred coil for nearly all dry sand beach hunting conditions.

Because I deal with more brush, rocks and trash (especially iron) than you will on those beautiful beaches, my coil use time is about an even split between the 5½X10 and round 5" DD coils about 50/50.

Yes, the Gold Racer is another welcome model offered by Makro Detectors, and I look forward to reading your reports this year as you get into Beach Hunting season.

Monte

A bit more testing results.

Micro-jewelry performance is nearly the same level ..... with Ground Balance settings from 69 - 90.
Below a Grnd Bal setting of 69...... and micro-jewelry performance/detection is linearly decreased.
When Grnd Bal is on 15 (or below) .... the RG has no 'micro jewelry' detection capabilities.

This large Ground Balance span is quite good. On most detectors................ when Grnd Bal is minutely' reduced...... micro-jewelry detection immediately becomes affected.

Outstanding information MONTE and Nasa Tom, yet again! Thank you so much for your input. I might have to look at the Racer 2 or Fors Relic in my next detector!

bubba

ShovelNose has prompted me to answer/respond to his recent discovery with the Makro Racer Gold.................. in reference to..... no ID generated unless the target is within a couple of inches from the coil.

In Disc2 mode...... with a Sens setting of around 60; yes, the detection of a Nickel is quite deep; yet, a VDI ID is not generated until the nickel is within a few inches of the coil. BUT............. when Sens is on high settings....such as 98....... the detection range of the nickel is exceptionally good..... BUT....... this time.............. the VDI ID will present/display out to/beyond 10".

At the lower Sens settings ........ I do find it rather annoying to have such a strong signal on most targets...... yet, the ID screen remains blank. Fortunately...... I (believe) I can get away with higher Sens settings to circumvent this condition. Also....... if the intent is to dig/recover ALL non-Fe targets...... then the ID screen becomes a 'secondary' data-point/input.............. as.................. you are going to recover the target anyway.

Spring Break will start soon.................................... and this is the very beginnings of the 'opening of beach detecting season'. Right now........ to go use this detector for one of its primary design intents........ (micro-jewelry hunting)......... would be a moot point..... as .... a winter beach presents close to zero 'summer scenario' finds.

The Makro Gold Racer is one of my favorite detectors ever. I wanted White's to make a 50 kHz MXT and they never would. I have also told people it was what I think a Gold Bug 3 might have been if there ever had been one. I have used the Gold Bug 2 since having one of the very first ones made and when I got my first prototype Gold Racer I sold my last Gold Bug 2 and have not regretted it yet. I still think the Gold Bug 2 with 6" coil has the edge for the tiniest targets but we are talking stuff weighing less than 1/10th grain (480 grains per ounce). The Gold Racer more than makes up for any possible difference with the array of features it offers.

Anyway Tom, I thought it interesting you think of both the Gold Racer is "a cross between of a Fisher Gold Bug-2 and Fisher Gold Bug Pro". Prior to owning the Gold Racer I had both the Gold Bug 2 and the Gold Bug Pro and found the Gold Racer to be sufficient to my needs such that it directly replaced both those detectors in my collection. The Racer 2 just replaced my F75. Real life practical decision and can't bode well for Fisher. For the first time in ages I do not own a single First Texas detector. I am hoping the new tech they are working on will change that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2016 07:59PM by Steve Herschbach.

((( Noted! )))

How's the hot rocks? Is there any adjustment for the hot rock ground imbalance let's say like on the AT gold?

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Steve Herschbach
The Makro Gold Racer is one of my favorite detectors ever. I wanted White's to make a 50 kHz MXT and they never would.

Steve, I must agree with you 100%, even more if that were possible, because the Makro Gold Racer is an impressive performer and an exception to anything else out there that operates in that higher Low Frequency range for nugget hunting.

Different people running the show at White's these days, but even back in the late '90s when I was asked upstairs to an office to give some opinions on a 'project' detector that was in the MXT and GMT development stage, then after they were in production I asked why my a Gold Nugget Hunting model at the higher frequency with Discrimination. After a year or two using the MXT I asked again as I had in the past, but the answers were all basically the same: "Nobody is interested" or "Not enough interest." Sometimes it was: "Why, it is for nugget hunting?" And naturally the money angle answer: "It wouldn't be profitable." I didn't agree with the answers, but who are we ... just avid consumers.

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Steve Herschbach
I have used the Gold Bug 2 since having one of the very first ones made and when I got my first prototype Gold Racer I sold my last Gold Bug 2 and have not regretted it yet. I still think the Gold Bug 2 with 6" coil has the edge for the tiniest targets but we are talking stuff weighing less than 1/10th grain (480 grains per ounce). The Gold Racer more than makes up for any possible difference with the array of features it offers.

I haven't been into Gold Hunting like you, or lived in high-yield area like you, but I still enjoyed doing it when I had time because my 'specialty field' of detecting has been Relic Hunting, followed by Coin & Jewelry Hunting. I borrowed a Gold Bug 2, but mainly had a Gold Bug long ago, then I owned a few of the Teknetics G2's (same circuitry as the Gold Bug Pro) which worked fair, but lacked depth and decent performance on higher-conductive silver and copper targets. I had two Fisher F19's when they came out and found them to be improved over the same frequency Gold Bug Pro/G2 models on higher-conductors, and a little bit on improved depth, but they still didn't provide me the performance when Relic Hunting in iron littered sites.

Then along comes the new Makro Gold Racer, and offering what I had also hoped for and complemented by your comments and discussions on your website and elsewhere, I know it would be a 'must-have' detector. For tinier-size gold, yes, but operating in a LF range and with functional Discrimination that would work for other applications as well. Using my Gold Racer I get more impressed each time with how excellent it performs! I have a small vial with two tiny little 'pickers' in it that I have used in detecet6or demonstration and evaluation since '92 and nothing, with a variable Disc. circuit, can match what the Gold Racer can do. Using some smaller and more difficult gold jewelry samples has also left me very impressed with the performance ability.

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Steve Herschbach
Anyway Tom, I thought it interesting you think of both the Gold Racer is "a cross between of a Fisher Gold Bug-2 and Fisher Gold Bug Pro". Prior to owning the Gold Racer I had both the Gold Bug 2 and the Gold Bug Pro and found the Gold Racer to be sufficient to my needs such that it directly replaced both those detectors in my collection.

Have top agree with Steve here as I saw some pronounced differences in performance between the Gold Bug Pro and G2 then the F19's I had and parted with just with the Nokta FORS CoRe and the Makro Racer, and those were 15 kHz and 14 kHz frequency models. The similar frequency 19 kHz FORS Gold + easily out-performed the Fisher and Teknetics models for Relic Hunting and gold jewelry response, and I felt is wasn't a similar copy of them or a 'blend' of the GBP/G2 and older Gold Bug 2, nor is the Gold Racer. Not from what I have been able to see in comparisons.

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Steve Herschbach
For the first time in ages I do not own a single First Texas detector. I am hoping the new tech they are working on will change that.

Nor do I own a Teknetics or Fisher model any longer, nor any White's product (except for the Pro Star headphones), or any other major brand. All I own and use are my three favorite Tesoro models, that are grabbed for certain tasks now and then, and my versatile battery of Nokta and Makro detectors .... and the Gold Racer is an important ingredient.

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calibil
How's the hot rocks? Is there any adjustment for the hot rock ground imbalance let's say like on the AT gold?

To be honest I haven't used the AT Gold that much, and we got a fresh light layer of snow in the gold bearing regions a day or two ago so I might have a bit longer wait to get into that country, but where I have been, and with some hot rock environments I have encountered, the Gold Racer hasn't been a problem to hunt with. Between using the All Metal mode Ground Balance and iSAT settings, or making use of the Discriminate mode and functional settings, so far it is handling conditions well.

Monte

My ? is how did two brothers come from no where go to making and selling the, go to machines?
Reverse engineering combined with listening to what the customer wants and then implemting it without excuses for difficulty?

------------"Cz's still bad to the bone".------------
Living on a big ass Astroid.
The woman that got my rib,I want it back.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2016 09:08PM by supertraq.

"listening to what the customer wants"--NOT a USA thing--Products or politics.

Supertraq could you defend the charge of reverse engineering? I don't see basic 'not reinventing the wheel' similarities, but other than performance and physical similarities, just how are there internal tech rip-offs in machines that are so very different in the way they work from anything we have seen???? Or am I wrong, if so where and how?

Past(or)Tom
Using a Legend, a Deus 2, an Equinox 800, a Tarsacci MDT 8000, & a few others...
with my beloved, fading Corgi, Sadie

What's wrong with reverse engineering? I don't think it was meant as a charge or a negative. As long as copyright is not violated the best road to success is to copy success and improve on it if possible. There is not a detector made today that does not stand on the shoulders of countless detectors made before and the efforts of others.

Steve Herschbach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What's wrong with reverse engineering? I don't
> think it was meant as a charge or a negative. As
> long as copyright is not violated the best road to
> success is to copy success and improve on it if
> possible. There is not a detector made today that
> does not stand on the shoulders of countless
> detectors made before and the efforts of others.

Exactly,what's wrong with that? It's been done forever.
My point was why can two brothers from a country that is bordered by server terrorist threats and the lack of resources we have here actually give us
what the user's are asking for,maybe u.s companies should do the same.

------------"Cz's still bad to the bone".------------
Living on a big ass Astroid.
The woman that got my rib,I want it back.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2016 01:36AM by supertraq.

I have (prematurely) taken the Racer Gold on a real-world micro-jewelry hunt. Conditions were less-than-desirable; yet, I needed answers.......... could wait no longer. This Racer Gold is every bit of a micro-jewelry hunter. Once again, this unit presents extreme similarities to the Gold Bug-2 & Gold Bug Pro. In the real world........ the performance experienced was akin to the Gold Bug-2.

* I could only run Sens as high as '88'..... due to EMI. Changing F1 - F5 Freq's had zero effect.

* Disc-2 was the primary/preferred hunting mode.

* In the real world....... I was able to utilize a tone-break ......as low as........ '21'........ presenting best performance at a dry sand volleyball court on the Atlantic Ocean (Florida East Coast).

* Deep/fringe targets had a greater propensity to ID as iron. Kicking an inch of sand away would completely resolve the target.

* Grnd Balance was kept on '90'.

* ID filter was '2'.

* iMask was '0'

* Steel bottle caps were a problem; yet, a (fairly easily) learned trait. They would visually ID as a good/non-ferrous target; .........yet, the audio was 'telling'. Here is where the audio's ...... preamble // body // post-amble ...... "signature intel" comes into play. As you would sweep into (approach) a bottle cap...... a very short 'initial' (preamble) iron audio would be heard....... and would immediately proceed into a good/lengthy non-ferrous tone for the main 'body' of the audio............. immediately proceeding into a very short iron low-tone audio for the post-amble. Buzz........beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep......Buzz. ((( If that explains the audio report any better. )))
Most hyper-gain detectors on the market today have ID problems with steel bottle caps...................and......................... as usual.................... can be discerned via audio intel.
I did have two (nearly completely disintegrated) bottle caps that did NOT produce the classic 'signature' audio that most bottle caps produce; yet, could easily be ID'd as a bottle cap ....by short-stroke/wrist-snap whipping the coil over the bottle cap......... then a slow sweep over the bottle cap........... would always present a severely large ID span on the target. This is another good 'signature' of a steel bottle cap.

Pinpointing a target with a prospecting unit has always been easy....... especially with a narrow elliptical DD coil.

Although the beach-goers have been off of the beach for many months (due to winter)....... I can easily see (by the volume of targets found......and 'size' of targets found) that this unit is a 'go' for micro-jewelry hunting. It is (at minimum) equal to the performance of the Fisher Gold Bug-2....... in the real world. I need a bit more real-world raw data..... in order to make this final determination.

In a nutshell: Stunning micro-jewelry beach performer.

Good feedback Tom..

Not sure if you've tried it in a relic site But i'm more than Impressed with its ability to see low conductors Nothing Else I own sees...

Its at times tricky in thick iron and tin because of some fasling noise yet still discernable....But get right off the edge of a House site or such 150 year old type sites..and watch what the Unit will pull out of the ground even at nice depth's..

Another thing of note that goes against the grain.. is if you have the 13x15 coil attach it and watch how it hits on quarter size objects at depth and with very accurate I.D.'s..

It ignores some of the smaller stuff and goes after the bigger stuff at depth with that coil..

Good feedback Tom

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

........and a little more amplifying info that may be helpful:

* Stainless objects would commonly ID in the mid/high 20's.

* And low-conductive NON-ferrous targets would regularly ID in the high 30's.

With the above two conditions........ there is never a problem as long as tone-break (a form of audio discrimination) was set properly.

Keith, , , , I have yet to take this unit on a dedicated relic hunt. Time permitting ....... I may do such.

Thanks for the report Tom.
Even though I don't have a lot of hours on the GR yet I like what I see.
Every time I use this detector I accidentally become a micro jewelry hunter!
Steve H had a link to this post and I responded over on his site so I will just add
A link to it since it has a photo.
Hope that's ok.
Bryan
[www.detectorprospector.com]

Bryan...... not a problem.

Wow Bryan, you are really nailing that small gold! Good Job!