Makro Racer GOLD - Field Test March 15, 2016 02:10PM |
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Re: Makro Racer GOLD - Field Test March 16, 2016 01:10PM |
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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.Quote
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.
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.Quote
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.
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.Quote
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 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.Quote
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).
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!Quote
NASA-Tom
Makro Racer GOLD - Field Test
* Unit will detect a nickel (in real beach sand) at depths slightly beyond 13".
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.Quote
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'.
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.Quote
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.
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Re: Makro Racer GOLD - Field Test March 23, 2016 09:51AM |
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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.Quote
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.
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.Quote
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.
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.Quote
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.
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.Quote
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.
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.Quote
calibil
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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