The Racer 2 on a salt water beach

Let me start by stating that I didn't hunt as much as I wanted to. Storms the first night, and when I finally got out I was introduced to a Stingray migration.

The good: The Racer 2 is a pleasure to swing. I consider this an important issue more than most. I have arthritis in my shoulder and at some point I am looking at some sort of surgery. But I'm not getting surgery to swing a heavy detector. Most owners already know about the weight and are probably wondering why is he bringing that up? Well I am here to tell you that beach hunting is a workout. Carrying a scoop, digging two feet for targets in the sand, walking up and down the slope trying to find the target line, and the Glaring sun and heat makes you appreciate a good swinging detector. It would be incredibly better on a straight shaft, but I have mentioned that to Makro/Nokta numerous times in my posts.

For a single frequency detector the Racer 2 is just incredible in a salt water environment. You don't know the detector is on. I can't state how well behaved it is. I was running in beach mode with sensitivity at 90 and not so much as a peep on the falsing issue. The detector ground balanced to the wet sand without an issue. I'm telling you right now if this detector was waterproof you would never see an AT Pro on a salt water beach again. I have no idea how Makro did it, but they deserve some type of award for making a single frequency detector behave so well in salt water.

I always hunt the slope into knee deep water when I beach hunt with a non water proof detector. Zig-Zagging my way up and down the slope looking for the deposit line. Well as I entered the water I was seeing Rays maybe a foot wide swimming in knee deep water. As I gave them room it became apparent to me that there were hundreds of the freaky things making their way north up the coastline. Well I wasn't taking a sting from one of the little darlings so water hunting just ended. Out to slope I went.

I hunted the towel line to the water for the rest of my hunt. I was digging coins every so often. I should mention I had the NEL Hunter coil mounted. Dimensions like 12 x13 I think. A nice coil for coverage and depth. Depth was average and I will speak more about it in my conclusion.

The bad: I was hunting the towel line. People that never beach hunted need to realize the further out of the water you hunt the more trash you encounter. I was hitting bottle cap after bottle cap. The Racer 2 was having a hard time assigning a target number to them because they were in varying degrees of rust and to be honest different manufacturers give off different numbers. The were hitting anywhere from 24 to 72. The real rusty ones gave a more broken tone. I was using a target filter of 5. The programmed target filter number of 10 is too high. I learned this from finding that woman's ring a few months ago. A setting of 10 will hide targets all the way to at least 14 on the VDI scale. Now the Racer 2 isn't the only target ID detector to throw random numbers on rusted metal for me on a beach. In fact I will just say that the target ID system is useless on a beach. If you want to find yellow dig it all. I mentioned the straight shaft already so I feel I need to mention the cams that you twist tight. Any beach hunter knows this, so let me mention it here for the rest of the world and Makro themselves. Twist cams are horrible on the beach. They get sand in them it feels and sounds awful when you want to break down the detector. They can lock up and then you have real problems. Just junk in my opinion.


Conclusion: The Racer 2 is the best single frequency detector I have ever used on the beach. And not just by a little bit. I have always wanted a dry sand hunting detector that was light to swing and could drop down into the wet if I wanted to hunt it on a whim. This detector will do that with ease. I have used the AT Pro, two different Prizm models with beach settings and even an XL Pro. Does it measure up against the Sovereign which I was using. No! For one I believe the Sovereign is quite a bit deeper. That is with a comparable SEF 12 x 10 coil. Also with the Sovereign it makes that distinct raspy duck sound on bottle caps. I may dig one or two bottle caps a hunt with the Sovereign. Now the Racer 2 with a more experienced ear might be able to leave bottle caps in the sand. I'm am more than willing to admit that. But after two bottle caps with the Sovereign I was a pro. The Sovereign has the threshold which I totally missed. The target ID, in fact any targat ID is a waste on the beach in my opinion. Yes it is there and people use it for a reference. But sound is everything. If I only had a Racer 2 I would use it at the beach and have a great hunt Because beach hunting is always great. Unless you get tagged by a Ray. But if it is standing in the corner with a Sovereign I will take the Sovereign every time.

Nice report Goodmore.
Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the detailed report. I am always interested to learn about how single frequency units handle the wet salt sand.

NEL Hunter is a DD coil right ? From what I have experienced, bottle caps can be a menace to DD coils. Then again, bottle caps are a menace PERIOD !

Good report although I am surprised as you were with the r2 in the salt water sand. When the water flowed past the coil, did the detector sound? In other words, wet sand, then comes two inches of water under the coil.....did it make a target sound? Interesting.

I was in the wash. Water rushing over the coil and the detector never made a sound. Something the multi frequency units have a hard time accomplishing. It really was impressive. As stated the gain was at 90. So no manipulation of sensitivity or ground balance was done. It ground balanced very easily. A longer period of time between the beeps was noted, but it balanced very well. It would chirp a little when I hit the coil on the sand unintentionally. But nothing that my Excal or previous Sovereigns didn't do. All on the beaches of NJ with black sand visible. All the coins I found were probably recent drops. No greenies, but some targets were two scoops deep. One quarter was three. I would love to do a night hunt with it. The back light and little lamp would be something new for me on a beach at night.

I've found pretty much the same results with my R2. Only I ground balance in beach mode then turn to two-tone. I can still runs sens up around 90 with little to no falsing and a bit more depth than beach mode.

I found the same results on my R1. Last winter we had a major erosion event in Monterey, CA., and I was detecting with a buddy using an Explorer2 and kept right up with him. He couldn't believe how well a VLF machine was doing on the wet salt beach. I ended up with a barber quarter, and some other older coins that finally escaped their sandy tomb. Depth wise, I think he was only able to hear one target I couldn't, but I was using the Makro 10" DD and he had on a 12.5" coil on his Exp2, so I'd expect he'd have more depth.

Cal_cobra Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I found the same results on my R1. Last winter we
> had a major erosion event in Monterey, CA., and I
> was detecting with a buddy using an Explorer2 and
> kept right up with him. He couldn't believe how
> well a VLF machine was doing on the wet salt
> beach. I ended up with a barber quarter, and some
> other older coins that finally escaped their sandy
> tomb. Depth wise, I think he was only able to
> hear one target I couldn't, but I was using the
> Makro 10" DD and he had on a 12.5" coil on his
> Exp2, so I'd expect he'd have more depth.

Was that Tom? I should have down around the bay and joined the fun!

Yep, Tom. That was a great erosion event they had down there!

SeabeeRon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Cal_cobra Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I found the same results on my R1. Last winter
> we
> > had a major erosion event in Monterey, CA., and
> I
> > was detecting with a buddy using an Explorer2
> and
> > kept right up with him. He couldn't believe
> how
> > well a VLF machine was doing on the wet salt
> > beach. I ended up with a barber quarter, and
> some
> > other older coins that finally escaped their
> sandy
> > tomb. Depth wise, I think he was only able to
> > hear one target I couldn't, but I was using the
> > Makro 10" DD and he had on a 12.5" coil on his
> > Exp2, so I'd expect he'd have more depth.
>
> Was that Tom? I should have down around the bay
> and joined the fun!

Quote
Only I ground balance in beach mode then turn to two-tone.

That never occurred to me. But I am sure going to do it from now on. Thanx!

Every now and then I'll switch back to beach and recheck GB. HH

The Racers do very well on Salt water ..at least in the Gulf..

the old 7x11 was no go in salt water but the new epoxied 7x11 is very stable..

Weird because I couldn't get the Fors Core Epoxied 7x11 to run in the salt water..

The Relic runs well in salt water with stock 7x11 epoxied coil Too!!

Yes the Racers hold the sensitivity to lower conductors when balanced to 00-08 G.B. Setting for salt better than any Vlf Ives seen at that SALT setting..


I compared signals with the Racer in the surf not beach but in the water to a AT PRO last year...on coins they were about the same on that small gold ring 14kt the Racer found it was the clear winner for dig me or leave me...Of course the AT was alot less worrisome in the surf to use and found its share too..the racer just had a better Knack on the lower conductors when balanced to salt than any VLF I've seen..To the point of annoyance on small foil pieces ..

A waterproof racer would be a good seller

Keith

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