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To those Manufacturers who produce more then one machine a year.
Posted by texkinzee
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Re: Impact - June 30, 2020 02:33AM |
Gonebeepin' George,
I think the Impact has proved itself as very capable. I wasn't a fan of the Impact ergonomics. A friend brought over his pre-production model for me to have a look at and test in the back yard. Uncomfortable in hand. Lots of 'modes' to experiment with. Excellent performer. But I would have been looking at ways to make it more comfortable to use from the git go.... Yes, the Impact IS a very capable model, ample modes and functional adjustment features, and overall I find it comfortable. The grip angle and feel isn't too bad for most people I know who use it, but some do find it just a bit 'off' in design. My gripe is the trigger-toggle is just a little too far forward for my shorter, stubbier, arthritic hands and fingers to reach easily ... but I'm not 6'3" tall, either.
I did find the grip angle and feel of the Anfibio to be much improved. The Impact isn't bad, but the Anfibio is simply much better.
I currently have a FORS CoRe. It too is quite capable out in the ghost towns, but rather oddly designed. It is the ONLY detector I've ever had that Ihave to use an Arm Cuff strap with while I hunt. And the center rod is too long. I'm 6'3" and I have the lower rod within 1 adjustment of minimum. Some have taken to shortening the middle rod with a hack saw. Annoying. ... I got my first FORS CoRe January 8th of 2015 and noted right away that the lower rod had to be at its shortest adjustment setting, and even then I wished it would have been able to adjust a bit shorter. It was bearable, but ....
I pamper all my gear so no hacksaw was used. My oldest son has a very good shop and I took my CoRe and Relic devices to him and we shortened the middle rods and reinstalled / relocated the rod-lock tensioner piece. We also shortened the lower rods. The result was the lower rods could be shortened quite a bit w/o the coil coming to a stop on the end of the middle rod. They all fit quite comfortably now on the back seat, whereas in the 'stock' length, I had trouble closing the back doors of a Ford SportTrac pick-up, Suzuki XL-7 and a couple of other vehicles. The CoRe and Relic are at the top of my 'get-serious' Relic Hunting detectors.
And the unit just falls over when I set it down. Annoying. ... For me, I take but a moment to rest them upright and they only fall over perhaps one in twenty set-downs. Maybe it's because I'm right-handed?
Changing coils is a task with the weather cover in place to keep the side display from getting all scratched up during use each time it falls over, It's right there with my old Explorer XS / Etrac, threading cables thru the interior of search rods just barely big enough. I can see why Monte kept two or three versions of his two favorite Nokta machines handy. It was because of the hassle of changing coils on those CoRe's and Relic's. ... I agree about the inconvenience of having two cable attachments having to fit through the holes in the weather covers and fiddled with. I have never, in over five decades of avid detecting, liked to take a time-out when afield to change search coils. Too much time lost when I could be detecting, and also too much of an opportunity to lose a rubber washer, or a nut or bolt. It is even more annoying to have to do it with a CoRe or Relic due to the connector location on the housing and the environmental cover getting in the way.
I use the small 4.7X5.2 'OOR' DD on the CoRe and 5" DD on the Relic the most, and the 5X9½ DD open-frame coil as my second most-used coil for low to modestly littered sites, thus I keep two CoRe and two Relic devices at the ready with their smallest coil on one and the mid-sized coil on the other. Much quicker to open the door, set one device down and grab the other and get underway with a different search coil all mounted and set-to-go. I do that with two Simplex + models as well.
Other Models in the Nokta / Makro lineup have similar ergonomic design issues. I had a Racer 2. First thing I had to do was tape off the speaker on the bottom of the battery housing (ground facing) to hopefully prevent water from wet grass / dirt / mud entering the speaker / battery compartment openings. Yet the Racer 2 had / has one of the easiest to use interfaces out there AND was a really good performer. But the overall build of the unit left me looking for better. Friends reported the battery / speaker housing coming loose from the rod. I'm thinking long term rugged use in the out-of-doors. I can't have that. Another Go / No-Go. ... I agree, the Racer 2 is a very good workhorse and easy to adjust, but .... too many little issues that could arise.
I watch Nokta / Makro. Having used their detectors, I think they have some impressive capability, but I haven't seen an overall detector of theirs that I look at and think to myself, THAT'S THE ONE, they got it right. ... You'll get to see one up-close very soon as I plan to make a quick visit down your way in about 10 days or so from now.
Striking that just right balance of performance, functionality and design isn't easy. But we all watch, ever hopeful that somebody gets it right.
UtahRich - ... Keep watching.
Monte
I think the Impact has proved itself as very capable. I wasn't a fan of the Impact ergonomics. A friend brought over his pre-production model for me to have a look at and test in the back yard. Uncomfortable in hand. Lots of 'modes' to experiment with. Excellent performer. But I would have been looking at ways to make it more comfortable to use from the git go.... Yes, the Impact IS a very capable model, ample modes and functional adjustment features, and overall I find it comfortable. The grip angle and feel isn't too bad for most people I know who use it, but some do find it just a bit 'off' in design. My gripe is the trigger-toggle is just a little too far forward for my shorter, stubbier, arthritic hands and fingers to reach easily ... but I'm not 6'3" tall, either.
I did find the grip angle and feel of the Anfibio to be much improved. The Impact isn't bad, but the Anfibio is simply much better.
I currently have a FORS CoRe. It too is quite capable out in the ghost towns, but rather oddly designed. It is the ONLY detector I've ever had that Ihave to use an Arm Cuff strap with while I hunt. And the center rod is too long. I'm 6'3" and I have the lower rod within 1 adjustment of minimum. Some have taken to shortening the middle rod with a hack saw. Annoying. ... I got my first FORS CoRe January 8th of 2015 and noted right away that the lower rod had to be at its shortest adjustment setting, and even then I wished it would have been able to adjust a bit shorter. It was bearable, but ....
I pamper all my gear so no hacksaw was used. My oldest son has a very good shop and I took my CoRe and Relic devices to him and we shortened the middle rods and reinstalled / relocated the rod-lock tensioner piece. We also shortened the lower rods. The result was the lower rods could be shortened quite a bit w/o the coil coming to a stop on the end of the middle rod. They all fit quite comfortably now on the back seat, whereas in the 'stock' length, I had trouble closing the back doors of a Ford SportTrac pick-up, Suzuki XL-7 and a couple of other vehicles. The CoRe and Relic are at the top of my 'get-serious' Relic Hunting detectors.
And the unit just falls over when I set it down. Annoying. ... For me, I take but a moment to rest them upright and they only fall over perhaps one in twenty set-downs. Maybe it's because I'm right-handed?
Changing coils is a task with the weather cover in place to keep the side display from getting all scratched up during use each time it falls over, It's right there with my old Explorer XS / Etrac, threading cables thru the interior of search rods just barely big enough. I can see why Monte kept two or three versions of his two favorite Nokta machines handy. It was because of the hassle of changing coils on those CoRe's and Relic's. ... I agree about the inconvenience of having two cable attachments having to fit through the holes in the weather covers and fiddled with. I have never, in over five decades of avid detecting, liked to take a time-out when afield to change search coils. Too much time lost when I could be detecting, and also too much of an opportunity to lose a rubber washer, or a nut or bolt. It is even more annoying to have to do it with a CoRe or Relic due to the connector location on the housing and the environmental cover getting in the way.
I use the small 4.7X5.2 'OOR' DD on the CoRe and 5" DD on the Relic the most, and the 5X9½ DD open-frame coil as my second most-used coil for low to modestly littered sites, thus I keep two CoRe and two Relic devices at the ready with their smallest coil on one and the mid-sized coil on the other. Much quicker to open the door, set one device down and grab the other and get underway with a different search coil all mounted and set-to-go. I do that with two Simplex + models as well.
Other Models in the Nokta / Makro lineup have similar ergonomic design issues. I had a Racer 2. First thing I had to do was tape off the speaker on the bottom of the battery housing (ground facing) to hopefully prevent water from wet grass / dirt / mud entering the speaker / battery compartment openings. Yet the Racer 2 had / has one of the easiest to use interfaces out there AND was a really good performer. But the overall build of the unit left me looking for better. Friends reported the battery / speaker housing coming loose from the rod. I'm thinking long term rugged use in the out-of-doors. I can't have that. Another Go / No-Go. ... I agree, the Racer 2 is a very good workhorse and easy to adjust, but .... too many little issues that could arise.
I watch Nokta / Makro. Having used their detectors, I think they have some impressive capability, but I haven't seen an overall detector of theirs that I look at and think to myself, THAT'S THE ONE, they got it right. ... You'll get to see one up-close very soon as I plan to make a quick visit down your way in about 10 days or so from now.
Striking that just right balance of performance, functionality and design isn't easy. But we all watch, ever hopeful that somebody gets it right.
UtahRich - ... Keep watching.
Monte