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Gold Bug 2 And Makro Gold Racer And Whites Gm Series


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So I'm new to the site but cheers to all. i've heard a lot of people asking about the high-frequency metal detectors out on the market I own both the goldbug 2 and the Makro gold racer. And my gold-mining partner usually runs with the GMT and occasionally  goldmasters 2 and 3 vsat

To be honest, you can't beat the goldbug2 on sensitivity to gold. 70 +kHz is brutal paired with a concentric coil(concentric coils slap on gold but suffer greatly with hot/cold rocks and ferrous trashy ground) it picks up with a 6" shooter coilgrains of gold at inches air bench test...yum. Downfalls... In highly mineralized areas and  tailings she's a nasty girl very very hard to use and differentiate targets out of all the booing, chatter and uneven return from threshold.But if your like me you know your tool well like a weapon and can decipher  each click and tone from the harsh ground. ? Gb2 lacks a DD coil series. What the $&@! Fisherlabs help a brother out. Advanced ergonomics, discriminations, coil types, auto tune features are non existent. I still love analogue, easy, precise, never a doubt and bulletproof. the larger concentric coil sizes seem to weaken the bug and I feel reduce the performance. Stick with the 6" shooter coil in my opinion, better on rough ground, so so sensitive and I'd take sensitivity for micro gold and a midrange depth, to "deep" depth and performance drop any day. Overall the bug is my baby ,my go to, she has pulled the ounces tried and true. Have the nugs to show 

Next the Makro gold racer. Just picked up the pro package of this a couple weeks ago.  It has already pulled a couple grain size pieces lode gold. I am new to all digital and it's interesting features. I run it in all metal with manual ground balance audio boost on all time and drop the isat to as low of a setting to get her running smooth and boost my depth. It's a very interesting machine I love its shooter coil. Not so happy with the 10.5 I don't like it's hollow internals makes too much noise when I'm scraping the ground for really small Nuggets. Cool features haven't really made my mind up what I don't like setting wise but it has some really cool discrimination modes. The gold bug , "I find" more sensitive to super fine gold. Makro does punch the nastier ferrous soil quieter and smoother with the DD than concentric. I am liking it as a secondary to scan over ground I hit with the goldbug( it can hot rock over target hits. picked up a missed target last outing with the gr ) Overall I like the Makro for its easy use and advanced features. Runs surprisingly well on rough ground, I'm loving that DD coil compared to concentric . Is very sensitive and will hit the smaller nuggets like gb2 just a tad behind it though on air test.Has some design flaws if you asked me and I'm not liking how frail the racer is I can literally throw my goldbug down a ravine get her soaked and dusty. No problem.makros  Back mount headphone jack. Dumb!!!. If you love your wired headphones you'll hate this thing ripping your phones off every set down and mauling your wire. Been through a pair already with the makro. But wireless soon I'm excited for that...

im not a whites guy.... But I've seen the gmt fail time and time again. Things a joke. Don't know why. Bad model? Bunk frequency?Watched it run ground silently with no targets (No my partner is not a noob or dumb dumb detectorist he's nugget slayer) Ill come behind with the goldbug2 or Makro slapping gram and grain sized nugs two inches + in ferrous soil on low sensitivity.  On multiple occasions. I convinced my faithful whites partner to retire his gmt to the closet and take out another model. He has a gold master2 and 3 vsat (he collects whites lol) and wow the old goldmasters just blows the gmt away. No comparison I was impressed  He was hitting grain sized pieces at goldbug\makro depth. Surprised me very much to see the older whites smoking the gmt And right on depth with my gold bug2. He runs DD shooters on the gold masters FYI.   

Overall if you want something easy to use and sensitive get the Makro. You want something on goldcrack super sensitive get a goldbug2. but you better learn that thing and have some patience. And if you go whites... I'd try to locate an older whites analogue gm2, gm3( be careful though these old ones are a brick. You could loose an arm swinging those metal monsters around. They are all good detectors and have seen all pull good gold at depths, just pluses and downfalls for each. The gmt eww use it for coin shooting or a coat rack. If someone does love that machine out there, I'm sorry for you, but I'd like to know your secrets lol so chime in. Anyone else ran with these high kHz vlf badasses? give me your opinion on the matter. Remember don't be nasty, this is just my experience and opinions. Hopefully it will hive you a good field view.

 

Ray 

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I will have to tell my partner to try concentric I might be getting a 10.5 concentric for the Makro see how that feels on her

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1 hour ago, Caligoldhog said:

Next the Makro gold racer. Just picked up the pro package of this a couple weeks ago.  It has already pulled a couple grain size pieces lode gold. I am new to all digital and it's interesting features. I run it in all metal with manual ground balance audio boost on all time and drop the isat to as low of a setting to get her running smooth and boost my depth. It's a very interesting machine I love its shooter coil. Not so happy with the 10.5 I don't like it's hollow internals makes too much noise when I'm scraping the ground for really small Nuggets. Cool features haven't really made my mind up what I don't like setting wise but it has some really cool discrimination modes. The goldbug 2 beats it on sensitivity and depth on the air bench rather large margin, about a 3 inch difference both detectors with smaller shooter coils. 

Hello. Just wanted to chime in here as your post got our attention.

There is really no way that the Gold Racer results will be 3 inches less than the GB2 in an air test unless there is something wrong with your coil and/or your detector. I will be PM'ing you with some questions if you do not mind.

Thank you! 

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Yeah if I turn up my sensitivty 80 plus on the Makro I might get close to the same but that's too high for the racer i wouldn't run that on the field it pops and sounds off target ids past 75 sensitivity in the air. Gb2 I always run 9 or 10 max. I could max out the racer and tell you how close they are on an air bench but that's not how it would be in use. I already tried contacting Makro about the 10.5 coil having problems when even lightly touched or my detector is moved and I got barely a response on that and haven't got a email from them in a week after I replied back asking further information and may I add that I'm using both shooter coils on the detectors and gb2 uses a concentric which is more sensitive than DD. So? 

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yeah and for me being precise I'm doing a bench test at home with a wooden ruler. Not a precision scientific test nor would I consider my findings exact or correct and this could be plus or minus an inch of error on both detectors, there could be interference or unseen variables. Not to mention both machines were tuned off the same ground to run correctly in use. This was not a max out all settings for depth. I wanted to see how it would be field tuned .  I am no engineer nor professional nor a certified critic. For a true test I do believe a DD on the gb2 if it was available would lower depth and not testing a machine with a higher khz and a concentric coil. Against a lower kHz with a DD coil and settings that reduce sensitivity and depth. Thanks for your concerns though my Makro runs fine. These are personal opinions  if you have official air bench test results for the Makro from the manufacture, post them I'd love to see the difference between what you gather than what I saw and see an official test.

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We need to determine whether there is something wrong with your device or not.

At the factory defaults, can you please tell us the air test results for a US quarter and a nickel both in All Metal and Discrimination 2 modes for the Gold Racer as well as the model in comparison above? 

I really don't know why you did not hear from the team as we are pretty quick in responding under normal conditions but I can guarantee that I will personally take care of it if there is any issue.

 

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12 minutes ago, Caligoldhog said:

yeah and for me being precise I'm doing a bench test at home with a wooden ruler. Not a precision scientific test nor would I consider my findings exact or correct and this could be plus or minus an inch of error on both detectors, there could be interference or unseen variables. Not to mention both machines were tuned off the same ground to run correctly in use. This was not a max out all settings for depth. I wanted to see how it would be field tuned .  I am no engineer nor professional nor a certified critic. For a true test I do believe a DD on the gb2 if it was available would lower depth and not testing a machine with a higher khz and a concentric coil. Against a lower kHz with a DD coil and settings that reduce sensitivity and depth. Thanks for your concerns though my Makro runs fine. These are personal opinions  if you have official air bench test results for the Makro from the manufacture, post them I'd love to see the difference between what you gather than what I saw and see an official test.

We cannot post a bench mark test video as a manufacturer as it would not be ethical. However, below is the link to our air test video for the Gold Racer conducted with gold dust, different size nuggets as well as a men's wedding band. You can tell us what you are doing the air tests with and we can take a video with the same material here. 

 

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that is true Steve, reasoning for the gb2 to be almost impossible sometimes to use in certain ground types. Emphasizing what I like about DD. Smooth running. But are you saying DD is more sensitive to gold than concentric? I've always been explained the opposite

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