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Makro Gold Racer Gets A Run, Finally


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Took the Gold Racer out for a coin shoot last night.

Found a handful of pennies from the 1940 war years, all the way back to 1932. Also found a very old silver spoon (late 1800's/early 1900's Rogers Brothers) that looks like it was in a fire. That's the first time I've ever found a silver spoon, but I have no idea if it's plate or sterling, doing a little research on that, (no copper showing through, and I scratched it pretty good when I hit it with the pick).

I had permission to detect an old home site that's being repurposed for a new business, so while the whole area is torn up, I'm using it as a test bed.

The Gold Racer ran well, and it took a while to get used to using the discrimination modes, and I played around with the tone break after I learned the digital ID's of a few trash targets and some highly conductive ones too, so that helped. In addition, I was surprised at the depth it hit some of those coins, no ID digital display numbers, but a sweet tone to guide my ears. Furthermore, when I'd dug down five or six inches, I'd get a digital readout, and then it read solid and pinned at 84. Then I used the Garrett Carrot to pinpoint. 

Newer pennies were hitting at 80. The silver spoon, much higher of course.

I have other machines I like better for coins, but I thought I'd see what there was in the Gold Racer tank anyway, and I wasn't disappointed. Not a coin machine for sure as that's not its purpose, but it will lead to the goodies regardless. (Still a lot to learn about the machine for me yet.)

All the best,

Lanny

P.S. Took it out again tonight, 10 more pennies from WWII, two silver dimes, 1927 penny, 1916 large cent, old pocket knife and a cool toy gun!

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Anyway, back to the 56 kHz Gold Racer. At US$599 it compares well to other detectors running at 30 kHz or higher. However, the big question is whether it will continue to be manufactured or whether the soon to be released 61 kHz Makro Gold Kruzer will replace it. The Gold Kruzer is waterproof and offers a three tone mode versus the two tone modes available on the Gold Racer. That does make it better suited for hunting for micro jewelry. However, it also runs $749 and I am not sure that it will find nuggets any better than a Gold Racer. The 5 kHz difference is not enough anyone would see any difference in the field due strictly to the slightly higher frequency.

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Steve,

I took a look at the info. on the Kruzer, and I wondered the same thing about whether it would find the gold any better than the Gold Racer. 

One thing I do like about the Kruzer though is the fact that the entire unit is waterproof.

I've got a long, steep and deep bedrock canyon with some nice runs and pools where a detector like that might be a great thing to have to sniff out the gold in some of those underwater crevices. I've got gold there before while wearing my mask and snorkel as I was sniping, so I know the gold's there. (Only problem, that water is always so cold you get brain freeze in no time if you don't wear a dive hood!)

I'm finding out over the last two days that the sweet spot on the Racer isn't the same as the sweet spot on my Bug Pro, so I'm having to make a few changes when it comes to narrowing down the location of the target signal, but luckily the Garrett Carrot is getting a good workout, and by using it, I'm quickly learning where to look in relation to the signal under the coil vs. my Bug Pro, so that's a plus.

Once again, I was quite surprised at how deep I was digging to get the pennies from WWII years (1939-1945), some of them down as much as eight inches, but the silver dimes (from 1960, both of them!) were only down about four inches with both signals nice and crisp from the get go). Once I get a high tone, I'm finding that the target ID quickly goes active and then locks on if I move off some dirt to get the coil closer to the target. I found it did the same thing with the pickers I detected with it last weekend. 

I'm taking advantage of the coin-shooting at the old home site to learn all of the differences in the make up of the Gold Racer as it gives me the opportunity to dig lots and lots of targets in a short amount of time so I can tune my ear to the different sounds the Racer makes as well. In addition, I'm learning what small targets sound like (found some 22-short blanks, and tiny bits of copper and lead which gave nice, soft signals, much like gold did when I was hunting it last weekend). 

All the best,

Lanny

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10 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

 However, it also runs $749 and I am not sure that it will find nuggets any better than a Gold Racer. The 5 kHz difference is not enough anyone would see any difference in the field due strictly to the slightly higher frequency.

Yes, but you will get 2 coils as standard and wireless headphones in that price, which means the fact that the whole unit is waterproof is just icing on the cake. 

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2 hours ago, PhaseTech said:

Yes, but you will get 2 coils as standard and wireless headphones in that price, which means the fact that the whole unit is waterproof is just icing on the cake. 

Good point I had forgotten - thanks Nenad. The Gold Racer Pro Pack with two coils etc. runs US$799. That would tend to make it seem the Gold Racers days are numbered. I have not seen anything about a larger coil for the Gold Kruzer. I like that coil, but there may not be much actual demand for it. Still, I see they have the big coil out for the Multi Kruzer.

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Took the Gold Racer out this Saturday (April 28), and struck gold again!

I've already rounded up over 15 grams of the sweet stuff with it, and of that total amount, about 3.5 grams of the small stuff that would still be there without the Racer's sensitive nose for fine gold. (I also ordered the tiny elliptical sniper coil to see how sensitive it is. I like how Makro listens to their customer's wishes. Fisher used to make a tiny sniper coil for the Gold Bug 2, and I hear they're still highly sought after, and I have a friend that sure loves his, so I hope the Racer's coil is a good little sniper coil as well.)

I'm still learning the sounds the Racer emits, and I found out on Saturday that when I get it over chunks of ironstone, it sings a tune that sounds rather like a good tone, but one mixed with a warble that sounds almost like EMI, and that's very different from the sound the Bug Pro gives on the same targets. The Pro makes a sweet sound, but the iron bars jump way up; the iron reads high on the Racer as well, but that distinctive sound the Racer makes when the coil is over ironstone is now filed in my brain, and I believe it will help me out quite a bit because where I'm currently hunting, there are lots of rounded pieces of ironstone from golfball size to pea size. So, the Racer has just given me a new audio-target ID tool.

Of course, I'll still need more time in the field to test my early observations, but the results look promising so far.

As for ID'ing the fine gold, I'm finding that when I get the coil over some bedrock, and there's any kind of a positive response, there's often small gold there. (Of course, sometimes it's ground noise when there's a high concentration of oxidized iron in bedrock.) So, I just keep digging until I'm no longer getting a positive response (I throw all of the dirt from the bedrock digs into a large gold pan to save time locating the small stuff.). Another note, when I get the coil over a concentration of fine gold, it gives a broad signal kind of like the sound of high ground mineralization, so that's why I'm now investigating the source of the sound, and it's paying off.

As for the Gold Bug Pro, I still like the target response sounds it makes better than the Racer, but maybe that will change with time. Moreover, I don't plan on not using the Pro either. It's a great machine that's paid for itself many, many times over.

 

All the best, and thanks again Steve for your write-up on your site about the Makro Gold Racer. Years ago I started to read your field tests about detectors of all makes, and I know you have always been impartial and simply tried to report only what you've found during your tests without bias, and I really appreciate that as well.

All the best,

Lanny

Gold Racer 2.jpeg

Gold Racer Finds.jpg

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On 4/26/2018 at 6:45 PM, Lanny said:

Also found a very old silver spoon (late 1800's/early 1900's Rogers Brothers) that looks like it was in a fire. That's the first time I've ever found a silver spoon, but I have no idea if it's plate or sterling, doing a little research on that, (no copper showing through, and I scratched it pretty good when I hit it with the pick).

Nice pics!  Good to hear the Fisher Gold Bug Pro is still producing.  19 kHz detectors are typically at a disadvantage finding gold because the spectrum of gold mass is (not surprisingly) peaked at small size and the higher operating frequencies (like your Makro Gold Racer) excel in that area.

As far as your Rogers spoon (I assume it's the one shown in the photo), it's unlikely sterling for a couple reasons:  1) it doesn't say 'sterling' or '925', and 2) it appears to be a simple, pedestrian design.  Typically sterling silverware was ornately designed since it was intended for special occasion use (except maybe by the wealthy who could do/spend whatever they wanted).  Still a fun recovery, but your gold pickers and silver coins (and old coins with numismatic value) are where the $ equity lies.  Obviously some good gold finds still available in Canada.  Glad you've found one of those spots!

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Thanks for the info. on the spoon; it's nice to know what to look for when and if I ever find another one.

As for the coins, I'll be checking the dates. The oldest is the 1916 large cent, and the silvers were fun finds too.

In reference to the gold, there's still lots of places left to look as Canada is a great big country with not a lot of people in it, so it hasn't been hammered as hard as some other places.

Thanks for dropping in, and thanks for the information on the spoon too.

All the best,

Lanny

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