Why I Still Like The Nokta Impact

[PhaseTech]

Hi all, 

Just to change things up from all the Simplex chatter of late, I wanted to share why I still love my Impact, and a few differences compared to some of the other Nokta/Makro units. 

Multi with 20 kHz. Nokta Makro have had a few machines running at 19 kHz, but for some reason, I can get bad interference around here, not all sites, but usually parks adjacent to houses. To be fair though, Freq shift usually sorts it out (I did run the Fors Gold+ as a shallow coin plucker for a while) but 20 kHz is a little quieter than 19 kHz which is great. Only the Anfibio Multi also offers a 20 kHz option. No real drama on the Multi Kruzer though, as I'd just use 14 kHz anyway for general coin hunting.  

AA Batteries. While I do like the light weight of the Kruzer/Anfibio with the internal batteries, I don't always remember to recharge them. On the Impact I run rechargeable NiMH batteries, but if I turn it on and the battery bars are telling me it's low, I can just whip in some Alkalines and I'm good to go. Also, having some of the circuitry and batteries right out past the armrest provides excellent balance. Of course this can also be achieved with the optional AA pack for the Kruzer and Anfibio series.

Now the Racer 2 is lighter than the Impact and balances nicely with the batteries under the armrest, but it's 14 kHz only, and lacks a few features that I like, so don't have one in my personal arsenal. I have thought about getting another R2 and keeping a 7" concentric strapped to the end of it, but I might wait to see what optional coils come out for the Simplex. Oops haha

DI3/3-tone. 3 tone in the Kruzer and Anfibio series is lightning quick, but sacrifices a bit of depth, unless you get the Sens on 90 or higher. I like that the Impact doesn't have this dual recovery split, it may be a touch slower, but it is still more than fast enough in my sites. I can also set the Sensitivity where it suits the site, and don't have to worry I may be losing depth if the Sens is below 90. The next logical step for Nokta Makro (on their higher end machines at least) would be a user adjustable recovery. 

Night search light! Again a feature on the Racer series, but not present on the Kruzer and Anfibio line. I do most of my beach searches at night, so having a unit with a built in search light is a real bonus. Another plus to the Impact, and re-introduced on the Simplex, arghhhh I just can't not mention it 😊

Concealed cable! The only unit in the Nokta/Makro line-up to have a concealed coil cable. Just gives the Impact that sleek look, and also don't have to worry about the cable getting scratched up in scrubby terrain, or accidentally hitting it with my digger!  The draw back though is you can't really interchange coils between the Impact and Kruzer/Anfibio as the Impact coil cables are a little shorter. But I love not having to fiddle around with velcro wraps. Just slide the cable up the shaft, screw it on and you're away. 

More modes than you can poke a stick at! The Impact has the full suite of search modes. Actually is doesn't have 5-Tone mode as found on the Anfibio (Multi & 14 models), but it has both Gen and Gen Delta modes as well as another Impact exclusive......VLX modes. These are lower gain modes, for a quieter detecting experience. I have found they also perform well in mineralised soils. Even some of the suburban areas have heavy clay soils, and VLX1 works great. VLX2 is a low gain 4-tone mode, but is slightly deeper than VLX1 but still offers improved stability, and target ID's are very stable as well. VLX2 mode is probably the best all-round mode on the Impact, particularly if you have mineralised soils. 

Wide armrest. Just another one of those personal things which I don't envy manufactures on, trying to make a detector to suit everyone out there! The Impact armrest feels great for me. It is also nice and thick, so doesn't flex like many other plastic armrests found on other detectors. 

Trigger switch! When you get used to a detector with a ground balance/pin-point trigger, it is so hard going to a panel controlled one. It's not the end of the world, but the trigger is so natural. You ground balance more often just because it is so easy. 

Anyway, I better stop there, as this is getting quite long. If you've got this far, hopefully you've learnt something you didn't know, and at very least, got you thinking about what you like or don't like on your current detector. 

 

 

[Chase Goldman]

I want the Impact or at least the Anfibio features in a Simplex light weight package/form factor.  I can live without the internal cable routing if it saves on weight.  Great writeup on a detector that is kind of getting lost in the shuffle with the subsequent Kruzer/Anfibio/Simplex launches.

[PhaseTech]

Thanks. 

A few other things I love about the Impact while I'm still awake:

- 1/4" plug in headphone socket with analogue volume pot. 

- Red coded Select & Expert buttons

- The handle. In particular how it widens up towards the control box. Some hand grips get narrow towards the control box, so your hand tends to ride up. 

- Variable Audio Boost level

- Choice of 0-15 or 0-40 Iron ID scaling with the various modes. Both have advantages. 

[MrDirtyHands]

 Thanks for that Phase Tech!!

 I've been researching my next 'tector purchase for the last couple of months and have been blown away by the Impact!

I've been "out of it" for 6 or 7 years and had never heard of Notka/Makro when I started researching again but here's

a question for you or anyone who can answer it... WHY hasn't the Impact made more of an... IMPACT in the market?

Based on all I've seen/read, it seems to me that this machine should be dominating now but certainly doesn't seem to be. I'm still on the fence between the F75LTD and the Impact so ANY insight would be appreciated.

[Steve Herschbach]

Part of the reason, I believe, is that when Nokta and Makro combined they all the sudden had way too many detector models all out in a short timeframe. This had the effect of newer models immediately overshadowing and stepping on the toes of older models that were themselves still new and just introduced. The company basically stole its own thunder, and the fact newer releases were waterproof and weighed less did not help.

If you want a NokMak to run large coils and like all metal modes in particular, you want an Impact. Short of getting a PI it pushes all metal VLF performance to the limit.

My Nokta Impact Review

[Noah (FL)]

Seems like the Impact was the first step in their stampede to the “new” market, soon to be followed by the Kruzer series then the 1stjoint venture, the Anfibio.  Can’t really fault a growing company for “growing” pains and a perceived too many new models.  Regardless of any newer models the Impact and Kruzer are both timeless monster detectors that are merely benchmark setting precursors of great things to come!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Noah (FL)]

3 hours ago, MrDirtyHands said:

 Thanks for that Phase Tech!!

 I've been researching my next 'tector purchase for the last couple of months and have been blown away by the Impact!

I've been "out of it" for 6 or 7 years and had never heard of Notka/Makro when I started researching again but here's

a question for you or anyone who can answer it... WHY hasn't the Impact made more of an... IMPACT in the market?

Based on all I've seen/read, it seems to me that this machine should be dominating now but certainly doesn't seem to be. I'm still on the fence between the F75LTD and the Impact so ANY insight would be appreciated.

The Impact was their first “big  time” launch and was quicker followed by the Kruzer waterproof series. Time will tell how the new Simplex will fare, but if you are looking for a full featured n machine the Kruzer or Angibii series are both phenomenal detectors with “professional” level settings and customization. 

[PhaseTech]

On 10/15/2019 at 6:18 AM, MrDirtyHands said:

 Thanks for that Phase Tech!!

 I've been researching my next 'tector purchase for the last couple of months and have been blown away by the Impact!

I've been "out of it" for 6 or 7 years and had never heard of Notka/Makro when I started researching again but here's

a question for you or anyone who can answer it... WHY hasn't the Impact made more of an... IMPACT in the market?

Based on all I've seen/read, it seems to me that this machine should be dominating now but certainly doesn't seem to be. I'm still on the fence between the F75LTD and the Impact so ANY insight would be appreciated.

Steve & Noah have pretty much covered your first question. Basically, new company, with new machines, and new models, moving faster than what many users could keep up with. I think just as the Impact was starting to turn heads and build a reputation for itself, talk of waterproof models came and many sat back wanting to go for the next best thing so to speak  If you do a YouTube search for Nokta Impact, it has a lot more "air time" than on some forums. 

I'm no expert on the modern Fisher units, but have used the F75 and T2 from time to time. Compared to the F75 the Impact gives you a number of advantages:

- Choice of 3 operating frequencies each with adjustable freq offset (or Noise Cancel). The F75 was just not workable for me in some urban parks, the interference was shocking. Had to turn the sensitivity down a lot in order to make any sense out of it. I've never tried the new DST mode, so can't say how effective it is.  

- The Impact has an excellent all-metal mode with adjustable iSat, that really allows you to get it purring smoothly. I tried the F75 in the goldfields, and it didn't work for me. The threshold was all over the place, and to get any kind of stability out of it I had to again drastically reduce sensitivity. 

- Another awesome thing with the Impact is the adjustable Disc in Gen (all-metal) mode. This actually works like a Iron Tone Break point, which gives you a low tone/grunt for iron targets. I love this on the beaches as it really aids in ID'ing rusty beer caps. In Gen Delta mode it will ID shallow/obvious Iron, but give a normal response to deep targets, ferrous or non-ferrous alike. This is the play it safe mode, well suited to gold prospecting. Also if you are in a situation where modern shallow junk is undesirable, but deeper older iron targets may be of interest. In Gen mode, the threshold tone is fully adjustable (15-70) which is a key feature that some low-mid range gold machines still lack. I think the F75 LTD also added adjustable tone in All-metal which is a good move. 

- A little thing that bugged me about the f75 was the volume pot on the left side of the rear housing. I would constantly bump this on my waist, and was forever having to re-adjust it. Impact Volume pot is at the back where it won't get bumped. 

- Lastly, built in wireless. The Impact will pair up to Nokta Blue or Green wireless headphones. Of course other wireless headphone like the Quest WireFree will work, but then you have an external transmitter to mount and charge. 

Here in Australia, the RRP of the F75 LTD is $1469, and the Impact Pro Pack is $1079

Another thing I wanted to point out, is in the stock Impact photo Steve added to my post, and in Steve's image with the large coil, both show the early issue lower shaft. Originally, the coil cable entry hole/slot was on the bottom, but Nokta changed this to a side entry slot, which puts less strain on the coil cable, particularly when the detector is placed on the ground with the coil flat. I put the early Impact lower stem onto the Anfibio, as it allows water to drain out of the stem real quick when coming out of the water. 

[PhaseTech]

Thanks Simon, I share this kind of info on a daily basis, but it's over email and over the phone most of the time. Sometimes I have a conversation or email exchange that triggers an idea I like to share on the forum, which is what inspired me to do this post. 

Yes, ever since I picked up the Fors CoRe, I was impressed with how robust it was. The other that impresses me about Nokta Makro is that they are always making small changes to improve things, like changing the "rocker" switches on the Fors to keypad buttons. Also, adding rubber boots to the tracking switch. Not to mention software updates in the later models. Another change they have quietly implemented is the coil cable outer shell is now thinner but more flexible. The original one used was quite thick. 

[JCR]

On 10/14/2019 at 4:11 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

Part of the reason, I believe, is that when Nokta and Makro combined they all the sudden had way too many detector models all out in a short timeframe. This had the effect of newer models immediately overshadowing and stepping on the toes of older models that were themselves still new and just introduced. The company basically stole its own thunder, and the fact newer releases were waterproof and weighed less did not help.

If you want a NokMak to run large coils and like all metal modes in particular, you want an Impact. Short of getting a PI it pushes all metal VLF performance to the limit.

My Nokta Impact Review

This comment by Steve is very interesting to me as I have been running the Anfibio Multi for over a year now. Part of my research before purchasing it was to read thru the extensive posts about the development of the Impact on Tom Dankowski's site. They are very similar detectors. The Anfibio Multi has proven to be an excellent all around machine. The only short coming I have found is how the Gen D mode performs. For me, is not really any deeper than the Disc modes. The real disappointment is that the target ID depth is about half of the Disc modes. I have tried pretty hard to find some settings that will make it perform better but it lacks the punch and liveliness that AM should have. It just seems dull. I can't find any use for it other than Gen D is much less affected by EMI. I discussed this with CJC after I purchased his book on the Anfibio and he kind of felt the same way. Maybe I'm missing something that Steve or someone could point out. When I do want to hunt in All Metal on clean ground I use the AT Max with Iron Audio on and it is very capable; deep with very good TID and Iron tone down to modest depth so I'm not really handicapped.