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Detailed Review Of Makro Gold Racer By Steve Herschbach


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Frankly, that about wore me out! That review was for general consumption and will no doubt get posted around elsewhere. Exclusive to the members of this forum will be more technical details and blatant opinions on my part, but for now I need a break from the keyboard. More on this thread soon. In the meantime, post any question you may have and I will answer to the best of my ability - after the pizza!.

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Will you always have one with you while out on a trip?  Will it be one of your special use detectors to go with the 7000?

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thanks for the review. I find myself more and more interested in the technical aspects of this sport and it's machines. your writings are the meat.

 

almost forgot, would you consider this a good choice for a one machine user? coin and jewelry hunting sometimes, nugget hunting other times. 50/50 ratio? what about 70/30 nugget/coin jewelry?

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Do the 2 discrimination modes have differing separation/reactivity speeds? How do the reactivity of these modes compare to a Deus, 2,3,4, or ?

Thanks,

Merton

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Hi Merton,

Until the final version hits the street I am not sure. What you are describing is what they have in the new FORS Gold+. On my prototype Disc2 just seems like Disc1 on steroids. I simply do not have enough experience with the DEUS to pick numbers but I am guessing nothing much different than what you are seeing on your standard Racer.

Which answers the is this a general purpose machine for a one machine person? In my opinion, not particularly. If you want a general purpose machine I would get a general purpose mid-frequency detector. On normal size targets there is little difference between the Gold Racer and the standard Racer or the Nokta units. It is only as the targets get smaller that the gap appears. In a nutshell, this is a machine for people looking for tiny targets first, everything else secondary. That is not to say it won't find the larger gold, it will. I just don't think it will do so any better than the standard Racer. Again though, when the production models get in people's hands that view might change based on more people using the machine under more varied conditions, but I would not at this time recommend a person without a detector get the Gold Racer as a general purpose detector. Sit back and let it sort out.

What is it? Well, mn90403 it is pretty simple for me. I right now use a GPZ 7000 for 98% of my nugget detecting. I do need a second machine however. For sniping tiny gold. For checking quartz specimens. For working trashy areas. If nothing else just in case the GPZ dies! I want something compact and light weight that I can just toss in the back of my truck with no worries, and always have handy if I need it. Cheap accessory coils, runs forever on four AA batteries. GPZ 7000 and Gold Racer it will be for me. All the other nugget machines are going away or already gone.

What about this? There is a person out there that has no detector. They basically want a nugget detector, and desire what the GMT and Gold Bug 2 offer by way of small gold capability. Yet they do not want a 100% dedicated nugget machine, just in case they want to do a little coin detecting or something else. So maybe 90% nugget detecting and other stuff now and then, or so they think. That is a totally made up but reasonable scenario to me.

makro-gold-racer-with-2_4-gram-nugget.jpg

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Seriously there are only two other options for me. It would be the Fisher Gold Bug 2 or the White's GMT. Both are excellent detectors used by thousands of people successfully. The one that really seems to get hit by the Gold Racer is the GMT. The Gold Racer simply packs a heck of a lot more on a lighter more compact package at what I suspect will be a lower price. I don't care about price myself, the Gold Racer basically is just in a configuration I prefer over the GMT.

Gold Bug 2 with 6" coil? Probably still will end up when it shakes out as king of the crumb pile. The Gold Racer does give it a fair run for the money but I have not had a Gold Bug 2 at hand to do direct comparisons with. When I knew what was coming with the Gold Racer I sold my Gold Bug 2 immediately. For me in the case of the two it is more a features fight, and if all you need is something to hit tiny gold the Gold Bug 2 gets the job done. Heck, it may be at the end of the day that I just want a newer toy to play with and been there done that with the Gold Bug 2.

Now if you toss the big coil in the mix it gets more interesting and the Gold Racer caught me off guard in that respect. You just can't get a big DD coil for a Gold Bug 2 and that alone right now is enough to have me packing the Gold Racer around instead.

Guys, no sales pitch here. Stick with tried and true and proven unless you can afford to do the buy and try thing. Just too early yet in several ways to be doing serious head to head comparison/decision type stuff. All I can say is the GPZ and GR suit me for now.

makro-gold-racer-with-15x13-dd-coil.jpg

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Great report Steve!

Is the stock 10” x 5.5” DD coil epoxy filled?

Did you experience any falsing from the coil when hitting rocks and brush?

Bryan

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Small coil is epoxy filled. Both 10 x 5 coils are hollow. Initially that kind of turned me off as hollow coils knocking around kind of bug me. This is stupid but they sound funny bouncing off stuff. But after comparing to the Gold Bug Pro and even my F75 with the Fisher epoxy filled version, I realized just how heavy those coils are out there on the end of the stick. The Fisher being epoxy filled weighs in at 1 lb 2.6 oz whereas the Makro coil weighs 12.8 ounces. The Gold Racer is simply better balanced as a result and now that I have gotten used to them I am happy with the coils.

I have experienced a false now and then with the Gold Racer but only on rare occasions, and I want to be sure and again note the coils have changed since I got my last prototype. I believe they will look more like what is one the new FORS Gold+, redesigned with beefed up ears and cable entry point. But you can't hold Makro to that as I have not been told that directly, just makes sense. Bottom line is I did not consider coil falsing to be an issue but it might happen now and then. Might be I did not have my cable wrapped tight enough so I am giving the benefit of the doubt until we see production units. I promise you I hate detectors that are coil sensitive and would tell you in a second if that was bothering me.

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