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Detailed Review Of Makro Gold Racer By Steve Herschbach


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Well, I sold my GMT and Gold Bug 2 before getting the Gold Racer so I have none on hand for making direct comparisons. Further, I believe any fair head to head tests need to be left until the final factory production Gold Racer is available. I actually have questions myself.

 

I know that I can easily find gold weighing under one tenth grain with the Gold Racer in ground that allows the machine to be run at higher sensitivity levels. I also know the Gold Bug 2 has come up short compared to the GMT for penetration on larger gold in magnetite laden soils. My gut feeling is that the Gold Racer falls between the two (GMT and GB2). It really does push the Gold Bug 2 hard for what it can do on small gold, but I do think it will also be proven that the Gold Racer has an edge over the Gold Bug 2 on larger deeper gold due to its ability to use DD coils. The Gold Bug 2 only has three coils available, all concentric. I will bet my money right now that the Gold Racer will demolish the Gold Bug 2 on a bit larger gold in ground where the 15.5" x 13" DD can run effectively. But as the gold gets smaller it is going to be a hair splitting thing.

 

The GMT does have very good capability regarding overloads occurring in bad ground and I am curious how the Gold Racer and the GMT handle the worst ground. The Gold Bug 2 has no overload signal and silent masking can be an issue. The GMT is like the Gold Racer in that it issues an audio overload signal, and the advice is the same - raise the coil or lower the gain. From the MXT Engineering Report:

 

"The GMT's circuitry broke a lot of new ground. It uses a reactive impedance transformation network to boost transmitter voltage for higher sensitivity. It uses an active transmitter regulator to keep transmitter voltage constant even when the search coil is moved over black sand that would blow an unregulated machine off the air."

 

Running the GMT and Gold Racer side by side on magnetite laden soil with the stock coils would be interesting. Bottom line is a field day could be had comparing the Gold Racer, Gold Bug 2, and GMT directly against each other in actual hunting conditions on found targets. Having done similar tests myself I can tell you it really just depends on the ground mineralization in a particular area and the exact nature of the gold.

 

Anyone that has followed my use of detectors over the years will know that when talking about small gold capability for me it has always been about the Gold Bug 2 and the GMT plus earlier White's Goldmaster models. Many people still prefer the Goldmaster 3 to the GMT, in no small part because of earlier models being in what people think is a better housing for prospecting. I now think the discussion boils down to GB2, GMT, and Gold Racer. However, we all know both the GMT and GB2 have fan clubs and successful users. They work better for different people for a variety of reasons. The Gold Racer just adds another choice to the mix. I really think I can find gold in general about as well with any of them, so it comes down to how they handle, how they feel, how they sound, the little extras by way of features.

 

No one person or two is going to sort this out. Check back a year from now and I am sure the picture will be clearer. My way of thinking with detectors is they are all different and all excel in certain ways. A long time strategy of mine has been to not run with the herd, but to use something different, seeking to leverage this idea of fundamental differences. In other words, if I was in a place where everyone has used a Gold Bug 2, I would be more likely to use a GMT. Or the other way around. No point in putting the same detector over the same ground over and over. I have enough faith in Makro that I decided going forward to be what for now will be a very rare person putting the Gold Racer over the ground for the first time, because I think that gives me an oddball edge of sorts. Kind of the feeling I always have being the first guy to run a GPZ over the ground.

 

A bonus is that unlike with White's and Fisher you can bet Makro will be listening hard to early Gold Racer users and doing anything and everything they can to improve the model even more. This is a company not content to sit still for long.

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Well'

Iv had a GMT and done quite well with it, I bought a GB2 this year to hit spots I'd been over with the GMT other than the tiniest flakes the GMT didn't miss much.

This Gold Racer for me has been bumped to the top of the list just for my general "jump out of the truck" detecting, I can't see why it wouldn't replace 3 of my current detectors.

Looking good so far!

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Steve, a thank you will just not be sufficient for all this hard work but I will say it anyway - A huge thank you on behalf of my team for all you have done. I sincerely hope that you find a lot of gold with our device so that it at least pays off for this hard work although your feedbacks and your review are worth a lot more than that for us! Once again, this is very appreciated and I cannot wait to get the final unit in your hands.

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That is a great assortment of coils available, the concentric being  hard to find anymore for our current vlf gold detectors yet a very effective coil in some areas. They thought of most everything it appears. Great detector company! I will probably be buying one before spring.

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In theory the mineralization meter can be used this way, but as a practical matter I think not really. It is very much a near surface thing, and you have to pump the coil up and down to get an accurate reading. I can only see it working in a shallow dry wash but such that you could probably just eyeball the color difference in the sand. A more practical method with the Gold Racer might be to crank the sensitivity to the edge of overload on lower mineral content soil, then sweep and hunt for overloads. Again though you are talking near surface effects, nothing like a magnetometer.

The White's V3i has an almost unknown feature whereby the machine continuously graphs magnetic content.

I am a bit skeptical of the practicality of it all. Most of the trace black sands with a metal detector thing seems to hark back to the old BFO days. People bring it up now and then, and I hear lots of opinions, but nobody ever seems to actually put it to the real test. A project for another day I guess.

More intriguing to me is a trick a GMT user told me about years ago, but I keep forgetting to try it. He claimed the mineralization meter could be used as an extra aid in identifying ferrous items.

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Steve, I have to say, you sir, deserve a vacation after that synopsis. Although I know it is just the beginning.  Maybe pizza and a beer until then. Thank you for all that effort.

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More intriguing to me is a trick a GMT user told me about years ago, but I keep forgetting to try it. He claimed the mineralization meter could be used as an extra aid in identifying ferrous items.

 

Steve this has been suggested to me over the years, and I've read a few accounts on the forums.

 

"The way Fe3O4 (or equivalent) is measured internally in different machines, is different, so it's hard to generalize what it'll do on metal targets. On some machines on some targets and in some soils it can be an aid in identifying flat or rusty iron." That is a direct quote taken from an email to me from a chief design engineer in El Paso who certainly ought to know.

 

My F75 Fe3O4 meter will respond to rusted iron in the ground conditions here, but it will respond similarly over some perfectly good, rich silver ores in situ.

 

When seeking more information about a suspect target, I use the groundgrab feature prior to disturbing the soil. Pinpoint the target, enable the groundgrab and pump the coil no more than four or five times. That's plenty, so don't force the issue.

 

Observe the ground phase / GB readout. In this area a sharp reduction from typical operating values of around GB86 to more conductive GB values... for example say low GB40s... is a clear indication of either rusted iron (maghemite formation in surrounding matrix), predominantly colbaltite ores (arsenic rich) that may or not possibly contain some negligible amount of native silver, or niccolite... a commonplace nickel arsenide in this area.. but our typical dollar-size nickel ores tend to generate comparatively less conductive values in the GB50s.

 

Jim.

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