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At one time before its release I had been interested in the Nokta Impact. Speculation ran rampant and I got sucked into the vortex. I already owned a Red Racer and a Gold Racer so I knew that Nokta/Makro made good detectors. As so often happens life intrudes on our metal detecting plans. In the last year I have not detected near as much as in years previous so I had shelved my interest in the Impact. Yet recently I have been able to detect more so I went ahead and acquired one.
As usual, I first read the manual(what a geek). While the Impact is a more complex detector than either the Red or Gold Racer, the excellent menu tree and my perusal of the manual had me up and running in short order. At my first opportunity I took the Impact to a location that has had a serious pounding with the Deus, CTX, and who knows how many other detectors. I started detecting with the stock elliptical affixed to the stick. Although the Impact weighs about 4 Lbs. I thought it was nicely balanced so swinging it did not overly fatigue me.
This machine has a mode for about any type of detecting you would want to do but on my 1st day I only tried 4 of them. GEN D, DI99, DI4, and VLX2. After a couple hours trying the different modes and learning the tones on the Impact I had found some non-ferrous items that were missed by all other machines but nothing that was a keeper, mainly miscellaneous bits of brass and copper. 
I thought it was time to switch gears so I threw on the 7" elliptical. I had previously been running mainly factory presets in the various modes but with this coil I wanted to gain back some of the depth I knew I would lose with the smaller coil so I bumped the sensitivity up.  I worried about increased EMI but with this coil running hotter, EMI did not cause me any problems. I really like this tiny elliptical. It's the perfect size for working in the iron while still getting more coverage than a 5" or 6" round. I took this little football coil into the heaviest iron at the site and once again while I was able to pluck some non-ferrous targets out of that mess I found nothing to write home about(story of my life, LOL).
I did try out the 15" coil. Honestly I am not a big coil guy unless I am swinging a PI and going for max depth. I love working in the iron with VLF's so usually a small coil is welded to the dirt end of whatever machine I am swinging at the time.This 15" is a coil I would use for very specific circumstances only as I would need to wear a harness if I was going to swing it very long. With the 15" mounted up to this machine it was very nose heavy and my arm hurt in no time at all. 
The wireless headphones seemed to work well. I did not notice any lag that would affect target recovery. A few times I thought I detected the slightest lag in heavy iron, but it was near the end of the day and honestly I was getting tired and probably a little cranky. Likely my imagination.
At the end of my first day with the Nokta Impact I was favorably impressed with most aspects of the machine. My main gripes were 1) while well balanced it is still 4 Lbs. I am used to a Deus so when you grab this detector you wonder why it can't be lighter. 2) The tones are very digitized sounding. Some people may love these tones, me not so much. 3) The wireless headphones do not have a long enough adjustment band for me to wear them comfortably with a baseball cap. They rode up on my ears and irritated me.
A few days later I decided to do a shoot out between the Impact and some other detectors I have to see how they performed with iron masking. This test was not done to rigorous scientific standards. LOL. Just a test I did for my own information. I can't post all the individual settings and results. I had to come to work on a tugboat and I forgot and left all my notes at home.  I will give a quick synopsis of my findings. I hope some one finds it useful but it is just my own opinion. Others are likely to have different results. My friend Chuck(Strick) will post photos of the test for me because he is a good guy and has that down pat.
The machines tested were;
CTX 3030 with 6"R coil.
Red Racer with OOR coil.
Deus with 9" LF coil.
Deus with Elliptical HF coil.
Impact with 4x7" coil.
I made sure the dirt was clean of targets befor flipping over a rubber welcome mat and inserting a 1926 SLQ and a 1855 seated dime into holes in the backing. I did this so the square nails I placed near the coins were slightly elevated over the coins. I manual GBed all the machines except the CTX. The dirt under the mat is kinda hot. It lights up most of the bars on the Deus FE meter.
The results of the test were surprising to me. First that the CTX did so well in comparison to most of the other detectors. On the first scenario( quarter with one small square nail and one big square nail), all the detectors except the Deus with HF coil could generate a diggable signal on 25% +/- of angles swung on the target. The Deus with HF coil could get a diggable signal 360 degrees around the target.
On the second scenario(dime with 3 nails), all the detectors except the Deus with HF coil could not generate a diggable signal from any angle swung. The Deus with HF coil could generate a signal 360 degrees around the target.
As I said before I was a little shocked the CTX did so well in the quarter test scenario compared to most of the other detectors because I have seen the Red Racer, and Deus HF and LF coils eat it alive when comparing signals on live relic digs on un-dug targets in heavy iron. I thought the Red Racer would do better as I have also seen situations in which the little OOR coil on the Red Racer seemed almost magical on targets the Deus LF and other detectors have failed on. As far as the Impact is concerned I felt its performance in these two scenarios on that day in that dirt was was nothing to write home about but to be fair it did as well as any detector besides the Deus with HF coil. I was hoping for more as far as separation/unmasking ability from this detector with the 7" coil onboard. But I must say that a detectorist that I respect very much and I believe is a straight shooter tells me the Impact with 7" coil does beat the Deus with HF coil in some scenarios.
Anyway, on that day in those two scenarios the Deus with HF coil spanked all the others. I am sure other detectorists will have different opinions or results and that is fine by me. I don't own stock in any of the companies manufacturing these machines.
In summation I would say I do like the Impact. It has many fine features and I know I need way more hours on it to leverage all of its capabilities to my advantage. In my world the CTX is my park and lawn machine. The Deus with the HF coil has become my main relic machine for heavy iron. I love the Deus for its light weight, speed, and versatility. But now there is a new kid in town- the Impact. LOL . When I get time I know I will enjoy learning the nuances of this machine. I am looking forward to spending more time in the all-metal modes and some of the other modes I haven't explored yet, like Deep mode.
 

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Paul, Equinox? I don't think so. I don't have enough time to run the detectors I already have. LOL

Chuck, thanks for posting those pics for me.

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Thanks for the report Merton. The weight of the Impact at 4.23 lbs with stock coil, scuff cover and batteries installed surprised me, especially since it is not waterproof. Now, the White’s V3i from 2009 weighs 4.5 lbs but it also features a true multifrequency mode and color display. It being 2017 my expectation these days is for any “not waterproof” VLF to come in at about 3.5 lbs or less, and that is being generous, as the real target should be three pounds or less. On the flip side the Impact is built like a tank - no worries about flimsiness there!

Having used most of the Nokta and Makro models made the last couple years the Racer units are still my favorites.

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Yes Steve, I really like my Racers although I never did buy a Racer2. Just how many metal detectors does a man need? The Impact has so many options and since I am somewhat of a metal detector nerd I know I will have fun exploring them. It will be interesting to see what Nokta/Makro comes up with next. Hopefully whatever it is will be at least 30% lighter.

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I wish the Racer 2 had the 99 tones option as on the Impact, would make it a more complete platform, and without the extra weight of the Impact.  I was hoping the "bigger is better" mentality would not come to fruition on the Impact platform, just as with the CTX, regardless of how well balanced it is (still swinging a decent amount of weight).  If Quest detectors can make a lightweight, waterproof and selectable frequency platform, then it should really be achieveable on flagship models from most well established brands by now.  Looking past the weight issues, at least the Impact looks to have plenty of programs and features to keep one busy for a long time.

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Thank you David for sharing good advice so freely.

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