Steve Herschbach

It is in the upcoming events sidebar in the upper right of this page To sell you need to pay for a vendor booth. You will probably be able to handle and air test detectors but to put one in water you will probably have to buy it. Beyond that I recommend you follow the link to the event website for answers to further questions.

The official word from White's was 18V http://forums.whiteselectronics.com/showthread.php?68143-TDI-SL-max-voltage-permitted The battery that ships with the TDI Pro is 14.4V 4.4Ah Li-Ion Prior thread here on TDI SL and batteries...

Hello Nenad, Thank you, as I have said just random observations. They are both great detectors, the Gold Racer and Racer 2. Here we have a lot more people relic hunt however and so we can't forget the original Red Racer. The 10 iron range may be fine for most coin hunters but I still think the original Racer with the 40 iron range has a place for the relic hunters here at least and of the two (Racer and Racer 2) may be the better nugget machine, though it is indeed a hair splitting thing. I think what it all really means is the three Racers are great units that just lean different ways. Gold Racer for gold (natural or jewelry) but still can be used for coins and I have had good luck with it recently hunting in thick nails. Red Racer for the relic hunters but still good for coins and gold. And Racer 2 for coins but still good on gold and relics. Something for everyone! Don't get me wrong - my Racer 2 is going nowhere. I have a lot to learn about it still. It just seems that the Gold Racer and I get on especially well with each other. It is a truly unique detector.

I consider any gold at all in a pan sample to be a good thing and something with a tenth of what you are showing to be really good for a single pan sample. The amount you have I would have a sluice box or dredge on site asap. Many people as Paul has said would be happy to see that amount of gold running a sluice for a day, much less getting it in a single pan.

I create the Archive categories based on subjects that get enough threads to justify one. It is not a matter of my creating a category in hopes it will fill with relevant threads, but a matter of enough geology related threads being started to justify a category. So post away, and I promise the appropriate Archive category will appear. Detector model specific archives are a good example. I toss everything into Other Metal Detectors until enough threads show up in a specific model, then they get moved to their own archive. A few more threads specific to geology and I will pull all exiting threads out of the Research archive and move them to a new Geology archive.

Don, Thank you VERY much for reminding me of the single tone disc mode on the Nokta AU Gold Finder. The single disc mode does not exist on the Makro Gold Racer. It is a nearly secret setting that does exist on the Nokta FORS Gold also. My prototype AU Gold Finder does have the single tone disc mode. I need to run the Gold Finder and Gold Racer side by side and see how the modes compare. I am curious also what happens if you reduce tone break on the Gold Racer to zero, creating a single tone mode. Will it clean up the chatter? I think the Gold Finder was a brilliant move with the retro all knobs design, not to mention being highly water resistant. I do still prefer the Gold Racer myself if for no other reason than being slightly less heavy and better balanced, though if the GF is hip or chest mounted that flips to advantage Gold Finder. Right now I am using the Gold Racer more for hunting trashy areas my GPZ hates than chasing tiny bits and the VDI numbers give me a clear edge there for helping make some dig/no dig decisions. My prototype AU Gold Finder happily runs my Gold Racer coils but I have not confirmed beyond doubt that this is the case with production models.

I think we would all agree to the same with all metal detector manufacturers, but if you read the warranty statements from every one if them you will see return postage is not something covered in writing by any of them. It does sometimes happen in isolated cases, like the MX Sport disaster. NokMak has actually been one of the better companies in this regard as they rarely require defective items be returned. I probably know more about warranty policies than most people having run a service department and dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars in warranty from a wide range of manufacturers. Warranty almost always requires that an item be returned to a warranty service center at customer expense. Try, as I have, to explain to a customer why a 200 lb outboard or a snowmobile in the middle of nowhere Alaska must be airfreighted at their expense into Anchorage to get a warranty problem taken care of. It gets worse - they also have to pay the shipping to get it back! Ask a manufacturer why that is, and they will tell you it is the price of living in a remote area as opposed to an urban area, and that they have no control over where people take things. Warranty generally covers direct cost to repair or replace an item only, with incidental costs like shipping excluded. I am making no excuses here or defending anything, just giving some insight into the reality of warranty and how it works. Some companies do a better job in this regard and actually reading and understanding a warranty before you buy anything can save a lot of money in some cases should failure occur. You all do read the warranties, right?

Ground balance / phase numbers do not indicate the level of mineralization, they indicate the type of mineralization. Further, Fe3O4 (mineral %) meters only give an accurate indication if the coil is pumped to the ground. Personally I don't care what the readings or numbers are. I ground balance my detector and adjust settings based on how the machine acts.

Hi JP, Good to hear from you, I hope you and your family are well. Yes, iSAT is basically the same as V/SAT and very helpful for smoothing the threshold in variable ground. It is like everything detecting a trade, with higher iSAT settings possibly smoothing over very faint target responses. Lower iSAT settings with slow sweep speeds can aid in pulling targets from milder ground. For anyone who already has a Gold Bug 2 and who is just wanting to chase tiny gold nuggets I do not know that there is any specific advantage in going to the Gold Racer. The Gold Bug 2 is king of the tiny bits and in terms of markets longevity one of the most well proven machines on the market. At 56 kHz however there is no other machine that comes close to the feature list of the Gold Racer and it does bring some interesting capability to the table for uses other than prospecting.

Racer 2 ground phase values: Mineral content meter:

His ground balance (ground phase) reading was pretty consistent at 87 - 90. I assume you are referring to ground tracking, which he turns on in all metal mode, then turns back off (setting 00) while in disc modes. Ground is most useful in all metal mode to smooth the variations that occur in ground with varying mineralization. Since the disc modes are silent search there is no obvious benefit and so Makro recommends not using it in disc modes to get best performance. However, when I was using the FORS Gold I found that in extreme ground where hot rocks would break through even in disc mode, engaging ground tracking did smooth things out. Like most detectors however I would not use tracking unless it is needed, even while in all metal mode.

I knew yours had quit soon after you got it. Any details on what happened and has it been handled? The reason I ask is forum member SLGuin has apparently found new life as Slag on Tom's forum. He also reports getting a Gold Racer and having it fail. My Gold Racer is one of the first off the production line and I have had no issues, but overall with all Nokta/Makro models I have had some concerns over quality control. Early issues mostly revolved around plastics issues like coil ears and coil bolts breaking, but they seem to have that sorted out now. With you and Slag reporting Gold Racer failures I got concerned again, but some searching has not revealed this as being widespread. NokMak in general has been superb in fixing issues when they arise but if they really want to make serious inroads as a manufacturer they need to do all they can to put these types of issues in the past. In all fairness we see problems from all the manufacturers. A new (to us) company has more on the line however and can ill afford to get a reputation for building unreliable product. I got onto the site of an old shack recently with the Gold Racer. My gut feeling has been that the Gold Racer would be too hot for getting into thick ferrous, but it did a great job handling some pretty thick stuff and filling my pouch with non-ferrous targets. As usual flat steel is a challenge as it is with all detectors but I seemed to be getting a handle on it between audio and VDI responses. The unit has something special going with the disc VCO based audio and ability to make low conductors literally squeak. Anyway I know how you like hunting in the trash and hope you will be patient with the Gold Racer because I would like to compare notes with you on it if you continue to use it. I think Harry (LipCa) has one also but he is not saying much so maybe it is not working for him? Maybe he will chime in with a report. So far my only problem has been in trying to find the optimal way to deal with really hot ground. The Gold Bug 2 in worst case scenario you just switch to iron disc mode and it will shut most ground and hot rocks up with maybe just chatter at high gain levels. You can do the same with the Gold a Racer but with two disc modes and multiple disc settings it is more challenging, and I have not spent enough time on really bad ground to find what I think are the best solutions there yet. Northern Nevada is pretty tame and running in Disc Mode 1, Gain 79, ID Filter 10, iMask 0, and lowering tone break from 40 to 35 has been a good starting point for me. I set Disc Mode 2 up similarly but gain of 99. This is in general too hot for normal hunting, but once I get a target, I can switch to this to get a more solid response on weak targets. I do prefer the Gold Racer over the Gold Bug 2 when it comes to disc modes. The Gold Bug 2 has a silent search iron disc that silently rejects most ferrous targets. The Gold Racer can be set to do it this way also but you can vary the ferrous rejection (id filter) setting. In either case however I prefer a two tone setup, low tone ferrous, high tone non-ferrous. The problem with complete rejection is you can pass over a target and never know it was there. Borderline targets may give a poor reading that needs a little analysis and with a low tone alert you get a chance to stop and check questionable targets. The ability to set the tone break on the Gold a Racer really takes it to the next level because you can set the desired level of ferrous bias. I find the stock setting of 40 to be a bit too aggressive for my liking so 35 works better for me at lighting up smaller non-ferrous in bad ground with a high tone. The bottom line is due to my single minded use of the GPZ last year my Gold Racer did not see a lot of hours. Park hunting this spring got me going with it however and what I saw around the old shack intrigued me enough to make me intend on putting in lots more hours this year. I still consider myself to be a Gold Racer novice and would like that to change. I got the small elliptical coil now also and need to get it into use as that was my favorite coil on my Gold Bug 2.

A decent smart phone app based detector will happen. It is just a matter of time. It has been done but has yet to be done well. There is a previous thread on the subject at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/1417-tesla-app-based-detector/

The indepent saved settings for each mode, and better yet the ability to switch quickly between modes is very useful. The Gold Racer is set up the same way. I run one disc mode with optimum hunt settings. The second I run a very high settings, too high for general sweeping. I hunt with one, then switch to the other to boost the signal response on a found target. It is also easy to hunt in all metal, then switch to disc mode to check found targets. It is one of the best features of these machines and I wish more detectors allowed quick mode switching.

GPZ owners manual pages 7-8

Chris and I at least have had nothing to do with the development of the 19" coil and have been waiting for it just like everyone else.

No reason to apologize. As a rule if somebody starts a thread about a subject that has been discussed before I will provide a link. Not everybody reads or knows everything that goes on here. My post had no intent beyond that.

Previous thread on subject...

The 15 x 13 coil comes with a fitted scuff cover. A full cover would be nice for some applications but they do collect a lot of debris.

You are welcome.... And thank you. Glad to have you here!

Great story and memories, thanks for sharing!

Ha, ha, Jason, you and I are similar in that regard. I never claimed to be any kind of technical wizard or expert, nowhere in the class of somebody like JP. Any success I enjoy I put down to being on decent ground and putting in lots of hours, not any particular detector magic I am working. My theory is that rather than constantly worry about getting that last half inch of performance, how about I just detect another hour? That extra hour is going to do far more to put gold in my pocket than whether I am running in manual or tracking. At least that's my story and I am sticking to it!

Unless you are a techie adding VCO is not something most of us can do. If you are looking for a single frequency detector with "more depth" all I can say is that I personally believe that particular wall got hit in the 1990s. Whenever I hear talk about a new VLF and how it gets "more depth" I frankly just ignore it. We have gotten better ability to discriminate and/or separate targets that adds up to more effective depth but that's about it. In other words, your old Tejon goes about as deep as any single frequency VLF can be expected to detect. Lots of people still running CZ detectors also and for that matter they are still sold new as one of Fishers top of the line models.

True story I never used tracking on any detector until I got the SDC 2300, which forced me to use tracking. It worked so well and obviously does not want to track out tiny bits, that I just went with tracking as a rule on my GPZ. I will be out and about with it soon and go to fixed just to see what if any difference I can note. I have been using tracking in places where I probably should not.