Steve Herschbach

My perspective is if fault exists in anything it is because the competition allows it. Minelab gets considerable leeway in the way they build and deliver things and what they charge simply because the competition does not step up and address the areas of concern. Garrett wanted to get in the game with a machine that could not match the sheer power of the GPX. The only sensible thing to do would be to target Minelabs two biggest weaknesses - ergonomics and price. They got the price right with the ATX but the one area where they could have really shined they failed on. I am still convinced a lightweight ATX would have found a ready market, especially before the SDC came out. No PI at all from First Texas as they fill the planet with low price detectors. Whites has the TDI but each version is less powerful - how does that advance the competition? The CTX faces the old analog CZ from First Texas which has the basic technology but no update to lighter weight digital. No multi frequency at all from Garrett. White's has the V3i which is a good machine but needs a total housing/interface makeover. The bottom line is we can grumble about Minelab but also be thankful at least that they are pushing cutting edge technology. They could have quit with the GP Extreme and Explorer models and still be the technology leaders - that is how far behind everyone else has gotten. All the more amazing when you consider that the BBS and MPS patents have expired - that is how long it has been! I love competition and would look anyone at Minelab right in the eye and tell them I would love to see a competitor put real heat on them from a technological standpoint. So far that is not happening, so whose fault is that?

I thought the theory was that white is less prone to getting hot in extreme sunlight. There is an expansion/contraction coefficient to deal with that can affect coil performance and white coils are less prone to that issue? That is the theory I have heard but I still like black anyway. My F75 black I thought was one sharp looking detector and it is a relief that the Racer 2 that replaced it is black also!

I think black is beautiful....

I like your thinking Nenad and GPX plus Racer 2 is good indeed. I could go GPX instead of GPZ easily but I need to be able to hunt surf and so the CTX would have to stay. Needing a waterproof machine really boxes in the options. It is a good exercise that makes a person consider just what their real detecting needs are. Three detectors is much easier to work with, and GPZ, CTX, and Gold Racer would work very well for me. Going to two starts cutting real muscle. Having only one detector would really hurt. I am hopeful however a small coil will appear some day for the GPZ helping to solve part of the equation. Add disc and then things get even better - the need for a VLF starts to go away.

Even Minelab does not list nugget detecting in the list of things they think the CTX excels at. You can of course find gold nuggets with it, but it is not its strong point. The BBS and FBS machines excel at coin size targets and so are coin and ring killers. For nugget detecting the CTX lacks the punch of dedicated single frequency units optimized for pulling gold out of mineralized ground. With the GPZ/CTX combo the GPZ is the prospecting machine. The CTX is for everything else. You can of course beach hunt with a GPZ and nugget hunt with a CTX. A two machine combo is not my preferred solution as I would be compromising in several areas. But for many people two machines are more than enough. There are plenty of threads on this forum about using the CTX for nugget detecting.

Nokta AU Gold Finder

Yes you can park hunt with it but not as deep on coins as the MXT and no notching. Tons of info on the forum Tom.... http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/tags/makro%20gold%20racer/

Not waterproof but....

Well Fred I have to say if I could only own two detectors a GPZ/CTX combo basically covers it all, and since they share a bit by way of hardware and software a pretty compelling solution for a do it all detectorist. So I am not buying the not smart act! Sorry Paul, $40 won't even get you the scuff cover off my Bigfoot.

I dig it all until I don't.

I have been trying to consolidate my detector collection the last couple years to conform to my new reality of life in Reno. Lots of detectors have gone away, but new ones keep sneaking in as I fine tune the mix. I am making progress though. 1. The GPZ 7000 - this detector got the most detecting time last year and found nearly all the gold that matters. Lots of people have issues with the GPZ 7000 but I get along really well with mine. It works and works well and for me it is a joy to use. I have no doubt most of my detecting hours this year will be with the GPZ. It will not go away until Minelab pulls the next rabbit out of their hat. My main nugget hunting unit. 2. Garrett ATX - if I am in the water with a mask and snorkel it will most likely be with the ATX. It performs well at places with intense mineralization like Hawaii or Lake Tahoe. It is bullet proof and folds up nicely for travel. I also can cherry pick coins fairly well with it and so it gets a bit of park use. In theory it can handle hot rocks that would trouble my GPZ but so far I have not found a place where I have had to resort to that. Even if Garrett came out with a light dry land version I would keep this machine as my primary water hunting unit. 3. Makro Gold Racer - Goes where my GPZ goes. It can find tiny gold my GPZ can't find and so is a good specimen hunter and bedrock sniper. If the ferrous trash gets too thick for the GPZ, I am getting out the GR. I have only done it once so far but I was thoroughly impressed with the 15" x 13" DD coil on this machine and it would be my choice for hunting big cobble piles or other tailing piles where large deep junk is lurking. It is rapidly becoming a favorite for hunting jewelry. The Gold Racer is the highest frequency machine sporting adjustable discrimination and a target VDI and I have yet to fully explore its potential. My main VLF nugget detector and a sleeper for jewelry detecting. 4. White's DFX / Bigfoot Combo - this is more about the coil than the detector. The Bigfoot is unique in its ability to skim large areas like sports fields for shallow targets. I use a pinpointer and screwdriver only; the name of the game here is quick recovery of lots of targets. I run the DFX in 15 kHz un-normalized mode which expands the low conductive VDI range and run in full tones. All this combined with the DFX Signagraph display is a superb jewelry hunting combo. I have used the MXT with this Bigfoot and gave the V3i several tries but the DFX finally won out. The V3i is appealing but ultimately overkill. I thought the MX Sport might have a shot with its 20 tones at replacing the DFX with the bonus of my getting a VLF water hunter, but I am pretty doubtful of that now. Regardless, the Bigfoot goes nowhere, only the detector attached to it might change. My main dry land jewelry unit but the Gold Racer is challenging it lately. That is the core units and they account for most of my detecting needs. What is missing there is a good deep silver machine for parks and yards, a good machine for extremely trashy old camp or cabin sites, and a waterproof machine with discrimination. One machine might do all that but I may settle for two, putting the full collection at no more than six units. I expect to be there by the end of the year. Current units in play... 1. Latest version Minelab CTX 3030. I sold my last one when the warranty expired. I honestly was thinking that since it has been over three years that a CTX 4040 might appear this year. I would like a better display, faster processor, and one more programmable target bin (split the ferrous). What we got instead was a minor 3030 update with better battery seal and locking armrest. I have one ordered and expect it soon. This machine can hunt the deep silver, hunt the old sites, and is waterproof. There is a high probability it takes position five in my permanent collection and there may be no need for a sixth. 2. XP Deus waiting on V4 update. Pretty much the top iron hunter at this time, and the ability to run 40 kHz intrigues me. The idea there for me was nugget hunting but I have a hard time thinking it can knock out the Gold Racer. I doubt there is a better iron unlocker, but truth is I do not do a lot of that. And the Deus fans will never convince me that buying a $500 smart coil is great when all I need is a cheap wired dumb coil. Fabulous machine though and very fun to use so who knows. It has a shot at the optional position six, which may just be for machines that come and go. 3. Makro Racer 2 - a really great all around detector. The main problem I am seeing is it overlaps so much with various specialty machines I also have. On the plus side it gives the Deus a serious run for the money and right this second if I had to keep one it would be the R2 due to my personal preference for the way it goes about doing things. That is not really fair though and I have lots of time yet to put on both units. The Deus V4 update with smaller coil could be a game changer. 4. MX Sport - this machine had a shot at being a waterproof VLF that could hunt deep silver and thick ferrous trash plus maybe replace the DFX. Multiple possibilities. First impression did not go well but I am trying to put that aside and see how round two goes. Now that I have a CTX coming things just got tougher for the MXS. 5. Nokta Impact - I am liking the thought of a selectable frequency machine that could replace at least two other machines. The Impact has just been revealed as having planned but not set in stone selectable frequencies of 4, 14, and 21 kHz. Given that it will no doubt borrow much from what is learned with the Racer 2 and my preference for wired coils this machine could replace both the Racer 2 and Deus in this shootout. All three should be playing together before the end of the year. I am drifting towards the idea of machine number 5 being a true multi frequency unit (CTX) and machine number 6 being a selectable frequency unit (Deus or Impact or ?). Selectable frequency is an underserved detector category at this time that I see as providing a marketing edge against the huge number of single frequency machines on the market so I expect we will see more of them going forward. 6. Fisher CZX? White's Half Sine or Constant Current? Possible wild cards are coming but I do not make plans around stuff like that. We will see them when we see them and other than rumors nothing appears imminent. Anyway, just a ramble, nothing more. Kind of gelling my own thoughts about where I am heading I guess. Everyone has to make their own choices for their own budgets and detecting needs. In my case it may seem like a lot of bucks wrapped up in detectors but people that know me know that I am otherwise quite the frugal freddy. Detecting is my passion and I forgo other things to spoil myself there. And the fact is they do pay for themselves - not many big boy toys have that possibility. Swinging a golf club is a money pit - I would rather swing a detector!

Well, if two of us were to do that long enough we might be able to answer that question for one exact set of circumstances. It all depends on the ground mineralization plus the exact size, shape, purity, and depth of the gold. For instance my Gold Racer can find tiny shallow nuggets better. But the lower frequency units might have a small edge for depth on larger nuggets. Tell me the exact number and weight of all the tiny nuggets you are going to find with the Gold Racer vs the smaller number of deeper but larger nuggets one of the other machines might find. If all the area holds is tiny gold you may be better off with the GR. But it takes a lot of tiny nuggets to make up for a larger nugget or two. Since every location is different, and every machine involves trade offs, there simply is not a direct answer to the question. The answer is "it depends". If one VLF did it all and did it well everyone would have one and your choice would be clear. It is up to to to quantify your own needs exactly and good luck with that. None of us really even knows what is in the ground we hunt and we can't know what we are missing because we are not finding it. The guys doing good just get on good ground and hunt a lot with machines they know well.

Every nugget machine made with the exception of the GMT/MXT has not had an SAT control and somehow they all work. The original FORS Gold does not have that control. The focus on the FORS Relic lacking the iSAT control is getting far too much weight in my opinion. Is it nice to have? Yes. Is it a requirement for finding gold? No.

Since the very first thing I do with all LCD detectors is slap on a screen protector perfectly flat screens work great for me. Put on a matte screen protector if desired.

It is not Oz but here is a report from the UK... http://www.metaldetectingforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=84939&sid=fec724bd9f2c07851b49350febf66439

The battery springs are likely making poor contact with the battery. Stretching the springs slightly usually fixes the problem. There are slight variation in battery sizes both in diameter and the size of the male contact that seem to lead to the issue with some battery types and not others. No argument from me about you saying this should not be an issue still. First reports on this problem were in 2014.

You do have a lot of remaining warranty but that would be a one way to void it. Not a good idea. Contact Miner John for a recommendation - he might even custom make a coil for you. You might also try looking for a used Coiltek Platypus coil. Finally, there is the old sock full of sand tied to top of coil trick.

Funny, I posted same time as Goldpick and missed the post - great finds! Congratulations!!

Well Harry, I think the Gold Bug 2 is super easy! I also know lots of novices would tell us we are nuts. Getting a handle on a manually tuned hot VLF is not as easy as it seems to us old timers. Number one complaint on Gold Bug 2 when I was in the biz was inability of casual users to ever learn it well enough to get good with it. If money is no object people should just get an SDC - way way easier than a VLF and nearly as hot, better even on deeper stuff.

I have the Racer 2 and Gold Racer and when I hit the hills with my GPZ 7000 the Racer 2 stays home and the Gold Racer goes. My second choice in the N/M lineup for prospecting is the FORS Gold Plus. If I wanted it to also do coins, beaches, etc. I would be very tempted now by the FORS Relic but would probably go Racer 2 again even though the Relic at 19 kHz has an edge. I like the options and screen/menu control setup on the Racer 2 better. Those are simply my choices based on my personal use filters. You have to think about your uses and preferences and at end of day pull the trigger. They can all find gold. Too many great options does make it difficult, and intangibles like on arm feel and audio can only be revealed by actually using a detector. They can look great on paper and still not feel or sound right when you get them.

I am pretty much like Ray - I think a smaller coil will really make an incredible detector even better. The software update is just a bonus.

I should have worded my original response better. While I am sure the detector can find gold getting a model used and proven specifically for prospecting is a much better idea. Thanks for the more intelligent responses everyone.

My posting the latest news should not be read as a complaint on my part at least. It is simply the latest update from XP for people who like to know what's going on.

The FORS Relic does have a prospecting mode, the same as the FORS Gold. Nokta does not use that label for their all metal mode. As far as prospecting goes it depends on how much value you place in the iSAT control on the FORS Gold Plus, which is lacking on the Relic.