goldbrick

Strick, you should have been a rocket scientist. Your horseshoe coil idea is pure genius. Don't know if Makro can get it to work. LOL

I have an addiction. I am a coil junky. I have 13 coils for my GPX 4500 alone! I feel kind of stupid putting that in print for everyone to read but each purchase seemed to make sense at the time or I at least thought I could some how justify it because of increased gold production due to that specific coil. Since I purchased a Makro Gold Racer Pro Pack I am now casting about for reasons to sate my addiction with a couple new accessory coils for the GR. Specifically the 5.5x10" concentric and the 13x15" DD. I have my ideas how each of these coils will be beneficial to me but I would like to hear what you guys think these coils offer in the way of advantages. Lets hear all the reasons you can think of for any detecting genre be it prospecting,relic,coin,jewelry,beach etc.,etc.... Thanks, Merton

Jim, I haven't seen you posting on the net lately, glad to see you are thawing out up there. I always look forward to your analysis of your latest adventure, I usually read them a couple times so I don't miss any kernels of knowledge you have passed on. Your comments on different detectors have taught me a lot. Please keep them coming my friend. HH, Merton

Hey Fred it doesn't get much better, life in the NV desert this time of year is great. Marstin and I have been all over Pershing County exploring. Some days we don't even turn the detectors on, just soak up the beauty of the desert. I hope you get a chance to use your new RV on some trips soon.

Yesterday was just one test, at one level of mineralization, hunting one particular type of location(hard rock tailings)on the second time I had ever used the GR. In a different scenario the GBII may beat the pants off the GR simply because of the small elliptical coil versus the round 5" may present a large advantage at a single location where you have to poke the coil into tight brush a lot. But generally speaking I think you will not be sucking wind if you have a GR and your buddies are covering the soil with a GBII. In fact I think the exact opposite MAY occur due to the 5" round is likely to obtain better overall depth on a consistent basis than the 3x6" and the GR thru use of high gain levels in conjunction with the iSAT function may run better and punch deeper in areas of high mineralization. In areas of highly variable mineralization I think a prospector may see a distinct advantage with the GR just due to the fact that the Auto GB (ground grab) will allow him to cover more ground in the same amount of time, not even mentioning the possible use of GB Tracking and the inherent advantages therein. The GR balances better than the GBII with the bigger coils installed(my opinion only) and I think many differences may be magnified when using the larger coils as the small coil is what made the GBII a brilliant machine in the first place and when you put the 10" on it I thought a substantial performance loss was apparent. All of these scenarios are of course while in All-metal Mode as it is the best mode on both machines for prospecting in clean ground. I will not enumerate the many advantages I see possibly occurring when comparing the use of the GR to GBII in discriminate mode. If you ever run both machines in trash I can not for the life of me see how any one could argue when I say that GR will simply kick the GBII's butt in that scenario. HH, Merton

Yesterday I took my new Makro Gold Racer to an old railroad siding to do a little testing and learn the machine. I did not have a large learning curve as I already own the Red Racer so I understood the menu system. The Red Racer is the easiest VLF I have ever operated. The Gold Racer has a few more functions but it was read once through the manual, turn on, a couple easy adjustments and I was off and running. I did not find anything worth keeping during my hour of testing. I was not surprised as this place has been pounded relentlessly for 25 years at least but it is close to where I am camping. I did learn that it is true the GR loves low and mid-conductors and bangs hard on them. I found more than a few bullets, shell cases, foil, bits of copper, etc, etc.... But I did not buy this machine to go relic hunting (although I will use it for that on occasion) and I have no interest in jewelry hunting in parks. I want this machine for prospecting. So this morning it was off to a super secret location in the NV desert with my brother. This site is an old hardrock mine that has a dump with a lot of quartz in it. There is some gold to be found in the tailings. Mostly very small stuff still encased in the quartz. A lot of the signals are so faint you have to chase it around the pile with a GBII because if the pebble the gold is in turns wrong you lose the signal. Neither my brother or I am scientists. Nor are we neophytes to prospecting with metal detectors. We only do testing to answer questions we ourselves would like to know. Otherwise we are too busy having fun detecting to be bothered with detector shootouts, videos, or the like. Please let's not get into the minutiae of particular settings on the detectors, depths in centimeters, or my astrological sign. I am on vacation and don't want the negativity in my life. My brother and I compared inground, undug signals between the Makro Gold Racer and the Fisher GB II. If we inadvertently gave one detector the edge it would be the GBII as I probably could have ran the GR hotter if I was more familiar with it. In all instances we could not discern a measurable difference in the performance of these two detectors on the smallest of gold targets. The signal would vary a little due to the differences between the 3"x6" concentric and the 5" round DD but one detector never received a signal that the other could not. We were actually quite surprised by these results but in this ground on this day detecting these targets the GBII and GR ran neck and neck. This is not only my opinion but that of my brother as well and he is a big GBII fan(he owns two of them). Your results may vary and probably will. HH, Merton

Jasong, the detector you are describing should be a reality sometime in 2016. It is the Deus w/v4 update and 6x9 coil. Multi-frequencies of 10,20,30, and 40. Multi-notch windows w/ assignable tones. Ground Balance notch. Updated Goldfields program. Weighs 2.2 Lbs.This detector will have everything you are asking for. In its present form it may still work well for you in 18khz. It's down-fall is coil selection. Currently the smallest coil available is a 9" round.

Klunker, thank you for the succinct solution to my problem. I have heard through the grapevine there is a small epidemic of GPZ failures in the western mountain country of the USA. Could you please tell the good folks here at Detector Prospector Forum a little about your troubles up in the holler?

I readily admit it would have been easy to fix this problem before I went afield. I knew how to do it. I just did not think a brand new detector would still have this issue. As Steve said it was first reported in 2014. While it is an easy fix and no big deal, my point is it should not occur at all on such an expensive detector. I guess we can all suck eggs once we give Minelab our money.

Goldpick, that is a terrific relic, I have never seen one posted before. I too am a big fan of the Deus. I think I enjoy using it more than any of my other detectors. My Deus isn't going anywhere except hunting with me.

I purchased a SDC 2300 before the end of last year during the promotional pricing period. Because I have been away at sea and/or in areas no gold exists I just took my new girl out for her first stroll yesterday. An hour into the hunt my machine started turning off and on. I knew there HAD been a problem with this is as I had ran a friends 2300 for a few days. What I find inconceivable is the SDC 2300 has been for sale in this country for quite a while now and they have done nothing to fix a seemingly minor problem. The MAP price on this machine is approaching the $4000 mark. You would think that for that type of money you could turn your detector on and it would run until you turned it off. I have always been a fan of Minelab detectors ever since I purchased a GP3500, but I have to say "FOR SHAME,FOR SHAME,FOR SHAME". Minelab should hang their head in red-faced shame over such dismal customer service as this.

Can't hunt in the trash with the SDC though. Today I was in NV detecting an unnamed gold camp with my Red Racer even though I had my SDC along. This place has been pounded to death with GPX, SDC, and GPZ's. I was skunked on the gold but by hunting in the trash where PI's fear to tread I did find two 1936 dimes and a couple wheaties. Could have just as easily been gold.

I really am not bashing the GB II but I just never could connect with the machine. Crummy discrimination and awkward ground balance system combined to make it less than one of my favorite all time detectors. I am not denying it is the best at what it does, I just never liked how it did it. Last fall a friend of mine needed a GB II worse than I did so mine went to a new home where it would find love. That left a hole in my detector line up. Yesterday I filled that hole with a Gold Racer, should be here in 3-4 days. I already have a Red Racer so I know the build quality will be good. Look forward to going head to head with Lucky and his Gold Bug in the Sierra hydraulic pits this summer. Me thinks he will be buying the beer at the end of the day. LOL p.s. A BIG shout out to Chris Porter at DetectorAid.com for the excellent service!

I had not heard about the Nokta PI machine actually being in development. Is there any other info available to fan the flames of desire?

That's awesome!

Thanks for the tips Gents!

Hey Fred, for us losers that have never swung a 3030 all the numbers you quote may as well be heiroglyphics. Can you give the peanut gallery the low down on what all that means. Thanks for the time you spent testing. I would rather detect than test myself.

I wish, it's on my bucket list.

That's a nice find Mugsy, congrats.

I don't have a Racer 2 but I have the Red Racer and would have to say I agree. Love the Menu. My only complaint is with the optional weather cover. It is very difficult to operate the buttons accurately with it in place. With summer coming on I think I will take it off, install a screen protector and go detecting.

Keith, can you answer Steve's question, "does the FR have iSat in all metal?" Thanks

Welcome, Saving the Past! Glad you have joined the party. Please let us know what you think of your Racer2 when you get it.

O.K. Klunker, what did you do to your mono? Probably using it for a snow sled or a hillbilly frisbee. You certainly are hard on equipment. First your GPZ and now your GPX.

Rick, glad to see you are on the receiving end of some gold. Those nuggies are fabulous!

Too depressing to contemplate.....