Jackpine

When I ran the original X-terra 70 I was surprised at the amount of nulling of the threshold when using the all metal 2 tone mode.  At times it was constantly in a null from the iron.  Now I have hunted with a friend that used the Sovereign and borrowing a trick from that I would notch out the iron zone that was registering the most hits on the meter and then adjust the sensitivity accordingly.  Lowering sensitivity reduced the nulling dramatically and allowed better response to non-ferrous targets.

Tom

My pick for Micro-jewelry hunting believe it or not would be the Fisher 1270.  It operates at 8.2Khz but is extremely hot on earring studs and BB's.  The sensitivity and volume controls can be adjusted to run hot and stable. The big thing for me is that tiny foil bits sound ratty yet post type earrings give solid hits.  Even the backs to the earrings come in solid.  No more chasing and digging the tiny foil is a huge time saver.  The only drawback to the 1270 it the weight and balance.  I solved that by removing the head unit and putting it in a pouch. 

The way I see it is that foil flakes are irregular in shape and have little mass and while the 1270 responds to them the audio signal is that broken ratty sound.  Downside is you might miss the smallest of the gold chains depending on the size and type of clasp in use.

Tom

Will be looking forward to your report, not many out there yet.  Meeting up with a friend tomorrow that has one so will be giving it a go.

Tom

On 4/11/2016 at 6:23 AM, Roughwater said:

They do make a elliptical DD coil for the Racer/Racer2 which would be slightly more sensitive than the stock coil I would assume as it's a bit shorter and narrower like the minelab Joey coil.  But I'm maybe confused by the term "Concntric" as referred to a coil?  Are you talking about maybe a mono coil?  I'm not sure mono's are made for a VLF machine?  The little 5" for the racer coil I heard referred to as a "DD concentric" coil. I'm assuming the term concentric refers to it being round, although the 5" isn't perfectly round?    

Roughwater

No such thing as a "DD concentric coil" It's one or the other.

Steve's link is a great read on the advantages of Concentric coil posted by some very knowledgeable people. 

One of the reasons I picked up the Teknetics Omega 8500 was that it can use either type.  I was very disappointed to find that Fisher/Teks new concentrics are NOT the concentrics that the old Fisher made.  Kinda cheap looking and sonic welded or something. Don't trust 'em to be reliably waterproof for wading.   They are not the solid epoxy built like a tank coils of old.

Progress?

Tom

If Makro were to come out with an elliptical concentric for increased sensitivity to small gold that might tip the balance a bit more toward the Racer 2 on the prospecting aspect.  Just my thoughts.

Tom

I'd bet a lot were returned for update by dealers.  I would if I were a dealer that looks out for their customers best interest.

I think it's time to start a new thread for those that have gotten their machines back from White's and want to report on its performance good or bad. 

This thread is done for me.

Tom

Deep mode on the Racer 2 really amps up the signal response on the small test nugget I have.  Better response than all metal.  Set the tone break at something below the factory 10.  Might just work for those iron trashy areas.

1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I think black is beautiful....

Works for me too Steve

On 4/1/2016 at 11:30 AM, Reno Chris said:

Which is why I prefer a DD coil on a VLF in trashy areas - better target separation, and so you can differentiate good targets from bad more easily. The DD also gives better resistance to mineralized ground that is common here in the Reno area.

Hi Chris

I agree with you on the DD coils on machines running in the 14-19Khz range.  On the lower freq "coin detectors" a small concentric is the best choice for unmasking in iron and even the nasty rotting tin.  A perfect example I can give is the Minelab Advantage vs the Fisher made ID Edge.  While the DD only ML will go deeper at times coil size for coil size, when it came to picking out deeper targets in badly contaminated sites the concentric coil equipped Edge outperformed it by a huge margin.  For bad ground, detectors such as ML X-terra and Tek Omega operating in the 7-8 Khz range give you the choice of using both type coils.

Tom

Comparing the Fors gold + and Gold racer

Fors Gold+  Gold racer

On another forum there are 2 different dealers advertising barely used ones for sale.

How on earth in good conscious could White's in this day and age put out a new machine with these kinds of faults and hype it up with those videos!

Baffles the mind!

I'm wondering what kind of write up Andy gave it in his review on Lost Treasure since I don't suscribe to it.

Tom

12 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

The thing Tom as you note settings is one thing, but another is the machines inherent ability to not improperly identify non-ferrous targets as ferrous in the first place. Certain machines recognize the fact that people hate to dig trash, and so when it gets down to that critical point they lean more towards calling stuff ferrous than the other way around. This means less trash digging but more items get called ferrous that should not be. Other machines push this area very hard, meaning more non-ferrous items get identified properly. It may also mean a few more false positives. This is the area where the Euro machines excel and the place where in my opinion the Makro machines give the Deus a serious run for the money performance wise but in a more traditional package. The big benefit is coil options:

Coils for Makro Racer & Racer 2

• Makro 10x5.5 DD (RC26 DD)
• Makro 11x7 DD (RC29 DD)
• Makro 15.5x13 DD (RC40 DD)
• Makro 5x4.5 DD (RC13 DD)
• MarsMD 10x6 Sniper
• MarsMD 13 Discovery
• MarsMD 13x10 Tiger
• MarsMD 15 Goliath
• Nel 12.5x8.5 Hunter
• Nel 12x13 Tornado
• Nel 13x14 Storm
• Nel 15 Attack
• Nel 15x17 BIG
• Nel 5 Sharp
• Nel 6.5x3.5 Snake
• Nel 9.5x5.5 Sharpshooter

Agree and why I would like to see Makro come out with a lower freq coin detector with the ability to use concentric coils.  A little more reactive to high conductors and concentric coils for iron hunting.

With the Racer the thing is it unmasks so well compared to other machines that it is picking up non-ferrous items where the Target ID is dragged way down the scale by the co-located iron.  In my post where the brass shell case read 25 out of the ground but came in just above the preset iron/non-ferrous break point, it brings up the possibility of other desirable targets which may only occasionally bounce into the non-ferrous range.  Hence lowering the iron break point below the factory preset.  Even though the Racer 2 can be set up with various disc options, in reality it's a pure beep-dig detector of great ability.

Tom

Steve,

Of course you are right that it compresses the range.  Never was good at that sort of thing. lol

Yes and not a problem just lower the disc point.  Same thing we found out with the X-terra, so not something new.

Have made a few changes to the setup.  Lowered the iron vol to 2 and raised the mid tone freq to 55 for a little more intelligibility to my ears.

First time out with the Racer 2

http://www.dankowskidetectors.com/discussions/read.php?2,101950

The small brass next to the nail came in at 11-12 from most angles but with bounces into the iron and occasionally a high hit in the 20's.  Out of the ground it reads 25. Can't say for sure but the expanded non-ferous range probably saved the day on that one.  With the original Racer's 0-40 iron range I might have passed on it if there were more iron sounds coming in.  Monte suggested in a post to lower the iron tone break from 10 down to 8 and seeing this I'm in agreement.

Tom

Nice!  Those Cavalry buttons must like to travel. I found one just like it in my home town in Michigan,  Had nice gilt left too.

3 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

New for 2016! Waterproof Headphones with Hybrid design blending ProStar housing and Piezo Waterproof speakers. Fits MX Sport Connector.

Posted while I was typing.  That explains it. 

18 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Steve that is a picture of their Prostar Headphones with "Sport" stenciled on them. I just bought a set.

Tom

52 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Yeah, well, I am going to start a whole thread about Toms forum and all those &$%#&!! Florida depth numbers. 10 inch plus dimes - in my dreams! 

Depth here in Reno for all the best units and good id is 3-4 inches. Goes downhill rapidly after that, with most all non-ferrous targets reading ferrous at 5-6 inches. Fe3O4 meters are one bar shy of max and actually max out in some areas depending on the coil.

It is not the machines it is the soil. People on the west coast see the east coast posts and think their machines are defective. If it is clean peat topsoil I see better depths, but in this dry country a lot of park areas and such are little more than grass on sand and gravel.

Magnetite does weird stuff. Small aluminum like beavertails like to jump way high into the dime plus range.

Sorry to hear that on your coin depths Steve.  But you do have gold nuggets out there and I'm jealous of that,.

Typically 8-9" on a dime here, after that it's a struggle.  Beaches a little deeper.  I have detected around Wickenburg a few times, and 100+ year old stuff is just lying around on top. lol

Tom

No Steve don't, please stop!  I can't afford another machine. LOL

Tom

Tom Dankowski just posted test notes on the Racer 2 over on his forum and stated that Id accuracy on in the clear targets is good to almost maximum depth.  Now that's in his Florida soil.  Co-located ID's are what you would expect with any VLF detector.

I always carry out the barbed wire I find detecting hayfields.  Farmers lose animals regularly due to ingestion of the stuff.

Tom

Got a question. How many iron numbers are on the adjustable tone break, is it 10, 40 or something else.

Conductive ground mode is new.  Is it more than just being able to balance to salt?

Thanks

Tom

I had considered the Snake as an alternative to the 5"DD on the G2.  Checking with a NEL dealer who has used both he came to the conclusion that the difference in separation, if any, was negligible.  Since I already had the 5" I took a pass on the Snake coil. 

Tom