Lanny

Posted the finds. All the best, Lanny

Took the Gold Racer out this Saturday (April 28), and struck gold again! I've already rounded up over 15 grams of the sweet stuff with it, and of that total amount, about 3.5 grams of the small stuff that would still be there without the Racer's sensitive nose for fine gold. (I also ordered the tiny elliptical sniper coil to see how sensitive it is. I like how Makro listens to their customer's wishes. Fisher used to make a tiny sniper coil for the Gold Bug 2, and I hear they're still highly sought after, and I have a friend that sure loves his, so I hope the Racer's coil is a good little sniper coil as well.) I'm still learning the sounds the Racer emits, and I found out on Saturday that when I get it over chunks of ironstone, it sings a tune that sounds rather like a good tone, but one mixed with a warble that sounds almost like EMI, and that's very different from the sound the Bug Pro gives on the same targets. The Pro makes a sweet sound, but the iron bars jump way up; the iron reads high on the Racer as well, but that distinctive sound the Racer makes when the coil is over ironstone is now filed in my brain, and I believe it will help me out quite a bit because where I'm currently hunting, there are lots of rounded pieces of ironstone from golfball size to pea size. So, the Racer has just given me a new audio-target ID tool. Of course, I'll still need more time in the field to test my early observations, but the results look promising so far. As for ID'ing the fine gold, I'm finding that when I get the coil over some bedrock, and there's any kind of a positive response, there's often small gold there. (Of course, sometimes it's ground noise when there's a high concentration of oxidized iron in bedrock.) So, I just keep digging until I'm no longer getting a positive response (I throw all of the dirt from the bedrock digs into a large gold pan to save time locating the small stuff.). Another note, when I get the coil over a concentration of fine gold, it gives a broad signal kind of like the sound of high ground mineralization, so that's why I'm now investigating the source of the sound, and it's paying off. As for the Gold Bug Pro, I still like the target response sounds it makes better than the Racer, but maybe that will change with time. Moreover, I don't plan on not using the Pro either. It's a great machine that's paid for itself many, many times over. All the best, and thanks again Steve for your write-up on your site about the Makro Gold Racer. Years ago I started to read your field tests about detectors of all makes, and I know you have always been impartial and simply tried to report only what you've found during your tests without bias, and I really appreciate that as well. All the best, Lanny

Steve, I took a look at the info. on the Kruzer, and I wondered the same thing about whether it would find the gold any better than the Gold Racer. One thing I do like about the Kruzer though is the fact that the entire unit is waterproof. I've got a long, steep and deep bedrock canyon with some nice runs and pools where a detector like that might be a great thing to have to sniff out the gold in some of those underwater crevices. I've got gold there before while wearing my mask and snorkel as I was sniping, so I know the gold's there. (Only problem, that water is always so cold you get brain freeze in no time if you don't wear a dive hood!) I'm finding out over the last two days that the sweet spot on the Racer isn't the same as the sweet spot on my Bug Pro, so I'm having to make a few changes when it comes to narrowing down the location of the target signal, but luckily the Garrett Carrot is getting a good workout, and by using it, I'm quickly learning where to look in relation to the signal under the coil vs. my Bug Pro, so that's a plus. Once again, I was quite surprised at how deep I was digging to get the pennies from WWII years (1939-1945), some of them down as much as eight inches, but the silver dimes (from 1960, both of them!) were only down about four inches with both signals nice and crisp from the get go). Once I get a high tone, I'm finding that the target ID quickly goes active and then locks on if I move off some dirt to get the coil closer to the target. I found it did the same thing with the pickers I detected with it last weekend. I'm taking advantage of the coin-shooting at the old home site to learn all of the differences in the make up of the Gold Racer as it gives me the opportunity to dig lots and lots of targets in a short amount of time so I can tune my ear to the different sounds the Racer makes as well. In addition, I'm learning what small targets sound like (found some 22-short blanks, and tiny bits of copper and lead which gave nice, soft signals, much like gold did when I was hunting it last weekend). All the best, Lanny

Took the Gold Racer out for a coin shoot last night. Found a handful of pennies from the 1940 war years, all the way back to 1932. Also found a very old silver spoon (late 1800's/early 1900's Rogers Brothers) that looks like it was in a fire. That's the first time I've ever found a silver spoon, but I have no idea if it's plate or sterling, doing a little research on that, (no copper showing through, and I scratched it pretty good when I hit it with the pick). I had permission to detect an old home site that's being repurposed for a new business, so while the whole area is torn up, I'm using it as a test bed. The Gold Racer ran well, and it took a while to get used to using the discrimination modes, and I played around with the tone break after I learned the digital ID's of a few trash targets and some highly conductive ones too, so that helped. In addition, I was surprised at the depth it hit some of those coins, no ID digital display numbers, but a sweet tone to guide my ears. Furthermore, when I'd dug down five or six inches, I'd get a digital readout, and then it read solid and pinned at 84. Then I used the Garrett Carrot to pinpoint. Newer pennies were hitting at 80. The silver spoon, much higher of course. I have other machines I like better for coins, but I thought I'd see what there was in the Gold Racer tank anyway, and I wasn't disappointed. Not a coin machine for sure as that's not its purpose, but it will lead to the goodies regardless. (Still a lot to learn about the machine for me yet.) All the best, Lanny P.S. Took it out again tonight, 10 more pennies from WWII, two silver dimes, 1927 penny, 1916 large cent, old pocket knife and a cool toy gun!

Sounds very interesting Reg. I wonder, does it have a good discriminator with a digital readout for ID'ing target responses? With a combination like that, and a nice selection of coils, it would be a dream machine indeed! But, perhaps it will take a while to incorporate wish list items like that. All the best, and thanks for your response, Lanny

Thanks for dropping in Tom. I'm located in Western Canada, and I chase most of my gold in Montana, and British Columbia, though I have chased a few nuggets in Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Alaska, so I still have a lot of places yet to try. Where I live, glacial gold is tiny, hammered flat, and it floats very easily in the pan if it gets any chance to do so. This is due to the hammer-mill or roller-ball effect of the slow but continuous grinding motion of the gigantic glaciers of long ago. Imagine a sheet of ice miles thick pressing down on everything underneath it with titanic pressures and you'll understand why any chunks of gold were ground to a powder. When I find nuggets, some of them are hammered flat as well, but they often still have character (lumps and bumps, crystalline structures, sometimes attached quartz, etc. that won't survive an extended period of hammering action by rocks). So, if you find any pieces of any size with character, you'll have a much better chance of being close to a deposit of some sort. One of the best ways to get an idea is to check the government geological reports for your area as many are quite comprehensive in their reports on any precious metals found around your location. All the best, Lanny

Thanks Steve for all of your write-ups on detectors. You've done the detecting world a great service by providing such concise reviews of such a wide range of detectors over the years. You sir are a study in excellence! I plan on giving the Gold Racer a hard run this season to see what it's capable of. All the best, Lanny

I certainly was impressed! I wonder if Makro has a PI in the works? Thanks for dropping in, and all the best, Lanny

I know, no photos this time as I left my phone (only camera I had on the trip) in the truck as I wanted no possible interference from the device while I was conducting my test. Thanks for dropping in to say hello, great to hear from you as always, and all the best, Lanny

Indeed the SDC does love small gold. Touché as the French say. In my wish list, I was referring more to the big brothers (SD/GPX) that allow a choice of coils, something that might have made the SDC just that much sweeter. All the best, and thanks for your kind comments about the story, Lanny

Tried out a new detector on Saturday:Due to some unavoidable delays, I finally made it out with my Makro Gold Racer on the weekend to see what it could do.I don't know about where you live, but winter here just didn't want to let go this year. I mean, we had one of the coldest, longest winters we've had in forever, and snow, snow, snow (we're about four feet over the average mountain snowpack at the higher elevations as I write), but Old Man Winter finally took a breather, and so I got a chance to head to the mountains to swing the coil again.The place I picked was one that didn't have a lot of exposed bedrock, just a small section really, with the rest of the ground covered with six to eight feet of overburden on top of the bedrock, and that's just too much overburden for the size of gold I commonly find.As for the weather that day, it was a true mixed bag. I mean this time of year, we can get all four seasons in one day! Saturday was no exception. It rained early in the morning, then the sun came out and it was nice and warm, then it clouded over, started to rain again, then turned to snow, then the wind blew a cold blast of air for about an hour, then the sky turned blue and the sun came out once more, the wind stopped, and the weather did its best spring imitation for the next three hours.I unlimbered the Gold Bug Pro first, and you can't make this stuff up, within three minutes, I'd found a three gram nugget, one my wife said looked sort of like a four-leaf clover. And, Nature indeed had made it look kind of like one. The nugget was sitting in some tough clay that held a lot of former river stones, so it seemed to me that it was likely what used to be the bottom of a crevice long ago, as the surrounding bedrock had been cut down at least a couple of feet by the former placer miners whose actions would have left the sort of deposit I've described.I kept working the exposed bedrock and any places I could find where bedrock had been tossed out in case some gold had ridden out with it. (I have found nuggets this way before.) I really took my time and went slow, because I wanted to be sure I'd cleaned the area before I broke out the Gold Racer so I'd have as accurate a comparison as I could. By the time I'd finished with the Fisher, I'd gathered another gram and a half of small stuff that I'd thrown in the bottle.My wife had wandered off, and I found her panning near the foot of channel wall, but she wasn't having much luck; however, she pointed out something to me that I'd have completely missed. To the north and east of where she'd been panning, there was a short section left of what had been a bedrock drain, and there were small sections of bedrock still exposed that the boulder clay hadn't reclaimed.Nevertheless, I headed back to the original bedrock I'd worked with the Gold Bug Pro, and I broke out the shiny new Makro Gold Racer. The ground balance worked flawlessly, and setting the sensitivity was a breeze. The ground was moderate to a little hot, so I didn't have to worry about adjusting the ISAT, and I was pretty familiar with the types of hot-rocks I'd likely find, so I knew most, if not all, of them by sight. I started by running the coil slowly over the areas I'd hit with the Bug Pro, and after a few sweeps, I had several quiet but distinct signals. When I dug down, the signals got louder. I called by wife over, and she took the dirt with the signals and panned them out. Neither one of us could believe the tiny gold in the pan! The Gold Racer really did deliver on finding small gold. However, the first bedrock area was not where I realized how good the Gold Racer could perform.Remember I mentioned the bedrock drain? I headed over to it with both detectors. First, I scanned the small exposed areas exceptionally carefully with the Bug Pro, and I got a few small pieces, then I ramped up the sensitivity on the machine as far as I could, fought the background chatter, and all in all, liberated about half a gram of gold from the bedrock. I swapped out the Bug Pro for the Gold Racer and covered the same areas again. Almost immediately I had a signal. I couldn't believe it, but the signal was clear, and I could see a previous dig mark where I'd nailed some small stuff with the Bug Pro, and the Racer was giving a crisp signal, quite unmistakable, right in the same dig hole! To make a long story short, three inches of bedrock later, a nice picker was in the bottle! This blew me away, as the Gold Racer had found the target while running nice and quiet, with the sensitivity not ramped up, yet the signal was very clear.I kept at the small sections of bedrock, and kept getting quiet, but clear, signals until I'd added another gram and a half of small gold to the vial. (Sometimes I'd get a break in the threshold too, but when I dug down, the signal either disappeared or it turned out to be a target. [Some heavy iron deposits in the bedrock did give a weak signal, but I soon learned that due to the broad nature of their signature exactly what they were.]) What this weekend's outing made me realize is that if I'd have given the Gold Racer a run the end of last summer, I'd have undoubtedly recovered a lot of small gold, and I do mean a lot, that the Bug Pro just couldn't see (this test was carried out with virtually the same coil sizes on both machines, elliptical shapes and DD's as well), and knowing now what I likely left behind last summer makes me a bit sad. (Out of six grams of gold for the Saturday, a gram and a half was fine stuff from the Gold Racer, and that's a pretty good added portion of gold recovery I'd say.) In fairness to the Gold Bug Pro, let me say this: I've found lots and lots of gold with that great little machine, and it's super easy to learn how to use making for a quick learning curve. In addition, I don't have an unkind word to say about the Fisher as it's paid for itself many, many times over, and I will continue to use it, and I'll continue to train others how to use it as well. Moreover, let me say that the Bug Pro doesn't run at nearly as high a kHz, so it's unfair to compare apples to oranges that way, but I wanted to see what I was leaving behind, that's all. So, I learned my lesson well on Saturday, and I gained a whole lot of respect for the little Gold Racer for how sensitive it is to small gold, how good it punches into the ground to find it, and how quietly it goes about its job of doing so. Furthermore, The Makro is a great little gold machine I can swing all day long, and I'm looking forward to really taking it for a long, dedicated run this summer to add more gold to the poke because it sure gets the job done in style! (How I wish some fine company would produce a light-weight gold-hungry pulse machine with excellent capabilities or that Minelab would find a way to lighten the technology package of their GPZ 7000. Wouldn't that be great?) (I'd like to thank Steve for pointing me in the direction of the Gold Racer, and I'd like to thank Dilek at Makro for her exceptional customer service.)All the best,Lanny

Truly exceptional customer service and Dilek is a uniquely rare treasure in her own right. Thanks Makro!! All the best, Lanny

Interesting information in this thread, thanks. All the best, Lanny

The find of a lifetime, what a rush! All the best, Lanny

Phoenix, fun post! Enjoyed the picture a lot. All the best, Lanny

Condor, Thanks for your informative write-up as I'm always interested in what new tech is being applied to detecting. All the best, Lanny

Great tree! What a dream that would be to wake up to . . . All the best, Lanny

Loved the picture and the wise words! All the best, Lanny

Found this answer for you: When you push down the plunger down, the rack gear on the plunger shaft turns a pinion gear on a magneto (a type of electrical generator) shaft. The current this produces sets off the primer charge, which in turn detonates the dynamite or whatever explosive you happen to be using. All the best, Lanny

That's an incredible find, and it's certainly a unique piece as well. Thanks for posting. All the best, Lanny

I sure don't have one, but that's a great gift for sure. All the best, Lanny

JW, great write-up! All kinds of good information you've shared, lessons learned, aha moments, etc. Great stuff, and thanks for taking the time to post it as well. Sounds like you're having lots of fun learning the detectors and finding the nuggets. All the best, and a Merry Christmas to you as well, Lanny

Lots of good info. in the responses to this post, thanks to those of you that took the time to respond. All the best, Lanny

Absolutely beautiful find! Congratulations. All the best, Lanny

If you can find a local that knows the area and that will let you tag along, invaluable. As others have stated, join some clubs, instant bond with others sharing the same passion plus lots of good people that will likely share some priceless tips once they see you're serious. Oh, and if someone says something like, "If I was going to use this detector for this . . . or if I was going to look in a particular place I'd do this . . . ", pay attention! It doesn't matter how many books you've read or videos you've watched, there's nothing like getting first-hand advice from someone familiar with any particular gold field with any particular recovery method, or with any particular detector. Good luck, and welcome to the passion as you find someone that will give you real-time lessons in the field, Lanny