Detailed Review Of Makro Gold Racer By Steve Herschbach

[deathray]

I will chime in here on general trash (iron) hunting. With these newer machines, and the ability to either tone break (like f19) or regular 2 tone, I like to set the break where the iron (usually square nails) just gets disced (low tone) pretty soon all those grunts become background noise, almost like a threshold. Any high blip gets investigated. Gotta really work that coil, different angles and speed. For me , Im usually looking for relics, but nuggets should be no different.

[auminesweeper]

The 0.3 gram nugget was not a test piece on the surface, it was a nugget found in the ground while detecting for gold with the 15" coil.

Yes I see that, I was just referring to bits 10X smaller as in 0.03g Not 0.3g, It seems these Modern coils are so Hot, That 5.5x10 sounds like an Awesome piece of kit Compared to the eclipse 5x9, Although it is a good coil I sure hope they start puting the same wire as they use in the MAX coil into their other coils because that one is very sensitive

[Desert Dawg]

Did you notice any more depth to the racer on small gold over the older GB2? Or are they about the same?

[Steve Herschbach]

Well, I sold my GMT and Gold Bug 2 before getting the Gold Racer so I have none on hand for making direct comparisons. Further, I believe any fair head to head tests need to be left until the final factory production Gold Racer is available. I actually have questions myself.

 

I know that I can easily find gold weighing under one tenth grain with the Gold Racer in ground that allows the machine to be run at higher sensitivity levels. I also know the Gold Bug 2 has come up short compared to the GMT for penetration on larger gold in magnetite laden soils. My gut feeling is that the Gold Racer falls between the two (GMT and GB2). It really does push the Gold Bug 2 hard for what it can do on small gold, but I do think it will also be proven that the Gold Racer has an edge over the Gold Bug 2 on larger deeper gold due to its ability to use DD coils. The Gold Bug 2 only has three coils available, all concentric. I will bet my money right now that the Gold Racer will demolish the Gold Bug 2 on a bit larger gold in ground where the 15.5" x 13" DD can run effectively. But as the gold gets smaller it is going to be a hair splitting thing.

 

The GMT does have very good capability regarding overloads occurring in bad ground and I am curious how the Gold Racer and the GMT handle the worst ground. The Gold Bug 2 has no overload signal and silent masking can be an issue. The GMT is like the Gold Racer in that it issues an audio overload signal, and the advice is the same - raise the coil or lower the gain. From the MXT Engineering Report:

 

"The GMT's circuitry broke a lot of new ground. It uses a reactive impedance transformation network to boost transmitter voltage for higher sensitivity. It uses an active transmitter regulator to keep transmitter voltage constant even when the search coil is moved over black sand that would blow an unregulated machine off the air."

 

Running the GMT and Gold Racer side by side on magnetite laden soil with the stock coils would be interesting. Bottom line is a field day could be had comparing the Gold Racer, Gold Bug 2, and GMT directly against each other in actual hunting conditions on found targets. Having done similar tests myself I can tell you it really just depends on the ground mineralization in a particular area and the exact nature of the gold.

 

Anyone that has followed my use of detectors over the years will know that when talking about small gold capability for me it has always been about the Gold Bug 2 and the GMT plus earlier White's Goldmaster models. Many people still prefer the Goldmaster 3 to the GMT, in no small part because of earlier models being in what people think is a better housing for prospecting. I now think the discussion boils down to GB2, GMT, and Gold Racer. However, we all know both the GMT and GB2 have fan clubs and successful users. They work better for different people for a variety of reasons. The Gold Racer just adds another choice to the mix. I really think I can find gold in general about as well with any of them, so it comes down to how they handle, how they feel, how they sound, the little extras by way of features.

 

No one person or two is going to sort this out. Check back a year from now and I am sure the picture will be clearer. My way of thinking with detectors is they are all different and all excel in certain ways. A long time strategy of mine has been to not run with the herd, but to use something different, seeking to leverage this idea of fundamental differences. In other words, if I was in a place where everyone has used a Gold Bug 2, I would be more likely to use a GMT. Or the other way around. No point in putting the same detector over the same ground over and over. I have enough faith in Makro that I decided going forward to be what for now will be a very rare person putting the Gold Racer over the ground for the first time, because I think that gives me an oddball edge of sorts. Kind of the feeling I always have being the first guy to run a GPZ over the ground.

 

A bonus is that unlike with White's and Fisher you can bet Makro will be listening hard to early Gold Racer users and doing anything and everything they can to improve the model even more. This is a company not content to sit still for long.

[auminesweeper]

The main reason I picked the GMT over the GB II was because of the Info that it gives you and I read few reviews, So the Gold Racer has to be better in that respect and there are so many other features that have been needed for a long while.

[Steve Herschbach]

 

 

 

[LukeOzDigger]

Well'

Iv had a GMT and done quite well with it, I bought a GB2 this year to hit spots I'd been over with the GMT other than the tiniest flakes the GMT didn't miss much.

This Gold Racer for me has been bumped to the top of the list just for my general "jump out of the truck" detecting, I can't see why it wouldn't replace 3 of my current detectors.

Looking good so far!

[Nokta Detectors]

Steve, a thank you will just not be sufficient for all this hard work but I will say it anyway - A huge thank you on behalf of my team for all you have done. I sincerely hope that you find a lot of gold with our device so that it at least pays off for this hard work although your feedbacks and your review are worth a lot more than that for us! Once again, this is very appreciated and I cannot wait to get the final unit in your hands.

[Desert Dawg]

That is a great assortment of coils available, the concentric being  hard to find anymore for our current vlf gold detectors yet a very effective coil in some areas. They thought of most everything it appears. Great detector company! I will probably be buying one before spring.