[attachment 334915 082816003.JPG]Having been away from the hobby for over 10 years with health reasons, I decided it was time to return. Being a beach hunter, mostly wet sand and in the water I understand these machines very well. Before I left I had hunted the resort strip here in Va Beach, VA for near 20 years. I have used Fisher and Minelab products exclusively. Now the Red Racer...well out of the box a low battery error. This took some time to clear as I figured the board still holds some capacitance. Once this was cleared by pulling batteries and leaving out for about 30 seconds all seemed well.
To the beach I went, left settings pretty much stock in the beach mode. Machine seemed a little chatty but let in run with sensitivity at 70 and never lowered. The one thing I noticed was the clumping of most all targets in the 82-86 range. I don't use these numbers because I dig most everything, this could be a problem for those that hunt the dirt and rely on this information. The next thing I noticed was lack of depth, but I think most targets today where shallow. This will be investigated on further hunts. Now I noticed some erratic behavior of the machine on the beach and discovered once home that with the machine in the off position, you could move the machine and the screen back light would come on for about 5 seconds and go off. I thought how is this possible ?
I think a loose connection on the printed board or a cold soldier joint is to blame, I pulled the battery cover and re seated all connections and the problem is gone now. I will call Rep Monday morning and discuss further with them the issues. My plan is to use this machine for a week at least and see how it shakes out if they will allow it.
Over all even with the issues I am well pleased with the results considering it is a single frequency machine. Stability in the wet sand is very acceptable. Plus the fact I came away with a $400 Victorinox Swiss Army watch. Interesting though every target except the nickles ID at middle 80's. The nickles where at 54. Once I get the issues sorted out I will re post if this machine is a keeper.
To the beach I went, left settings pretty much stock in the beach mode. Machine seemed a little chatty but let in run with sensitivity at 70 and never lowered. The one thing I noticed was the clumping of most all targets in the 82-86 range. I don't use these numbers because I dig most everything, this could be a problem for those that hunt the dirt and rely on this information. The next thing I noticed was lack of depth, but I think most targets today where shallow. This will be investigated on further hunts. Now I noticed some erratic behavior of the machine on the beach and discovered once home that with the machine in the off position, you could move the machine and the screen back light would come on for about 5 seconds and go off. I thought how is this possible ?
I think a loose connection on the printed board or a cold soldier joint is to blame, I pulled the battery cover and re seated all connections and the problem is gone now. I will call Rep Monday morning and discuss further with them the issues. My plan is to use this machine for a week at least and see how it shakes out if they will allow it.
Over all even with the issues I am well pleased with the results considering it is a single frequency machine. Stability in the wet sand is very acceptable. Plus the fact I came away with a $400 Victorinox Swiss Army watch. Interesting though every target except the nickles ID at middle 80's. The nickles where at 54. Once I get the issues sorted out I will re post if this machine is a keeper.
