JinFL said:
I won't know for sure about the hype issue until my relic season starts again sometime around November or so.
Another five months ... what a bummer.
JinFL said:
Although my Racer has been to the beach, and to one trashy park, I will withhold my OVERALL opinions about the Racer until I use it in the environment that I bought to be used in. I suspect there may be others in the same boat that I'm in.
I do hope you will work with it a little between now and your 'relic season' and get a good grasp of the Racer, then give it ample time afield, in different environments, and please, work it one-on-one against other detectors you have. That way you WILL have a pretty good OVERALL opinion when you report back.
JinFL said:
I will, however, say that I find it somewhat disturbing that you evidently HAVE to use the small OOR 5 inch coil to be happy and satisfied with the performance. If I have not said this publicly in recent years, I will say it now:
Don't give me a 5 incher to sweep. I'll give it to someone else or sell it. "To each their own," but you couldn't pay me to sweep with a small coil. I preached this years ago on the forums, and I for one am very pleased to see manufacturers see the light and offer larger stock coils, and a variety of larger off-brand coils.
There's where we can each form our own opinions of wants and needs, and evaluate the in-the-field performance of different detectors and search coils.
For
YOU and some people who prefer a larger-size 'standard' coil, or even want to opt for a bigger accessory coil, you might not hunt the types of sites where you can benefit from a good, smaller-size search coil. For
ME, and many others who hunt similar sites as I do, a smaller-than-stock search coil is an important tool. To be very honest, I have relied on smaller-size coils since the second detector I built. The first, in March of '65, called for an 8" winding size coil. Then, when I went with factory-produced detectors in the summer of '68, the first was a White's with a 6" red wooden search coil.
I have had factory models that came with standard coils up to 11" diameter, but I preferred to switch to a smaller size coil, usually in the 6" to 7½" size. I like a coil a little bigger than some of the dinkier 3½" to ±4" sizes, but a lot really depends upon the search coil's size and internal design, and
especially the circuitry design and function of the detector it is affixed to. Some detectors do not work well with certain types of coils, and some detectors might have a proven, good-performing coil mounted, but the engineers just didn't "get it right" and the functional performance is lacking.
Coil type,
for ME, has usually been a Concentric type because that type of coil was made in a good, functional size for the applications I hunted, and was mated to a detector that worked quite well for me. I have used DD coils since 1971, but not all that often for several reasons, mainly because most were larger size and that made them less efficient when hunting sites with a dense amount of trash.
I do, however, like some makes and models that use a DD coil, such as my old Compass Coin Hunter and 99B [size=small](straight TR's that I use for selected applications)[/size], and I have a very slightly less than 5" round DD coil on hand that I have used when needed on a Teknetics Omega, G2 or Fisher Gold Bug Pro or F19. I keep that small DD coil on hand because those companies do not make a smaller-size Concentric search coil.
By the way, as far as manufacturers bringing out larger size search coils, yes, some have. They make a decision internally and go with it and, obviously, some people like it. Many of us don't however, and some manufacturers are quick to listen to their consumer public opinions and comments, then make internal decisions, and an excellent example of this is the Nokta Detector and Makro Detector company/ies.
Nokta Detectors caught quite an interest and following especially with their FORS Coin & Relic. The FORS CoRe has a 7X11 DD as a standard coil, and the 'Pro Package' comes with some accessories that include two search coils, a 13.[size=small]3[/size]X15.[size=small]5[/size] larger DD in a spoked design, and a smaller, solid housing coil that is 4.[size=small]7[/size]X5.[size=small]2[/size] which fits the term I coined for use years ago when Tesoro brought out the 8X9 spoked coil to replace their round 8" coil. It wasn't a pronounced elliptical design like we have become used to seeing, and I called it an '
OOR' coil for being just slightly "Out Of Round."
That term is also a perfect fit for the little Nokta coil, and since the Makro Racer's small DD offering uses the same housing, I was quick to call it an '
OOR' coil and, as it would appear, others have been quick to catch on to the term '
OOR' to describe it. Much easier than typing four point seven by five point two. We knew the Makro Racer was going to be released soon and Nokta/Makro Detectors announced their plan to offer the Racer with only one accessory coil and not two like the Nokta FORS CoRe. It would come with the standard 7X11 DD and the larger 13.[size=small]3[/size]X15.[size=small]5[/size] DD, and available for purchase would be a 5.[size=small]5[/size]X10 enclosed elliptical DD and the small '
OOR' coil.
A larger-size Pro Package coil, similar to a 'trend' you mention many manufacturers have been doing. Instead, and very quickly, there was a flurry of posts and requests on the Forums and probably messages to the company to make the Racer Pro Package include the SMALL '
OOR' coil instead of the larger coil. There must have been a lot of response from not just the USA Forum, and we need to credit Nokta/Makro Detectors for monitoring the interest in their products and being attentive to the input from consumers because they made some quick decisions to change the Pro Package to include the '
OOR' coil instead of the larger-sized coil.
Obviously, there had to be a lot of folks who also seek out good targets in dense and challenging sites who appreciate versatile performance from a smaller-size coil, especially when the detector's circuitry design is very capable of providing such results. With the Nokta FORS CoRe and Makro Racer, their electronic design is an excellent match for the such tasks, and the '
OOR' coil is a perfect compliment. Surprisingly, the engineers made detectors that worked very well with the '
OOR', but also perform well with the other soils in settings where they are best applied.
So, with the Racer's performance I think you'll find it to be a very nice performer for the relic Hunting needs you have with the other-size coils, but for the many who intentionally pick densely trashed sites to hunt, the '
OOR' is a coil they definitely want ... and need.
JinFL said:
Small coils do have their place in metal detecting, no argument. But I will NOT be there with them.
J in FL
Sorry to hear that, but your sites are quite different from the old railroad ghost towns and other dense iron littered sites I tend to seek out.
I do have a 5½X10 DD for one Racer, but my most used unit sports the '
OOR' coil. Small coils serve me well, and while I keep the stock 7X11 DD on my FORS CoRe, I also have the smaller and larger coils along with me. I have a 6½" Concentric on my White's MXT All-Pro, and both my Tesoro Bandido II µMAX and Silver Sabre µMAX models have the thin 6" diameter Concentric coil mounted full-time, and the 5" DD is on hand for use on some Teknetics or Fisher models when I get a hold of them. In my case, I will
NOT part with the '
OOR' or any of the smaller coils that work for me.
We all have to make the decision of which metal detector design and which search coil size and type works for us. For me, my Racer and the '
OOR' are a near perfect team!
Monte
