New Makro Racer

[DetectorCollector]

I just picked up a new Racer.I'm looking forward to see how this does in iron.Any tips would be greatly appreciated.A big shout out to John of JMT Metal Detectors for the best deal I've seen for a Racer pro pack.

 

[kaolinwasher]

Wow you really have a long list of detectors, This will make your comments on the racer even more interesting

 

[DetectorCollector]

Wow you really have a long list of detectors, This will make your comments on the racer even more interesting

My house was built in the 1880's and is infested with iron,especially old cut nails.It will be interesting to see how the Racer will pick through them.I've pulled over 250 coins out so far including 28 silvers(oldest an 1891 seated dime)14 Indians more than 50 wheats and a beer mug full of clad plus 3 rings.All my detectors used in this venture.But I'm betting their are still a few hiding in there somewhere and hopefully the Racer will sniff them out.

 

[Davethejunky]

OOR coil,
Gain around 50-55
Disc at 10 or lower,
2 tone,
GO SLOW

It's going to be challenging at first until you get the hang of the Racer's language but then look out.

 

[DetectorCollector]

OOR coil,
Gain around 50-55
Disc at 10 or lower,
2 tone,
GO SLOW

It's going to be challenging at first until you get the hang of the Racer's language but then look out.

I'm not one to give up on a detector too easy.So I'll definitely put the time in.I heard so many good things about the Racer that I had to give it a go.It will be here Monday and if its not frozen outside I'm going to fire it up!

 

[Chuck(NC)]

Hit the Racer Banner at the top of this page. Makro has 24 Racer videos on its web site

 

[DetectorCollector]

Thanks Chuck!

 

[Davethejunky]

Love mine. Found some very deep coins with the stock and OOR coils. If you get a signal with no VDI, DIG DIG DIG. It's most certainly a deep target.

 

[Monte]

with the setting set-up that fits your wants and needs, will reward you with a lot of great finds, even in your own yard where you have hunted a lot.

I just picked up a new Racer. I'm looking forward to see how this does in iron. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Tips from us might fit sites we hunt, but not be quite right for you. However, I'll add mine as a 'for example' answer, not to be a specific endorsement for you to follow:

Mode: I use 2-Tone mode most often for Relic Hunting older and/or iron littered locations, and opt for 3-Tone mode for most urban Coin Hunting. At tomes I will switch up my choice, or search in one primary mode and cross-check some targets in the other. One of the nice functions of the Racer's very easy mode-change design.

Gain: I usually start at '85' then start hunting and decide if conditions call for a change, up or down. There are a few times I run as low as '20' to '25.'

Threshold: [size=small](All Metal mode)[/size] Just comfortable slight audio 'hum' with the headphones I will be using.

ID Filter: Commonly referred to as Discrimination, I use a start-up setting of '10' to hear almost everything. There are times I might adjust up to '21' to '24' as needed to just barely reject Iron Nails. I never run higher than Nail Rejection.

Tracking: Always at '00' which is 'Off.' Never use Tracking in a Discriminate mode. On a rare occasion I do use it when hunting in All Metal mode, and 'On' is a setting of '01.'

Frequency Shift: 'Default' setting unless a shift is needed to eliminate EMI.

Audio Tone: I prefer the 'Highest' pitch Tone level for my impaired hearing and with the headphones I will be using.

Vibration: '00' for 'Off.'

Backlight: I like the brightest setting of '5' for the momentary "on' with sufficient Target ID response or use of display for adjustments.

The Makro and Nokta models provide ample adjustment functions to let the operator get the functional settings and performance they want. Then it is up to the operator to mount the best coil for the task, and hunt in a methodical sweep in order to completely cover a site at a reasonably comfortable sweep speed. I don't go too fast.

Site selection is also important to know and develop your best settings and sweep approach for success. Most of the places I research to hunt since 1969 are ghost towns, pioneer and military encampments, homesteads, camps and forts, stage stops and former railroad depot and siding sites, long out-of-use recreation gathering places, dance hall and school and church sites, and many more.

Probably 19 out-of 20 of the places I hunt have no standing structures, and many are almost invisible to a glancing eye if wandering past. Their date of most activity usually ranges from about 1845 through maybe 1930, and quite of few were out of use or abandoned by 1880. Their generally barren sites tend to be littered with a lot of discarded debris on ferrous and non-ferrous make-up, but most prevalent, and in the greatest and densest placement, are nails.

Due to the heavy amount of trash, target masking is extreme and the ability to achieve any depth of detection is moot ... unless you remove all the surface and shallower positioned junk, especially ferrous objects. Fortunately, the majority of these places surrender desired targets [size=small](coins, trade tokens, buckles, bullets, cartridges or spent cases, sheep ear tags, good and costume jewelry, and all manner of interesting small artifacts)[/size] from their position which is anywhere from surface [size=small](literally)[/size] to the 3" to 4" range. On occasion, with less masking trash around, some 'deeper-positioned' keepers might be down to 5" or 6", but that is not the norm. The vast majority are ±3" or shallower.

Sweep too quickly and you can miss them. Fail to overlap sufficiently for full coverage, and you can miss them. Run the Discrimination level too high, and you can miss them. Try to rely too much on a Tone ID or visual Target ID read-out, and you will miss them. Use the Racer with the best set-up and search technique and recover all good and 'iffy' targets .... you will be surprised what has been missed in the past.

Since last January/February, I use a larger standard-size 7X11 DD mainly on my Nokta FORS CoRe as it balances better, and gets put to use maybe 5% of the time. Until the last two months, a 5½X10 coil was only used about 5% of the time on any of my detectors. The small 'OOR' coil on the Racer [size=small](and CoRe)[/size] this past year has served me well for about 90% of all my hunting needs.

Monte

 

[DetectorCollector]

This is the kind of info I was looking for to jump start my use of the Racer.Being so use to CZ's over the years a slow sweep speed is what I'm use too.The CZ's work best and get the best depth with a slow controlled sweep speed.They work better than people think in iron if you take your time.I'm more of a tone guy so I never really relied on TID for target recovery.Thanks again Monte I can't wait to search my yard with the OOR coil and all the tips I've read thus far.

 

[Monte]

In which case you should really come to love the Racer. I once was a Fisher CZ fan, my favorite model being the CZ5, and yes, you can learn to master their abilities for some types of hunt environments. But they didn't do as well in the heavily iron infested sites I hunt as other models I used, and I parted with the CZ's several years ago do to better performance from other detectors, as well as better-balanced and lighter-weight detectors that were/are easier on my back back and shoulder.

Today, I have my three all-time favorite Tesoro models, to help support the great performance I get from Nokta and Makro detectors, and totally enjoy what these newer offerings provide us in a variety of hunting situations. Just mount up that 'OOR' coil, figure out the settings that you feel work for you, and patiently work the Racer where you'll cover the same ground many other detectors have been used in your yard. You will be surprised. Emphasis on 2-Tone mode, ID Filter at '10' and listen for the non-ferrous response to alert you of a potentially good target.

Monte

 

[DetectorCollector]

I'm waiting patiently for the Racer to arrive on Monday.If weather allows it I will load in your settings and I will be off and running.Its hard to believe my ground is still not frozen this time of year in New York but I'll take it! I will update results and findings as they come.Thanks again Monte!

 

[kaolinwasher]

that just bogles my mind that you found 28 silver coins at one house.

 

[DetectorCollector]

that just bogles my mind that you found 28 silver coins at one house.

Heres my theory.Since its my house I can detect it whenever I choose and take my time.I mean really listening to every single signal there is.I have pounded it to death with more than 30 detectors and countless coils now probably more,I lost count.I even gridded it off.I have hit it every single day and night for more than 2 years now minus the winter months.My point being if we could all do our sites in this manner I strongly believe we would all be pulling out silvers (and other things)in these numbers.Of course their are always exceptions.I feel most of us just don't have the time or permission to go into peoples homesteads and hunt in this manner unless of course they belong to family or close friends.Theres not too many people I know if any that would let me constantly hunt their yard.I think even if someone said I could hunt anytime I would just feel uncomfortable or feel like I'm taking advantage.I guess thats just me though.Happy Hunting!

 

[Monte]

that just bogles my mind that you found 28 silver coins at one house.

He is fortunate to own an older house and property dating way back so he's even recovered Seated Liberty silver to 1891. My better house/yard places have also rewarded me well through the years, but like he stated, it's his place with constant access and has been worked often and well covered.

My Mom's folks had a new home built in Ogden, Utah in 1941, so I wasn't real likely to find Seated Liberties, but a few pocket-carry Barber's had the potential to be lost in the early days. As a youngster I remember so many family gatherings there to set off fireworks, have back yard picnics, birthday parties and other celebrations, or just for us kids to play. My older brother and I, plus our two cousins, Gregg and Terry, spent a lot of time there playing as kinds through the '40s, '50s and '60s before we moved on in life.

At times the four girls were outside playing as well, and that often included my parents, aunts and uncles and grandparents spending time relaxing and watching kids have fun. There was a main laundry line and a second one used on occasion, because back then a lot of the wash had to be hung to dry. Metal detecting adventurists learned early-on that all those trousers hung by the cuff and flapping in the warm summer breeze had a tendency to drop coins and stuff that they forgot to remove from a pocket, making clothes lines an excellent spot to find around older homes.

After using my home-built detectors since '65 in Oregon where we lived, my Dad bought the house right next door to my Mom's folks in '68, and we moved into it that summer when I acquired my first factory-produced detector. There were so many coins to be found, everywhere, that I didn't spend that much time working our yard or my Grandparents yard. I hunted them a little if testing a new detector, or just to kill some time when I had a spare half hour or so, and I pulled silver from their yard.

Through the years I wasn't always so close. I got married, the first time, in May of '71 and bought myself a new detector on the drive home from our honeymoon. Kind of a birthday present to myself since folks forgot about that with all the wedding stuff the day before my birthday. I only got to use that 63 TR for a couple of months before we moved to Oregon and my Dad sold their house as I moved my Mom and sisters up here as well. But my Grandparents were still in that same home they had built.

I hunted it from time to time on visits during vacation when I headed back 'home' to Ogden, and I continued to find coins. More each time I was working a newer or better performing detector. I moved back to Utah in the summer of '81 and in July of '83 I took on the Tesoro brand in my shop when they brought out the Inca. While I had recovered quite a few coins from my Grandparents yard in the fifteen prior years, things really came alive with new and very improved, slow-motion quick-response performance.

For four years, from July of '83 through July of '87, I hunted a lot of places around town, but spent time hunting my Grandparents yard when I made any visit I could to see them as I lived maybe thirty minutes away. I found Indian Head and mainly Wheat-back Cents, and mostly Mercury and Roosevelt silver Dimes than I did silver Quarters. About a third of the Nickels I found were Buffalo. Mercury Dimes outnumbered Roosevelt's, and one day I recovered about eight silver Dimes near the front walkway while I waited for them to return home from shopping.

I am not sure of the count, but I know their yard produced twenty-five to thirty silver coins, and the same-size yard we had next door surrendered nearly half the amount and I hardly had a chance to hunt it while I was living there. Every trip I make 'back home' through the decades includes a drive or two to go past all the different places we lived when I was a kid, as well as my Grandparents house.

They passed away long ago, but I have been working to gather info on all the current property owners and try to get access to any of the places I used to live and play, as well as my Grandparent's place, to try and work them again this year. A few of the older homes were very nice when I was younger, and the neighborhoods were good with a lot of friendly neighbors. A few of the locations are not so impressive today. Most are OK, but with growth and neighborhood changes, a few are now in 'low income' areas. They last appeared to be basically clean and not trashy outside, but not like we maintained them.

I have found it a little easier to get the 'OK' to hunt some of these from the current property owners, most older than me and they found it interesting to hear stories about the property from someone who lived there, some since 1950. With a couple of OK's I am going to do some yard hunting on a few Utah trips, and one site I need to still approach the owners about is my Grandparents home. It still looks pretty clean and shouldn't be a challenge to hunt. I'll mainly be using a Racer to hunt there, and I have the advantage of knowing where I used to play, with family and friends, in all of these yards so I can concentrate my efforts of specific areas of each yard.

There's no doubt in my mind that with a Racer in-hand and the 'OOR' coil mounted, I can work in and around the pipes [size=small](clothesline poles and metal sprinkler lines)[/size] , closer to the trees and structures we used to climb on, and in and around areas that often are productive such as stairs and porches, sidewalks and easement spaces. I'd be willing to bet a Racer & I could still pull another 15 to 20 silver coins from my Grandparents yard, if I can get access, and that would assure me their yard would pass the Fifty Silver mark.

I enjoy looking for older coins and trade tokens, and I especially enjoy finding old silver coins. Early-on, '65 to about '83 or so, parks and schools, parking strips and play sites, were all very high-production locations for a lot of coins, especially older dated finds. My favorite places to search since about '83.where I have hopes for a good count of silver coins are high-use ghost towns, old out-of-use picnic groves and recreation sites, and yards of older-dated homes ... or sites of former homes, now vacant lots.

I like to look for older house sites with yards that are in very poor condition [size=small](essentially dirt and not cared for)[/size] or that are being landscaped and are already tilled or dug up. I look for private residences in that condition, and enjoy finding and old apartments [size=small](to include old houses converted to apartments long ago)[/size] with yards that are inviting as they can be easy digging and recovery without messing up attractive manicured lawns. It's also easier to gain access to hunt such tilled and disturbed private yards.

Needed is to research ghost towns and old picnic and recreation sites for new sites to hunt, but in my travels, I drive around towns in search of any such private yards or apartments with yards, that are older and either dirt or are disturbed, then do a little asking. Much more fun to hunt places where our 'competitors' aren't also searching and thinning the keepers, plus many of these have less trash and sometimes more items of interest other than just coins.

With such an old home as DetectorCollector has, and working it so frequently, I am not one bit surprised of his recovery success, especially with the age of the home.

Monte

 

[DetectorCollector]

Great story Monte and thanks so much for sharing.I could read this mans stories all day long.I'm fortunate enough to live in an area with many historic places to hunt.The down side is I rarely get permission to hunt these great homesteads.When I do get permission I always walk away with many keepers.I find I get the most permissions from the senior folks around here.Like Monte said they are interested in the history of their homes and the many artifacts and coins that may be hiding below.Keep the great reads coming Monte,you're awesome!

 

[CoinHunter2]

They have a new Racer coming out called the Nokta Impact Metal Detector, more than 1 freq. Comes out last part of March.

 

[DetectorCollector]

They have a new Racer coming out called the Nokta Impact Metal Detector, more than 1 freq. Comes out last part of March.

I was reading about that and will be getting one for sure.Where did you hear it will be comig out in March?I read and heard no release date or it was still far off from release.

 

[CoinHunter2]

I think on another forum. Kellyco had it advertized, but then pulled it. You can pull a lot of info on it if you google it.

 

[DetectorCollector]

I think on another forum. Kellyco had it advertized, but then pulled it

I am really looking forward to that one.If its going to run on more than 1 freq. it should be incredible.Thanks for the info!