Makro Racer 2 ID question

mrserv0n

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Aug 18, 2016
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I am new to metal detecting, I have a macro racer 2. I tried it today around my house and found a lot of nails and metal pieces, a small pipe, a 1972 quarter, and an interesting Silver Saint Anthony Holy Charm. Guess its worth $4.75 lol. Was a blast.

Onto the question...


I was getting 40-70 ID readings and would dig and find a small nail maybe 4-8 inches. But once on the surface it would Scan 14-16 consistently. Which I would not have dug.

So it seems all the trash reads decent numbers underground but when brought to the surface , reads accurately as trash.

Anyway to tighten the ID readings on trash? The quarter was obvious dig. But the Silver Charm was a 50 -70, which was the same as a nail. Seems trash should read lower. But I don't know much , just running in on stock settings with a bit of experimentation.
 
I am new to metal detecting, I have a macro racer 2. I tried it today around my house and found a lot of nails and metal pieces, a small pipe, a 1972 quarter, and an interesting Silver Saint Anthony Holy Charm. Guess its worth $4.75 lol. Was a blast.

Onto the question...


I was getting 40-70 ID readings and would dig and find a small nail maybe 4-8 inches. But once on the surface it would Scan 14-16 consistently. Which I would not have dug.

So it seems all the trash reads decent numbers underground but when brought to the surface , reads accurately as trash.

Anyway to tighten the ID readings on trash? The quarter was obvious dig. But the Silver Charm was a 50 -70, which was the same as a nail. Seems trash should read lower. But I don't know much , just running in on stock settings with a bit of experimentation.

Well I have a Racer 2.

I will try to help you and shed so e light on a few things about the detector.

While using 3 tone,,,operator likely to be able to run max sens at 99,, and detector will be stable.

In 2 tone,,once you approach 90.., any higher sens detector may or may not be stable depending on EMI.

I say all this,,,higher sens means on deeper targets more accurate ID numbers wise.

The tone though not affected as much by lower sens.
In 2 tone as long as you are at 70,, tone will generally be there.

Also, remember Racer will start reading targets higher generally as depth deepens ID wise.

But nonferrous targets commingled with other nonferrous targets an average ID may be displayed depending on the size of the items and how close together they are.

And coil size affects also.

A nonferrous target commingled with ferrous target,,,may or may not read lower than actual ID,,,for example,,a nickel generally reads about 30,,, but a nickel laying close to nail or multiple nails,,may tone in but read say 13.

Now this is just an example,,could even read higher than 13 and even lower.

I would recommend a beginner with Racer 2,, to run 3 tone,,set high tone break at 69.

Dig the high tones.

Also,,just like any other detector,,,,the tone is trump card-- not screen numbers.

Heeding this,,some good finds will not be walked over.
Learning iron false using a new to you detector,,,takes some time and experience,,,keep at it.
You will start to see patterns developing on the iron falses.
All Vlf metal detectors false on iron,,,even the ones that cost $1200 plus.

Cheers.

Any other questions feel free to ask.

Hope this helps you.
 
Also as far as ground balance goes, when I would calibrate it in same spot sometimes it say 65 sometimes 85. I wasn't sure what to stop calibrating at because it would beep with different numbers.

Will test your advice as well.
 
Also as far as ground balance goes, when I would calibrate it in same spot sometimes it say 65 sometimes 85. I wasn't sure what to stop calibrating at because it would beep with different numbers.

Will test your advice as well.

Okay,,,when you ground balance,,,try to do in at least 3 spots,,,watching for consistency,,,can be off a point or 2,,, but if different by 20 points between balance,,, something likely wrong,,like metal under the coil when balancing.

Tracking GB works nicely on the Racer 2 detector if you want to try.
 
Thanks for the great info, will test tomorrow. And see if I have more questions.

One thing I noticed from this forum

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?102,2284523,page=1

I have the original coil, I guess they have a redesigned one as well as pictured in that thread. Do you think thats important at all?

I am not following you here.

If you have a Racer 2 it should have come with a coil different than Racer1.,and if you got the small coil with Racer 2., it too different than smaller coil for Racer1.

Now there is a 5x10 coil that is optional,,,this coil didn't change as far as I know.
 
I am not following you here.

If you have a Racer 2 it should have come with a coil different than Racer1.,and if you got the small coil with Racer 2., it too different than smaller coil for Racer1.

Now there is a 5x10 coil that is optional,,,this coil didn't change as far as I know.


Hi, I tried out your settings today and some others. It was a park with baseball fields. Spent about 3 hours, got a ring but was no jewel in the setting. Think its a cheap one, but cool anyway. Few quarters but mostly junk.

With the ID filter on about 20 , and the tone break at 69, still was getting lots of junk and bolts reading 70s-90s. I kinda found it easier to follow the two tone audio over the 3 tone. I think I am going to try out a 5" coil. see if I can get some more accurate IDs off it. Because on the surface the unit reads everything bang on, but if you put it 3" in the ground the IDs really are
effected along with the tone as well. At 7" ish inches in some clay type soil I wouldn't have stopped at my quarter had I knew it wasn't there.
 
Hi, I tried out your settings today and some others. It was a park with baseball fields. Spent about 3 hours, got a ring but was no jewel in the setting. Think its a cheap one, but cool anyway. Few quarters but mostly junk.

With the ID filter on about 20 , and the tone break at 69, still was getting lots of junk and bolts reading 70s-90s. I kinda found it easier to follow the two tone audio over the 3 tone. I think I am going to try out a 5" coil. see if I can get some more accurate IDs off it. Because on the surface the unit reads everything bang on, but if you put it 3" in the ground the IDs really are
effected along with the tone as well. At 7" ish inches in some clay type soil I wouldn't have stopped at my quarter had I knew it wasn't there.

Okay,,some bolts especially stainless steel can sound pretty good.

Something to consider,,,when you get a hit,,,are you swing over the target from different angles with a fairly wide sweep??? One thing to note,,sometimes if you get over some iron,,if you keep wiggling the coil over it it will sound good. Rather swing with a little wider sweep,,see if signal repeats say 3 out of 4 coil passes with distinct good sounding tone.

Also,,iron volume turned on,,,you can use this in conjunction with tone,,,let's say you get a hit,,,with high tone,,but when you sweep over it you notice the TID is trying to windshield wipe ID wise,,,moving up and down,,,but you hear iron via iron volume creeping in on the edges.

This iron volume creeping in real fast,,with windshield wiping TID,,,with tone that is borderline sounding= iron false (wrap signal) lots of times.

But remember no absolutes.

But to get you up and running with better precision,, ,this info above should help.

And yes,,,small coil is better coil to actually learn the unit with. Less under the coil,,easier to interpret,,,then later stock size coil easier to manage.

Use your pinpoint function as well,,to sniff out the monster iron targets giving wrap signals.

And while ground balancing over clean ground at your site,,check ground minerals via graph.

If minerals are high,,,3 tone may actually provided better stop you in your tracks signals.

Hope this helps.
 
Great post and response, thanks much for the knowledge. I just need some time with it. And that park is super trash filled so was probably quite an overload for second day ever detecting. I can definitely see the smaller coil being handy in those environments. Talk to you again sometime.
 
Great post and response, thanks much for the knowledge. I just need some time with it. And that park is super trash filled so was probably quite an overload for second day ever detecting. I can definitely see the smaller coil being handy in those environments. Talk to you again sometime.

You are welcome,,you can set your tone break up a little more to like 72 or so too,,will drive some more trash out.

Good luck
 
I just bought one as well. There's so many control options for this thing you can set it for a huge variety of sites. I hope to be able to sniff out winter camp relics that my MXT/T2 have missed but still be able to keep up with them depth wise in sites with scattered finds.
 
I just bought one as well. There's so many control options for this thing you can set it for a huge variety of sites. I hope to be able to sniff out winter camp relics that my MXT/T2 have missed but still be able to keep up with them depth wise in sites with scattered finds.

Since it seems there are at least 2 new Racer 2 users maybe watching this thread,,,I will try to give some more insight into what a person may see based on targets,,and some settings adjustments they may use to take advantage of certain situations.

Let's say you want to cherry pick for higher conductors.
Yep,,you can use 3 tone and set your 3rd tone to where you want the high tone to sound off.

Will this get all the high conductors (detectable) in a trashy site??? Probably not.

Allow me to explain,,,first I encourage all new users to get a copper penny or clad dime,,and a pull tab. Place on ground using 3 tone,,with tab and coin real close together and sweep (have 3rd tone break set to 72)... When you sweep the coin and tab,,,listen to the tone you hear. Remove the tab, and sweep just the coin,,and listen. Notice the difference in tone.

You see with the tab and higher conductive coin,,,the detector actually sees both the tab and the higher conductive coin,,,and believe it or not,,,the Racer is actually providing tone on each the tab and the higher conductive coin. But the tone is being cut off on each end,,meaning you are hearing just some of the mid tone (tab) and part of the high tone (coin).

Btw sweep the tab solo and listen as well.

So when a person is out a hunting,,,you hear a solid mid tone,,,this could be a low conductor or actually a pair of low conductors

But if you hear the tone gotten above when you swept the say dime and tab,,,that tells you you have mixed conductivity,,one high and one low.

Now what about VDI,,,in the examples above,,,you will notice,,with coin and tab,,an actual average VDI will be shown on the meter,,,yet the tone ( sounds sorts honkish high low or low high depending on coin and tab orientation and which direction swept.

Now,,,when you are sweeping say the coin and tab,,,with your 3rd tone break set to 72,,, try adjusting up and down,,and notice the affects.

Also a person should notice,,the average will be higher using a higher conductive coin vs a lower conductive coin (( like using a aincoln vs clad dime).

So just by using your ears,,listening to the tone provided with proper tone break setting for 3 Rd tone,,,you can gamble better on which hits have mixed conductivity of commingled nonferrous targets.

Now after doing the tests above,,,pay attention to the average TID provided. Why??

Because next I will discuss using 2 tone and how a person can even use it to sniff out some higher conductive finds commingled with lower conductive junk targets.

In a real trashy site,,a person can use 2 tone,,,the key is dialing down the tone break setting,,,so that the average TID netted on comingled ( high and low conductors) will provide higher tone when swept.

Now this process not exactly scientific but has netted me some decent finds in trashy areas.

This process works better where the typical style pull tabs exists,,not the real big ones.

So basically somewhere around 33-35 on the tone break setting will net the comingled targets of higher and lower conductivity. Solo Nickels here unfortunately will be lost,,,but one could be dug comingled with higher conductor.

Most ring pulls will ring low tone,,foil,and other junk.
A person will dig some junk using this process,,but it will be greatly limited.

Remember even using all the above,,a person can still get the clean hits with more true VDI.

Racer 2 is a nice unit,,,settings do give a person some good options.

Also,,the deep function,,,just remember recovery rate is slowed,,and so should coil sweep rate.

Folks new to Racer 2... Doing the above test will help a person understand moreso maybe what is under their coil--- based on tone(s) and VDI displayed.

Cheers.
 
Thanks. Luckily the sites I hunt don't have much modern trash besides shotgun hulls and occasionally fired bullets. So if I get a -2 piece of iron laying on a +30 cuff button the iron could potentially bring the reading down into the +20s?
 
Thanks. Luckily the sites I hunt don't have much modern trash besides shotgun hulls and occasionally fired bullets. So if I get a -2 piece of iron laying on a +30 cuff button the iron could potentially bring the reading down into the +20s?

Yes,,,if relic hunting in more clean ground,,,anything above iron range definitely could be nonferrous.

A person can actually set up test with say a button and nails and replicate.

This is one reason why it is generally easier to find high conductive coins in and around iron vs low conductors--- TArget info on high conductors does get dragged down but less likely to be as low as a low conductor--- could happen though.
 
72?

Won't that then make gold sound low and !!!! target?

Matt.

Sure it could get rid of some gold.

But a person has to crawl with a detector before they can walk.

I was giving some recommendations so at least folks would get a start with Racer 2.
And hearing fewer targets will simplify learning at first.
Even using smallest coil can help with the learning curve.
 
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