Racer 2 vs Impact opinions

Impact is heavy,that's for sure. As for the selective frequencies,I never saw the advantages when I used one,maybe for a relic hunter they'd come in handy...Im for the racer 2,imo best machine makro ever put out.

MuddyMo: said:

I like the multi freq of the Impact but the lighter weight of the R2.

Click to expand...

Due to age and impaired health I have to be cautious of the weight and balance of my detectors and I still find the Impact to b at the fringe of 'comfortable' along with the Racer 2. I have found through the years that a lot of people have considered a detector to be too heavy, when in reality it really wasn't.

The cause was due to them sometimes selecting a larger and heavier-size search coil, but more often than not was because they used a too-long rod extension and had the search coil way out in front of them. That caused the imbalance, but with a proper rod-length the detector became very comfortable.

I had a Racer 2 from prototype-stage to production, and the same with the Impact, Multi-Kruzer and Anfibio. I seldom used their stock coils because I spent the bulk of my hunt-time working extremely trashy ghost towns with abundant iron debris. The 5" coils were my main pick, and in slightly more open areas it was a mid-size coil, such as the round 7" Concentric or 5X9½ DD elliptical. Using similar coils, I find the Racer 2 to be just marginally better-balanced than the Impact.

MuddyMo: said:

Miss my Fors Relic (& may buy another), didn't like using the Kruser.

Click to expand...

The Multi-Kruzer was 'OK' but the weight distribution made it a heavier-feeling model than either the Racer 2 or Impact. And for hunting a more open and relatively flat area, none of those balanced as well as my Nokta FORS CoRe or FORS Relic do. Those two models look heavier, but their weight distribution and comfort are really good. My CoRe and Relic keep their smaller coils mounted as they are my 'Special-Use' units to tackle the very challenging older sites I like to hunt. Excellent unmasking in dense iron nails and other debris.

MuddyMo: said:

I would like to hear thoughts on the R2 and the Impact Has anyone used both and can maybe even compare them to the kruzer and Relic? Thanks

Click to expand...

I don't get out into the water much on any beach hunts, and my beach hunting is mainly freshwater sites with a rocky or firm ground make-up. I've been getting around with a cane for 27½ years now and canes, or my impaired mobility, do not get along very well with loose beach sand. Plus I don't swim, so on freshwater sites I only wade out on firm ground in very shallow places. However, for that I have my waterproof Simplex + .... just in case I experience another trip-and-fall moment. Besides, I like the Simplex + better than the Multi-Kruzer.

Due to the fact I can't get around like I used to, or handle heavy or awkward detectors, I have been trimming my detector outfit down this year. Other than 5 older models I have on-hand to use in my seminars, I am down to 13 detectors, but that includes 2-each of my Bandido II µMAX, Simplex + and Apex devices. So I only have 10 different models right now, and I am planning on thinning out 2 to 4 of those in the next couple of weeks.

I am working on doing a multi-unit product review of currently made detectors that are in the under-$550 price range, and one new model I just bought about a week ago is a Racer 2. I have owned and used over half-a-dozen of them so far and it is a very competitive model in the way of features and performance.

I have one detector due to be delivered today, and I ordered three other new models yesterday and should hopefully have them all by the end of next week. Then I'll start my product review, and I know that of them all, the Racer 2 is going to be a tough competitor. I know because I have owned and used a Racer 2 since January of 2016, in a wide-range of site environments, and with the excellent search coil selection it has proven to be a very good general-purpose performer.

I had some success using the optional selectable frequencies on the Impact, but the bulk of my hunting was in the default 14 kHz. The balance wan't an issue for me, but where I did notice a difference was in the audio response. Especially with different brands of headphone I favor. The Impact had a slightly muffled sort of audio report whereas the Racer 2 was a cleaner, more pronounced audio.

To be fair, I have to clarify that I was determined to be deaf every year when tested at US Hill Field AFB and didn't qualify for full-time civilian employment. There are different pitches or frequency ranges I struggle to hear well, and that might also be part of the cause .... but for me there is a slight difference in audio behavior.

I have always pampered my detectors so I know that in just a couple of weeks some of these new detectors that I'll be selling are not going to last for long. They will all be 'as new' and some with accessory coils. No doubt in my mind the Racer 2 will be one of the first to go simply because it has a very good track record for performance.

The Impact is good, but I think you're making a good decision to select a Racer 2.

Monte

Thanks Monte. How would you compare the R2 with the relic (not ergonomics or weight wise). They said the multi kruzer was just like it but it wasn't even close.

I moved from the Racer 2 to the Impact.

The balance of the Impact is much better than the Racer2. I used to get a little wrist fatigue after swinging the 11x7 stock coil on the Racer2. I swing the 13" Mars Discovery on the Impact and have no fatigue.

For me it's less about the weight and more about the torque, or slight spin I feel with the S shaft design.

Also love the little football coil on the Impact running DI3 at 20kHz in thick trash. I prefer it to the Racer2 with a 5" coil that runs at 14kHz. Better depth and separation and coverage.

For audio, I used Black Widow headphones on both machines and had better quality, more telling audio from the Impact.

Dave_e said:

.....I used to get a little wrist fatigue after swinging ............ For me it's less about the weight and more about the torque, or slight spin I feel.....

......... running DI3 at 20kHz in thick trash..... .

Click to expand...

Thanks.

Torque is one reason I didn't like swing the Nox. Straight shaft..

The 20khz is one reason I was considering the impact. The 19khz relic was good around iron.

MuddyMo: said:

Thanks Monte. How would you compare the R2 with the relic (not ergonomics or weight wise). They said the multi kruzer was just like it but it wasn't even close.

Click to expand...

How would I compare a Racer 2? Well, even though you wanted to not count ergonomics or weight, etc., I'll touch on it anyway.

Using the same size 7" Concentric coil, I rank my favorites from better-to-worse in this order: Anfibio-Multi & Impact both about equally comfortable .. then .. Racer 2 .. finally the Multi-Kruzer. With their standard coils they would rank about the same.

As for using a smaller-size coil, like the 5" DD, or a mid-size 5X9½ open-frame DD, the easy pick for long-hunt comfort is the Nokta Relic. Like the FORS CoRe they balance well compared to the Racer 2. And you're right, the Multi-Kruzer isn't even close.

I have quite a few detectors in my 'Daily-Use' Team, and three units in my 'Special-Use' Team and two of those three are my CoRe and Relic. Special-Use mainly involves the really challenging ghost towns, homesteads, and similar tough-to-hunt sites with a lot of Iron Nails and other ferrous debris. I keep the 5" DD mounted on my Relic because it has been serving me so well since I got it in-hand in January of 2016, so i'm wrapping up 5 years of loyal service. I do have the 5X9½ DD on a spare lower rod in my Accessory Coil Tote for use in modestly littered sites, if desired.

As stated elsewhere, I have a few brand new duplicate models, and I have in the past two weeks and what should be arriving today and by the end of next week, 4 or 5 more detectors I will be using for some product evaluation of detectors that are new and sell for $550 or less. It's going to be an interesting evaluation, for sure, and when done I'll be posting it on my AHRPS Forums before our (USA) Thanksgiving.

After I finish I'll be selling off a number of new, gently-pampered detectors that don't stay in my outfit, and then, just for fun, I'm going to compare them with some of the 'discontinued' favorites I won't part with, such as my Nokta FORS CoRe and FORS Relic. It's getting hard to find either of those models in very good condition because folks who have them and know them just don not want to let them go.

Monte

The Impact is the bees knees of VLF detectors,36 detectors in one,something you can really get your teeth into if you are a real enthusiast.Way too complicated and too many options available for most users,a bit on the heavy side and not weatherproof but it could turn out the love of your life if treated properly just like a woman.
I don't like the buttons on the Anfibio,all one colour and too close together,not suited for my gnarly fingers
I do mainly prospecting for gold that is 12 inches and over in depth in very highly mineralised soil and it is brilliant at this,and the Impact is only one suitable to sport a 15 to 17 inch coil without too much interference from hot ground.The isat feature can be increased to minimise false signals in hot ground.A detector buddy harness is needed to take the weight off your wrist,arm and back The DEEP mode goes far deeper than the all metal mode in a ratio 20 to 8 and 20 to 12 for DI2 and is my favorite mode.DI2 takes over on very high mineralised ground. All metal can pick up 0.2 gram nuggets at 3 inches.
Racer 2 has been improved recently to get more depth and now has notch filter and DEEP mode included but only 14 Khz so it is more suitable for searching silver but at around the same price it only appeals if you want a more simplified detector with switch and go to do one thing.

Cane toad: said:

The Impact is the bees knees of VLF detectors,36 detectors in one,something you can really get your teeth into if you are a real enthusiast.

I don't like the buttons on the Anfibio,all one colour and too close together,not suited for my gnarly fingers

I do mainly prospecting for gold that is 12 inches and over in depth in very highly mineralised soil and it is brilliant at this,and the Impact is only one suitable to sport a 15 to 17 inch coil without too much interference from hot ground.The isat feature can be increased to minimise false signals in hot ground.A detector buddy harness is needed to take the weight off your wrist,arm and back The DEEP mode goes far deeper than the all metal mode in a ratio 20 to 8 and 20 to 12 for DI2 and is my favorite mode.DI2 takes over on very high mineralised ground. All metal can pick up 0.2 gram nuggets at 3 inches.

Racer 2 has been improved recently to get more depth and now has notch filter and DEEP mode included but only 14 Khz so it is more suitable for searching silver but at around the same price it only appeals if you want a more simplified detector with switch and go to do one thing.

Click to expand...

I generally agree with you. Of the selectable-frequency models, I favor the Impact over the Kruzer and Anfibio models because i like the manual controls, the trigger-toggle and being able to make a quick-change of 4-AA batteries when in-the-field. It balances well, and in that consideration I like it as I do the Anfibio for balance.

Due to my age and impaired mobility I am not able to get out into good gold nugget producing areas here in the USA like I used to back in the '80s and early '90s. I have done some casual hunting and testing of models that serve well for Coin, Relic, and Gold Nugget Hunting and really liked the performance of the 19 kHz Nokta FORS Gold Plus, and even better-liked the 19 kHz FORS Relic. I worked the prototype Impact in 20 kHz in the same test area and was impressed with it's performance as well.

The Racer 2 did have the 'Deep' mode that was not on the 'original' Racer, and I found the 14 kHz Racer 2, and the 15 kHz FORS CoRe to also do reasonably well on small gold nugget samples I tested. But I admit there is a definite 'edge' to the performance of the 19 kHz Relic, 19 kHz Anfibio 19 and the 20 kHz of the Impact and Anfibio Multi.

That said, if I was younger and healthier to go chase gold again, one model that I liked the best for smaller gold nugget searches was the Makro Gold Racer at 56 kHz.

And while I like the Threshold-based All Metal mode for a lot of searches, I enjoy using both the Di-2 and Deep 2-Tone modes for most of that hunting.

To me, the Impact is one of the better models I have used from Nokta / Makro, and I've been enjoying several of their detectors in my regular-use group since early January of 2015. They are serious performers.

Monte

Thanks for your help Cane Toad and welcome to FMDF.

Thanks for your reply,Monte. I'm a semi-expat living in Belarus and due to the airline flights situation and my age I am unwilling to make a booking decision at this stage to return back home.There is some seriously good detecting to be had here at the 1812 battlefield sites north of the country and there is an excellent detector outlet in Minsk as I left my Impact back home not expecting a major pandemic to hit the world when I left.Previously before the pandemic Belarus had a 2 week visa free entry if anyone is interested in detecting here,plus you can get around 30% cheaper detectors than back home and any brand you like in Minsk.The Anfibio 19 would be the best option for deep gold in highly mineralised ground for me.I could use it as a back up detector at home on the goldfields and at the historic sites in Belarus.I like it as it only has one frequency and thus more specialised for gold and also it has no DI4 if I remember rightly as I only use DI2 but using the buttons would/might be an ordeal.The Kruzer Gold will certainly find the very small gold on mullock heaps or dumps of which are everywhere here and more often than the Impact.I could buy a Nel Snake coil and search with the Impact.
Only one problem with the impact is it picks up lots of false signals in my area and between them and the tin foil its a major headache and I have dug up 70 holes in one afternoon in one spot-I was using All Metal mode then but DI2 gets them too.The tin foil is easy to mask by using the notch filter and setting the range 17 to 19 which I did in DI2.One other way might be to set the tone break to 19 instead of 15 in DI2 which I will do in the future.I have thought about the false signals,whether they are extreme mineralised nodules in the ground.Some I have dug up go down 18 inches and then disappear.Will try to set the isat from 01 to 03 and watch what happens when I get back.I am not in a normal environment and the mineralisation meter is registering 90% but the Impact never misses a beat and always ground balances in DI2.
I would also like to make a comment on how professional and friendly this forum is.So far I have had no problems like when I joined an Australian forum it was a free for all brawl.I would like to wish you and all your members the best of luck in your detecting endeavours. Cane Toad.

Thanks Muddy Mo for your welcome.I found your comments on this thread very interesting.Thats an enviable record, you pipped me by only 5 years,I bought a Whites 5000D in 1980 and headed to the diggings at the Easter holiday break to seek my fortune.When I got there all I found was a sea of tents.

I have an Impact and swung it exclusively for about a year and a half. Most of the time I ran it in DI3 14kHz.. With the pro pack you get the small football shaped coil and I think that combo is awesome. The 11" round DD is available now and I think it's probably a deeper coil than the stock 11"x7" is. I keep thinking about getting that coil, but I seldom use the Impact anymore as I have both an Etrac and Nox 800 now. I still think the Impact is a very good detector and I plan on keeping mine. I guess I consider it a spare relic machine now.

As far weight goes it's a little more comfortable to swing than an Etrac with stock coils on, and it's great with the little football coil. I think the Nox swings better than both of them though.

You did not ask, but I'm throwing it in anyway. Everybody has their own preferences, but I still consider the Equinox 800 the best around detector made when you weigh price against features, ergonomics, and performance. Had the Equinox come out at the same time the Impact did I would have gotten the Equinox. Bottom line I have found enough silver with the Equinox in places I previously hunted hard with the Impact to prove without a shadow of a doubt which is the superior detector.

The Impact might not be the world's best detector at finding coins in parks but is a real beast in highly mineralised soils like the infamous Golden Triangle goldfields of Victoria,Australia.I went there and over 40 hours of field testing found out how really good it is and in all of the GT there was nowhere it could not be ground balanced.
There are lots of videos on you tube where tests were performed in Culpeper dirt in the US .In one test the Impact hit a button at 7-8 inches.The Deus could only hit it at 5 inches yet the Deus costs twice the price. Culpeper dirt ground balanced at 57 but GT dirt typically ground balances at 65 and over.For this reason the Impact can be classed as a niche detector and not used to the fullest extent by 95% of buyers.