detectingMO: said:
Nokta has done about all than can do with the T2 platform. Will be interesting to see what they can do on their own.
The Nokta FORS CoRe was kind-of based on the Teknetics T2, but definitely not that close of a copy. January 1st, January 8th and January 10th of 2015 are all memorable dates for me with regard to Nokta's products and especially the FORS CoRe. It was duplicated in January of 2016 with the soon-to-be FORS Relic.
I ended 2014 with a Fisher F-75 and two Teknetics T2 'Classic' units, along with a a Fisher Gold Bug Pro, F19, Teknetics Omega 8000, White's XLT, XL Pro, 5900 Di SL, modified IDX Pro, modified Classic ID, MXT Pro, M6 and MX-5, Tesoro Bandido, Bandido II, Bandido II µMAX, Silver Sabre µMAX, two Minelab Explorer II's, and maybe four or five other detectors.
Just before midnight
January 1st PST, my time, I was talking with OregonGregg and got an e-mail from Dilek at Nokta with an offer. We quickly back-and-forthed e-mails for the next several minutes and she offered what I wanted .... The opportunity to evaluate a 15 kHz Nokta FORS CoRe.
Having used Tek. T2's since they were introduced in 2006, I was very well aware of what they offered and how they performed, and I had been maintaining a recent T2 'Classic' w/5" DD for very littered Relic Hunting sites, such as ghost towns, encampments, etc. I was very interested in what I was hearing and seeing related to the FORS CoRe.
January 8th, UPS delivered the packages sent to me from Nokta, and I was already prepared to start some evaluations and compare the CoRe with everything else I had. Because I have been relying on smaller-size coils since '68, I planned to mount the 4.
7X5.
2 'OOR' coil because I also devoted 85% or more of my hunt-time for working very littered, brushy, and iron-contaminated sites. Before sunset I had the CoRe assembled and many indoor test comparisons done and moved outside to include some ground mineral challenges. On Friday the 9th I headed out to three or four places I wanted to hunt where I knew I'd encounter a lot of Iron Nails and other trash that was discarded between 1890 and about 1940.. Along with the CoRe I took all of the detectors I had that I seriously questioned their performance against the FORS CoRe.
January 10th I started the day by gathering up all the detectors and extra search coils and parts I wanted to thin out because all the detectors that didn't match the performance of the CoRe no longer had a place in my Detector Team. The first on that list were my two Tek. T2's because they were the first I felt needed to go because they fell short of what the CoRe could do.
Both offered All Metal, 2-Tone and 3-Tone modes, both had a '40' Ferrous / Non-Ferrous break-point, and both operated on 4-AA batteries. But comparing them with their smaller coils in Iron Nails and on other assorted targets, the engineering Alper Tozan and his team did with the CoRe resulted in better depth-of-detection, and better unmaking ability, and much better separation in iron-challenged conditions.
detectingMO: said:
That said, why has first texas done nothing all these years with "better" engineering talent? A few people at Nokta took their tech to new levels in very short time.
A moot thought since First Texas is dead and has been for years though.
I've owned the two Racer models, Impact, Multi-Kruzer, Anfibio 19, two Anfibio Multi's and two Simplex + units. They all work well and are solid build-quality devices. My Simplex + is loaned out and my pristine 'back-up' Simplex + is for sale. The other models are gone. Did they workj? Yes, however none of them out-performed either my Nokta FORS CoRe, or my 19 kHz FORS Relic that I have had since January of '16. I just got another choice-condition FORS Relic in yesterday, and I plan to keep a CoRe and Relic as working units in my Regular-Use Team for as long as I can hunt. I'm also hoping Nokta / Makro will come up with a very competitive SMF device soon, and that one I will most likely add to my outfit.
As for First Texas Product's, I agree with you that it's a surprise that with their $$$$ and engineering team, they haven't brought us anything really new and different in the VLF market for a long time. The T2, and F75, do have one of the all-time best physical package deigns and simple control layout, and should they come up with anything new and creative, I hope for a land-based model in that configuration. But right now, I sure haven't seen anything remarkable happening there, or hear any good rumors of anything to come soon. Time is running out for them, if they can't get into the modern detector market.
Monte