Semtav: said:
Monte,
I see you have a racer 2 on your list.
How do you compare the two in a nail embedded site.
If you noticed, I have updated my Detector Team to include a Time Ranger Pro which is the same circuitry as the F-19 Ltd, and they are a pair of models I likes to use in ghost towns and homesteads and similar old-use places with a lot of Iron Nails and other ferrous debris along with my Racer 2 and F-75+.
How do I compare these units for Iron Nail contaminated sites? Well, like this, including places with other ferrous and non-ferrous debris.:
Sometimes I like to use 3-Tone and both the F-75+ and Racer 2 feature that. They both work very similar in Racer 2 and 3-Tone and F-75+ in 3-Tone. I reserve 3H mainly for urban-type sites and Coin Hunting. For Relic Hunting type environments I favor the 3-Tone and generally I am in the De process. So, of the two that provide a 3-Tone mode I favor the Racer 2 for Relic type tasks in Iron conditions because it offers Iron Audio Volume that functions in
all Disc. modes.
If I choose to use a 2-Tone mode approach, then all four of my models are competitive. The Time Ranger Pro and F-19 Ltd. are 2-Tone
only designs and the Racer 2 and F-75+ offer a 2-Tone option. Here there is one more difference between them in that the Time Ranger Pro, F-19 Ltd. and Racer 2
all feature a fully adjustable Iron Volume Control from full-volume on down to a lower-volume with more variable adjustment. The F-75+ only offers 2F for full-Iron volume, 2H for sort of a half-volume setting, and 2L for a low-volume setting. In order, I have that Iron Volume set at '12', '12', '2' and '2L'.
There is one additional thing to consider when comparing detector performance other than search tone mode, Iron volume level, and other settings, and that is the size, shape and type of search coil used when comparing the detectors. I've been at this for over fifty-seven years, avidly, and long, long ago I determined that smaller-size coils seem to work quite well in many or most places, and when trash gets heavy, especially nails and any ferrous debris, smaller coils generally rule.
In modestly littered to hardly littered sites I usually opt for a mid-size coil more than anything larger. My TRP sports a 5" DD, the F-19 Ltd. an elliptical 5X10 DD The Racer 2 keeps a 4.
7X5.
2 'OOR' DD attached but I have a mid-size 5X9½ DD open-frame mounted on a spare lower rod. On my F-75+ I have a 3½X6½ Concentric attached, but I also have their round 5" DD handy and a 5X8 DD MGC mid-size coil on a spare lower rod.
Semtav: said:
I just hit a couple different homesteads and used the racer at one the F75+ at the other.
An educational experience but unless they are compared together, at the same time and over an unrecovered located target, with similar coils and settings, it's just not going to be a fair comparison.
Semtav: said:
Right now I'm leaneing toward the Racer.
But I didn't compare them at the same site cause one was at home and one was at work 100+ miles away.
Now have them together and going to compare them against each other.
That will be good, but which coils are on each of the units?
Semtav: said:
Just seems the racer hits harder on coins etc in trash.
In 3-Tone I have experienced a similar result, at least quite often compared side-by-side. That said, I run my Sensitivity on all detectors at maximum and only reduce it if needed to regain stability if there is EMI.
My current observations: Overall, all four of my models work well and I could grab any of them for any Nail infested site. I like the comfort and feel of the F-75+ the best. I like the way the Racer 2 handles common rusted tin, both audibly and visually mainly in 3-Tone. A lot of the time I prefer to use a 2-Tone mode, and for that I like to grab the TRP or F-19 Ltd. depending on the site and coil mounted.
But when Iron debris is very heavy, it is small-coil time and I always hunt slowly and methodically for best site coverage.
Monte