Goodbye Red, gonna miss ya.....

[OregonGregg]

I was looking at Makro's website and they no longer list the Makro Racer ( Red Racer) looks like it may have hit the end of the line. Great machine, still is today. Found a lot of nice old coins with my Red Racer ( a nice 1861s Seated Quarter, my only 3 cent nickel and my first Seated Half Dime)

But not to worry, I have several tucked away, preparing for the future I 'm not crazy about where detectors are headed, Multi this and that with batteries that can't be removed and constantly worried about recharging them etc etc .

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

From what I understand, you will be able to get a AA battery adapter for the kruzer. Though I'm not sure if you can go underwater with the adapter.
I too don't like internal batteries. One more thing that can fail.
Like when I bought my last car in 2012 I asked for crank windows. They told me that I can have the back seat windows crank but the front seat windows are all made with power windows.
Needless to say within my warranty period the passenger motor died. And now, 5.5 years later my driver one is messing up.
But the rear cranks are still running well.
Not a perfect parallel, but close enough. I like switching out my own batteries and removing them when not in use.

I haven't heard anything about the red racer being done, but I would like to officially hear about the adapter for AA I saw on a dealer site. It is an optional accessory you have to purchase though from what I understand :-/ I'd imagine that it would cause an issue to the waterproofness of the machine. I'll have to wait and see if dilek pops in to weigh in on that.
But that was one of the down sides I saw with the new machine :-/

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

P.s. you can always get the regular kruzer and it's only one frequency lol

 

[pasttom]

Yes, when they took the hand crank starting from new cars I quit buying new cars. Never trust a battery under the hood.

 

[OregonGregg]

Yes, when they took the hand crank starting from new cars I quit buying new cars. Never trust a battery under the hood.

Curious though, when the battery failed in your car did you ship the car back to the manufacturer so you could get a new battery installed. When my car battery fails I just go to the parts store and do it myself, ie; I can just grab a package of double AA's and when my batteries go dead in my detector, I take a minute and put new ones in. When I head out and hunt all day in a far off remote ghost town, I don't wanna worry if the battery is gonna last the whole day or if on a trip, like one of the outings down in NV....when I get back to the motel that night, I really don't care that I have to drag everything back into the room so it can be all charged up.

I like simplicity. If my batteries fail, I plop in a few new ones and I am up and going, In the case of the Red Racer....plop in 4 new Double AA' s and the machine is going, the coil is working and my Pro Star headphones are working off those same easily replaced 4 batteries. LOL but that's me. I am sure there is just as a compelling argument for having nonremovable/rechargeable batteries. I imagine as far as waterproof machines, it makes the waterproofing process easier/better maybe.

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

Gregg,
There's another thread about the optional battery "pack" in this forum. Go check it out. I'm waiting on a couple answers now from him. He got one of them in the mail from make. You can use 4AA instead of the battery inside.
Now how that's wired, I am not sure if when the internal battery fails, if the extra pack can be used. Looks like it plugs into the charge port so I'm not sure if the internal battery is in between the AAs and the machine or if the internal is just bypassed. If the former then if the internal pack fails you will still have to send it in for replacement. If it's the latter, you can just use AAs all the time even if the battery inside fails....

 

[OregonGregg]

Hey Stoof, so you going to make an outing this year? Ya I've seen the multi Kruzer already. Is a nice machine. When they announced it Monte let me know he has one. It has the optional AA battery pack. LOL in spite of my "Simplicity" dilemma I prob will be ordering one later in the year. It is waterproof and I would like to have one machine that has that feature. I have a few sites around here I could poke around in when summer gets here with a waterproof machine.

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

I will try and make it out.
But I'll only have my old racer 2 and relic. Haha
And some even older tesoros. Can't seem to keep up with the new detectors these days...
Don't know if I'll be able to compete with the new ones lol

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

Hey Gregg would you mind asking Monte if he knows how it's wired?
I.E. if the internal cell dies, can the machine still be run off the AAs or is the internal battery in series or Daisy chained in the middle of the circuit and would still cause it to not function if the internal pack dies?
I know you will speak with him I'm sure before I do

 

[OregonGregg]

Stoof I have good news for ya, you don't need a new machine, you already have some of the best machines for hunting these old sites.

 

[Sven]

It can run on either battery, internal or external. Battery pod is waterproof.

 

[OregonGregg]

I believe....but I'll ask Monte if he can pop in here and give us the goods.....anyhow I believe you can run off the AA's only and if they die, pull the plug and the internal battery kicks in or vice versa....if internal goes low, then just plug in the AA's and you will be up and going again.

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

It can run on either battery, internal or external. Battery pod is waterproof.

Thanks Sven.
The question is about the wiring. Is the internal battery in the middle as in the AAs feed power to it and it powers the machine?
What I'm trying to figure out is if the internal cell dies will it be bypassed by the battery pod so the machine will still function or will the cell dying cause the circuit to break and the AAs won't power the machine?
Thanks again for any clues to this!!

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

I believe....but I'll ask Monte if he can pop in here and give us the goods.....anyhow I believe you can run off the AA's only and if they die, pull the plug and the internal battery kicks in or vice versa....if internal goes low, then just plug in the AA's and you will be up and going again.

Yeah that's where the question is lol. Do the AAs act like a battery bank like for your cell phone where it's feeding the power to the low battery and the battery is still powering the machine?
Look forward to hearing from Monte.

All I need to know is if it's wired in a type of series where when the cell inside dies (as in won't charge or work at all and is completely dead) if you can still run the machine off the AAs. All cells die eventually even if it takes years. Eventually the internal cell will die forever and not take a charge or fry itself or whatever.
In that event years down the road, will the machine have to be sent in for repair or can you just run it off AAs from then on.

Sorry if it was confusing saying battery dies. I mean literally dies and is no longer usable at all and has malfunctioned for good.

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

Sorry for taking the topic so far off the red racer Gregg.
Never owned one but everyone speaks highly of them and would be sad if they are not clgoing to be produced anymore. :-(

P.s. I started a thread with my question so I can leave yours alone

 

[Monte]

I have never been a big fan of using rechargeable batteries. Most of the time what we had were nicad or more recently nickel- metal hydride, but they never provided me as much run time as some quality alkaline batteries.

Other than ammunition, the only thing I have in Greater quantity than metal detectors are flashlights. I have many. Three of them have alkaline C cells, two of them have AAA alkaline batteries and all the rest have AA alkaline batteries.

The Only Exception are three that use lithium batteries. The newest of those has a built-in lithium and it is rechargeable flashlight. The other two I can remove the lithium battery and charge it.

The oldest lithium flashlight I've have is about 5 years old maybe six and I have not had a single problem with it. From fully charged to running low I get about the same run time now as I did when it was brand new. That was never the case with anything I ever used for a period of time that had nicad or nickel metal hydride rechargeables.

Oregon Greg started this thread talking about the macro Racer and along the way it we've added discussion about the new macro Kruzer which is powered by a built-in lithium battery. Personally, I don't have a problem with that because it is a modern design and I don't anticipate any problem with the rechargeable lithium that's built in.

On my sample test unit that I have been working with, the Multi-Kruzer, I also have the optional double A battery pack. I have my four AA alkaline batteries in that battery pack attached to the back of my detector under the arm cup. It is a waterproof detector, and the four double A batteries are in a waterproof holder. There is a cable that connects that battery pack to the detectors control device attaching at the headphone jack in the back of the control unit. If you want to use waterproof headphones or attach the adapter and use corded headphones while hunting out of the water, that connection is now on the alkaline battery housing.

I have been using the new Kruzer with the built-in lithium battery, but due to the amount of detecting time I want to get in and knowing that I might usually get longer run time using alkaline batteries, I mounted my AA battery pack and have it hooked up and I'm doing most of my detecting using alkaline batteries.

This is probably the way I am going to use this device all the time. I get a long run-time with AA alkaline and this will allow me to just grab the unit, as I do any of my other detectors that are also powered by alkaline batteries, and go out detecting. . I can hunt for a long time, and I might get a fair distance from my vehicle, and if my batteries fail, meaning my alkaline batteries, I simply detach the cable that connect the alkaline batteries put that cable in my zippered pouch, and continue hunting with my fully charged lithium batteries.

Most people, and I've been around this industry for a long time and I know that, most people, do not go out detecting for long durations of time and run their batteries out in a day. They might go several days, or weeks, or even a couple of months, before their batteries finally died. For those people the lithium battery is going to be very sufficient because they're going to have ample downtime at home where they can recharge their batteries when needed to keep them fully charged.

The nice thing is that no one is required to only use the lithium battery they can use one or the other or have both ready to go in case the other fails. You can attach the for alkaline batteries or put the battery holder on the waterproof device, and just carry the patch cord with you and hunt with the lithium batteries full-time if you desire. If you are out in the field detecting and a distance from your vehicle when the lithium's get tired, you just take a moment to connect the cable and you're off and running with alkaline batteries.

I like that versatile option, and I really like this new detector. Exceptional performance regardless of what kind of battery power you are using.

 

[JFlynn]

Gregg I hunted twice last week with the Red number 1. Turned disc up to 81 and let one of my daughters pick a place clean of the higher conductive targets. That's one powerful little machine there too. Hope you're doing well!

 

[OregonGregg]

Gregg I hunted twice last week with the Red number 1. Turned disc up to 81 and let one of my daughters pick a place clean of the higher conductive targets. That's one powerful little machine there too. Hope you're doing well!

Hi Jack, doing good over here, just waiting for nice weather to arrive. How have you been doing? Hope all is well with you. I agree, although it lacks some of the neat features of the other Makro/Nokta machines, the Red Racer is a very capable machine. Today I pretty much just leave the 7" concentric mounted on it and it still gets about as much use as my other Nokta/Makro machines.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Say it ain't so!!

I finally let my Red Racer go in early December, having the Racer 2 and Impact and a few other tectors around, I figured I had my bases covered.

I will say, the Red Racer was a great machine, really opened my eyes as to what the Makro/Nokta family was all about

 

[Monte]

Say it ain't so!!

I finally let my Red Racer go in early December, having the Racer 2 and Impact and a few other tectors around, I figured I had my bases covered.

The Racer served me quite well, along with my two Nokta CoRe devices, but after adding the Relic and Racer 2 to my Detector Team two years ago they took over filling my needs and the Racer went to a local rancher friend Oregon Gregg knows. Then a year ago the Impact hit my hands and that unit with the 'in-your-face' display bumped the Racer 2 down to a 'back-up' status. I continued to work the Impact and two Relic and two CoRe devices to enjoy their great performance and different accessory coil for my need along with the Impact.

Know what? I still enjoy all five of those detectors, but have gladly fit the new Multi-KRUZER in my Regular-Carry Detector Team. Great in-the-field performance, with some enhancements over other units Nokta/Makro offer, and the waterproofing just makes it a must-have detector, at least for me. With the search coils now announced and having evaluated some comparable coils already, I can now get outfitted for my Multi-K with three new coils and lower rods.

How did I arrive at my current Regular-Carry Detector Team that has replaced all other TID models I used to own and use? It all goes back to two detectors ... the Nokta FORS CoRe and the 'original' Makro Racer. The Racer performed when released and brought the detector industry a new 'standard' in package and performance, and the Racer continues to perform. Quite a few people who have participated in the Welcome-to-Hunt Outings over the past three years have used the Racer, and some, like Oregon Gregg, hold on dearly to one [size=small](or more )[/size] of the Racer devices. They work.

I will say, the Red Racer was a great machine, really opened my eyes as to what the Makro/Nokta family was all about

I couldn't agree more, Brian. My eyes were opened by the FORS CoRe a couple of weeks before I started evaluating the Racer and those two teamed up for a year, and the Nok/Mak 'team' continues to bring us new and exciting detectors. And still, the good old Racer will continue to serve their owners very well for years to come.