Are you staying warm over in Nebraska? I'd bet you're hoping for an early arrival of springtime detecting weather like I am here in Eastern Oregon. I think a trip to warmer and drier Arizona is calling me to make a January trek south ... to enjoy some warmer detecting during the winter!
Silverbackbob said:
Or should I really suck it up and shell out the $$$$ for a new impact?? Money is tight....
Yes, $$$$ can get tight at times, so we have to look over what we have, what's out there being offered, then decide if something new is different enough or provide some benefits we might enjoy. That will also be determined by the types of sites we prefer to hunt, the typical trash we deal with, and even how often we get out detecting. I know quite a few people who have a detector, but they don't get out often enough to learn it well and enjoy what it can provide in performance.
Also, some people have just one detector and can't/won't afford a 2nd or 3rd or more detectors to complement the one they like. I'm not sure what detector/s you are using now, or what types of sites you work, or coils you prefer to use. You can look on the Forums and see my
Regular-Use Detector Team I draw from when I venture out on a detecting jaunt. I almost never travel with only one detector, grabbing at least two to be ready for different hunting opportunities, so I draw from these units.
I have a detector carrying tote my oldest son made for me that holds five [size=small](5)[/size] detectors to keep them secure and not banging around to get scratched, bumped or damaged, and it fits in my Tahoe with my accessory gear tote and accessory search coil tote so that I am prepared for any site challenges I encounter, although I usually use the coils I keep mounted on the detectors full-time. Sometimes I might double-up one model just to have each outfitted with a different search coil. For example I might have a Relic w/5" DD and another w/5X9½ DD, or an Impact w/7" Concentric and another w/5" DD, or an MX-7 w/6½ Inch Concentric and another MX-7 w/950 Concentric.
Does a Nokta Impact offer enough features and coils to complement what you have now? I am not sure. A Nokta FORS CoRe bumped all my main units from their position in my arsenal three years ago as of Jan. 8th. It provided all the performance I wanted or needed, out of what was available, and I was fine as far as models with visual Target ID and audio Tone ID was concerned. Then a year later the FORS Relic made a nice fit in my personal arsenal. It looked similar to the CoRe, weighed and balanced about the same as the CoRe and used similar size and type coils as the CoRe, but there was a difference. The Relic operated at 19 kHz and not 15 kHz like the CoRe, plus it features Iron Audio Volume and Tone Break adjustment, and it had a different numeric VDI scale so far as ferrous Vs non-ferrous targets. That made it a nice 'fit' for me.
Then White's brought out the MX-Sport and I was interested in what White's might bring out that would be an improvement over the MXT All-Pro which I used to use. I liked some of what I saw when I checked the first one out I could, but not the balance or noisy performance. It just wasn't right, as most of us know. Along the way I checked out a few other detectors to see what they might offer
me, but nothing impressed me and I knew that, in time, White's would remedy the issues with the MX Sport and bring us a land-based model. They did, with the MX-7, and it is essentially an MX-Sport that is not as heavy, comes with a standard coil I would prefer, and offers something new and different that works
for me.
It's after 6AM on Thursday and I'll go to the Post Office shotyly to pick up another detector I acquired, and it's my 2nd MX-7. I
"sucked it up and shelled out $$$$" for an MX-7 and extra coils, headphones and Ground Hawg, even though I already had a CoRe, Relic AND an Impact, with all of the available search coils. That was just the opposite of what you were asking because in my case I already had the Impact. The new MX-7 is 'different' and provides me some features my other TID detectors don't offer, plus it is well balanced, 'Simple' to use, 'Functional' for my needs, and provides 'Performance' that I want. Now I'll have another MX-7 in my detector battery that will keep a different coil mounted since the 6½ Inch Concentric stays on the other one.
It's easy to answer the question for me because I know what I want, and I have managed to work my meager retired budget to get want I wanted. And with all my Christmas shopping done, I managed to do some trading to work out getting another MX-7. Now, the questions you need to consider are:
What do you use now?
What performance or adjustment features do you think it might be lacking that are offered with the Impact?
Would you have a purpose for the three different frequencies it offers?
What about other adjustment functions?
Would you have enough $$$$ to also afford an extra search coil or two for the Impact?
Would it be s good complement for the detector you use now?
Or .... are you trying to decide between an MX-7 and an Impact? If so, they are different and each have their strengths. I have friends and relatives who use a Makro Racer or Racer 2, a Nokta FORS CoRe or FORS Relic, a White's MXT Pro and an MX-5, and they have asked me the same questions knowing that I have an Impact and was buying an MX-7. My honest answer to most of them in our discussions that I felt they would maybe be better off with the MX-7 and the 6½" Concentric coil. Only one of them might appreciate the option of changing operating frequencies, and that one and one other might make use of more than only one or two search modes with an Impact. The rest I believe would end up thinking it was too complex
[size=small](which it isn't)[/size] and lose interest in it or not spend the time learning it, whereas the MX-7 has all that most folks want or need, and seems dimple enough.
It can be a tough
personal decision. I made mine, and now some people wonder why, or even think I'm a bit coo-coo! But in my case the answer is really quite simple ... They all work, work well, and have a place in my personal detector battery for an assortment of applications.
Maybe the best suggestion is budget to own both, even if you have to find a choice deal on a barely used Impact?
Monte