Some Impact questions?

[Indotguy]

I was hoping someone familiar with this unit might respond to some questions I have?

1. Does ground balance tracking work in all search modes?
2. Does the battery cover have to be removed to use wired headphones?
3. Is the screen visible in normal light without use of the backlight?
4. How accurate are coin VIDs in medium soils and at shallow/medium depths?
5. Could switching modes and frequencies be helpful in discriminating coins with similar VIDs?

Thanks

 

[Monte]

I was hoping someone familiar with this unit might respond to some questions I have?

I am sure as time progresses there will be many more questions from truly interested detector users to help them better understand the new Nokta Impact. Let me give your questions a try.

1. Does ground balance tracking work in all search modes?YES, tracking CAN be used in all search modes, but it is recommended that Tracking be reserved for use in an All Metal mode and NOT in the motion-based, silent-search Discriminate modes. This is the manufacturer's recommendation for all of their Nokta FORS and Impact and Makro Racer series models.


2. Does the battery cover have to be removed to use wired headphones?NO, the battery door stays snapped shut. There is a separate ¼" headphone jack on the left side, just above the battery door, that has a rubber plug attachment for when the headphones are not in use.


3. Is the screen visible in normal light without use of the backlight?YES, the visual display is very easy-to-see in an normal lighten condition. The Backlight has 1 to 5 brightness intensities that can be momentary [size=small](during control adjustments, targets detection, pinpointing and Ground Balance adjustment)[/size], or you can select a C1 to C5 setting for a Constant Brightness level for searches made in very poor lighting or when night hunting. Nokta and Makro detectors have now been adjusted to '0' for NO back-light for any reason, day or night, making adjustments, etc. It is easy to change the setting if you want to hunt in a dimly lighted area or at night.


4. How accurate are coin VIDs in medium soils and at shallow/medium depths?Very Good to Excellent, in my opinion. The long-established industry term is VDI [size=small](for Visual Discrimination Indicator)[/size], and when I read VID I think it is a reference to a VIDeo of some type. The VDI's, or Numeric Target ID read-outs, have been great in lower mineralized to highly mineralized environments I have hunted. I have had very good VDO / TID performance on many medium-to-deeper targets as well. The Impact has some adjustments to assist with TID depths.


5. Could switching modes and frequencies be helpful in discriminating coins with similar VIDs?YES, and I do that occasionally when I feel it a benefit. I usually use the default frequency if 14 kHz most of the time but occasionally I have good reason to opt for either 5 kHz or 20 kHz for general searching and can still make use of other frequencies for quick additional target information.

Also, it is very easy to select a different search mode, and that can provide you with one of two different TID ranges or spreads based on the mode's ferrous/non-ferrous break point.

Don't take this reply wrong. The ability to change operating frequencies or search modes is a very simple on-the-fly maneuver w/o down-time. So YES these things are possible, but I use them just now and then because the target response in the selected search mode is usually more that ample to know what type of target you are about to recover.

Monte

 

[Indotguy]

Excellent. Thanks for the detailed information.

 

[Indotguy]

I'm curious about the VLX1 and VLX2 modes. Could I get a quick explanation?
If the user manual would come online I could answer some of these questions myself. But until then...thanks.

 

[nenadgbeepin]

Basically, they are a less aggressive mode, which will be ideal for users who are not used to Fast Recovery machines to ease themselves into the Impact. (I have used the CoRe, Gold+ and Racer 2, so migrating to the Impact is a piece of cake. All your favourite modes are there plus more.)

In my opinion, VLX1 still goes plenty deep. I used it recently and was getting clear hits that were deeper than I was prepared to dig in the particular park I was in. I can also see them useful when chasing modern shallow coins in fresh sites, so chances of the coins being masked are quite low.

Dilek posted this in another thread:

VLX1
3-tone discrimination mode designed for users who prefer a lower noise level while detecting. Ideal for coin hunting on changing grounds and different levels of mineralization. It will provide weaker responses for fringe depth targets as well as ground and environmental noises. Therefore, it is suitable for use with Disc. set to 0 and at higher gain levels. If needed, a more stable operation can be obtained by increasing the Disc. but Disc. will create a greater loss in depth in this mode compared to others.
VLX2
Resembles the VLX1 in terms of characteristics. However, it is a deeper mode utilizing 4-tones and it is ideal for both coin and relic hunting in changing ground conditions and all levels of mineralization

 

[Indotguy]

I appreciate the details on the VLX modes but if you're a tester I'm not sure I can rely on you for unbiased information. Just kidding. Thanks

 

[TallTom]

Now that the Impact User Manual is available online, you can look in it for more details
about these two modes. Don't overlook Table 3 in the back, which shows recommended usage
of the different modes in different search conditions.

I really think Table 3 is an excellent way for users to understand how Nokta designed the Impact
because it shows how they intended all the modes to be used at each of the three frequencies.
It's worthy of a lot of study, IMO.