Makro CF77 Metal Detector Review - Vincent Nz
"Firstly I would like to acknowledge the fact that I had been avidly following Makro for around 12 – 18 months before the release of this particular detector. By all accounts & from the information gathered from Makro’s website regarding their other Deepseeking metal detectors, I knew that if Makro did release a hobby metal detector, it would be nothing short of amazing. Now in New Zealand, no-one really paid any attention to the CF77 when it was first released. What amazed me was the fact that this new metal detector was touted to be deeper than Minelabs flagship at the time, the E-TRAC. Now you would not be wrong in thinking - ‘How is this possible?’ A company that releases their first real hobby detector is as deep, if not deeper than one of the most popular units to come out of the impressive Minelab camp. Now this can easily be passed off as ‘hype’ by I suppose the majority of people who care not to look into things for themselves, however from what I have seen for myself in Makro’s marketing of their other impressive units, is that they are NOT into the habit of ‘hyping’ up their products. They don’t make wild claims about how great their product is compared to some of the well established brands, who do just that. Makro market their products on what the ability of that product will do without so much as trying to create some illusion that their detectors are better than everyone else’s. They simply state what their machines are capable of, then provide more than enough information to back up their claims. With that said, you can now get an idea of how excited I was when Makro first announced the release of the CF77. My first real look at the CF77 was when a client and friend of mine contacted me to call in for a coffee and a catch up. No sooner had I got in the door I was handed a box and told “here it is mate, open her up”. As I started un-boxing I had no idea it was a CF77. My mate had called in a couple of weeks prior and asked me, “Mate, if you had the money right now, what detector would I buy?” – Instantly I blurted out Makro CF77. The conversation quickly changed on to other matters however I had no idea that he went ahead and ordered one, until of course now when I had finally taken it out of its shipping carton. What struck me first about the CF77 was the design & build quality. It looked so solid & sturdy. It reminded me of how the USA used to make everything. Made to last – The shafts looked amazing with the heavy duty camlocks and nipple clips (not the right name) which ensures there is no movement at all in the shafts when assembled. Also a point of note is that the female ends that go into the other shafts on assembly are longer than we have become accustomed to, which also adds to its stability. Just in assembling those rods I knew that this company had put a lot of thought into the design of the CF77. The 11”DD coil is epoxy filled & comes with a coil cover. The cable is also of a high standard as it appears to be also, heavy duty with a solid screw in plug on the end. Over-all, the weight, design & balance of this coil is well suited. It only took around 10 minutes to assemble the CF77 & the way it goes together is also impressive. The control housing and arm cuff are combined, so it’s as easy as to simply slide these into place on the ‘S’ Rod & screw them into place with provided thumbscrews. There is also a separate battery compartment which houses 8x AA’s which can either be mounted on the side of the control housing by using its supplied battery cover or simply clipped on to your belt. Either way you have two options to suit your style of hunting or where to manage weight distribution. I also like the fact that the hand grip rubber on the ‘S’ Rod is a lot longer than what I have seen on other metal detectors. It’s not until you start using this detector that you realize that this gives you a variety of ways that you can grip the detector giving you the ability to re-adjust your grip on the fly, if you start suffering from arm fatigue etc. Once assembled, it was easy to see how well made and thought out the CF77 is. Even the full color manual had some class about it. In fact, everything about the CF77 had a smile on my face as it confirmed to me that I had found something special within this industry/hobby that I had been rooting for, for quite some time now. Now the owner of the CF77 was not only impressed with the metal detector, he was also happy that he took on my advice on this particular unit, which he had no hesitation in parting out another $6000 for a Jeo-Hunter based off his impression of the CF77. At the end of the day the product itself, should convince those how great Makro are, in virtually everything they do. Since then I was allowed to borrow that CF77 anytime I wanted over the next year or so. I did just that, however I have to admit that I did not initially like the tones as I was used to the Musketeer tones at that time, so the CF77 ones seemed so ……. foreign. After about 2 to 3 hunts it all started falling into place & now I enjoy the CF77 and the information it passes through its tones. I can also concur that it is a deep & sensitive metal detector. It’s also a well balanced detector which is easy to swing. Since then, I now own my own CF77 and am currently carrying out a simple mod or two to best suit me & I also like to tinker around with metal detectors. This is certainly one detector I will not let go & I look forward to using it a great deal more in future hunts. On the control housing you will find adjustments for – GENERAL - This is All-Metal mode & will result in maximum depth with all metal being relayed in a single tone. MODE 1 – This is a 3 tone discrimination mode which in most cases will be used for coin shooting etc MODE 2 - This similar to MODE 1 however this mode should be used if you are hunting highly mineralized soils or salt water beach hunting. There are four more knobs below the MODE select switch which really are self explanatory They are – Ground Setting – used to make adjustments for ground balancing the CF77 Sensitivity – Iron Audio – Volume On the other end of the control housing you will see the cable sockets for the battery box and the coil. There is also a ¼” headphone jack located below those sockets. You should get around 30 hours hunting from your 8x AA’s however this depends on different factors. There are also additional coils if you are after something smaller/bigger than the stock 11”DD. Also there are a couple of after-market coil manufacturers that also make fantastic coils for the CF77. Another point to note is that the CF77 runs at 17.5 kHz which puts it into the same league as some of the fancied VLF Gold prospecting detectors. I have no idea whether the CF77 would make a good/bad detector for prospecting here in NZ; however, hopefully in a few months time I should know the answer to that question. To conclude, the CF77 for me was something that I had wanted to come out of Makro and it eventually did. It impressed me way back then and it still impresses me to this day. Like the many other Makro units that have followed the CF77, Racer (red), Gold Racer, Racer2 they are all very well made & they simply amaze people on how they perform. The CF77 is a no frills, solidly built, well thought out design that will no doubt be reflected on in the future the way those in the know regard the very under-rated sleepers, like the Minelab Musketeer. Every now and then something special is produced but many do not know how great these metal detectors are until you start running them against some of the more recently released gear and listening to the ‘old school’ hunters. As for Makro, well I simply fell head over heels for those guys and I will always be a little partial to both Makro/Nokta as its not only about the equipment they manufacture, but more to do with their ideology of these two companies who strive to make quality products that their customers want, their ability to cater for those with disabilities as well as providing world-wide support, only other companies can dream about."