Is depth of Golden Mask 5+ a myth or is it time to change your machine?

The manufacturer has loudly announced that its new Golden Mask 5 Plus equipped with a 9 DD coil is greatly superior to other detectors with the 11 DD ones. Moreover, they revealed the test videos showing the Mask 5 Plus is deeper that the Makro Racer 2, even… in the Deep mode. That got me interested. Can it really be possible?

It was testing for in-ground depth. Sensitivity settings adjusted to suit a given hunting spot. All the machines set to discriminate against iron. Test target: usual coin.

Minelab X-Terra 705

The Minelab X-Terra 705 stock coil – 10.5 DD / 7.5 kHz. When on 18 kHz, the Golden Mask 5 Plus depth was equal to that of the Minelab X-Terra 705. When on 8 kHz, the Golden Mask 5 Plus was way ahead of the Minelab X-Terra 705 with ~15% increase.

Garrett AT PRO

The Garrett AT PRO stock coil – 11 DD. At an 18 kHz frequency, the Golden Mask 5 Plus was ~15% behind the Garrett AT PRO. At 8 kHz, both detectors gave equal depth.

Makro Racer 2

The Makro Racer 2 stock coil – 11 DD. A more complicated test: the depth of the Makro Racer 2 differs depending on the search mode selected.

• Two Tone mode. The Golden Mask 5 Plus at an 18 kHz frequency – no difference in depth. At 8 kHz, the Golden Mask 5 Plus is ~12% deeper.
• Three Tone mode. When the Golden Mask 5 Plus has a frequency of 18 kHz, the Makro Racer 2 is ~6% deeper. When on 8 kHz, the Golden Mask 5 Plus is ~9% deeper.
• Deep mode, most interesting… When the Golden Mask 5 Plus is on 18 kHz, the Makro Racer 2 is ~34% deeper. When the Mask is on 8 kHz, the Makro Racer 2 has ~18% greater depth.

Let me remind you: the Golden Mask 5 Plus was equipped with the 9 DD coil which is smaller than those of other machines. The detection depth is really great, but that is not to say that the Golden Mask 5 Plus with its 9DD is the deepest among the rest. The Bulgarian manufacturer has gone too far especially when comparing to the Deep mode of the Makro Racer 2. They say, though, the dirt was hard, and the Makro Racer 2 didn’t keep its sensitivity level up as high as possible.

All about the Golden Mask 5 Plus metal detector is collected here (news, tests, comparisons, reviews) and on Knowledgebase pages (features, specs, selections, the list of coils).