Nokta Impact metal detector – our review! (Lots of information, settings and hidden settings+)

Hello, comrades! More than six months have passed since the release of the new product of 2017 — metal detector Nokta Impact from the Turkish company Nokta. I’ll say right away — the review will be large and divided into different parts, because the metal detector turned out to be quite serious and it is quite difficult to understand it right away, and especially — understand completely. I have been using this device for more than four months now, and each time I worked with this device there were many discoveries and interesting new products. Okay, there’s no time to explain for a long time, let’s move on to this serious device!

Included items and what’s in the box?

I have already written a separate post about the PRO package and it is available at this link — Nokta Impact – PRO kit review (photos and videos+) — The post is also thorough. 🙂 Come, read, watch the video.

Device design

In this case, Nokta engineers deviated from the usual path — Impact was created on a flat rod with the detector unit moved to a separate handle and the battery compartment was placed under the armrest, this was done, naturally, to improve balance. The boom of the Impact resembles the boom of the CTX3030 from Minelab, but is not so compact; the professional metal detector Minelab E-Trac also has a common solution. The rod turns out to be light, the wire is hidden inside the rod (this is a big bonus — no need to wind and wind the wires), but this solution also has its downside — compactness decreases, that is, folding the device tightly, like folding the same XP Deus or Golden Mask 5+, will not work. But it’s not just the compactness that can be a bonus for the device; the Impact has a lot of other things that can be praised for.

Instrument length — 107 cm folded and 143 cm maximum. I’m 194cm tall and I felt comfortable walking with the Impact just by adjusting its lower bar to level 5 — Yes, there are indicators on the bar that you can use to quickly set the bar length you need. Fast and convenient! I really liked this solution!

As I already wrote above — The battery compartment is located under the armrest. The device is powered by 4 AA batteries («finger»), if you remove the batteries, you will see a mini-USB connector for connecting the Impact to a computer, this is necessary for updating the firmware. Available firmware for Impact can be found on the manufacturer’s page — updates for Nokta Impact. There are also screenshots and a description of how to perform the update.

Here, in the area of ​​the battery compartment under the armrest, there is a headphone jack (large jack) and a button to turn the device on and off, which also controls the volume.

The weight of the device is 1.8 kg. Not much when compared with top-end devices from Minelab (more than 2 kg), but the average weight of a metal detector in our hobby is 1.3 kg. 500 grams of difference is already the weight of a separate reel! On the other hand, a device that is too light has its drawbacks — for example, when you walk through tall grass or stubble, it is more difficult to swing with a light device; you have to apply force to swing. There are no such problems with a heavier device — you can easily swing the device (reel), the device, by inertia, already crushes the grass and bends the stubble, there is less fatigue. Impact, in this case, performed very well in a field with a lot of stubble — I was less tired with it than with a lighter device (XP Deus, for example). It’s more difficult, of course, with a 15.5″x14″ coil. IM40, but in this case I am saved by a new unloader, which was recently released by the AKA company, which makes metal detectors in Russia. Unloading is a useful thing and makes it much easier to dig with a metal detector and a large coil (size 13″+).

Select coils

Impact by default comes with a standard coil 11″x7″ (28×18 cm — IM28), the missile defense package has an additional sniper coil measuring 7.5″x4″ (19×10 cm — IM19). In general, such a kit is already enough for any digger, but I was not lazy and also bought a «steering wheel», from Impact in this case, a 15.5″x14″ coil is available. (40x35cm — IM40). The IM40 turned out to be a fairly large coil and is perfect for reconnaissance in large fields, the coil strikes deeply and perfectly drags medium and large coins from a depth of one and a half bayonets of a regular Fiskar.

But the choice of coils for Impact does not end there. At the moment, Nokta also offers mono coils for Impact, which is interesting — this is an IM18C 7″ (18 cm circle).

Among the interesting ones, I also see the IM24 9.5″x5″ coil. (24×13 cm). This reel is perfect for digging in the forest, for example, it is long and narrow enough to pass perfectly between trees and bushes, for example, or through the same stubble. This is a slightly enlarged format of the standard «sniper», the idea is very similar to the Nel Sharpshooter coil.

Specification

Let’s move on a little to the technical component of the device. Impact works according to a standard scheme and technology — VLF, «very low frequency». Most modern devices operate using VLF technology and its small variations.

Impact multi-frequency, supports operation at three frequencies: 5 kHz — 14 kHz — 20 kHz. The frequency can be changed during the search process and specifically for your task. Multi-frequency is not supported; you can only work on one selected frequency.

Of course, it’s no secret that most devices are not much different from each other; naturally, the combination of electronic components gives a certain difference in the circuitry of metal detectors, but if we talk about VLF, then a lot now depends on the firmware and logarithms by which digital the processor processes the signals from the coil. Some companies deliberately, in order to increase the stability of the device, especially if these are devices for beginners, cut out some segments so that the device can work without noise and problems on difficult soils, but the side effect of this is — deep signals are lost, gold, especially small and thin ones (broken ring, earring, etc.) ceases to be detected by the device, etc. When dealing with Impact, we can safely say that it is the firmware that makes this device unique, because the speed with which the processor processes and transmits the signal, the clear voice acting and «melody» device, indicate that this device belongs to the class of serious professional metal detectors. Yes, this gives the metal detector a good depth of target detection, accuracy of target recognition through VDI indicators and sound identification, for example, it was not difficult for me to understand that under the coil there was a large piece of rusty iron, which sang perfectly with a color VDI signal, but gave itself away by voice acting, or traffic jams, for example. Interestingly, the foil rang a little differently than the small medieval low-grade silver of the 17th-16th century.

Ground Balance — The device has many ground balancing points, which means it can be adjusted both for salty sand (there is a special mode for working with difficult soil) and for regular plowing and fields. Both manual and automatic ground adjustment are supported. In most cases, the soil balance tracking setting is enough; it helps a lot in not losing depth when changing soil type, which can often be overlooked when walking through an ordinary large field up and down and finding yourself in a place where once upon a time there was a settlement and the soil has a lot of mixed soil with coal from fires, for example, and this always sharply and imperceptibly reduces the depth of the device. Ground balancing is very easy — The device has a very convenient trigger and you just need to pull the trigger away from you and swing the coil above the ground! No buttons — The trigger is really convenient to work with!

Modes and settings of the metal detector Nokta Impact

Impact has 12 setting modes, of which 2 static modes, 2 modes «all metals» and 8 discrimination modes. The device is easy to set up, you just need to open the manual and read a little about the modes, and then you will have enough time to try them out and choose those that are most suitable for you and your search style.

The fact is that in Impact all modes are already preset and the user can change only some parameters that already affect the stable operation of the device — these are ground balance, frequency, frequency shift, sensitivity, iron volume, discrimination level, etc. This is a suitable and good solution, because most diggers do not want to bother themselves with unnecessary settings, trying to create the optimal balance for their search. The problem is that in professional devices, where the ability to change settings is completely open to the user (for example & #8212; XP Deus or AKA Signum), it takes a lot of time to study, and more than half of the users do not even think about studying the device, because What’s easier is to ask friends for settings or download settings on the Internet (find on YouTube) and go search with them, changing one or two parameters to suit yourself. In Impact everything is much simpler. Yes, we can say that when you understand your metal detector and can easily set all the settings to suit your specific needs, then the likelihood of not missing a good find is higher than if you use the preset settings, but in our hobby, cops, it’s really just a combination of luck , a good place full of swag, a normal device, and not a lazy digger who digs for more signals!

Of the modes that can be used 90% of the time, I would recommend:

1. DI2 mode — two-tone discrimination. The main mode if you are digging in a large field, where there are few signals and you need to find a place where finds are concentrated. Ideal for reconnaissance because it gives a low tone for objects made of iron and a higher tone for objects made of non-ferrous metals. In this mode, it is best to conduct reconnaissance at a frequency of 14 kHz.
2. Mode DI3, DI4 and DI99 — These are already modes with three tones and higher (DI99 — polyphony), which are good to use in places where there are a lot of objects made of non-ferrous metals and you need to identify good targets among them, for example — nickel, copper and silver coins. In this case, you can work by ear and spot great finds, for example, in a park, near a populated area, or in a trash bin. In these modes, it is best to operate at a frequency of 20 kHz or 14 kHz, depending on how heavily the ground is contaminated with fine metal.
3. COG mode (high conductivity soils) — and this is a good mode for working on difficult ground, for example, on the beach. You need to understand that gold is a difficult metal to search for and if you are hunting for gold jewelry, you should be prepared to reduce discrimination (by default in COG mode it is set to 15) and listen to more noise in search of a response to ferrous metal . This mode will be noisier than the others, which means you need to be prepared for the fact that fatigue from working with the device will come faster. The only consolation is that on dry sand you can use the DI3 or DI4 mode, and COG must be used only in the surf zone and near the water (but that’s where all the finds are!). On the beach it is useful to operate at 20 kHz to have greater sensitivity to small metal objects.
4. GEN mode (general search) — a good mode for finishing off a promising place. Works with Auto Threshold Tone (iSAT) feature and has hidden setting — «Sound boost»! Everything is the same as in other professional metal detectors, this setting helps to increase the sound from weak signals — small objects or deeply buried ones. In general, in this mode you can go through your knocked out places and pick up even more finds! Turns on «Sound boost» simply, when you are in Gen mode, simply pull the trigger towards you at the same time and press the «minus» button. Sound amplification has five levels, the default is set to level 1, that is, the weakest. In this mode, it is best to work at low frequencies, such as 14 kHz or 5 kHz, in order to reach deep targets that have not been detected by other metal detectors or thrown into «black» segment — a common problem with metal detectors for beginners.

There are other modes in Impact, but I rarely used them anymore. For example, the Deep mode (deep), in my tests it gave an increase in scales of + 7 cm, or the STA (static) mode, which is good for searching for large and deeply buried objects.

I recommend setting the sensitivity to the maximum value, this means a balance between the quiet operation of the metal detector and backgrounds. Likewise with the threshold tone setting, where applicable.

In fact, the presence of a number of settings and modes in the Nokta Impact metal detector allows us to cover most of our search tasks — The device searches well both in the field and in the forest, both on the beach and in the surf zone and does not emit noise from wet sand on the shore of the salty sea.

The device also has a lot of hidden settings, which are written only in the instructions. I recommend studying it, but just in case I’ll add hidden Impact settings:

Coin coins on fields with Impact

The main purpose of this metal detector is to dig for coins and relics, and according to my results, this device copes with this task perfectly anywhere — in the field, forest, beach and park. The presence of wireless headphones allows you to dig for the weakest signals and better hear sound responses from targets, coins climb from any depth and Impact in this regard is on par with such metal detectors as XP Deus, Minelab E-Trac and CTX3030, Fisher F75 in terms of search characteristics and Teknetics T2. The device is noisy, yes, but this is what distinguishes a professional metal detector from a device for beginners — cutting off logarithms to reduce noise leads to a lack of response and the metal detector missing some types of finds. In this regard, all the metal detectors given above in this paragraph are quite talkative, except for Minelab, they have a separate ideology and technology for tuning out ground and interference.

For example, I wrote in a post about how a metal detector worked in a field with high stubble; #171;, in one day I found quite a lot of interesting finds, in just three hours of searching. Or depth test for scales (post available via link), where in DI2 Impact mode I easily saw a scale at a depth of 15 cm, and at a depth of 18 cm I more or less saw it at a frequency of 5 kHz!

Only the Pulser will see deeper scales, but with the Pulser you will have to dig long and hard, because there is no understanding of what metal the target is made of under the coil.

And as I wrote above in the topic about modes, it’s better to set Impact for coin mining to DI2, Di3/4, DI99 or GEN mode, depending on how littered your place is and whether you’re mining in the trash or doing reconnaissance in a field/forest.

Speaking of trash cans — Impact works well in trash cans, does not go blind, and allows you to effectively sift through metal using a sniper coil. And how does he cut — just a fairy tale! So the overall result is — for coins and relics Impact is a good choice if you want to get an effective metal detector for a very reasonable budget, and you still have some left over for a pinpointer with a shovel!

Impact War Cop

With Impact you can also dig militaria. We managed to visit some battle sites in order to conduct simple reconnaissance «in combat», to see whether there were intense battles at the point or not, to look for the positions of soldiers of the Red Army and the Wehrmacht, to dig for various metals, hoping that suddenly Some beautiful buckle or badge for a wound will come out. Impact coped with this task perfectly.

I used GEN mode with a low frequency of 5 kHz. One of these trips with Impact is described in history «An ordinary day and a cop in the war, 1944 (history of a digger, finds+)&# 187; (available at the link), from interesting — the device found a lot of different metal, as it turned out, in an already knocked out place.

He finds shell casings and other pieces of iron at a good depth, but the war cop is specific and here you have to proceed more from what you want to find. For many, it’s enough to run through the tops and collect all sorts of rusty metal, others need to run through the forest and find collision sites, others look for positions where fighters lived and rested, their garbage dumps (to rummage around in search of various things of personal use), others are looking only for fighters. Impact, in this case, is suitable for most types of searches. It is, of course, better to drill with some kind of deep metal detector, preferably a pulse one, but it is possible and even necessary to conduct reconnaissance at the top and finish off the battlefield with Impact.

Again, I’ll warn you — It is better not to touch various explosive and incomprehensible objects, our health is always more important than our own curiosity!

Cop on the beach

With Impact I was able to go to the beach only once in the summer, so I can’t show many photos with my finds, I think I’ll soon go out after the storm, when the water moves away from the shore and walk around in the surf zone, then I’ll be able to boast of finds that will be washed away by sea water!

But I walked on dry sand, the device worked perfectly, I got a modern walker, it perfectly distinguished traffic jams from the entire presence of a large amount of non-ferrous metal, helped to find a walker among the traffic jams, identified a two-euro coin right among the scattered beer caps.

Overall results for the Nokta Impact metal detector

As a professional metal detector, Nokta Impact is little surprising. It has everything that a professional metal detector should have. If he simultaneously showed the find while it was still in the ground, it would be surprising, but for now we just have a very serious, deep, but at the same time easy to operate and configure metal detector. After six months of experience with this metal detector, I can definitely say that it is worth the money and if you have a choice — to take it or not to take it, then definitely take it! There is no need to expect miracles here, only you are digging, and a metal detector is only a tool, but a serious tool will bring even more serious finds.

I liked Impact. It is reliable — I didn’t have any breakdowns or problems with it, the device always worked as it should and searched and found perfectly.

Of the competitors and alternatives to Impact, I would now highlight XP Deus, Minelab CTX3030/E-Trac, Fisher F75 and Teknetics T2. In some cases, Impact is on par with these devices, and in other aspects it is superior (in ease of setup, the presence of 3 frequencies, for example, iSAT, and so on).

I hope that my big review hasn’t bored you yet? If you have any questions or have anything to add, write in the comments, we’ll always be happy to discuss.