Gary's Detecting.co.uk  
Morsiani energymax / NRG 100 metal detector field test....the first UK review
I have been testing the Energymax for 2 weeks and now feel I am confident enough to give you guys a basic honest report based on my limited detecting trips.
 In an ideal world I would like to spend more time testing each metal detector on different types of soil to get as much information as possible, these days it's just not possible as I have priority work commitments.
For technical specifications and pictures check out my energymax information page
Here are 2 tests I will undertake to give us a small insight about how the energymax will perform
1. Air test : how will the energymax respond to different targets in air
2. Junky site : Can the Energymax find small Roman coins in amongst Iron

The air test...is it just hot air or a worthwhile exercise
Indoors the Energymaxx was very stable : My basic settings were to set a threshold and back off slightly to give the maximum performance also keep the discrimination at zero which still rejects small nails.
Mineralization control
 This is a fantastic feature as you can see in the chart below how the Mineralization control effects the performance dramatically it's a kind of adjustable recovery speed , I have used the high (slow recovery) position for the first air test...followed by the low (fast recovery) position.

 I have used UK coinage as a regulated guide that can be easily repeated.
In air depth chart
 

Mineralization control  tests 2
Test 1
 Locate a 20p coin next to a square nail with a clean audio response = YES ( fast recovery speed only)
Test 2
Locate a small Roman coin through my test tub of badly mineralised soil = YES (medium recovery speed)

In the field
Junky Roman site : This particular site has made some of the top machines I have tested look like toys, the reason I have kept the Teknetics T2 for so long is because it excels on this piece of land, before that was the XP Gold Maxx and the Tesoro Tejon. Over the years these three machines have virtually picked the site clean, everything we find there is lodged between the carpet of Roman nails, hot rock and square iron.
I knew the Energymaxx needed to be tamed for this site, depth was not an issue...recovery speed was.
My Roman site settings & headphone adaptor lead


I started with manual ground balance (default), 2 tone discrimination, sensitivity and threshold on zero the machine was a pleasure to use, plenty of low tones for iron and the odd high squeak for non ferrous, target location was exact every time there was no need to use the trigger operated VCO.
For those who just like to switch on and go..pressing the GEB button once will place the machine into a very stable fixed ground balance single tone mode with exceptional iron rejection.

 As the search progressed I tried different settings, at best I managed to slightly raise the threshold giving the machine a little more power.
 A 2 hour search gave up  some odd shaped Iron, 4 pieces of lead and 2 small Roman coins, Dan used the Gold Maxx Power and managed 4 pieces of lead and 4 small Roman coins which was no surprise when we compared the T2 , Energymaxx ,and Gold Maxx coils together.
 The Energymax has the largest coil 12.5" x 9" even with the provision of an adjustable recovery speed it was not going to be the ideal tool for working amongst iron especially with the lower 7.9Khz operating frequency..

Teknetics T2, Energymax, XP Gold Maxx                                             2 small Roman coins found during our first outing


Iron contaminated site 2
Having attended a club dig on Saturday morning which was heavy mud and to wet to detect I decided to visit another site on the way home, again this site was hard to search owing to iron contamination.
The Energymax ran smooth using my earlier settings even the overhead power cables had no effect on the stability, I managed to find 1 long cross hammered coin 6 buttons and several pieces of scrap non ferrous in a 2 hour search...which I thought was OK until I tried the Teknetics T2 and found the same amount of targets in about 20 minutes.

Although the Energymax is a very efficient powerful machine it is never going to compete with the specialist high frequency top of the range detectors when the intended targets are small coins in amongst excessive iron , I would expect the Energymax to be more at home searching pasture or woodland where deep targets are a priority.
Summary / personal notes

If the sensitivity or threshold is to high, iron targets (low tone) can also give a high tone at the same time...never use excessive power
When manual ground balancing keep the mineralization control in the central position, then adjust afterwards.
Operating in auto GEB will loose some performance, iron rejection is very good in this mode....ideal for coin shooting.

Remember unlike most conventional machines the threshold is the power control, sensitivity is used more for target amplification
The 7.9Khz Energymaxx  is a well priced mid range machine and will not compare to the T2, Tejon or Gold Maxx on a Roman site although it is fair to say the Energymaxx  is better than most other machines I have tested in and above it's price range.
For those people out there looking to start metal detecting on a budget (as we all did) but want the best value for money the Energy maxx is an ideal choice.

 

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