Gold Step Pro Max

The Gold Step Pro Max is BR Systems' top-of-range prospecting instrument. Instead of a search coil on a shaft it uses a pistol-grip console with two plug-in sensors — the PowerMax magnetic sensor and a highly polarised sensor — plus a pair of screw-in antennas, so one unit covers five separate search methods. The Long-Range system transmits toward a chosen target type and lets the free-swinging antenna indicate a bearing; the ION Search system responds to ionic fields rather than electromagnetic signals and can be worked on foot or from a vehicle; the Magneto Scan system reads magnetic-field anomalies through balance, gain and sensitivity bars with audio and a history graph; the Live Scan system paints the ground in three colours as you walk — green for soil, red for metal, blue for cavities; and the 3D Ground Imaging system walks a grid of 3 × 3 to 9 × 9 samples, then renders the result as a colour map and a rotatable 3D mesh with depth, quality and target type read out point by point. BR Systems specifies a front range of up to 2,000 m and a depth of up to 50 m for the long-range mode, up to 1,000 m and 20 m for ION Search, and up to 16 m for the magneto, live and 3D modes on its product page — the user manual quotes up to 22 m for Live Scan and 3D imaging. Everything travels in a shock-resistant hard case measuring 530 × 400 × 228 mm, with the packed kit weighing 5,030 g. The console runs a Microchip PIC32 processor behind a 4.3-inch TFT colour screen — 480 × 272 pixels, 16.7 million colours, 400 cd brightness — with light and dark themes for daylight and night work. Sound level is adjustable, vibration can be switched on or off, and a laser pointer fires from the handle button to mark a bearing. A smart auto-calibration routine reads the soil before a scan, seven soil profiles (neutral, high mineral, sandy, rocky, clay, dirt and dry) can be applied to a finished scan, and six complete scans can be saved in the device and reopened from the storage menu. The interface runs in Arabic, English, French, German, Spanish or Turkish. Power comes from a 7,800 mAh 3.7 V lithium-ion pack charged over USB Power Delivery from the supplied Type-C 18 W adapter; BR Systems states 20 hours of continuous work and a 3.5-hour full charge, and the user manual states a three-year warranty. It is aimed at professional gold and treasure search teams who want an area-survey and imaging tool rather than a conventional coil detector.