SDC 2300 owners and users

Hi all, I thought it might be useful to have a thread for people to post up pictures and ideas for their new machines, the sdc 2300. I'll start with my first outing. I headed out to my local gold fields where I began detecting and after only 5 mins I found my first piece of gold in some nice clay wash in a gully. The signal was loud and clear and it almost could not be missed..... well maybe not for an sdc machine. It weighed in at 0.06grams! I reckon thats the record for detectors so far. After a few more swings I got his healthier twin brother at 0.07grams. I called it a night after that. When I got into it on day two I went through at least 20 bird shots of lead before my next piece surfaced. This bit was reefier, much like Namad's piece from the adelaide hills. The only difference was size and this was only 0.11 grams. I soon made it a double about 10 metres away and found a 0.2gram piece. That was it for the day as i puled the pin to go home to do some jobs.

My thoughts on the machine:
The Good
I love the simplicity and design of it. Very compact
Sensitivity is amazing
waterproof makes keeping it clean simple, just dunk the thing
few buttons, less to get confused

The Bad
no coil changes
nothing else is bad

The interesting
Must use the coil very slow to get the best out of it on small stuff, obviously.
Weight of the machine is not offset like a gpx5000. The weight does get noticable after a while. It needs a bungy cord for long days.
Depth is only 7 inch max, deepest I got to was 6 inches on a button and it was very obvious, couldn't have missed it.
EMI is nearly non existent. I found a bit of gold under a powerline. Afterwards a chopper went overhead and no interference registered at all.
4x C Cell 5000mah batteries is 20Ah! I recall someone wanting better technology than that! Im impressed. Charger is good it comes with.

So, If anyone can genuinely beat 0.06 grams, the challenge is on for the smallest speck found.   
Regards Xray

Thanks for the report X-ray, can't wait for my sdc to turn up, tomorrow hopefully   I can already beat your 0.06 though. I have detected down to 0.04 with my 5000 and 11" coil, even got a 0.07 not long ago with my 18"!

Wow! That is tiny! Im keen to get out again on Friday Saturday and Sunday. Im going to do some night detecting too.

I've pulled out Gold that doesn't register on the scales with a gpx4500 and gpx5000 using a coiltek 6" gold stalker mono.......

That is a fair bit of effort X-ray for not even half a gram of gold !
I know I could do better than that with a $14 pan in half the time too .

Shall we do a gold off for pink slips ?  the $14 pan versus the $4000+ detector  

.

hahaha, gaz you make me laugh! I see you have posted in a topic not related to you in any way! Well done on gate crashing mate!

Yeah so did Uncle Bob .

Do you accept the gold off challenge so I can become an sdc2300 owner and user ? or are you worried you might lose to the humble $14 pan   

No worries Gaz, bring your pan out to the desert here and you walk around trying to find some water while I'm picking up nuggets.  

Gaz, you have mentioned in earlier posts of another thread you have hijacked that you would not have one of these if someone gave you it, therefor your pink slip suggestion is contrdictory and I don't think i need to answer. Good luck with your pan.

Gaz wrote:That is a fair bit of effort X-ray for not even half a gram of gold !
I know I could do better than that with a $14 pan in half the time too .

Shall we do a gold off for pink slips ?  the $14 pan versus the $4000+ detector  

Gaz has a point , you can  pay $4000 and score tiny bits walking around all day ' plus digging tiny junk non stop also   
But if getting  small bits rock your socks & pays for a carton then happy days for you    

Jack .

Thanks for taking the time to post this Xray.

You mention 6-7 inches max, what sort of target drew you to this conclusion?
Have you tried any depth testing on solid bits a 1/2 gram or more to see what you can expect?

I must say I'm a little disappointed that they didn't add two or three timings. One for spits and another for chunks.
It would have simply been one more click on the power button for the second timing, generating a longer pulse and delay before opening the receiver window.
Either it will be for the next iteration dribble for another 4 grand, or perhaps it's to do with the next flagship model?

I've seen some quite large bits that hardly register on my GPX not at any depth anyway, I think this is where the SDC will shine, mullocky porous stuff.
I'd concentrate around particular reef sites if I had one, targeting this type of stuff.

I regularly dig bits down to 0.05 gram with the GPX and 14x9 mono, maybe not as deep as the SDC.
I will need to hear of some proper positive depth tests before I'd consider buying one.
It will take a lot of work to recover 3+oz in dust to break even, especially where the old boys got their tucker with shotguns.  

Cheers
Kev.

Goldgeo wrote:No worries Gaz, bring your pan out to the desert here and you walk around trying to find some water while I'm picking up nuggets.  

I guess the difference is that with the tector you will find a biggy if you are lucky whereas with the pan you need water although I have done ok (Sort of) using a pan dry in a dusty area by just holding the dish a few feet above a bit of cloth spread on the ground and letting the dust fall from the dish and the breeze blowing the dust away and the gold falls onto the cloth that you can check out by placing it back into the dish to see if you caught any gold.
Or you can use a dry blower for a day or so and do a lot better than with the 4 grand detector if all there is to be found is tiny stuff.
With the detector you can check out a large area fairly quickly but panning takes a bit of time to test a wide area and is realy tough on the back and knees.. In any case no gold fossicker worthy of the name goes out without a dish, a pick and a shovel and a loaming bag.

Jack outwest wrote:Gaz has a point , you can  pay $4000 and score tiny bits walking around all day ' plus digging tiny junk non stop also   
Jack .

So why wouldn't someone be smart enough to go and do old patches? You know - the ones where the previous operators have dug most, if not all of the junk.   

adrian ss wrote:

Goldgeo wrote:No worries Gaz, bring your pan out to the desert here and you walk around trying to find some water while I'm picking up nuggets.  

I guess the difference is that with the tector you will find a biggy if you are lucky whereas with the pan you need water although I have done ok (Sort of)  using a pan dry in a dusty area by just holding the dish a few feet above a bit of cloth  spread on the ground and letting the dust fall from the dish  and the breeze blowing the dust away and the gold falls onto the cloth that you can check out by placing it back into the dish to see if you caught any gold.
Or you can use a dry blower for a day or so and do a lot better than with the 4 grand detector if all there is to be found is tiny stuff.
     With the detector you can check out a large area fairly quickly but panning takes a bit of time to test a wide area and is realy tough on the back and knees.. In any case no gold fossicker worthy of the name goes out without a dish, a pick and a shovel and a loaming bag.

 

Got dozens of pans and a dryblower on my leases here in WA Adrian. You can come out and use my dryblower or wander around loaming ( don't know why your loaming, plan on reef mining do you?) and I am confident I will still get loads more gold.
That's why you will notice successful prospectors don't mind paying $4k for another tool.
The only negative comments I've heard about these machines are from people bitter because they can't afford them and also the usual band of keyboard prospectors.

Qld Sandy wrote:
So why wouldn't someone be smart enough to go and do old patches? You know - the ones where the previous operators have dug most, if not all of the junk.   

Even the 5000 has missed a boat load of lead shot.........curse of VLFs
They're all there waiting for the SDC
I love Sens Extra, it'll ping BB sized gold while ignoring 99% of shot.

Get way out yonder where hardly anyone's been and the SDC will be great!

Cheers

Goldgeo wrote:

adrian ss wrote:

Goldgeo wrote:No worries Gaz, bring your pan out to the desert here and you walk around trying to find some water while I'm picking up nuggets.  

I guess the difference is that with the tector you will find a biggy if you are lucky whereas with the pan you need water although I have done ok (Sort of)  using a pan dry in a dusty area by just holding the dish a few feet above a bit of cloth  spread on the ground and letting the dust fall from the dish  and the breeze blowing the dust away and the gold falls onto the cloth that you can check out by placing it back into the dish to see if you caught any gold.
Or you can use a dry blower for a day or so and do a lot better than with the 4 grand detector if all there is to be found is tiny stuff.
     With the detector you can check out a large area fairly quickly but panning takes a bit of time to test a wide area and is realy tough on the back and knees.. In any case no gold fossicker worthy of the name goes out without a dish, a pick and a shovel and a loaming bag.

 

Got dozens of pans and a dryblower on my leases here in WA Adrian.  You can come out and use my dryblower or wander around loaming ( don't know why your loaming, plan on reef mining do you?) and I am confident I will still get loads more gold.  
That's why you will notice successful prospectors don't mind paying $4k for another tool.  
The only negative comments I've heard about these machines are from people bitter because they can't afford them and also the usual band of keyboard prospectors.

Nope , havn't loamed for fifty years and don't get out much these days anyway and I reckon the new tecta is going to be a big winner although if I already had a 4500 or 5000 I am not so sure that I would go for the 2300 unless I needed the waterproof feature. Still it is a nice unit and so very portable.

Jack outwest wrote:

Gaz wrote:That is a fair bit of effort X-ray for not even half a gram of gold !
I know I could do better than that with a $14 pan in half the time too .

Shall we do a gold off for pink slips ?  the $14 pan versus the $4000+ detector  

Gaz has a point , you can  pay $4000 and score tiny bits walking around all day ' plus digging tiny junk non stop also   
But if getting  small bits rock your socks & pays for a carton then happy days for you    

Jack .

3 ounces to recoup you money. Not bad and done easily on hot ground I reckon.
What if a new owner gets a few micro nuggets out of a bedrock step down or a crevice in a creek, then takes all that dirt home and gets an ounce panning it off ?
The sdc should be a winner out your way in corner country mate  

10 nuggets off a mate's old patch with him there (actually 9 for me and 1 for him as I reckoned he had to have a go and find at least 1 bit) for an hours detecting.
12 nuggets off another old patch the next day for 4 hours detecting.
8.7 grams total just using the speaker in the machine for 22 nuggets. Maybe I'll get serious and use the headphones to get the little ones,    or better still ---------- (secret)
I've usually avoided small coils previously, and got whatever I could with a 14" coil. Changing coils is a PITA unless it's for a bigger one.   

The SDC is a switch on and go, simple like some have been asking for, waterproof like some have been asking for, easy to use like some have been asking for, etc.
When I want to look for little ones I can put the 5000 away and grab the SDC. We have hundreds of patches that are begging for a doing over with the SDC and are about to get it.
If I get 10 nuggets of each patch then I reckon I can pay for the detector before I get through most of them.  

Using the headphones won't only increase your chances of hearing those tinier 0.1 bits that the external speaker couldn't hear,but also increase your chances of hearing difficult to detect gold,such that of leaf,sponge or finely impregnated slither or freckle gold in specimen. A good set of head phones enhance the clarity of sound,allowing the faintest of positive signals to be heard,which could lead to a much larger bit of gold at depth.

   Cheeras Kon. 

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Ok, enough of playing silly buggers Shiraz.....I know what your up to   

The downside of the sdc 2300 is that if the user wanders onto a virgin patch, and gets a heap of littlies, unless they have a GPX to search for the deeper bits they will wander off not knowing any better.
Bet thats what you were alluding to hey Wizzard of the Wine    

[quote="GoldenGus"]Ok, enough of playing silly buggers Shiraz.....I know what your up to   

The downside of the sdc 2300 is that if the user wanders onto a virgin patch, and gets a heap of littlies, unless they have a GPX to search for the deeper bits they will wander off not knowing any better.
Bet thats what you were alluding to hey Wizzard of the Wine    [/quote


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Thanks every one for there information and pics of there finds with the  SDC2300 ,very helpfull and informative .Had been considering buying a VLF Detector ,for a old reef /gold mining area ,to join my GPX 5000 & Xterra 70 ,but now have decided to buy a SDC2300 for myself as a Xmass present      However do have some querys on the detector if some of you can help me out much appreciated ,Firstly ; i can't see or work out any where on it were you mount a bungee cord mount, (permanetly on it anyway) ( crook right shoulder ) Secondly ;anyone useing a pin pointer in conjunction with the detector ? Third ; I might of missed it in previous posts ,but there hasn't been much  comment of a DD coil ,considering this detectors ability to detect ferrous / non ferrous targets that a 5000 has been over   And finally ,and I UNDERSTAND FULLY ,  that the SDC 2300 has different timeings than the 5000 and matched up to a 8" mono coil ,but in some of those pics the LARGER  pieces were missed by the 5000's     however do you think that running a 6-8 mono with the 5000 would of got them ,or did the ground minerilisation beat it ?  Cheers Hugh62   

G'day hugh62

All good questions mate.

As it stands there is no where a bungy can be mounted, except by a bit of ingenuity, as with the armrest and stand as seen in some of the pics.

As for a pinpointer, I don't know, but I guess the Minelab one would be compatible.

As for the DD coil, there is none, it comes with a fixed 8"mono coil only and there is no other, this may change in the future with after market manufactures.

It's clearly for small missed gold on old diggings/patches. If a big bit happened to be missed by all others in the past I have no doubt it would hear it if the coil was passed over it and it was not extremely deep.

The sdc2300 has 2 timings, (without a heap of user options) very similar to a GPX5000 running in fine gold, and a GPX5000 running in salt gold.

I sure would not be replacing the 5000 with one, it may well be a good second detector as a small gold mopper uper after using the 5000 on a patch.

cheers dave

davsgold wrote:As it stands there is no where a bungy can be mounted

The bungy from the proswing harness fits. Minelab product code 3011-0246.

It is alsp much easier to adjust when changing detecting elevations.

Redfin wrote:

davsgold wrote:As it stands there is no where a bungy can be mounted

The bungy from the proswing harness fits. Minelab product code 3011-0246.

It is alsp much easier to adjust when changing detecting elevations.

G'day Redfin

That's good to hear, it's a bit of a shame that one isn't supplied with the machine then.

cheers dave

GoldenGus wrote:What if a new owner gets a few micro nuggets out of a bedrock step down or a crevice in a creek, then takes all that dirt home and gets an ounce panning it off ?
The sdc should be a winner out your way in corner country mate  

You must be physic Gus ' your close to what's going on  !       
No SDC just a dry concentrator so there is stuff all panning to do . 

Jack .