sd2000 are they alright?

hi all does anybody know anything about the sd2000's are they a reasonable detector for there price . or a waste of coin. cheers tinpan

If less than $800 I'd say grab onto it.

coiltek have one for sale $800.00 if it hasn't been nicked.

The thing is that even if you don't like the hobby you can always resell it for what you paid.
Used Minelab's hold value well.

oh i like the hobby alright cant get enough

SD 2000 is fine and has plenty of grunt. It is not to flash on very small nuggs and doesn't have the ground tracking sophistication of todays GPXs but it is just as capable of finding gold today as it was when first introduced and I am sure that most of the older members will remember the excitement and new gold rush that this detector started.

I hope you like digging very small nails at 2 foot plus, I had one and hated every second of digging crappy rubbish.

It's said the SD2000 made 500 millionaires in the first year of release in Australia.
They still go much deeper than a VLF... but you can only use them properly with a Double-D coil.

Somewhere between $150 to $500 is likely to be the going price these days.

there are 2 on ebay atm....
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Minelab-SD2000-Metal-detector-2-coils-Prospecting-Gold-Nuggets-/180729351354?pt=AU_Gadgets&hash=item2a144f0cba
and
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MINELAB-SD2000-DETECTOR-/160659424595?pt=AU_Gadgets&hash=item25680c4553

that should give you a realistic price idea....
bedrock

nero_design wrote:It's said the SD2000 made 500 millionaires in the first year of release in Australia.
They still go much deeper than a VLF... but you can only use them properly with a Double-D coil.

Somewhere between $150 to $500 is likely to be the going price these days.

$150 to $500? Heck Marco thats a bit lean, reckon mr's kelly wouldn't let little
ned play with you.

Gee Marco, the old FT16000 are still bringing $300 plus, XT17000 $500 and you reckon a SD2000 is only worth $150 - $500, ill take 10 at $150 and ill arange the freight. Mallee00 and the mutt

nero_design wrote:It's said the SD2000 made 500 millionaires in the first year of release in Australia.

Sounds like more MindLab propaganda to sell more detectors.
How would they know?
Im sure if I found $1,000,000 worth of gold I wouldnt tell anyone.

nero_design wrote:It's said the SD2000 made 500 millionaires in the first year of release in Australia.
[

Average price of gold was below $400 oz in 1995. I can't believe 500 prospectors got 2,500 ozs.each that year

.

Brickie wrote:I hope you like digging very small nails at 2 foot plus, I had one and hated every second of digging crappy rubbish.

but did you find any gold amongst all that crappy rubbish?

tinpan wrote: but did you find any gold amongst all that crappy rubbish?

Nope.
I traded it in for a detector with discriminate and went back to the same areas and found a 1/2 piece though.

I know people who personally bought their cars and houses and land with gold from SD series detectors. The best find was a new-chum (at the time) who bagged 540 ounces in a single weekend with an SD2100. He's actually selling his property at the moment. He lives on a NSW goldfield but has never detected there, only preferring to detect in WA. 540 ounces was actually a small portion of his total gold finds to date.

As for the "more realistic prices on Ebay" at the moment, that's about the only place you can find a second hand-detector right now. The prices are being driven up way beyond their market price because people are convinced that the SD is a winner for gold and can't afford (nor can they find) a GP series machine easily. Try trading one in at those rates and see where you stand. They were selling on Ebay in 2009 for $300 each. At the same time, people were buying them online, painting "GPX-4500" on the side and exporting them to Sudan where they sold for $10K each. Was that a realistic price too?

Gday in regards to the SD2000 when i first started detecting i used the SD2000 with an 11" Mono coil and was lucky enough to walk over a signal that was as loud as a 18" sub woofer pumping doof doof music, it ended up being a 57grammer about a foot down, also picked up a fair bit of small stuff to so, yes i would grab it, and given the chance i will buy another one.
Cheers Balony
JUST NEED TO WALK OVER IT

I think that $800 to $1000 are 'realistic' market prices.
Ebay still attracts a lots of sellers and buyers. See the ones
that are listed on ebay right now (links above). I've never
heard about an SD2000 being sold at $300? I btw sold mine
about 3 to 4 years ago for $1500.
And they're a very good machine if your learn what to listen
for. I still found gold up to half an ounce with it, and that was
just before I put it on the market (GPX4000 was already out).
Downside is the noise you
have to put up with, but they go deep and if modified with
the 4 frequency switch it is very sensitive to small stuff as
well. For the price you can't beat it unless you find a later model
at a cheaper price....?!
bedrock

what year did the sd2000 first hit the market?

tinpan wrote:what year did the sd2000 first hit the market?

G'day tinpan

"The Minelab SD 2000 detector was released in April 1995"
http://www.minelab.com/products/consumer/product-archive/sd-2000

http://www.minelab.com/aus/videos?id=26574

cheers dave

$800 to $1100 would be the range depending on the equipment it comes with and condition. They will still find gold in virgin areas but would most likely struggle in hard hit areas as they were not the best on smaller gold, but very good on deep stuff.

They also don't have any automatic ground balance or tuning ability and are noisy in comparison the later offerings, so are a harder machine to learn to fly (decipher what they are squarking about) IMHO. I would look for an SD2200 or better if funds permit. If not then an SD2000 could be "enhanced" for some extra performance if they are cheap enough, but factoring in the "enhancements" cost might make a later model more appealing. Best of luck and cheers.

Sometimes there's a benefit to having a detector that misses the small stuff.This was found with an 11"mono goldsearch on a SD2000 whilst I was testing my new 5000.(Second Pic)
https://golddetecting.forumotion.net/t6145-testing-the-5000-over-the-last-week

I stand corrected on the current price of SD2000s. After perusing dealer buy prices yesterday, $700-$800 is the current buy range at this time.

Brickie wrote:

nero_design wrote:It's said the SD2000 made 500 millionaires in the first year of release in Australia.

Sounds like more MindLab propaganda to sell more detectors.
How would they know?
Im sure if I found $1,000,000 worth of gold I wouldnt tell anyone.

Try reading some of the GG & T magazines of that time and you will see the size and number of nuggets found with the SD2000.
Why do you think we can't find many big nuggets whese days?

Robert

If your chasing a 2000 look up Two bit on this forum or pm me for his number, He has a nice 2000 with a few coils, backpack, headphones, 4 batteries. charger etc for around the 800 mark.
Its a proven machine and i was going to buy it for my GF, but finances are tight at the moment..

Sorry to partially side track the thread, for upto say $1200 what would be the best unit to purchase for a newb?

There is no way I would pay $500 for a XT 17000 duck quacker. Used one for a year a long time ago and they are a complete waste of time.

Gus wrote:There is no way I would pay $500 for a XT 17000 duck quacker. Used one for a year a long time ago and they are a complete waste of time.

Gus, you might not wont to pay $500 for a XT17000 and neither would i but thats the price they are fetching on ebay. The info was posted as a comparison as to what was a fair price for a SD 2000, now Marco has revised his SD 2000 price so most of this thread is irrelevant. mallee00 and the mutt