SDC 2300--

First topic message reminder :

I have a couple of SDC 2300 coming within a week for anyone to have a go with--that's right u can try befor u buy or bag the machine..

I personally have seen and played with the machine last Nov and its not a bad machine irrespective of the asking price..

its an easy machine to pack up and store however u have to be careful with the assembly and the packing up of the machine.

rechargeable batteries are a must..

so I will keep u tuned if in Ktown if u want to have a go..

theres a couple of people with their name down already--u must b in ktown to pick it up.

regards
oneday

Is spending all that money on a one coil only detector to find only shallow sub-grammers worth driving 5+ hrs each weekend for?

I wonder why ML is hell-bent on putting another machine on the market just to keep the fever alive on left-over small gold instead of making a cheaper all-round machine like the Garrett ATX, that can arguably perform like the ridiculously expensive GPX 5000.

NuggieDreamer wrote:Is spending all that money on a one coil only detector to find only shallow sub-grammers worth driving 5+ hrs each weekend for?

I wonder why ML is hell-bent on putting another machine on the market just to keep the fever alive on left-over small gold instead of making a cheaper all-round machine like the Garrett ATX, that can arguably perform like the ridiculously expensive GPX 5000.

Let's say you drive for 5 hours to your favorite detecting spot in the Pilbara and spend the weekend looking for a patch with your trusty GPX5000 but get nothing, do you, A; pack up and head home gold less or B; break out the SDC and hit a crumbing spot on the way out for a few rattle bits to to take home and show the family?

The SDC smokes the ATX, so relatively speaking the SDC represents very good value for money. Yes it's not cheap but you are paying for something that no other metal detector manufacturer can achieve, amazing sensitivity in extremely mineralised environments. I can see it becoming very popular with the FIFO guys especially those blokes who get a few days off with their rosters at work, having such a compact detector you can have as either carry on or put in your cases is going to be brilliant especially when not having to worry about Lithium batteries etc.

I will be having an SDC behind the seat of my cruiser permanently, either as a back up unit, bad EMI weather unit, patch mopper upper unit or just a loner to mates who I catch up with during the season. It is simple to use and damn fun to boot, what more could you ask for?

JP

It's a pity we had to get back home so soon. I'd love to have the ATX there to compare. I was quite disappointed with it until I tried the GPX4800. The ATX is certainly easier to use and nicely balanced depending on the coil fitted. We've not found gold yet but have found the tiniest little bits of steel, aluminium, lead shot, twist ties and unidentifyable junk. I found the bunge on the ATX inadequate to start with but now I've worked how to adjust it to suit each coil it's a breeze to slip it off the shoulder when digging. The AA batteries look a bit feeble compared to the Minelab battery but easily last 2 full days before needing a recharge and we carry 8 regular AA batteries just in case we get caught out. The head phones are nice but we usually go without so that the other can hear what's going on and the inbuilt speaker is clear even in heavy wind. My original choice was the SDC2300 but now I think we made the right choice however I won't be happy until we find gold. We'll be home in Capel later this morning after a fabulous holiday in the north.

Just wondering JP, have you tried the ATX or are you just going on all the chatter you hear?

Moneybox wrote:
Just wondering JP, have you tried the ATX or are you just going on all the chatter you hear?

I've used the ATX a lot and found gold with it, it's actually a pretty good detector, but it has too much touch sensitivity, it's too heavy and unless you run flat out sensitivity the performance really drops off. The SDC on the other hand just purrs along, has oodles of sensitivity even in the lowest setting and thanks to a Smooth type timing runs dead quiet in ground even the 5000 in Fine Gold struggles with.

JP

K town swinger wrote:Used the 2300 today on the salt absolutely awesome machine. Will put up a report tomorrow. Thanks to Ray for the test run.

look forward to it mate

Yes the first thing Sandra complained about was that the ATX let out a squeak whenever it touched a green weed but then the 4800 did much the same although it may have been responding more to the change of direction in the swing. However when we changed the ATX to the mono coil the problem was gone. It's just the DD that responds to anything nearby. It will go off a metre from a steel post or heavy metal object.

the 2300 certainly lends its hand to all of us that have a detector yet take a mate or 2 out with us that are keen yet dont have a machine especially people that have families with kids--theres nothing to do --well grab hold of this and dont come back till u find something..

it hasnt been developed to replace a detector--it fills a niche that encourages people to get into prospecting without morgaging the home.

Gold is gold and to a lot of people that I talk to --all they want to do is find the ellusive stuff no matter how big or small..bigger the better but would b very happy with anything so long as it is gold.

it certainly runs rings around the Eureka and the GB2 and is far easier to drive and find gold.
if i was touring around this great land of ours or made redundant then u would be hard pressed to go past buying something as good as this machine..and as u can see it packs up into a very small parcell and has an excellent battery charger system.

so have a test drive and see for yourself.

My machine in Karratha is free to use for the day so drop in and check it out.

It certainly would be a very good HIRE machine for those who get lost trying to get the ultimate performance out of a GPX--Simple to use and it finds gold--

Dont worry too much about the fact that its finding small gold--thats the nature of were its being tested--in flogged ground on the Nickol Flats were everything from the 2200 and upwards has been.
and the area isnt that hugh an area..it is very common to see about half a dozen cars out there every weekend finding gold.

so have a go and apease yahself..

yeah there are a few inperfections with it--
WEIGHT--IF U HAVE SHOULDER OR ARM PROBLEMS
NO COVER
HEADPHONE LEAD IS FAR TOO SMALL
ONE COIL--mind u saying that its still a very good coil for finding gold --thats why people buy the sadie and the 8" commander for their GPX--so what the heck--people want to have a rattle in the jar to come home with and what i have noticed is the people doing a lot of the whinging are those who simple are glued to their computers and not swinging--those who are swinging, well they r just living the dream.

regards
Oneday

the 2300 certainly lends its hand to all of us that have a detector yet take a mate or 2 out with us that are keen yet dont have a machine especially people that have families with kids--theres nothing to do --well grab hold of this and dont come back till u find something..

it hasnt been developed to replace a detector--it fills a niche that encourages people to get into prospecting without morgaging the home.

Gold is gold and to a lot of people that I talk to --all they want to do is find the ellusive stuff no matter how big or small..bigger the better but would b very happy with anything so long as it is gold.

it certainly runs rings around the Eureka and the GB2 and is far easier to drive and find gold.
if i was touring around this great land of ours or made redundant then u would be hard pressed to go past buying something as good as this machine..and as u can see it packs up into a very small parcell and has an excellent battery charger system.

so have a test drive and see for yourself.

My machine in Karratha is free to use for the day so drop in and check it out.

It certainly would be a very good HIRE machine for those who get lost trying to get the ultimate performance out of a GPX--Simple to use and it finds gold--

Dont worry too much about the fact that its finding small gold--thats the nature of were its being tested--in flogged ground on the Nickol Flats were everything from the 2200 and upwards has been.
and the area isnt that hugh an area..it is very common to see about half a dozen cars out there every weekend finding gold.

so have a go and apease yahself..

yeah there are a few inperfections with it--
WEIGHT--IF U HAVE SHOULDER OR ARM PROBLEMS
NO COVER
HEADPHONE LEAD IS FAR TOO SMALL
ONE COIL--mind u saying that its still a very good coil for finding gold --thats why people buy the sadie and the 8" commander for their GPX--so what the heck--people want to have a rattle in the jar to come home with and what i have noticed is the people doing a lot of the whinging are those who simple are glued to their computers and not swinging--those who are swinging, well they r just living the dream.

regards
Oneday

Sounds like a good thing can't wait to get my hands on one and go over the same ground I did with the ATX the other weekend. Hopefully it puts a few more rattles on the jar
Cheers digdog

Digdog wrote:Sounds like a good thing can't wait to get my hands on one and go over the same ground I did with the ATX the other weekend. Hopefully it puts a few more rattles on the jar
Cheers digdog

As an ATX owner I'm looking forward to an honest comparison..

Phil  

Moneybox wrote:

Digdog wrote:Sounds like a good thing can't wait to get my hands on one and go over the same ground I did with the ATX the other weekend. Hopefully it puts a few more rattles on the jar
Cheers digdog

As an ATX owner I'm looking forward to an honest comparison..

Phil  

Hey Phil since I caught up with you and Sandra I, ve run across two other couples swinging the ATX and it could not pick up my undug targets in the real noisy ground unless they stopped and swung directly over where I had marked.As JP has mentioned the ATX is a good detector that will find gold but from what I, ve now seen not in extreme mineralization.The one day I had with the 2300 really impressed me so much that I will now be adding one to my detecting kit.Hope your trip back down south was a good one and I look forward to catching up once again in this golden state of ours.

K town  

Detectors and coils used: Minelab PRO pointer attached to a broom stick,deadly on the surface stuff.

Ya gotta have a sense of humour in this game. good one KTS.       

Bignuggs wrote:Detectors and coils used: Minelab PRO pointer attached to a broom stick,deadly on the surface stuff.

Ya gotta have a sense of humour in this game. good one KTS.       

Wondered when someone would pick up on that Cliff.  

Damn hard work on the Nickol River flats.  Got to be somewhere easier.  Saw a bloke out there today with the SDC2300 and don't think he did any good either.

theres a lot of holes out there now --its not an endless supply--

U just have to be lucky if u r chasing the spoils of others..

regards
oneday

Was meaning more about getting the 4500 to run well in that high salt environment. A bit tricky but I've managed to get it bearable with the DD. Will have a bit more of a play with the settings today and may stumble over a bit with luck. It's all a learning curve.

Three little ones. .11 .12. and .14. for 0.37grams.....$16.50 worth. But, interesting to detect in such harsh conditions. Using the 11inch Commander DD in "cancel". Looking for somewhere quieter
tomorrow.

had a female friend come into the workshop today and she picked up a 6gram piece of the salt--u have to walk over it..she showed me and a couple of other boys the photo at the mens club ..

regards
oneday

SINCE THIS MACHINE HAS LIMITED DEPTH SO FAR WITH GOLD --it would be a no brainer taking your pro pointer to find those fidly bits..

just a thought.

regards
oneday

Maybe this guy should have also tested the ML ProFind against the SDC2300 vs GPX

I still can't believe this machine has it over 4500/5000
WHAT THE... ?

vid

I can tell u with the utmost confidence that It DOES NOT HAVE IT OVER THE 45 OR 5K with competent people who know how to get the utmost out of the GPX.

If there is a decent nugget within say about 10" then the 23 would nail it any deeper then it will be up a creek without a paddle

one has to remember that the 23 has a small coil--it will not go deep in river wash country were as the gpx with say an 18" round will leave u for dead.

regards
oneday

its disappointing to see people knocking or nit picking a machine when they havent even picked up the machine and gone for a swing with the detector to satisfy their own expectation.

arm rest- small coil-adjustment on coil-scratching -blue tooth--geez how much more do u want to pay..

the biggest giveaway out there is the external speaker--prospectors are like Mearcats--their heads prick up out of the bushes when they hear that familiar sound..

my advice is to grab hold of the 2300 and do your own thing--make up your own mind whether it suits u or not--and if it does then u will be a happy chappy. No one is being told to buy one..

it will complement any prospector.

regards
oneday

All ways the way Oneday, some people spend to much time thinking and not enough swinging. That's there thing I guess but means there's more gold out there for the one who just get on with it.

Waypoint.

Had the SDC 2300 out for a play today thanks to Ray at Premier Tyre and Auto Karratha.
After a brief run down on the machine we took it out to the lower Nickol Flats for a swing.  Not the most forgiving environment to test a new detector in and one that the 4500 and the 5000 even have problems keeping a stable threshold.

First up I picked up a signal with the 4500 about 20m from where we parked the Navara.  A nice clear signal.
The SDC running on  number 1 normal gave a good sharp signal, marginally better than the 4500, on this particular patch of ground but when switched to number 1 Salt, the signal was much fainter but still discernable.  The result was a nice 1.35 gram piece of shiny salt gold.
The second target also found by the 4500 was in much noisier ground for the SDC, yet still quite quiet for the 4500.  The SDC still gave an unmistakable signal in amongst the wooing and wahhing this time on normal 2 setting.  Not quite as sharp as the 4500 but close. A 0.19gram bit the result.
Targets number three, four and five were detected by the SDC alone.  All signals were  obvious even if they were accompanied with copious ground noise.  Settings were either normal 1 or 2 and all bits were 0.25 gram or less and all were at 35mm depth or less. (The 4500 was battling to pick up much over 40mm deep in this soil)
In salty conditions like the tidal mud flats at Nickol River, the ground noise can become quite grating after a while and combined with constant re-ground balancing I needed a break every 20 minutes or so.  The 4500 running salt course and cancel ran much quieter and I believe was more sensitive resulting in a 10 to 3 win.
Apart from minor things like the earphone lead being too short, and the quirky little arm rest 'ears', it's not a bad machine and I believe it will find gold in most conditions after finding gold in the extreme conditions we tested it in.  Like all new machines, it's a little uncomfortable to start with, but no doubt as bungys, harnesses and hipsticks are developed specifically for the SDC, comfort will improve.
I would love to try this machine out in less onerous conditions as I reckon it would be a killer on the small bits.
PROS:  easy to set up and use, so damn compact!!!, surprisingly sensitive with little or no tweaking -  it's only got 7 or 8 settings unlike the multiple setting choices of the 4500/5000.
CONS:  Still more susceptible to ground noise, than the big boys, in extreme conditions.  I don't have $3900 at the moment to buy one.

Did I say how damn compact it is?

Nuggie,
What's with the Stab being set higher than the Gain? on the video
I can't, more often than not, set my Stab higher than 4-5 on my 5K, even when I can set the gain up at 16
Not a criticism, just a question

Anyway, I've ordered a SDC2300 from Reeds, so I look forward to receiving the new toy and using it next trip
I don't mind picking up fly shite and I'm sure if there was a larger one, it will pick it up at the right depth
Lets face it, how often do you pick up anything over 1grm at shallow depth on flogged areas?