SDC 2300

First topic message reminder :

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well all said and done--I luv it.

there is a major issue with a couple of items and I also have a charger that appears not to be charging on one cell-but when u test with the multi meter its charging, however there is no indicator light.

but hey as KT said hes waiting in the wind for a second hand machine...

hope he has a very long wait coz this bugger can sniff gold at 100 paces.

regards
oneday

Hello all, I read this post with interest as I bought the first SDC2300 on the launch day from Miners Den, Melbourne. Some of the criticisms are valid concerning the arm rest collapsing when taking your arm out, and I have seen Mad max's solution at Sandstone last month, (by the way thanks Max for the advice re keeping minimum threshold and adjusting sensitivity, it was very helpful) A piece of plastic drain pipe cut to suit, solves the armrest issue and is easy to remove to pack. Also keeping the coil horizontal is more difficult as it is not hinged near the centre as is normal coils, but at the rear, to facilitate folding up. Small price to pay for its portability and able to be slipped into a backpack or motorcycle pannier for forays into untrodden goldfields.
I had a mystery glitch where the unit would turn itself off then restart. then repeat the process. I changed to the spare batteries and the problem went away. A few days later it happened again, and on checking the battery compartment lid, found it not to be latched fully. Now I am aware of this, it has not happened again.
Our tally for nuggets was 85, the SDC2300 found 60 of these being sub .01 gram to 1 gram, the majority under .01 gram the other 25 found with my GPX5000 with the 11" Commander mono coil these were .01 plus size, and found deeper than the 2300, which was still very good at finding small gold .005 gram at 20mm .01 plus to 100mm. We tested a friends 4 gram nugget reburied to 300mm and a lovely whoo oo sound was heard, so I have no doubt it can find similar nuggets deeper. In all a fantastic unit, and my wife Kerry and I have to decide who will take it out first. As we are first time detectors finding any size gold is an absolute thrill, and has given us gold fever big time. Regards Russ & Kerry

Good reading & nice reports from K Town & Holgaroo

Thanks for sharing

Hope there is more Gold for you soon

SDC2300's don't last very long

We are currently on the Big Island of Hawaii. Our plan was to come to Hawaii to attend an eight day Geocaching event centered around the geology on the islands. Mainly concentrating on the earthquakes and the minerals and geological structures.

We thought it a good idea to throw the metal detectors in as well and perhaps try for a few relics and perhaps a coin or two. The Garrett was quite compact but the Whites was a little difficult to pack. Sandra was due for another birthday while we're away so we dropped in to the Minelab store on the way up to the airport and grabbed a new compact SDC2300 and Minelab harness along with another GPS and battery charger etc.

There was no time to unpack the new machine but we did at least plug the batteries into the charger for the two hour trip to Perth. All was going well until we landed in Honolulu. Two backpacks with our geocaching gear including GPS and our snorkeling never made the trip. The two duffle bags with all but the clothes we're wearing and the Garmin ATX along with the yet to be unpacked SDC2300 disapeared as well. No boots or raincoats for hiking, no swimming and snorkeling gear and our metal detectors gone.

Not a good start to three weeks in Honolulu....

sorry to hear that people, what a bummer start to a trip.
but at least a good excuse to go COMMANDO
Not good, I'd attack the airline with all guns blazing
Hope you get ya gear
Cheers
Cliff

Bugger that's not good...
Hope you get it sorted.

Cheers Nanjim
Jim

sorry to hear this was the start to your holiday guys, hears hoping it gets much better from now on and your gear gets returned. gees are they doing.how can $1000's of dollars worth of equipment just disappears?, they will probably loose all the security vids as its a personal thing. probably more like sticky internal fingers or a bad lack of security at the baggage claims, either way they are responsible from the moment they take possession until you pick up as far as I am concerned and I also would go hammer and tongs at them to replace all your gear. they cannot look after their customers valuables yet try to walk around the airport with a joint on ya or whisper the "B" word and they will have you up against the wall in 2 seconds flat. name and shame the carrier.

oh no that's horrible guys
try and enjoy the rest of your trip

Everybody is very helpful when you have your hand in you pocket. As soon as they have your money their interest is diverted elsewhere.

We booked our flights through Cathy Rice Travel in Bunbury. We should have flown with Qantas to Melbourne then on to Honoluluu but somehow we got switched to Jetstar as we went to board our flight in Melbourne. We knew nothing of it until we lined up at the boarding gate and they took our Qantas boarding passes and printed new Jetstar ones and handed them to us.

Jetstar have no inflight movies unless you pay for an Ipad. You also have to preorder and buy your meals. At first they handed us a little gifttpack and a blanket. It took us a while to realise that it was a peace offering. Then we saw a few others getting their meals and thought we would have to pay but they had a printed list of those who had their flights swapped. They gave us a meal but we still had to buy a bottle of water. It's a long 10 hour flight without a movie.

When we arrived in Honolulu and our bage didn't arrive we immediatly found a Jetstar representative and filled out the claim form. She said that perhaps we should hang around and wait for the following flight as our bags might be on there. We waited for the next Jetstar then had to rush to get our connecting flight on Hawaiian to Hilo.

I spent the next morning on the phone to Qantas where I only spoke to a machine before contacting Jetstar. They couldn't find our claim because it hadn't been entered into the system. Anyway we went ahead and entered it over the phone and got a claim number so that we could follow up.

The next morning I called again. Still no news because the claim had been entered but no action had been taken.

I sent an email to Camilla at Cathy Rice Travel. Her reply was short and sweet. "There's nothing we can do because the problem is with Qantas and Jetstar".

The Aussie geologist running our tour asked for all the info and gave it to his wife. She went balistic online and within a half a day we got a response from Jetstar. Today we have everything back delivered to our guest house. Customs only opened one bag and everything is there.

Let Cathy Rice Travel take you there and you can bring your memories home.
Nice little jingle eh moneybox.
Cheers

ah well at least u have everything now--all good

enjoy your trip

regards
oneday

Thanks guys for your best wishes. We'll be enjoying ourselves because these opportunities don't come around too often.

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They really do have HOT ROCKS over here

Will be interested in hearing your comparison between the ATX and the 2300 once you hit the goldfields again Phil and Sandra. I know you have spent a fair bit of time swinging the ATX around various areas in WA so should be a good test.
Enjoy your holiday

Just a quick question guys. How do you turn down the volume on the SDC?

We took it to the beach today in Hawaii, trying to be a little descrete but it screemed it's brains out. It was a first run so we didn't use the headphones. That way I could hear what I was digging. I've looked throught the book since but can't find a volume control.

Anyway it works. First thing found was 1c coin and then another and another. We fund 6c plus another little coin that will have to be cleaned to identify it. What a day....it's on its was to paying for its self

I was given the opportunity to use a 2300 today so I jumped at the chance.
First up I went to an area that has produced lots of little flakes in the pans I ran.
Zilch was showing but I did find an old coin, a couple of bits of lead shot and several tiny pieces of rusty tin.
On to spot two which was always the target. This is an area that we will put the gpx6000 through next season, it is a small mound that has been hammered by me and several others, most recently by a husband and wife team that are renowned for leaving nothing behind. It has no rubbish so away I did go. five minutes into it and the first bit was in the bottle. twenty minutes in total and four little bits were mine.
Off to the next patch which also will get the attention next season. twenty minutes again and three little bits in the bottle, again no rubbish and been "done to death".
Spot number three is a shear that has been dug in the eighties. Rubbish from hell and fine flakes in the shear. An area that I have been panning with good success produced two little bits immediately and this is right beside a buried four gallon tin.
The verdict is simple. An amazing piece of technology that has many ergonomic and design faults that should have been picked up in quality control and testing but that won't stop me getting one.
Total time I had to use it on the ground was four hours and considering two of those hours were spent driving to and around the spots I am very happy.
9 pieces for 1.82 gramms.