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SDC 2300 Older Vs Newer?


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I am in the market for a used SDC 2300 and wanted to know if there have been any software/firmware or hardware updates since the first introduction in 2014?

Are there any pros/cons of buying an older machine lets say 5 years old vs a 1 year old machine?

Are the supplied oem headphones satisfactory or is it better to invest in better headphones?

Is the Lithium Battery upgrade a good investment and does it come with a charger?

Thanks in advance

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I am new to this forum and did some searching around and found one post about SDC 2300 upgrades:

https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/12729-new-minelab-sdc-2300-update/?do=findComment&comment=126352

I dont know if there were any other upgrades since the 2014 introduction?

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all I can add regarding the 2300 battery question is the older c cell batts style has a reputation for making  bad connection at times.  Simple solution given to me by Rob (robs detectors) and others is to cut a small piece of cardboard about 1" x 1" and just slip in between the 2 top batteries before you close the lid.  Simple solution and I haven't had any "bad connection" issues ever since...works great!  So imo  the battery new versus old version isn't any issue at all.....

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The only up grade is the battery as far as I know...the older ones work just as the new ones will in other words. I recently sold my old 2300 it was a great detector. 

strick

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On 11/20/2021 at 8:31 AM, Dutchman4 said:

I am in the market for a used SDC 2300 and wanted to know if there have been any software/firmware or hardware updates since the first introduction in 2014?

Are there any pros/cons of buying an older machine lets say 5 years old vs a 1 year old machine?

Are the supplied oem headphones satisfactory or is it better to invest in better headphones?

Is the Lithium Battery upgrade a good investment and does it come with a charger?

Thanks in advance

Just a personal opinion from what I have seen in this industry over the decades. Almost no detector stays the way it was at introduction. These days we have detectors that can be updated over the internet, and not a one ever goes without at least one such update.

In the old days a major screwup might result in a factory recall. Anything less was quietly fixed in newer machines. Outfits like First Texas in particular seem to constantly be slipping in updates to firmware and even hardware.

I do not want to make this out to be a bad thing. I simply think companies reserve the right to make small product improvements along the way as they see fit. Unannounced firmware tweaks have been very common. Also, due to the nature of electronics, small hardware changes are made as old components become obsolete, or new better components arrive that are much cheaper. Almost any detector on the market for more than a few years likely has seen some sort of changes, though usually minor.

Long story short, I do think that the odds favor newer over machine five years or more older, as the newer detectors having had some sort of internal tweaks/improvements made. I'm not saying this is true of the SDC, but I'd sure not bet money against it. The only official update was the one already mentioned last year, with the new battery, etc.

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Steve, thanks for input.

I worked as an Electronics Equipment Maintenance Technician for 38 years in the Semi-Conductor manufacturing industry.

Having used hundreds of schematics over the years for troubleshooting and repair of equipment it was quite common to see a long "Revision History" in each schematic for minor changes to component types and values and even changes to the circuitry itself.  I have also repaired old stereo equipment that only required replacement of any swollen or leaking "Electrolytic Capacitor" for it to work properly again.  Usually stuff older than 12-15 years could have this type of degradation problem so it does take a long time of continuous use and so it would be hard to put this many hours on a detector, even a really old one.

I agree that if any firmware or circuitry revisions exist then they are only known by company internal engineering change notifications (ECN) and the public would never know.  Then you have to also ask if any of these revisions improve the operation or long term reliability of the detector?

So if I have a choice of a 5-8 year old used SDC2300 that is $800 cheaper than a 1-2 year old SDC2300 what would you recommend?  

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Wouldn't it come down to finances which means only the buyer could really decide? Is the $800 price difference worth having an entirely new detector with a 3 year warranty?  To me, yes it is.  If the detector is half or under of the new price I'd be more inclined to go for the older one, anything less I'd be edging towards the new one.

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