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Kiwi, You stated the sdc is no advantage in mild soil, so I'm comparing that's like saying that the 7000 is of no advantage in mild soil. Obviously it is. The fact is both 7 and 2300 work exceptional in mild soil and the milder the ground the deeper they seem to shoot down. Ive been over many patches I worked with the Saddie/gpx5000 combo and it was amazing how much was left that the gpx didnt see for whatever reasons. I imagine one reason has to do with an accelerated receive timing on the sdc which picks up the fast decay eddy current targets. It seems a lot of gold has this characteristic, otherwise the 7000 wouldn't be pulling the gold either, as we generally dont dig any deeper or bigger than the previous gpx's did. Its primarily that small or low conductive gold we get now. I'd spend a little more time on the sdc. You might take a liking to it, once you get over some more color. I had a friend here complain and moan about his sdc for months, but then he started to get the feel for it and had nothing but compliments from then on. Thanks Kiwi, catch you later

Kiwi if that were the case, the sdc being of no advantage in mild soils, then the 7000 would also be of no advantage, but obviously you are getting your share of small gold missed by the gpx . I use a 7000 also, but after a spot is cleaned, the 2300 can go right behind and pull even smaller gold. Its basically a 7000 with a tiny coil. Guys out here in Nevada were killing it with the sdc when they came out, and that ground is very mild. Yes the sdc has an even greater advantage in mineralized ground, but there is no doubt they will pick small, low conductive, porous, crystalline, flat gold right along side a 7000. Sorry I gotta stick up for that little blue detector because they work so good.

I also have with handle - $40-50 or trade for a 1 pennyweight nugget Nice lightweight pick for general digging 31.5" handle length Local pickup in Folsom, CA area- I dont really want to ship

Prospecting pick head cut from new boron steel disc. Just weld on handle of your choice and dig on. $30

Flak, our California boys were no joke either! I dont know what these guys were eating to work that hard.

Kiwi, I have the 750 watt bbsHD motor. Its the newer version thats supposed to have beefed up internals. These have a bad offset for the chain line to begin with, but it hasnt been an issue for me, even with the 30 tooth. Been using a gold KMC chain and have about 300 miles on it so far. A friend of mine has the same setup as yours and also runs a 30 tooth sprocket. He had an 8 speed rear cog that he moved the lowest gear to the center, so that his chainline is perfect in the low gears. Honestly he didnt need to do that as mine runs fine with some angle, but if you want it perfect, that's an option to remedy that. Man these things are super fun. I used to kill myself biking up hills and now its all thumb throttle or some moderate pedal assist. What I also like is they run so quite that no one is bothered or suspects you have a motor. Stealth!

Yep I'd try the smallest ring you can get- 30 or 32 tooth. Your bike will be a whole different hill climbing beast. One thing, your chain line might not run as straight when in the lowest gears, depending on your bikes geometry. Just run a good chain, keep it lubed, and it shouldn't be a issue. Thanks and have fun!

Kiwi, I was going to make a suggestion on your ebike. If you do a lot of hill climbs, swap out the front sprocket for a 30 tooth chain ring. Thats what I run here in the California hills. You might loose a little top speed, but you gain waaay more torque going up hills and put less stress on the internals of the motor. Its a very good mod for those kits and not expensive!

That's your answer right there! Thanks Jason

Im going to say the Z is a bad choice for most creeks. You would be better off with a gpx and small 8x6 coil for creek hunts unless, you have flat bottom bedrock with minimal crags and cracks to allow use of a large 14" coil. The small coils will out-depth large coils because you can bring them in closer to the bedrock and stab the coil down into cracks. Thats my experience a least.

SDC is a PI detector, so yes on more depth and stable threshold. None of that awful noise you have to put up with while using a vlf. Unless you only have tiny flake gold, get the sdc! Most guys that dig out creeks here in the Motherload of California run these.

Just download areas before heading out. No need for a signal. Couple good apps to use are US Topo maps, onX hunt, and of course Google maps.

Kiwi, Myself and a bunch of the guys I hunt with switched to the 2300 for small gold. I will tell you a lot of gold was missed by the gpx series. Why, I dont know, but probably something to do with a fast decay rate of the electric field in certain shapes of nuggets. I know the balance and feel of the detector is really goofy and not the most pleasant to swing, but the electronics pick up where the 5000 left off. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with your 2300. Ive used minelabs since the 3k, including the 7k, and will say the 2300 holds its ground as a top gun. Anyway I always enjoy reading your posts, just my opinions here.

For small gold, you cant go wrong with a 2300. Handles mineralization like a champ and nice depth . And the less mineralized the ground, the more depth you will see. Great detector in both ground conditions. This was some sdc bedrock gold missed by my 5000 running an 8x6 coil. As Steve said , it basically meets a vlf in the small gold department.

If you already have a mnt bike, look up the BBSHD 1000watt mid drive kits. I paid aprox $1500 for the kit about a year ago, and it is nothing but fun. Thumb throttle too, unlike most of the factory ebikes which are only pedal assist.