Jeff Pierce

I second the Geigerrig. I currently use their 1600 tactical pack with 100oz bladder. It fits my SDC perfectly and you can bungee from the strap. Best place I have found to buy is ThinkGeek.com. They have it for almost half off right now. http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/1c53/?itm=customlabel0Home_%26_Office_%7C_Bags_Backpacks_%26_Luggage&rkgid=1453729095&cpg=ogplaho1&source=google_home_office&adpos=1o1&creative=50718231765&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CMSSooaWl8QCFYiVfgodKm8AQw Hopefully that link works Jeff

Great informative post Steve! You are spot on when you say " I think it is 80% operator and 20% detector and that is probably giving the detector too much credit." You are also hit home about Ray finding more gold with a gold bug. I live in Rays country and I have a GB Pro, Gpx5000 and an SDC . Hundreds of hours I must have spent out last year mostly with GPX netted me 8.5 dwt, and half of that came in about 5 minutes on a small pocket. To say the least I have failed far more than I have succeeded and it had nothing to do with what detector I was using. This new year I find myself grabbing the SDC for its pack-ability and sensitivity to hit small gold. I am striving to be a Successful full time electronic prospector and I really am considering a 7000. Mainly for the "first pass, best chance" performance that I hear it has. Being totally into detecting I would also like to be able to evaluate the newcomer along with the other first adopters. But in the end do I think it will get me more gold? I know it wont! That's something I as a prospector need to figure out. All is not lost though as in late January I did hit my biggest specimen nugget to date. A 12.2 gram piece shaped like a broken heart in a rut of an old road near a creek crossing. It was really just luck that I put the SDC coil down to check that rut as I was walking along. This year I plan on getting out as much or more than I did last year. Will I get a 7000? I don't know yet but I will be watching this forum and Steve's unbiased opinions to help me make that decision. Jeff

Hi Steve, To start off, you have a great informational site here. I have always liked your posts from around the different forums and now you have it all right here and you are sending out info double time. Very nice. Since this thread has an SDC component to it I would like to ask the question I been wondering about. I have read JP's analysis that he can run GPZ head to head with the SDC except for very small surface gold. I have both a 5000 and SDC and quite honestly I love the stealthy little detector and use it 90% of the time. It just work in the steep manzanita choked hills that I frequent much of the time here in Shasta Co. I would like to get your take on the small/med gold performance difference between these two here in our local soil conditions of Northern Cal and Nevada? Thanks Jeff