Jonathan Porter

Thanks Steve, that means a lot coming from you. I intend to have four SDC 2300s in my household when they become available and this summer will be making it our family pastime to head out and hunt gold together. With the SDC there will be very few skunks thanks to all the fantastic locations I have up my sleeve just waiting for a detector like this. :-)

JP

Got 7 small ones for 2 grams this morning, 2 grams is good money when it only takes you 30 minutes to get it. I see a lot of comments from the keyboard detectorists about Fly Poo gold, the gold I got this morning is what I call bread and butter gold, it's what I use to pay my running costs.

I will never turn my nose up at any gold that is detectable no matter how small it is.

JP

Hi Steve as you know I've been having a play with the SDC during its development, its been a lot of fun I can tell you. This is one of the best switch on and go detectors I have ever used which includes the GBII in the "best of all time" lists. Absolutely simple to use even for new chums, its the kind of detector you just fold up and leave behind the seat of your car and then pull out on a whim and go detecting.

The top pic is of a nugget I found within a minute of turning on at a favourite crumbing spot I have here on our local goldfields, I've hammered this spot for 14 years now, its extremely variable mineralised dirt, pure magic pinging a nugget so quickly at a well know location.

Second pic is of a speci I found when my son Timothy and I did a run to the local tip and decided to have a detect on the town common on the way home, I only got to use it for a few minutes before my boy commandeered it off me and scored a nugget of his own. 

JP

Steve comparisons will be made whether intentional or not, the difficult bit will be in the determining of the wheat from the chaff. In the case of the SDC wheat sized gold in all ground types can be considered easy-peasy. :-)

JP

Remember it's a Minelab, and Minelab have a habit of making detectors that perform hence the price differential, might have a similar form factor to others out there but that's probably were the similarities will end.

JP

I'm hearing you Fred, Steve is my go to guy for unbiased reporting on all things metal detecting. I'm excited by the SDC though, it's a little out of the ordinary for Minelab to announce so far out from a release but knowing them it will be well worth the wait.

JP

That isn't ugly Steve, that is beautiful. I've found specimens like that up in North QLD and love the story they are telling.

JP

Hey Steve, you want to hop a flight and meet me in WA I'll pack a swag for you? We'll do it rough but simple for a few weeks in July if you like. May might be OK but I can't be sure if I'll be able to get there that early this year with family etc and of course I know you have June all booked up.

Fred it was great to catch up with you in the Kimberly's a few years ago, I still owe you a feed or three since you were so hospitable to me out at rich hill all those years ago.

JP

BTW you two, when are we planning on round two for another assault on WA?

JP

Hey guys thanks for the kind words….wow you people picked up on that video from all the way over there? The world is getting smaller every day:-) I get a kick out of introducing people to OUR world, seeing the lights going on to the possibilities of what a metal detector can do is priceless. 

JP

The GPX 4800 is basically the same electronic platform as the GPX 5000 just with some features removed. By using the 4800 over the 4500 you would be able to take advantage of the smoother threshold, improved Enhance timings and improved Ground Balance. These are the main differences which you may or may-not be able to justify, in the end it will come down to your personal preference and level of experience. I personally could easily justify the change over (assuming there was no GPX 5000) as the improvements mentioned would give me an advantage even though it is not huge. 

Enhance is just about as sensitive as Fine Gold when a small coil such as the Commander 8" Mono or Nugget Finder Sadie coil is used in shallow ground, in fact in some cases it's actually better because there can be less ground noise (along with EMI) which is quite often closely associated with the highly mineralised shallow sections of gold bearing areas.

JP

Hi Steve, I've used the PRO-FIND 25 a lot in the last couple of seasons, a very handy tool when your down over two feet!!  

Here's a Pic of Bob using the PRO-FIND 25 and the nice 13 ounce slug he retrieved a few moments later. (pictures used with permission)

The Minelab PRO-Find 25 has been specifically designed to avoid the issue of 'ringing' when turned off so you can wear it on your belt when using the GPX 5000 and other deep punching PIs

JP

Hey Steve, wouldn't you just love to have the freedom we had in WA in a place like this? I'd happily donate most of the gold I found just for the opportunity to have a crack at it without having to worry about security etc.

JP

Hi Chris, I loved it and the point I assume is to put Minelab out there to a wider audience who have a totally different perspective on metal detecting than us "the converted" (they think of them as things that make all sorts of unusual sounds, so why not a symphonic noise?  ). To be honest I feel a bit grubby when detecting down at the beach or in parks, an ad like this sexes it up where it is now cool to head out and find hidden treasure.

JP

Nice piece JP and in the photo its hole in the background is of a reasonable depth and is that a glimpse of white I see below your fingers. If so maybe detected with the standard commander 11" mono running in Fine Gold going by that mineralised colour of the ground.

The nugget was just a murmur using FG, a nice dipping response, theres a lot of grass and sticks laying everywhere so using a larger mono is problematic. Steve will know the signal response I'm talking about from our prospecting adventures in WA a few years ago, he did really well on nuggets around this size.

I went back the next morning with one of our twin boys but only managed a 1 gram piece for the four or so hours we hung around the area, its one of those places you go detecting in with zero expectations and every now and then it rewards you.

JP

Thought I would share a pic of a 1/2 ounce slug I found one afternoon this week. We have a gold area here in my home town which is called McDonalds flats, some really nice decent sized nuggets and specimens have come off here with metal detectors over the past 20 years, my biggest being a 4 ounce piece which I found with the SD 2000 in 1995. We have had some extremely hot weather here the past few weeks but thanks to a rainy spell the temps have dropped dramatically, so I've been enjoying the cooler weather before the mercury starts to climb again!!

I suppose you could say I went to McDonalds and got a McNugget!!

G'day Steve, happy birthday well wishes are in order I believe? Congratulations on the new forum, a neutral zone will balance out the various gold forums nicely.

Seasons greetings to all :-)

JP