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  1. I took Steve out to the place where I'd been having some success with my SDC 2300, but the patch I had been working on was petering out. The first morning, I got three tiny nuggets. However there are loads of workings there and Steve headed up the hill and found some spots up there were he was getting some gold. After lunch we went up there and Steve took one small ridge and I took the other. Although we were only about 15 yards apart, there was no cross talk between the detectors. Turns out mine was the more productive of the two, but we didn't know that then, and Steve got some good gold too. Once I got started, it was just one little nugget after the other. I would only be searching a few minutes between finds, and there was very little trash. I think I got a couple square nails and a few bird shot - and 29 nuggets. One of them was a cool kind of arborecent shape that is unlike any nugget I have ever dug, but I have seen some photos of pieces like that. Today we went at it again, and I mostly just kept pounding that same ridge I was working on from one end to the other. Steve found another little slope that yielded some chunky nuggets. The weather was fantastic, just enough clouds to keep the temperature just right, great company, beautiful California scenery. Today I got another 23 nuggets and again just a small hand full of trash items. The total weight for two days with the SDC was 8.8 grams, well over a quarter ounce, almost 6 pennyweight. Hey Steve, that was a great short trip, we'll give it another try again soon.
  2. Hi Chris, This is all very interesting from all your travels and swing time on the SDC 2300! I have followed most of you and Steve's adventure's through out. As far as the supplied headphones, do you use them, or do you use the on board speaker? I found my cable could be long enough, but so tightly wound that it made target recovery difficult, or near impossible, without disconnecting the cable from the detector, and using the on board speaker to check out what the target might be. Kind of a goat rope, doing it that way, unless you have a second person on, as in a video I saw, showing one person detecting, and communicating verbally to another person, who would recover the target, a convenience most of us do not have. I have read that heating the coiled headphone wire with a hair dryer somewhat, and stretching it to help make the cable relax and extend, thus countering the memory effect, may help deal with the "headphone cable too short" complaint. I have not tried that yet, just curious if you have tried it. I found my headphone's ball bearing locking mechanism was not locking in properly, would fall off after a time, so I visited the local dealer, who checked the connector, and verified there was an issue, and was able to provide a replacement. Great service! Keep up the great work, your finds are growing, and I and others are enjoying vicariously going along with you on your adventures! Take care, as always, Gary/Largo
  3. Yesterday Chris and I were discussing some of the "yeah but my machine would have got that responses" that SDC posts seem to attract. Real life is that most gold nuggets found can be found by multiple models of detectors, whatever gets over it first. Nobody is claiming otherwise, least of all Chris or I. However, anyone who wants to ignore what Bruce Candy has to say on the subject is eventually going to have to wake up to another reality. “You will find more small nuggets and fine-threaded specimen gold in mineralised soils with the SDC 2300 than any other gold detector, including the GPX 5000.” - Bruce Candy [Chief Scientist Minelab Electronics, GPX & SDC Inventor] It is not that the GPX 5000 or other detectors will not find small gold. It is that in highly mineralized ground the SDC will find them better, easier, faster. And it will flat out find small gold that a GPX 5000 cannot. Just like a GPX 5000 will find large nuggets deeper that an SDC cannot. The trick is in recognizing what it is a detector excels at and then applying it to that task. No one machine does everything perfectly, and the only real answer is to apply multiple detectors to each task because you never know for sure what might possibly be found with another model until you give it a try. I will state that in my opinion the SDC 2300 does exactly what it was designed to do and does it well. It is an amazing little machine. It is not perfect and certainly has room for improvement, but it does deliver the goods. Everyone should go back a few years and look at all the posts when the GPX 5000 came out, and all the people deriding it as yet another Minelab gimmick designed to part the unwary from their dollars. It has happened with nearly every Minelab model that comes out. It is actually classic stuff that has been studied and about which books have been written. Which category below do you fit into?
  4. I met up with forum member Condor on Thursday and as promised he took me for a heck of a hike in steep terrain. We got in and pitched camp and that was it for the day. Friday through Monday we shinnied up bedrock chutes and bushwacked through the hills trying to get to old mine workings. This high Sierra 1800's stuff is well grown over and I am learning just how impenetrable the vegetation can get here. Alaska it can get slow going but there is nothing that will actually stop you dead in your tracks. Looks like I need to get a mini chainsaw. We basically detected in the morning and evening with a little siesta in the main heat of the day. Those old pits can be like big dry, dusty ovens. Only real issue was that Condor had a new SDC 2300 and a new charger system and batteries and there seemed to be issues with the batteries. I had my three pre-charged sets of rechargeables and a couple sets of alkalines. Between what I had in extras plus what he could get charged off his solar panel we did just fine and had power to spare but he needs to sort out what is going on with his batteries. I found a set of my batteries easily got me through a day and maybe a little more so I see no need for me to deal with solar charging unless I am out for more than five days, which honestly I doubt I will be doing. The gold was sparse and scattered but I did finally hit a mini patch of a few chunky nuggets on the edge of a small pit where material looks to have sluiced over a small bedrock outcrop. My largest was a couple pennyweight and I ended up with 11.2 grams or 7.1 dwt for four days of detecting. I'm happy with a couple grams a day average so I am pleased with the result. Condor got a bit less due to my hitting that little patch. Main thing was hooking back up with old friends, seeing new terrain, and getting my gear sorted out. My boots, sufficient for normal terrain, let me down in hours of near vertical. My toes kept cramming into the ends and I will not be surprised if I loose both big toenails. I have good Alaska mountain boots but they are probably too hot for most of this stuff so a new pair of boots may be in order. Other than that I was fairly happy with my setup. The SDCs once again proved their worth. Man, this ground was hot!! Serpentine bedrock, with patches of red soil on it that must have been at least 50% magnetite by content. The SDC would want to groan if moved too fast but that was easily remedied by simply doing what we are supposed to and going slow. Worse was when getting what appeared to be a faint signal, and then after scratching off the surface the ground would light up with many faint signals in the disturbed magnetite. It was like it was magnetically aligned resting undisturbed in place but once disturbed the ground responses became mixed. A VLF would be totally dead in this stuff. It actually was a bit like what Chris Ralph and I ran into in a couple very small places and in this case it was more widespread. That all said, I generally was able to easily hunt in sensitivity level "3" very effectively and smoothly, with only small foot or two square areas making me slow way down and see what was up. Tons of bullets, piles of nails, and basically no sign of prior detecting to speak of. I can see why between the terrain and the ground conditions. It really was a kind of textbook case for having the SDC 2300. Thanks Condor!! Great little trip, great hanging out with you and catching up on our lives. See you again soon! My Minelab SDC 2300 takes a break A look at the ground My mini gold patch 11.2 grams or 7.1 pennyweight This post has been promoted to an article
  5. A guy I met at Moore Creek mentioned he was going to do some "arduous backpacking" looking for gold. It has been my goal to hit remote areas with the SDC 2300 so I asked if he could use a partner. It has been many years since I have lived out of a backpack for days on end, so this will be a good chance to tune my outfit. Got my little tent, sleeping bag, pad, food, emergency gear, SDC 2300, and related prospecting gear into a 45 lb pack. Not a lot of places to save weight there. Could leave the tent and go with my bivvy bag but no reason to go that hardcore on this trip since we are establishing a base camp then working out of it. A tent works better for that. The SDC is critical to keeping things manageable, not so much for the weight but in being nice and compact. My GPX 5000 with batteries and harness would pretty much fill my pack with no room for anything else. Anyway, I managed to stay in touch daily while in Alaska, but will probably be offline for this trip. There is almost never any need on this forum to take administrative actions, but by chance I did have to knock one of those guys trying to sell gold and diamonds off the classifieds a couple days ago. So I have made Chris Ralph a forum moderator, just in case anything really egregious occurs. Chris will be out doing his own prospecting but will be able to check in periodically from where he is. Other than that, good luck to anyone else who is out and about. I will report back next week. We head out this afternoon.
  6. To all that have a SDC 2300. I know that the SDC comes with a 8 inch coil and like all coils it has only so much depth. Have any of you done a ground are air test to find out the depth the SDC has on different size nuggets? Oh yes I know what's been posted that it's hot on small gold but I'd like to know more. If I swing it over a nugget say a 1/4 oz. will it detect it 12 inches down. The whole thing is will it get most if fair size? I've found when you get past 10 to 12 inches digging it stops being fun and turns into work. Depending on the ground maybe sooner. I find out as I get older the less of fox holes I want to dig. I don't know if I'll ever have a SDC but just on looks it's hot. Chuck Anders
  7. The big question is what you think is the better gold detector ' ATX or SDC ? Sorry to put you in this position but your qualified to answer
  8. So I took my SDC 2300 to a location in California which I hadn't visited in a couple years because the last few times I'd been there it was a skunk. I get started and I hadn't been detecting even 5 minutes when I dug the first target was a little nugget. The second target was a nugget as well. I've only been able to re-work a small part of this area as I keep digging more little nuggets and I don't want to walk away when there are still golden targets. I was shocked to see how much gold was just sitting there in a spot I know I have gone over before at least a couple times. So in about 7 hours detecting, I have 21 nuggets with a total weight of 3 dwt, just over a tenth of an ounce. Yah, they are small, but lots of fun to dig. The largest of these, a 0.8 gram piece, gave a strong down-up tone. Its just surprising to see how small a nugget gives a down-up tone. You can see these nuggets are very rough and have not traveled far. This spot is a lot more interesting now that its yielding a bunch of little gold.
  9. I have the Minelab SDC 2300 and am getting ready to jump in the water with it. I decided to do a bit of research on its waterproof integrity. The model is listed at being waterproof to ten feet but the manual at http://www.minelab.com/__files/f/238536/4901-0172-2%20Manual,%20SDC%202300_WEB.pdf is pretty silent on the subject - just earnings to be sure the battery door oring is clean and sealed prior to submersion. The headphones are only submersible from your neck on down. I am waiting for fully submersible headphones before getting in the water with the SDC. Optional waterproof headphones for Minelab SDC 2300: The SDC 2300 is based on the Minelab F3 Compact mine detector. That model is listed at http://www.minelab.com/emea/products/countermine/mine-detectors/f3-compact?view=FAQ as having an IP68 rating. The 6 means it is dust proof. The 8 means it is capable of full immersion to a depth specified by the manufacturer. http://www.dsmt.com/resources/ip-rating-chart "8 - Immersion beyond 1m. The equipment is suitable for continuous immersion in water under conditions which shall be specified by the manufacturer. Normally, this will mean that the equipment is hermetically sealed. However, with certain types of equipment, it can mean that water can enter but only in such a manner that it produces no harmful effects." The F3 Compact housing was a joint design effort by MineLab Electronics Pty Ltd, Applidyne Australia Pty Ltd, and Cobalt Niche Design Pty Ltd which won an award for its design at http://www.gooddesignaustralia.com/awards/past/entry/minelab-f3-compact-metal-detector/?year=2012 where it is noted "It complies with military standards for environmental conditions (MIL-STD-810G) including shock, vibration, decompression, transformational cycling and is water proof to 10m IP68 irrespective of the transformational state of the detector." If I read all that right the unit is actually capable of continuous immersion to 10 meters, and so Minelabs waterproof rating to 10 feet on the SDC 2300 is a pretty conservative thing. On the flip side, the F3 Compact manual at http://www.minelab.com/__files/f/61797/F3 does state "Although the F3 COMPACT can withstand immersion to a depth of three metres for short periods of time, it is NOT designed for use as an underwater detector." That pretty much says just the opposite. So I am going to start with fresh water and keep an eye on things before working up to possible salt water use. I really do not think the SDC was really designed specifically as a dive detector so caution is warranted. Fresh water prospecting is one thing, and salt water surf hunting is another. I tend to tell people to stick with detectors that have a 100 foot plus rating if salt water use is the primary reason for getting a detector. That said Gary Drayton has had some smashing success with the SDC 2300 is salt water in Florida http://www.minelab.com/emea/treasure-talk/beach-hunting-with-the-sdc-2300 More Information and Specifications on the Minelab SDC 2300
  10. Hello all, I have been assigned to ask just how you guys out in the field recharge your batteries for your Minelab SDC 2300 gold detector? I am really curious, as I saw one of those new detectors in a box, and it had separately, not in the box, a off the shelf charger with standard 2 prong 120v. plug end. Aside from having a portable generator, or an inverter, how WOULD you charge your rechargeable c cell batteries? The rest of the Minelabs had a 12v plug that would work in any 12 volt plug in a vehicle, but this one has me stumped a little. I know there could be others that will be curious about this in due time... Thanks for setting me straight, as most times in the field, I don't have a current bush to plug into. Maybe I am missing something somewhere... Have great day! Gary
  11. I've been following not only Steve and Chris's reports, but the Aussie links as well regarding the SDC 2300. My detecting is mostly in the deserts of Southern CA and AZ. I never upgraded my GPX 4000 and since the Moore Creek and Ganes Creek closure, I was in no particular hurry to upgrade. I have hit my usual areas with the 4000 with the 16" NF coil pretty regular. I found 4 nuggets over 1/4 oz, and a few dozen in the .5 to 3 gram size. The bigger nuggets were not more than 10 inches deep. Last year I took the GoldBug to some of the hillside areas where the 4000 had produced a few nuggets. I found many, many small pieces that had not traveled far from their source, just tiny surface outcrops. The problem as GoldBug users know is that because of its sensitivity, it's not much of a prospecting machine for trying to cover a lot of area in mineralized ground. Its great for cleaning up an area, but really requires a low and slow sweep over mineralized ground. In some of the red clay and hot rock areas, nearly impossible to use. I enjoy prospecting and enjoy it that much more if I'm finding stuff. I've never been convinced that this passion is anything more than a hobby. I don't expect to get rich or break even for that matter. I need the challenge and don't ever want to get comfortable with the idea that TV is a great retirement pastime. From what I'm reading, the 2300 handles mineralized ground really well, and is nearly as sensitive as a good VLF. To me, it seems like some of my old areas are wide open for new exploration and I'll be motivated to search some new areas. Add the benefit of hiking and not sitting on my arse, its like a gym membership with fresh clean air. To be sure, buying a $4000 machine to find tiddlers makes very little economic sense, but I'm not in it for the economics. I'm in it for the joy of being outside, the sound of that mellow positive beep and the ever so elusive possibilities. When the desert cools off, I'm on that new 2300 like a turkey on a junebug. In the meantime, I'm enjoying everyone's reports.
  12. Check out my latest Treasure Talk blog entry at http://www.minelab.com/usa/treasure-talk/the-minelab-sdc-2300-alaskan I have been prospecting in Alaska for nearly 40 years and it is dramatically different than the prospecting I read about on the internet. Everyone else seems to be out detecting in desert locations, and I am always detecting in pouring down rain! Others are out detecting in wide open country, and I am detecting in brush so thick I can barely squeeze through it. Needless to say Alaska is tough on metal detectors. This is compounded by the remote situations a prospector faces and the near impossible task of getting replacement parts should something fail. If you do not have a backup with you, getting communications to a dealer and then figuring out how to get the item shipped to you can be difficult at best. I have resorted to carrying not only spare parts but at least one complete backup detector on case of a failure. The new Minelab SDC 2300 fits the bill for Alaska in many ways, and I am certain also for many other locations around the globe. Jungle locations come to mind or anywhere poor conditions and difficult access are issues. Downtime can be very expensive indeed in the prospecting world, especially for artisanal miners putting food on the table with their metal detector. I rely on my Minelab GPX 5000 as my main prospecting tool. Yet there are times I would prefer to leave it in camp. The last three weeks my brother and I have been prospecting in a remote Alaska location. Unfortunately, instead of the sunny Interior Alaska summer days we were expecting we have been subjected to many days of rain. In Alaska, weather tends to set in, and it can rain not just for days but for weeks. I have spent stretches of up to two weeks detecting where it rained every day I was out. I did the best I could but the fact is most prospecting detectors are not made to run in pouring rain for days on end. My solution now is to simply grab the SDC 2300 instead, and all worries of getting my GPX 5000 wet go away! The other situation I constantly face is hunting in old mining locations that have grown over. Alder, willow, and birch spring up like fast growing weeds during Alaska's long summer daylight hours. Wading into these with a GPX 5000 with harness, bungee, battery cable, and headphones can be an exercise in frustration. It can also lead to premature equipment failures, especially for stressed power and headphone cords. Yet these brushy areas can be prime hunting locations as old tailing piles are often covered with this kind of thick brush. Again my solution now is to grab the SDC 2300 and dive in. Using the external speaker and built in batteries there is nothing to hang up, and the extremely narrow body, plus small coil on the SDC, is perfect for this type of hunting. The ultimate tough detecting situation? Hunting in thick brush in pouring down rain! Now you have not only rain but water knocked off little trees showering down on you and your detector while the brush is grabbing at cords. This is what my brother and I have been contending with lately, and we both have decided the SDC 2300 is absolutely perfect for these Alaskan type hunting conditions. Despite what many people think most gold in Alaska is actually small stuff, with larger nuggets being very rare indeed. The SDC 2300 excels on the type of gold most Alaskans will find with a detector. (Gold below found by Tom Herschbach.) The compact folding design is made for small backpacks or even day rucksacks and takes up minimal room and weight for the person hiking into remote locations. A full day operating on a battery set means a person can prospect several days with several sets of spare C-Cell batteries, or for longer trips employ a small solar charger system to keep going indefinitely. For these reasons and more my brother and I have decided to make this Australian detector an honorary Alaskan and have nicknamed it the SDC 2300 "Alaskan". The Minelab SDC 2300 is one tough little detector and whether it is in Alaska or any other challenging location prospectors will undoubtedly appreciate this newest prospecting tool.
  13. I responded to a question about the SDC 2300 on another forum and my answer pretty much summed up how I feel about the detector. So I decided to post it here also. Originally Posted by DDancer: Thanks for that input Steve. If you don't mind I'd like to also ask you how you feel about its ground balance, threshold stability and performance when other PI detectors are in the area. Any problems with emi interference from aircraft or metal structures? The SD series had a lot of difficulty in the area of emi and GB with the 2200 was never really stellar in my opinion. The ground balance is almost a non-issue. In many areas the SDC 2300 simply ignores the ground right out of the box and there is no ground balance procedure. In more mineralized ground, holding the ground balance button causes a quick ground balance to occur. The SDC 2300 is always automatically ground tracking at a medium-slow rate to maintain the best possible balance, so it is impossible for a novice operator to mess it up. I had no issues with it tracking out targets. I did encounter hot rocks the SDC would not balance out, the very same types my GPX 5000 would not balance out. Overall the SDC handles ground as well if not better than the GPX because it is running a variation of the fine gold timing and the small coil "sees" less ground than the stock coil on the GPX 5000 therefore there is less ground for it to balance out. I can get my GPX 5000 to make a threshold that is perfect with no waver. The SDC 2300 has a less stable threshold more reminiscent of other SD series detectors at higher sensitivity settings. It is pretty stable at the stock "2" sensitivity setting but still not as solid as my GPX. The SDC 2300 is quite a bit more EMI resistant than the GPX 5000 and plays well with other detectors as long as reasonable spacing is kept. When my brother fired up the SD2200v2 I could get within about 50 feet of him unless he ran a larger coil, then I needed a bit more space. The bottom line is the SDC 2300 is perhaps the most user friendly nugget detector you can buy. Anyone can run it. It really is normally a turn on and go detector. The only option normally to consider is the sensitivity setting, which gives a balance between a bit more depth but more threshold noise. We were in mild ground and I could run it maxed out but that did make for a less stable threshold. Once you find the sensitivity setting you like in an area you just leave it alone; the ground balance setting is retained when the detector is turned off. So for me operating the SDC 2300 boiled down to turning it on or turning it off. Batteries lasted a good seven hours plus. It seemed just right for most days, never quite running dead by the end if the day except for rare occasions. If I have to complain about the unit I could complain about the armrest folding up every time I pull my arm out and the lack of volume control. The headphones I received are wired on the left and the cord runs across your chest. You either wear the headphones backwards, or in my case run the cord behind my back. I need a headphone adapter to run optional phones with volume controls. But these really are minor niggles. The waterproof, compact folding design is extremely compelling and easily offsets these minor complaints. The SDC 2300 except for the cost is a perfect detector for many more casual nugget hunters who would never, ever learn what all the settings on a GPX 5000 do. It is far easier to operate in bad ground than a VLF. I can hand one to anybody, tell them to turn it on, keep the coil on the ground, and dig everything that goes beep. If it were not for the high price I would flat out just tell everyone to go buy one. It is practically impossible to be unhappy with the SDC 2300. Picture below of SDC and some other small nuggets I found with it I have not posted previously. The little black rock specimen in particular is an example of the type of gold the GPX has issues with and in fact this little piece came from an area I had previously hit with the GPX. There is but little gold mixed in with the rock in the tiny specimen.
  14. I have seen a ton of ATX vs SDC2300 and ATX vs GPX5000, and a lot more. What I have not seen is a comparison of the SDC2300 and the XTerra 705 Gold Pack. I had an XTerra 70 Gold Pack that I just sold. I was planning on getting the SDC2300, but when I consider all things, I wonder if the SDC2300 is worth the extra money? I know the XTerra will have an edge in a few areas: Versatility: Xterra can use multiple coils for different types of hunting and varying depths (with different frequencies) Price: Depending on performance of SDC2300, does it REALLY warrant a $3000 price difference? Weight: XTerra= 2.5lbs vs SDC= 5.1lbs The reason for this thread is that I have a couple of SD2000 Gold Machines. I love them, and have learned all their little idiosyncrasies over the years. The XTerra with Gold Pack (10x5 18.75khz coil) was designed for prospecting small gold at shallow depths. This seems like the same thing the SDC2300 is designed for. I know all about the differences between PI and VLF. I am even willing to accept the SDC2300 as being superior in performance, but would I REALLY be better off spending almost $4000 for a machine that seems to be designed for the same purpose as a $1000 machine? HELP! Thanks - Mike
  15. From the Minelab Knowledge Base at http://www.minelab.com/__files/f/240330/KBA_23-1%20MPF%20Technology.pdf Minelab’s SDC 2300 gold detector uses Multi Period Fast (MPF) Pulse Induction (PI) technology to give significant performance improvements over conventional PI metal detectors, for gold prospecting in mineralised ground. In this article, the inventor of MPF, Bruce Candy, explains further how the SDC 2300 works. "You will find more small nuggets and fine-threaded specimen gold in mineralised soils with the SDC 2300 than any other gold detector, including the GPX 5000.” –Bruce Candy
  16. Three-quarter ounce gold nugget found on Jack Wade Creek, Alaska on July 10, 2014 by Chris Ralph metal detecting with a Minelab SDC 2300. Probably the largest nugget found yet with the new 2300. Congratulations Chris!
  17. Hello, I was reading on another gold prospecting forum, a fellow was concerned about how robust the articulating coil connection might be on the new Minelab SDC 2300 metal detector, as well as some questions I have come up with, in regard to that detector. I will continue that first thought here, rather than possibly compromise a potential sale by a reader of a forum, whose owner might be a Minelab dealer. With regard to the coil's articulating joint: I have no technical knowledge that would tell me how robust/water resistance that moveable joint might be or have, nor the longevity of such a joint, with respect to its electrical conductivity life expectancy. I would think that the Minelab people had the same questions when the design was put forth for production, so I don't know why it should be a big secret for end users to know about, after all, it is a pretty penny to buy the machine, and you sure don't want it to go south on you right when the warranty expires, or even before for that matter... My experience with the early Minelab XT's, was that there could have been a better way that would constrain that battery pack and limit it's ability to bang around within the confines of the control box. Plus, now that I think of it the battery box door was subject to falling out, and being lost, as an aside... If my memory is correct, those tiny wires that connected the battery to the circuit board were a single strand, a hard wire, as opposed to a more flexible multiple stranded wire. In my case, the first time out with that machine, the battery module moved around so much within that control box, that the single wire broke. End of that day's use, until I could resolder the wire back at home, and hoping it would work a little longer next time I went out. The point of all of this is, we have come to expect a good product, that has been well thought out, and field tested to keep up spoiled Minelabbers happy, which I have been since the early 1990's. I have never sent any of my Minelabs back for repairs. None. Let's see: XT16000, 17000, 18000, SD2100, GP3000,GP4000,GPX5000. That is a lot of Minelabs. Plus many coils, many. THAT is a lot of dollars worth of faith in their product. Not a paid commercial... One other concern regards the use of "C" cells in the SDC2300. The why of it, opposed to the use of them, as opposed to a lighter AA rechargeables, or maybe 9 volt batteries. Could have to do with the "c" cells being more availability in Australia or??? I have become spoiled with the fast recharging lithium ion batteries. Fast, with a quick turn around. Expen$ive: oh yes! I am curious about the turn around time of the "C" cell rechargeables. I know that the old gel cell batteries did take some time to recharge, as do the AA rechargeables, so I guess the answer there, is to have spare sets of "c" batteries along to use, if you plan to have especially long detecting days. Perhaps down the road, we will see a lighter lithium-ion battery setup that will provide a really fast turn around time. Maybe that would help justify the inordinately high MSRP price of this little detector. I DO understand the reason for pricing the detector at the level it is presently... I am pretty excited, stoked even, about this little articulator. I am pretty sure there are a lot of people out there right now, drooling over their old maps, with the thought of resurrecting those old patches that were so good to us back in the day, plus other patches that remain to be discovered. Thanks, Steve for making this forum kind available. I hope you are having a great time, and enjoying your chili supply, even finding a few nuggies with that SDC 2300. Keep us in touch... Gary/Largo
  18. In the last few weeks, I've had a chance to try out Minelab's new SDC 2300 in the hills of California. I've had excellent luck with it so far - 8 nuggets the first day out, 6 nuggets the second. I did up a blog post with more detail for Minelab's Treasure Talk blog. See: http://www.minelab.c...-s-new-sdc-2300 Minelab has a long history of introducing new, cutting edge PI technology, and the SDC 2300 definitely continues that tradition. Its very sensitive to small targets, waterproof to 10 ft., amazingly resistant to coil falsing on grass and rocks, rugged, compact and easy to use. Between the small gold sensitivity and the waterproof feature, this detector will be accomplishing things no pulse detector could do before. I plan to be using quite a bit the rest of this year. No question that a number of GPX owners will be wanting an SDC, and I am sure many of you will be interested in taking a closer look at this new detector, and I'd be happy to answer any questions.
  19. Well, it is one sweet detector! Check out my first Treasure Talk blog at http://www.minelab.com/emea/treasure-talk/the-minelab-sdc-2300-my-first-impression Great things come in small packages! When a box showed up from Minelab recently the first thing that struck me was how small the box was. Like a kid at Christmas I tore the box open and lifted out my new toy – a Minelab SDC 2300 detector. There is not a box full of parts to assemble, just this little detector all folded up, and nothing quite prepares a person for just how small the SDC 2300 is the first time you see it. It is also lighter than I thought it would be. Minelab has been listing it at 5.3 lbs without batteries but I did not believe that, so I ran down and tossed it on my postal scales. They came up with only 5 lb 1 oz or 2.294 kg without batteries. The pre-production unit I was sent came without batteries, so I inserted four NiMH C-cells of my own and weighed the detector again – only 5 lb 11.6 oz or 2.598 kg with batteries included. Let’s just call it 5.7 lbs with batteries, not exactly light but again, lighter than I expected. I had watched the video (Click here to view) online and found folding the unit out for use to be very simple. The only thing to really pay attention to is that the handle needs to be firmly pushed forward to lock the shaft in place. When time comes to collapse the unit, a firm palm against front of the handle is the proper method to release the handle. I was very pleased to find that although I am 5’ 11”, the SDC 2300 had more length than I needed. I advise those who like to run a coil way out front that when running slightly heavier detectors balance is very important, so keep the shaft as short as possible. At full extension the SDC is slightly nose heavy; pulling the lower shaft in about 4” will have the detector hang more naturally on your arm leading to less fatigue. Finally, the narrow profile of the control housing and the small size of the handle mounted control panel are pleasantly surprising in actual use. The weight of the SDC is close to your side and with the shaft set properly the detector feels lighter than the weight would imply. My first impression of the overall ergonomics of the SDC 2300 was quite positive. Unfortunately I had only a couple days to evaluate the unit before sending it back to Minelab leaving me with little time to get in much actual field use. I chose therefore to take it to the worst mineralized ground I knew of nearby, a place Chris Ralph (another Treasure Talk blogger) had recently shown me in the high Sierras of California. He had commented how his GP Extreme had struggled in the location so I figured it was a good place to test the SDC. Bench testing with a 1 grain (480 grains per ounce) nugget already told me the SDC 2300 was the hottest Pulse Induction detector on small gold I have used. That being the case, how would it handle bad ground? My rechargeable batteries were still going strong at over 6 hours when I hung it up and headed home. Chris and others have pounded this location so I my hopes for finding gold were not all that high. I was pleased to find the SDC 2300 on the recommended setting of Normal Mode sensitivity “2” ran smooth as can be on this hot ground. Going to higher sensitivity levels just seemed to increase ground noise such that I did not feel it advantageous at this location, and when testing settings on the little bits of steel I found higher sensitivity did not really help. I recommend people resist the temptation to run the sensitivity up unless doing so retains a smooth threshold. A smooth threshold is very important to picking out those tiny targets and too much sensitivity resulting in ground noise defeats the purpose. The SDC ran rock solid although the threshold is more reminiscent of the older GP detectors than the GPX series in that it has a slight wavering sound at some threshold settings. The main thing I was happy to experience is that the coil is 100% impervious to being knocked around and with the included scuff cover can be allowed to ride along on the ground. The coil riding on the ground does not affect the threshold one bit, which is very important when chasing the tiniest nuggets (flakes) where even a fraction of an inch can make the difference. I love running new detectors and so was just enjoying myself when a bonus came along in the form of a little ragged gold/quartz specimen. I’m not going to claim nothing else would have found it but this little 0.67 gram piece is the sort of gold the SDC was made for and it banged out loud and clear at a few inches. Here’s the location where the nugget was found in the shadows of a tree. The bottom line is Minelab seems to have made the SDC 2300 just for me. I admit I have a personal issue in that my mindset for certain detectors runs a certain way. When I run my GPX 5000 my coils, settings, and mindset are invariably aimed at finding larger nuggets. Jonathan Porter saw this when I visited him in Australia and preferred leaving an 18” mono coil on the GPX. I really, despite good intentions, have been unable to change gears mentally and use my GPX 5000 for looking for small gold. If I want to do that I normally will grab something like a Eureka Gold set up in 60 kHz mode. The problem with a hot VLF is it also lights up hot rocks and bad ground. Now I can have my cake and eat it too! I will leave my GPX 5000 set up for large gold and continue to use it for that, and when I want to switch modes for hunting smaller prey I will grab the SDC 2300. It also solves an issue where I have seen many people trying to make GPX detectors into something like an SDC by adding external speakers and strap on batteries. This results in a heavy “franken-detector” but gets the job done. The SDC is far better suited for worming around in heavy brush where battery cables and headphone cords constantly hang up. Finally, when I get my hands on my very own SDC 2300 I envision it folded up in a rucksack with a light sleeping bag and rations for some serious backpacking into areas that have never seen a detector before. Places only a person in good condition on foot can reach – the kind of places where undiscovered patches still lurk. Good job Minelab, and thanks for the opportunity in running the SDC 2300 so early in the process. I can’t wait to get one of my own!
  20. Minelab does love their acronyms! MPS (Multi Period Sensing), DVT (Dual Voltage Technology), SETA (Smart Electronic Timing Alignment), FBS (Full Band Spectrum) and a host of others. There is a bit of marketing wizardry at work here but the basic fact is this stuff is real and is very often what gives Minelab an edge versus the competition. When Minelab comes up with a new acronym I have found it is worth paying attention to. The soon to be released Minelab SDC 2300 introduces a new acronym - MPF for Multi Period Fast. This refers to a basic pulse technology limitation - the duration between when the transmit (TX) mode shuts off and the receive (RX) mode kicks in. This "pulse delay" is a brief window measured in microseconds (uS) and it allows time for the electronics to settle before the receive phase. It also governs how small a target a PI detector can detect, as during that brief delay the signal induced in the target decays rapidly. If the target signal decays in a time frame shorter than the pulse delay the target is invisible to the detector. Small targets and poor conductors especially are governed by this limitation. The plus side is the signal from most ground, hot rocks, and salt water also disappears during the short pulse delay period, which is what makes PI detectors work so well. Due to a desire to limit the signal from salt water plus limitations in mass production of coils the shortest pulse delay commonly seen in consumer detectors is about 10 uS. Here is what Minelab has to say about MPF: "MPF Technology - MPF (Multi Period Fast) technology incorporates extremely fast Pulse Induction switching between Transmit (Tx) and Receive (Rx) detector signals. Therefore minimal residual transmit signal is present during the receive cycle, enabling clear sharp detection of very small gold." Multi Period Fast (MPF) PI detectors can be designed with a shorter pulse delay than 10 uS, but it takes very tight tolerances and especially very well built coils. This normally requires units to be hand built and calibrated, increasing their production costs considerably. Much of this has been discussed on Tom Dankowski's forum in the past regarding beach detectors and the limitations thereof. This is pure speculation on my part but I do believe the MPF technology aimed at delivering enhanced small gold capability is also partly responsible for the price of the SDC 2300 and the fact the coil is hard wired. Both make absolute sense given what I think I know about building a PI specifically designed to detect small gold. That ability comes at a price, as the detector may have issues also with hot rocks and salt water, but these can be overcome through ground balancing technology. It is a tough nut to crack and produce at the consumer level, and many people at Tom's forum have been wishing for just this kind of detector. The potential exists not only for gold prospecting but micro-jewelry detecting. Anyway, time will tell and hopefully answers will be forthcoming soon. I am in line for a SDC as soon as I can get one and it may fill a role I have never focused on with my GPX 5000 - getting the small stuff. I have seen what a GPX with a small coil can do if properly tuned and in expert hands and I am hoping the SDC is set up to be more grab and go for that type of detecting. That way my GPX remains my elephant hunting gun and I will grab the SDC to clean up the crumbs. It may make previously pounded locations "come alive" again in missed gold nuggets. I have been ignoring the SDC waiting for mid-2014 to get closer and now that it is sneaking up I am doing my usual get excited by new toy thing! More information on the new Minelab SDC 2300 at http://www.detectorprospector.com/gold-prospecting-equipment/minelab-sdc-2300-waterproof-gold-nugget-detector.htm
  21. From http://www.minelab.com/usa/consumer/knowledge-base/news?article=215928 1/31/14 Minelab SDC 2300 - Click on image for larger picture Minelab is pleased to provide further information about our exciting new SDC 2300 GOLD detector scheduled for release in mid-2014. Compact Size - Folds to small portable size, 8 ½ ” (216mm) by 16” (406mm). Fits into carry-on luggage and most backpacks. Rugged & Assembly Free - Military grade construction, one piece detector designed to perform in the toughest conditions. Waterproof Capability - Fully submersible to 10’ (3m) for detecting riverbeds and shorelines allowing you to transition with ease from land to water. Now you can use your Minelab GOLD detector in all wet weather conditions allowing you to stay on the goldfields for longer, even in the rainy season. Easy Patch Hunting - Search quickly and efficiently in hard to reach and remote places to find those elusive gold bearing clustered deposits. Easy-to-use Controls LED Indicators - Shows target signal strength, threshold level and battery status. Audio Control - Adjusts threshold level and low/high audio tone to suit user preference. Noise Cancel - Easy button press to automatically reduce external interference. Sensitivity - Eight position adjustments for optimum target identification in varying ground conditions. MPF Technology - MPF (Multi Period Fast) technology incorporates extremely fast Pulse Induction switching between Transmit (Tx) and Receive (Rx) detector signals. Therefore minimal residual transmit signal is present during the receive cycle, enabling clear sharp detection of very small gold. Standard Accessories (included with detector) - Headphones (non waterproof) Optional Accessories (not included with detector) - Headphones (Waterproof), Carry Bag Detector Technical Specifications Coil - 8" Round Monoloop Audio Output - Built-in speaker, Koss 100 Ohm headphones (standard accessory - supplied), Koss waterproof headphones (optional accessory - not supplied) Display - 9 LEDs indicate detection, battery status and Threshold level, 1 Low battery warning LED Length - Extended: 1500mm (59.1"), Collapsed: 400mm (15.7") Weight (Excluding Batteries and Headphones) - 2.4kg (5.3lbs) Operating Temperature Range - 0°C to 50°C (32°F to 122°F) Storage Temperature Range –33°C to 70°C (–27°F to 1°F) Batteries - C Cell 4 x 1.5V Alkaline (supplied), 1.2V NiMH (optional), 1.2V Ni-Cad (optional) Sensitivity - 8 step position adjustment Noise Cancel - Automatic scanning Ground Balance - Automatic Ground Tracking (AGT), Fast Ground Balance Threshold - 9 audio levels Audio Pitch (Tone) - Low: 550Hz ±15, High: 720Hz ±15 Transmission - Pulse Induction Technology - Multi Period Fast (MPF) Optional Accessories - Waterproof Headphones, Carry Bag
  22. I added the upcoming Minelab SDC 2300 metal detector to my website in the Equipment section. I will update this with new information as soon as it is available. The next release of information by Minelab is slated for January 31, 2014. According to the Codan (owner of Minelab) announcement at http://www.codan.com.au/Portals/0/investorpubs/2013%20Business%20Update%20and%20Profit%20Guidance.pdf the detector will be on the market in April 2014 but of course this could change.
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