Early Field Review Of AlgoForce E1500

[Taz]

54 minutes ago, Jeff McClendon said:

here is the most recent Australian report:

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/threads/algoforce-e1500-new-pi-detector-from-ex-minelab-engineer.42049/post-676747

Some good info starting to come in. Id be interested to hear, most may say why bother, but how it goes against a good Vlf on gold in quiet ground and noisy ground. After all its supposed to have Vlf sensitivity. Would be interesting to hear how it actually compares, in ground not air. 

So far its ticking a number of boxes for me. 

[araratgold]

One thing that stood out for me is that the SDC easily beat it on all targets with the 14x9 Coiltek vs 12 evo, and the 6000 with its standard 11 inch smashed it for depth. The SDC does have another advantage, that is automatic ground tracking, and also has exceptional handling of mineralisation.

Will be interesting to see how the AlgoForce E1500 goes with bigger coils, in real ground conditions. 

Interesting too in this test is just how poorly the QED did ! 

Rick

[Lead Detector]

I look at it as an affordable option to get into newer tech PI, with more coil options than most others. My guess is that was the makers goal. If it can even closely compete with a machine twice it's price, that only sweetens the deal, but should not be expected.  Just my thoughts on it. Looking forward to seeing more testing by experienced users. We all appreciate your efforts. 

[Jeff McClendon]

1 hour ago, araratgold said:

One thing that stood out for me is that the SDC easily beat it on all targets with the 14x9 Coiltek vs 12 evo, and the 6000 with its standard 11 inch smashed it for depth. The SDC does have another advantage, that is automatic ground tracking, and also has exceptional handling of mineralisation.

Will be interesting to see how the AlgoForce E1500 goes with bigger coils, in real ground conditions. 

Interesting too in this test is just how poorly the QED did ! 

Rick

SDC 2300 is set on Max sensitivity. GPX 6000 is also set to A+ or Max in Normal. E1500 is not. E1500 using the 12" Evo is in Fine mode. I would have used it in Normal for maximum depth on larger targets. Just little things but they could make a difference. 

Like I said earlier, I absolutely don't care how it compares to the GPX 6000 especially on deeper targets. I do care how it compares to the SDC 2300 on any target.

[mn90403]

Jeff,

You have been involved with updating detectors, right?

I'm betting that AlgoForce plans to listen to the users and tweak the units as necessary.  That being said, your SDC comparison would seem to put it on a standard that many of us understand and tweak it to be as good ... maybe better.

[Doc]

4 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

For me, the only performance the AF E1500 has to compete with match or beat is the SDC2300.

It totally beats it for coil selection, having a display and good settings adjustments and most of all ergonomics and price.

Anything more than that is definitely icing on the cake.

The SDC2300 has it beaten for being waterproof. Maybe AlgoForce will take the next mythical step and waterproof the E1500 into an All Terrain version.

Comparing it to a 5000 to 8000 US dollar detector as far as overall performance is way beyond its scope in my opinion.

Using the appropriate coils, if it can easily detect 0.01 gram flakes or even smaller and also hit a 5 gram US nickel at 18 to 20" and maybe even identify it with a conductivity target ID.......I will be impressed.

Hard to find anything that beats the SDC2300 as far as being immune to hot ground.  However keep in mind I am in the U.S. our ground is not as harsh.  However, I do have spots where the GPX 5000 would scream and the SDC2300 would purr.  Very simple machine to use.  My big gripe was that dinky coil.  Can you think of the number of times you have to swing an 8 inch compared to a 14 inch.  Makes my arm sore just thinking about it.

Doc

[Jeff McClendon]

1 hour ago, Doc said:

Hard to find anything that beats the SDC2300 as far as being immune to hot ground.  However keep in mind I am in the U.S. our ground is not as harsh.  However, I do have spots where the GPX 5000 would scream and the SDC2300 would purr.  Very simple machine to use.  My big gripe was that dinky coil.  Can you think of the number of times you have to swing an 8 inch compared to a 14 inch.  Makes my arm sore just thinking about it.

Doc

My biggest gripe with the SDC 2300 was the weight and the threshold warble. Even using your products, I just couldn't get comfortable swinging that detector for long unless the terrain was flat and vegetation was sparse. Otherwise, I just wanted to jettison that detector as quickly as possible especially on high altitude, boulder strewn hillsides full of trees and shrubs. That threshold drove me nuts and there were not enough threshold setting levels. 

[Gold Catcher]

8 hours ago, Doc said:

Hard to find anything that beats the SDC2300 as far as being immune to hot ground.

Spot on Doc. I do want to remind all that the SDC was made for a very specific purpose, namely to outperform VLFs in highly mineralized soil with shallow fast gold. The MPF timings were made exactly for this purpose, and the 8 inch round is the ideal combination partner. I don't know about the AlgoForce timings, but the SDC MPF gives this machine a distinct advantage over others in my fleet, specifically for these situations. It was never meant to be a versatile detector, hence no coil options (unless aftermarket). I still love my SDC. Yes, clunky, perhaps outdated, ergonomically a 0 out of 100, but what a beast! Also, extremely robust and can tolerate beatings without problems. Still made with the old fashion ML high(er) quality/reliable construction (wish it would come back...). The battery issue never bothered me as it was a simple fix. Overall, the best option for me for small washes with shallow gold in the Sierra Nevada and the Mojave desert. Haven't seen any detector like it, and it appears (from what I have read thus far) that the AlgoForce can't compete with the SDC overall package. But again, it would be an unfair comparison anyhow. Not even the GPZ can compete with the SDC IMO in these very specific conditions, where MPF timings shine. Just my 2c.

GC 

[Jeff McClendon]

24 minutes ago, Gold Catcher said:

Spot on Doc. I do want to remind all that the SDC was made for a very specific purpose, namely to outperform VLFs in highly mineralized soil on shallow fast gold. The MPF timings were made exactly for this purpose, and the 8 inch round is the ideal combination partner. I don't know about the AlgoForce timings, but the SDC MPF gives this machine a distinct advantage over others in my fleet, specifically for these situations. I still love my SDC. Yes, clunky, perhaps outdated, ergonomically a 0 out of 100, but what a beast! Also, extremely robust and can tolerate beatings without any problems. Still made with the old fashion ML high quality/reliable construction (wish it would come back...). The battery issue never bothered me as it was a simple fix. Overall, the best option for me for small washes with shallow gold in the Sierra Nevada and the Mojave desert.

GC 

I am just going to speak for me and not "all". 

I mentioned the warbling threshold on the SDC 2300. That threshold warbled on every audible setting because the SDC's tracking ground balance system was incapable of keeping up with the high mineralization at the sites I was often detecting.  I only had to drive 300 miles round trip to Colorado and Wyoming sites (with lousy mineralization) instead of 1600 miles round trip to get to areas in Arizona where the actual ground mineralization (not the hot rocks) are significantly milder.

The Goldmonster 1000 also had similar issues with it tracking ground balance system at these sites closer to where I live. So, at least for me, these two tracking ground balance detectors failed to live up to Minelab's claims of one size fits all ground conditions. The SDC2300 was outperformed at these sites by any dual channel ground balance PI that could do a ground grab ground balance. The GM 1000 met the same fate. An XP ORX, Equinox 800 and Goldmaster 24K found lots more gold for me at these sites simply because I could be in control of their ground balancing.

[Gold Catcher]

8 minutes ago, Jeff McClendon said:

because the SDC's tracking ground balance system was incapable of keeping up with the high mineralization at the sites I was often detecting

I never rely on the auto track for longer periods of time and do a quick GB fairly often (sometimes every 5min) if the ground is very inhomogeneous. Never had a problem with it.