2300's looking good!


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Hey guys, saw a post from JP on an Aussie forum "gold detecting 4 umer" the post on the SDC2300.

He has been using it and reckons its red hot!

Im lousy at putting up links though, but check it out.

Looks like its gonna be a goody! His words "the hottest PI have ever laid my hands on".

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Hey Roo,

Been reading JP's stuff on Facebook. I have requested him to post his updated information here on the forums. Hopefully he will do so and we can see his pictures and such. He claims it's very sensitive and he has found many small nuggets and specimens missed by the GPX 5000 and prior metal detectors. He also stated the weight is around 5.1 pounds, lighter than the ATX, but not sure if that is with or without the C-Batteries installed.

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Been looking at what JP has done with this detector and I am really impressed. Long have prospectors wished for a detector with the sensitivity to small gold of a high frequency VLF and the resistance to mineralization and hot rocks of a good PI. The SDC 2300 may have essentially achieved that - JP says it has "nearly VLF sensitivity with nigh on nill ground signal response". I have a very sensitive scale, and the smallest piece of gold I got last summer with the GB2 was 0.006 grams - it was honestly very near what the limit of the GB2 is capable of in mild ground with the gain cranked to the max. JP's smallest piece with the SDC2300 is less than 0.00 grams. So even if its 0.009, its still pretty much into GB2 territory. This is smaller than what most of the mid-frequency multi-purpose VLFs can see, and with an 8 inch coil, it should punch deeper than a VLF on gram and smaller nuggets and see small stuff no PI currently available can detect. There are a lot of those half gram and smaller pieces out there and I think a lot of new gold in the gram and smaller range is going to be found with this detector on known patches. JP is also using his on specimen quartz - many mines have small gold flakes shot through the quartz or in wire form. I am looking forward to getting my hands on one when they become available.

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Hey Guys,

I have taken the GB2 to places where I know there is small gold. That being said, most of those locations were moderate to high mineralization (iron stones, basalts and iron rich soil conditions). I would have to dumb down the GB2 to a much lower sensitivity, taking away some of the sensitive to find the very small nuggets near the surface. If the Minelab SDC 2300 is what they claim, it will be like a GB2 in a sense, but still have the mineral immunity with the high sensitivity to small gold.

I have some places in mind, but for the most part, I'm going to hike into some remote locations this Winter season that I know has "sleeper type" gold nugget hiding since the original discoveries. Just too far to pack a big Minelab with all the stuff you have to carry with it.

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Yep it sounds the goods alright! If it is, then this will be the first detector ill have bought that I think looks a bit goofy :lol:

But I reckon after finding some with it it'll be like putting on "beer goggles" only this will be "gold goggles" and ill be thinking how pretty it then is :lol:

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Chris is 100% on the money about the SDC 2300, imagine a detector with nearly the sensitivity of the GBII but with the punch of a PI that ignores mineralisation like a GPX 5000 in Fine Gold. In some ways I'm not a fan of the housing but then when I pack the thing up its so compact I can just put it behind the seat of my 4x4, grabbing it again for a quick detect is an extremely easy and simple to do, a true switch on an go simple to use high performance gold detector.

JP

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Sounds interesting mate. What about length for us tall guys? Im 6.3 and cant use the normal Minelab shaft on my 5000 as I have to stoop over, its too short and use a longer shaft. Im guessing it has a shaft that extends out further than you get on a 5000? I hope! Out of interest, you have used it on some of your flogged spots, what depth have you found some bits at that the 5 for example missed? Or some that for example surprised you at how deep it got them? Rough idea, cos like me you may not carry a ruler as a rule :lol:

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I wonder if the sdc2300 would be able to take standard minelab coils with a shaft change or does it use dedicated new coils with different specs?

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The SDC has a fixed coil, but for it's intended purpose the coil supplied does a brilliant job of things providing very good sensitivity on amazingly tiny little nuggets in extremely mineralized environments.

The headphone connector is a Mil-Spec unit, I would say it is needed due to the water proof nature of the detector, there was some talk of offering an adapter to allow people to use other brands of headphones other than the supplied Koss.

I'm 6' 1" and don't find myself stooping with the detector, but I do use it at full extension so taller people might find themselves having to stoop slightly. It takes a while to get used to coil attachment arrangements to the lower shaft, having the extra pivot component at the rear of the coil scuffing slightly on the ground takes a bit if getting used to, after a while I didn't even notice it.

The 5000 has a lot more grunt than the SDC, from a gram up the 5000 will definitely have more performance, from a gram down to 1/2 gram it's a mixed result depending on each detectors timings and how they see the targets based on depth, mineralization present and the shape and size of the nugget. So far the 5000 seems to have more outright grunt on solid pieces whereas the SDC is amazingly sensitive on anything that is prickly or specimen in nature. 0.5 gm to 0.1 the SDC starts to sing and under 0.1 the SDC starts to shout.

Overall the SDC is a lot quieter to operate than the 5000 especially in highly mineralized and variable ground that also includes salty areas, due to the quiet running nature of the 2300 there will be a lot of places were small nuggets will just pop out at you leaving you wondering how you missed them with your GPX.

Hope this helps

JP

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Thanks Jonathan, yep that answers it all pretty much. Guess Ill have to try one out and see how I go length wise. If I have to stoop with it then it'll have to be off my list unfortunately for myself as a back complaint is what makes me need the longer shafts on the 5. Here's hoping a solution comes up for that. And, by the looks of it the headphones go in on the left, good for orthodox but annoying for us south paws! :lol:

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Heard Fisher is coming out w/ a new one that will rival Garrett and Minelab. That's what I'm waiting on, hopefully at a respectable price. Have a high dollar Minelab, don't need another yet.

Shep

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