More Hiking for SDC Gold


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I just met a friend to go on what he described as "an arduous hike" into Northern California gold country. I have not lived out of a backpack in many years, so I had to get my gear together in as reasonably light a package as possible for four nights in the wild. The core was built around my new Minelab SDC 2300 due to the compact folding design. Tent, sleeping bag, rations, etc for five days, four nights came to 45 lbs. I figured this trip would alert me to what I needed to bring but did not, and what I could leave behind.

I ended up pretty happy with the setup except for my boots, which were not really up to lots of steep downhill stuff. Might lose a toenail or two from getting jammed up for days. The SDC with my three sets of rechargeable batteries made it for four days though I had two sets of alkalines just in case. The ground was really hot, with patches of soil I estimate ran about 50% magnetite and fairly hot serpentine bedrock. The SDC needed to be run extra slow in the bad spots or it would groan as the ground balance and autotune struggled to keep up. No way a VLF would work in this stuff and it would challenge most PI detectors.

The remote location and tough detecting conditions meant I saw almost no sign of previous detecting. I have no doubt people have given it a quick go and just gave up. That being the case, there were plenty of bullets and nails to dig. No lack of targets so more depth was not something I needed. I was plenty happy my GPX 5000 stayed home and that I had the SDC instead. Not that it was much of an option as my GPX with related gear alone would have filled my backpack!

The gold was generally sparse and scattered but I did find one little patch with a few chunky pieces. Enough to add up to 11.2 grams or 7.1 pennyweight. I sure like this California gold. It's high purity and rich color put most Alaska gold to shame.

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Steve,

Way to go!!! I have been putting the miles on the SDC2300 in the Klamath Mtns. Awesome detector and so simple. Regarding pack wgt, check out some of the Ultralight backpacking sites. I have got my pack wgt. under 30 lbs. for four night trips including Nugzilla (my little friend SDC2300).

Keep the motivation coming,

Rick

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Hi Rick,

Yeah, great prospecting detector for sure. Basically just turn it on and turn it off, and the small coil makes me pay more attention to good technique instead of just relying on ground coverage.

There are just too many places to go! I am going to get up into Klamath country sometime chasing pocket gold and platinum but it seems already the year is flying by and winter not far off in the high country. I will only get in a few more trips to the Sierras before it is time to shift to Nevada and then later to Arizona. Good luck up there!

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Steve,

An aside, I have been using a ROK strap 12"-42" Adjustable Strap - 2 pk / loop thru (Amazon) for a simple bungy rig on the SDC23OO. Put the short section on the detector shaft. It has a quick release and the long section on shoulder loop on daypack or hydration rig. Works great, simple, and light weight.

Good Luck,

Rick

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Hey Guys, I just ran in to a person with a sdc2300 today and he was complaining about his detector going off when he hit or touched a green or wet bush. He was thinking about sending it in to Minelab to have them look at it. Wondering if you guys had any thing like that happen with yours?

Good going on the backpack gold!

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My SDC coil cover is slightly loose and in time it fills with soil and sand. The only problems I have had with the SDC falsing regularly occur when the space between the coil and coil cover are filed with soil materials. A quick peel off of the cover and empty out of the space resolves the problem and no more falsing - he might give that a try and see if that fixes the issue. Its a whole lot easier than shipping it back to ML.

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Hey Guys,

I haven't had any issues with the SDC 2300 falsing, but have had many different coils false on the 5000. I'm sure the coil being hardwired and wired within the shaft really helps. I can't tell you how impressed I'm with the SDC.

I have a few minor issues with the SDC 2300 designs, but they are minor from what the detector is doing overall. One issue is I seen to be bending over a lot with the detector. I wish it was a few more inches longer. I like to run a long lower shaft on my GPX 5000, so I'm used to having the coil further out then normal. Secondly, I seem to really have to pull my arm out of the arm rest, but have seen some are using the Minelab neoprene cover on the SDC. This might help and allow my arm to pull out of the armrest with strap easier.

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