SDC 2300 at the beach

Well got my first run at the beach behind me. No big gold rings or treasure chests uncovered.
Did dig some very nice iron trash :-)

My go to beach machines are the Excalibur and the CTX, so I'm comparing to that.

I can swing a CTX for longer, and definately the Excal on an anderson shaft to cover a lot of ground.
But where this machine really comes into its own is hunting cuts and seawater running over the coil.
The treshold flows up and down with your coil movement, but a target sound has an abrupt change to the threshold.

So I mostly dug targets out of akward cuts caused by the current ripping at the beach.
Great stuff.

And then target size.
I usually take my wet beach scoop with me, punched with 8mm holes and anything that falls out usually gets ignored.
Used my dry beach scoop with 6mm holes and 2 high power magnets mounted.
Had a few tiny targets stick to the magnets and more than a few fall through the holes. Haven't dug such small fishhooks before.
This really is a very sensitive unit even at Salt 1 setting.

You can hear when the machine is adjusting for more mineralisation, the treshold begins to waver a little more than usual.
This really get's my attention as its possibly a target holding area.

In short the SDC 2300 is an Excal equiped with a magnifying glass. With a little more use I'll be calling targets, an awfull lot of info in the target signal!!

HH
Johnb

Sounds fun!

Good write up too.

Thanks for sharing and keep us updated ;-)

I have done a bit of freshwater work with the SDC. Nothing of note to report except it handles black sand well and hits tiny stuff, which could be good or bad. But here are some good finds....

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/25/2014 04:35AM by Steve Herschbach.

A PI can be very effective on the right beach or as you say location.... and even during certain seasons. But .... id still go with the multi freq for faster recovery and their ability to cover move ground. PIs can be sensitive...... but how much more sensitive are they on GOLD, which is what we are after, once you add the salt water? The salt water wont allow most of them any better sensitivity to smaller gold just because you have to reduce the pulse delay changing the Us to around 10.... and many wont even run that low. Smaller holes and magnets in the scoops to catch trash.... that you just dug 18" down. Now thats work. Is there some good stuff down there you bet especially in mineralized areas that kill depth. Its just a different style of hunting. Ive noticed the PIs have really creaped up since they added the military look.... but has the performance?

Dew

Anytime on the beach I get a legitimate deep target, coin size or smaller, well there's some anticipation during recovery on my part.

Will it outhunt an FBS machine? Don't know,... probably depends on the make up of the beach.
This one beach I now and again detect, the Excal just goes nuts when you drop the coil to the "sand".
I first ventured there with the E-trac and managed a very respectable result.

Digging 18" down isn't that much work, you just need a decent scoop and a bit of technique. I only takes me 4 single handed scoops.
The Stavr scoops are great for fast target retrieval.
If the target isn't out of the hole on the first scoop, then one scoop behind and 2 dead center of the target response.

Seawater and small gold,... I'm not kidding myself the salt signal will drown out the gold signal.
On the other hand there are a number of situations I need to back down on the sensitivity of BBS and FBS/2 where the SDC 2300 just sails on regardless.

Will it be the ultimate answer to beach detecting,... probably not.
It just works and drops goodies in the bag the other detectors have trouble hitting with a clean dig me ID.
This first came apparent to me when hitting the dry beach prospecting style with an X-terra 705 and a fairly large dump bag for the targets.
I was digging coins at depth that didn't ID wright in the disc circuit, most ID-ed as some sort of foil. This on a section that is more than covered regularly by the clad shooters.
Disc circuits are great, we love them,... but a lot of good stuff is left behind.

I've read a lot about PI machines and most people say they go awfull deep and are a real pain in the pinpointing department.
That's what I was worried about. A very sensitive machine, that can't hit the side of a barn with a shotgun :-)
Not this one!
It actually pinpoints better than my DD coils on the excalibur or the CTX.

You've got to be detector crazy to invest this kind of money in a machine.

I guess I am :-)

HH
Johnb

Scoopjohnb, you have a good understanding of the machines you own. I am interested to see how well this machine works at the saltwater beaches. All advantages and weakness that you learn as you get acquainted with it. My opinion of the SDC 2300 has been that it's strength was to be easy to pack in to hard to get to places for a gold nugget machine and rain proof, but usable as a beach machine. The design of the machine would seem to be hard to swing in heavy surf conditions. At least you have one in your hands so maybe you can help some other serious detectorists to decide if it is a machine that they might like in their arsenal of machines (I am beginning to believe that no serious detectorist owns any less than three machines. I have eleven now!!! How crazy is that?). I have to admit that the prices of the new top of the line detectors are crazy, but apparently there are a lot of crazy detectorists buying them. Enough to be profitable anyway....Stuart

I use a PP switch on the Xcal and most of the time hunt in PP. It doesnt have a PI depth cant argue that even here in Fl, but i can run full sensitivity with the ability to switch back and disc a target. Most of the times when gold is out of reach here.... even a PI wont get it. During recent drop times a PI will keep you to busy or even when thing have opened up and targets are abundunt.... that may not be the best time to use a PI because all those targets arent good ones. All that said ..... id certainly like to own another PI like the Finny at a reasonable price with the ability to change coils, headphones, lower Us, and other capibilities most dont. Everyone hunts different.... lot of times because of their equipment. Ya i like me a Stavr scoop.

Dew

I too use the Excall with the OBN modified pinpoint switch in the handle and custom headphones. Actually bought a second one to be modified later in the year. Great beach machine. But like my PI machines over knee deep in salt surf. Even use a dry suit and snorkel with mask at times. I really love my Sunspot scoop with the carbon fiber handle. Funny how we can make such as simple sport so expensive chasing those little gold trinkets.
That being said, spending the time on the beach with any decent machine that you know well and trust and learning the beaches that you hunt is more important than anything else for finding gold. What makes this forum so great is the amount of serious detectorists on this sight and how much everyone shares information on each machines strengths and weaknesses in different soils and conditions. Not as much information on beach hunting as relic hunting on this sight, but the technical information on each machine is invaluable. So I welcome any information on the SDC 2300 for beach hunting that I can find from an honest user and not just advertising hype...Stuart