SDC2300 performance consistency

Hi all, just after other people thoughts on using a sdc2300. Am fairly new to detecting and just trying to work out a few things. I am finding small gold but seems very inconsistent in how well it performs. When I find a location that produces really well I come back on another day and find my machine reacts differently and have no luck. I understand we can't always find gold but I feel the machine reacts differently on different days. My questions are..
Do other people find the same thing and what do you think effects the performance?
I find I do better detecting late in the day or early morning, anyone else and why?
Thanks in advance for your replays

Welcome to detecting , being new i would suggest you pay alot of attention to your start up making sure you balence and noise cancel properly , detectors do run different depending on weather etc , first thing in the morning and late in the day there is alot less emi from the atomospear and they do run smoother.
Theres lots of things that can make a detector run unstable therefore making detecting very frustrating at times , trying different methods and settings is all part of learning .
There has been a few sdc with loose conections internally but 9 out of 10 times its the operator or weather conditions, if it still runs smooth at night or early in the day chances are its emi or ground conditions,
holding the green button and pumping the coil should help , some days you may have to it many times through the day especially if the ground visually changes , try lowering your sensitivity on bad days .

I find my SDc pretty consistent ( as far as I know). There is a spot I have swung over on 5 different days....each day I have detected a sub grammer (on each Day) but never the 5 bits all on the one day...why..who knows.

First...There are so many variables and one thing that I reckon affects machines is the way we detect.

I've seen blokes swinging detectors like a golf club and good on them if they find anything.

I also reckon how you attack the ground is a big part of it. Hopefully the pic below will explain it.

With the gold on the left image (not to scale) sitting upright a swing of the coil on the ground or just above it might not find the gold...same bit with a slightly different angle of attack and it pings. Just a theory and totally untested.

Second....I think it also depends on the ground and mineralisation. Some blokes say run your SDC on high threshold (volume) and set at 5 and others say lower threshold and on 1 or 2. The manual recommends setting at 2 and half threshold. The actual ground should tell you what settings work and its gonna differ from spot to spot. I ground balance regularly.

Third factor is what you are listening with...either headphones or an external speaker or a boosted system (headphones or ext speakers).

Personally I prefer headphones and use Deteknix wireless headphones..for me they work a treat and last 8 hours.

It's a great question you've raised. Look forward to the various views that will follow.
cheers
Mike

I am a firm believer different gold pieces signal on diferent days ,
i have seen people shot down for this comment on other forums for not doing the patch properly the first day
but i have a 3 x 9 meter patch i raked flat and each time i swang over it in two directions (say east west swing then north south swing), with plenty of overlap and slow as ,so i doubt i missed 10mm of it any day,
5 different days i got sub grammers from that patch, admitantly i didnt rake it till the third trip, but it makes me believe somedays they hide some days they shine .

Thanks so much Mike and Aussiefarmer your responses are very helpful. The other day I found 3 pieces within 1 meter in 30 minutes before I had to stop as the sun went down so I returned the following evening using the sdc on the same settings but copped heaps of interference and warbaling so reset but still not smooth and no luck. Have had another day wher I put in a full day for zip then kept going after dark and in the same area and picked up 7 bits really easily, I can't help thinking the machine works heaps better at times. Just trying to pin point why so I can get some consistency.
I am using the headphones that came with it with the wireless booster, was lucky and got them as a bonus when I purchased. I can't use the machine with the external speaker, seems way to hard to hear.

Hi Gully.

Welcome to the forum.

Yep, EMI is different on different days and time of the day.

The way you noise cancel is important and may take more than once to get a decent channel.

Wet ground Vs dry ground can make a difference.

And (this was my biggest knucklehead mistake) where do you put your mobile phone? If you are swinging with your right hand and the phone is in your right pocket it's going to make your machine wobbly every time it brushes near your pocket. It took 3 trips before I worked out why I couldn't get a smooth threshold.

Good luck :Y:

Aircraft going over head will also interfere
with your detector.
I mean the Large Passenger ones at about 30,000
feet.
I can hear them coming at times with the 4500.

Up at Hill End,
Had this funny faint warbling coming through the detector,
Mobile Phone turned off, Check,
Spun around in circles looking for the source, Check,
No airCraft Around, Check,
Retuned it, Check.
Damned annoying.
Not Air craft Carrier sized Mozzies, Check,
Took battery out of mobile phone.
Got it.
Damned Mobile Phones.
Now have the perfect excuse to keep it turned off.
I have not tried it in Aircraft Mode but not going to bother. ]

Also noticed that tath but gully first read of your post I have wondered about mindset of a person (anxiety, excitement or tiredness) in relation to how fast or slow the swing is of the operator.
But after reading your response I'm wondering if there is any cb/uhf operators out there have any responses to high and low pressure systems in the weather that affects transmission distance ?

Dont let it get in your head is the key , the days its noisy try different things like ( try one at a time and if 1 or 2 or 3 seem to help use them together after a restart..
.. Noise cancelling 3 or 4 times
...Balencing every time it warbles
...try Instead of pumping the coil just tap the button every time it warbles
...Noise cancel and balence on 5 then drop down to 2 or 3 sensitivity
...find a area out of the wind and see if it runs smoother
... leave every item thats metal including your pick , phone, watch , nipple rings etc under a tree , work a square mark all targets with your boot then go get pick and dig em.
... turn sdc off even drop the batteries out then put em back in and start again.

Somedays you just wont beat it , but thinking outside the box can give enough improvement to still find gold and finding gold with a noisy detector will train your brain so when it runs smooth you will be zen like and in the zone .

These are not recommendations for everyday use but things to try and things i have tried , certain wind still upsets my sdc but i stay calm and fight it and usually still get gold.

Or maybe you just wear steel cap boots some days :lol: :lol:

Been caught a few years ago with that one. :8 :8

I have also been stumped by the wedding ring on occasions

lighter left corner pocket always has a spot of gold in it

Funniest for me was night detecting with can of bourban every target i dug kept moving take a drink and theres another no doubt sdcs love aluminum, the foil out of a smoke pack with blow ya ears in

Put my car keys in the top pocket of my pack one day, every time put my scoop over the coil it sang, drove me mad.
Its just I bent over, and the coil picked up the keys, reckon it about 3 hours before the penny dropped....I can be a bit slow at times!

Solar flairs / Activity is a big issue with EMI - so pays to check if any big ones going off if you seem to be having issues after checking all teh obvious... And first on that list is User lol.

http://solarham.net/magnetogram.htm

And I thought I was the only one doing this sort of thing

I know I'm gonna get laughed at for this, but I rarely use noise cancel or ground balance on start up anymore. My start up procedure is; coil on the ground slowly swinging left to right etc, then turn the machine on as you keep swinging. Keep swinging until it's finished it's start up and then straight into detecting.

I don't know why but my machine seems to like it.

OK, commence laughing

I have done noise cancel with the coil sitting on the ground and it helped that day when nothing else would , so im not laughing , i have also just switched it on and got straight into it so it must nilly remember the previous setup.
I am not saying anything i suggested is good practice always try the recommended method but dont be affraid to try things more so once you are confident and know how it should be behaving.