Yes Reg, I think the 'massive pain in the ass' statement is unwarranted. It is not and I have just been out doing some testing today after my QED had a little re-tweak and it is working amazingly well. I'll do a write up on that down in the QED section soon.
And the QED has some distinct advantages over the SDC such as price, weight, ergonomics, versatility with coils, etc.
But, the SDC for a complete newbie is so simple, so basic yet so effective at getting the small, shallow, wiry, specimen or solid type gold. It is much simpler to understand than almost any other PI.
And the SDC is just ridiculous at how it handles mineralisation. Digging hot rocks, cold rocks, false ground signals are almost a thing of the past with it. In respect of mineralisation it is better than the QED, it is better than the GPZ 7000 and probably better than any PI on the market.
The SDC has limitations in its ergonomics, coil selection, price, sometimes EMI, etc, but for a complete newbie its ability to find gold regularly and to simply ignore mineralisation puts it in a unique position.
Again, just my non-expert opinion.