Steve
Way to go with the SDC. Seems like it performs well enough. I've heard the ATX has been very successful with small gold as well. What were some of the depths you were finding them in?
How do we compare PI units to each other?
Did minelab come out with this in response to the ATX as well? Seems almost identical as far as concept (which I love) and weight. Plus being waterproof up to 10'. About time they let us detect in wet conditions. So now I've got to explore yet another PI possibility.
Thanks for posting the pic Steve. Maybe we could bump into ya in AZ this year. More flooding as of yesterday and possibly more today. So that means more nuggets to be found. Thank god summers about over, so I'll have more time.
Depth to a few inches. What was impressive was not the depth but the soil being about 50% magnetite from what I saw from my magnet. A VLF would be nearly useless in this stuff.
I honestly think both Garrett and Minelab sunk a lot of money into developing a housing for a military mine detector specification. Having done so, both needed to leverage that investment by cramming something in that housing they could sell to the public. Parallel development tracks. It does appear however with the huge lead time in the Minelab announcement of the SDC that they were attempting to get people to hold off on the ATX until the SDC came out.
I have to be one of the only people on the planet who owns a Garrett ATX, Minelab GPX and SDC, and White's TDI. I love PI detectors for what I do.
The short story on the ATX versus the SDC is they are both very capable detectors. There are many reasons why a person might want to purchase one over the other, the main difference obviously being the price.
However, I have both and can use either whenever I want. Bottom line is if I am headed out to look for a nugget I am more likely to grab the SDC. If I am going to put the detector in the water, I am more likely to grab the ATX.
It all boils down to this. The SDC is lighter than the ATX and the coil is more resistant to false signals if knocked against rocks. That means it is easier for me to use all day for days on end.
I do believe the SDC has the edge for tiny gold but that is splitting hairs stuff. The manufacturers rarely seem to understand how important ergonomics is when prospecting. Man, I'm working out there! I am climbing hills, gullies, crawling through brush, and constantly working the detector around rocks and brush. I hold the detector at odd ball angles and even over my head at time reaching high up a bank.
So if the ATX and SDC had 100% identical performance I would go SDC for ergonomic reasons. The SDC having a slight edge on tiny stuff is just icing on the cake.
That said, Garrett could easily trump the SDC just by putting it in a lighter weight well balanced box with standard coils. I would love to see an ATX styled more like a White's TDI SL and stock with a tuned 5" x 10" DD. Something like that at around four pounds (TDI SL is only 3.5 lbs) and the SDC would stay home.
Then Minelab could trump that by stuffing the SDC into a Eureka Gold box. Or Fisher could trump them both by finally getting a properly designed prospecting PI to market. The VLF world bores me these days because there is so much more yet to be done with PI technology.
