which detector can handle hot rocks/cold stones better than SDC2300

[Horst]

I just returned from Kelowna, BC Canada. I tried to use my SDC2300 in Mission creek but the hot rocks/cold stones drove it nuts and I could not cancel them out. I also have a White's GMT and the stones I took home I cannot cancel out. Would the new White's 24K or a Gold Monster 1000 do a better job? Thank's for your comments.

 

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[bug]

In my experience nothing is better than a sdc2300 for ground cancelling abilities. If that machine cant handle it, nothing will! When you're hunting creeks with any detector, try to find and stay on bedrock where the ground is a consistent balance. Thats where the gold is anyway. If you start detecting overburden you will encounter rocks of all varying ground balances, volcanic andesites, irons, etc, and you will pick up on those unwanted signals.

 

[oneguy]

GM 1000 seems to do a good job on the cold stones and not too bad on the hot rocks once you spend time in a specific area and learn what to look/listen to? What I've noticed, in my limited experience, is that rocks change depending where I'm at? I usually don't use disc with the GM but sometimes it helps, once again depending on the rocks you're dealing with? The short time I owned a GPX 5000 (sold it) was when the hot/cold rocks disappeared almost completely....I was impressed. I would think your SDC would do a better job than a vlf? Have been told the area(s) I hunt are considered "average" as far as hot ground, etc?


Curious what others with more experience have to say on this?


For the most part, I don't sweat the hot/cold rocks much and when I do dig them it usually leans more toward an "iffy" type signal so when one pops up I just cuss a little because I kinda knew it could be a hot rock.....jmo

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

The Makro Goldracer seems to easily identify hot rocks.
The target ID will read on the extreme ends of the spectrum.
You can reject those signals in discrimination mode or pause and look at the target ID number.
Not perfect, but much better than some other alternatives.

I have no experience with Canadian detecting.
I also tend to lower the sensitivity when the ground gets challenging.

 

[roadapple]

Whites " TDI " will cancel out the hot rocks completely, while finding gold laying underneath the hot rock. Go to YouTube and do a search for this : "Whites GMT/TDI Pro", this video is showing exactly what your looking for. Best of Luck !

 

[Johnnybravo300]

Fisher f2 doesn't have issues with that.

 

[Lanny in AB]

So, this is an interesting thread as I just had a similar experience, while detecting on bedrock. I had my Minelab 5000, and my Goldbug Pro, and both machines were limited by the iron in the bedrock and by the number of chunks of highly-magnetic ironstone and chunks of iron ore broken from the bedrock.

Horst, if you were encountering iron, a detector is built to find metal, so it will react. Not exactly sure if that was your true problem as the Minelab 5000 is great at ignoring many hot/cold rocks, but if the metal content is high enough, you'll get a signal, and that's the conundrum I dealt with last weekend in British Columbia.

Did we find nuggets? Yes, but the depth the machines could see was severely limited by the iron in the bedrock and the overabundance of chunks of either iron ore broken from veins, or chunks of ironstone, and we sure dealt with many, many signals that weren't gold due to the high metal content of the plethora of metallic pieces.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Horst]

Hi Lanny,
I just brought my SDC2300 to BC as I was very limited on baggage flying in from Germany. My SDC was not usuable at all as there were tons of those hot rocks. Probably a new high-tech VLF would cancel them out? I have a Whites GMT and the hot-rocks I took home the gMT can't cancel them out. I was thinking about replacing the GMT with a Whites 24K or a Gold Monster 1000. I do need a machine capable of finding sub grain not gram nuggets which is able to cancel out hot-rocks. As I have family in Kelowna, BC my wife and me will be going to that area again and again.
Yout thoughts are highly appreciated.
AU2U
Horst

 

[Goldwasher]

If a sdc is picking it up. there is no vlf that will handle it.

the ground phase would change so much tuning it out that it will start to hit on other rocks. Like Bug mentioned

I have an sdc and it made vlfs pointless for me. Until im looking for the last little crumbs in a clean spot.

Yet, with the small targets I'm getting with the sdc my gold bug 2 is getting pretty dusty.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Hi Lanny,
I just brought my SDC2300 to BC as I was very limited on baggage flying in from Germany. My SDC was not usuable at all as there were tons of those hot rocks. Probably a new high-tech VLF would cancel them out? I have a Whites GMT and the hot-rocks I took home the gMT can't cancel them out. I was thinking about replacing the GMT with a Whites 24K or a Gold Monster 1000. I do need a machine capable of finding sub grain not gram nuggets which is able to cancel out hot-rocks. As I have family in Kelowna, BC my wife and me will be going to that area again and again.
Yout thoughts are highly appreciated.
AU2U
Horst

Horst,

Good to hear from you again. As Goldwasher has mentioned, if a PI sounds off on a troublesome hot-rock, there's not much chance a VLF won't. That's why I'm wondering if the rocks you're referencing aren't some form of iron ore (ironstone, high-concentration magnetite, etc.).

As I stated above, if it's a metal the detector is reacting to, the machine is doing its job, what it was built for that is, its objective is to detect metal.

The only other issue might be that there's something wrong with your SDC? Do you have a warranty for the machine? However, if you've gathered high-iron content rocks (check them with a super-magnet), their metal content might be the underlying issue.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[bug]

Horst, There is no other detector money can buy that will handle hot rocks better than the SDC. If the rocks are that bad for the minelab, they will be ten times worse on a VLF. The other detectors mentioned are basically toys in comparison to a PI detector. VLFs have their place for hunting trashy areas, or gold in low mineralized ground. But for canceling high iron mineralized conductive ground, and rocks, you already have the best money can buy. Unfortunately as you found out, there are still some conductive rocks out there that will play havoc even with PI detectors. Try to target bedrock and avoid the 2 feet of rocks on top, for example. The little 8 inch coil on the sdc is not a depth seeker, so you need to be close to, or on bedrock for best results in a creek type placer deposit.

 

[Horst]

Many thanks for your replies.
I tried the rocks I brought from BC with a magnet and it sticks to them.
So it seems like I don't need to wonder - right?
I just wish I had more opportunities to use a MD on Gold but being in Germany I don't....unless I take it to a jewellery store :-)
Lots of AU2 all of you!!!
Horst

 

[Lanny in AB]

Many thanks for your replies.
I tried the rocks I brought from BC with a magnet and it sticks to them.
So it seems like I don't need to wonder - right?
I just wish I had more opportunities to use a MD on Gold but being in Germany I don't....unless I take it to a jewellery store :-)
Lots of AU2 all of you!!!
Horst

Glad to know the rocks you packed out have such a high iron content as that could be why you were getting the signals.

As for your detector, have you placed your manual on your bedside table or dresser and are you reading it nightly to review all of the little details of how to find gold with your machine? That was one of the best tips I ever received from a true Sourdough I met many years ago.

If you have a dealer near you Horst, I'd still have your machine checked to make sure there's nothing faulty with it as well. (I imagine you checked for a loose connection/loose coil wire, etc. while you had it out? I remember detecting with a good friend of mine one day, and he was constantly getting signals no matter where he swung his coil, which was driving him crazy of course, and it was a simple fix, loose coil connection at the box. [I'm just trouble-shooting in my mind to see if it might have been something else.])

All the best, and if you keep reading/studying/learning your machine, one day you'll get it over some gold so you can feel that nugget in your had, and it's something you'll always remember,

Lanny

 

[beekbuster]

if i were you i would change the animal im hunting for. im sure the history in germany is very rich. old coins would be a good focus. im sure theres some gold coins lurking about in your neck of the woods. if you have any streams with lots of rough bedrock you should swing it. never know what you might find. and it is good practice at the very least

 

[Goldwasher]

if i were you i would change the animal im hunting for. im sure the history in germany is very rich. old coins would be a good focus. im sure theres some gold coins lurking about in your neck of the woods. if you have any streams with lots of rough bedrock you should swing it. never know what you might find. and it is good practice at the very least

I was gonna say if I was in Europe I would be out looking for all kinds of stuff.

sdc would find some sword at like three feet.

I've been amazed at how deep I've found fricken .22 cases

Nord Helmet = backhoe

 

[Grumpie]

The Makro Goldracer seems to easily identify hot rocks.
The target ID will read on the extreme ends of the spectrum.
You can reject those signals in discrimination mode or pause and look at the target ID number.
Not perfect, but much better than some other alternatives.

I have no experience with Canadian detecting.
I also tend to lower the sensitivity when the ground gets challenging.

I 2nd that! with a GR a hot rock is unmistakable.

 

[meMiner]

I don't have an SDC, have used detectors near Kelowna, but never on Mission Creek. First thing I would think about with a great machine like yours is (1) battery charged? & (2) are the connectors all tight. After that, is there EMI from nearby power or cell towers? Also, leave the cell phone and other electronics in the vehicle if that is possibly causing grief. Next, turn down the threshold to try to run silent and then turn down the sensitivity (maybe to 2). If you are still having problems, there are two immediate thoughts - (1) move or (2) work through it, because you are probably on detector-virgin-ground. If you figure out a solution, I'd love to hear it. Good luck.

 

[Horst]

Thank's for your replies. I took some of those hotrocks home. A small supermagnet sticks to them. Mission creek was loaded with 'em. Probably a VLF with Iron cancel will handle them. I will receive the new Whites 24K for a test soon. I will try if I can cancel them out still seeing a sub grain nugget at a decent depth. I tried my Whites GMT and the hot rocks are easily identified by a "boing" sound but as there were tons of 'em the GMT would have not helped me much. (I just took my SDC2300) on this trip.

 

[beekbuster]

pesky iron stones. there is no cure for them as they are metal. the only thing theyre good for is letting you know youre in a likely gold bearing area

 

[Terry Soloman]

Hi Lanny,
I just brought my SDC2300 to BC as I was very limited on baggage flying in from Germany. My SDC was not usuable at all as there were tons of those hot rocks. Probably a new high-tech VLF would cancel them out? I have a Whites GMT and the hot-rocks I took home the gMT can't cancel them out. I was thinking about replacing the GMT with a Whites 24K or a Gold Monster 1000. I do need a machine capable of finding sub grain not gram nuggets which is able to cancel out hot-rocks. As I have family in Kelowna, BC my wife and me will be going to that area again and again.
Yout thoughts are highly appreciated.
AU2U
Horst

Having just attended Bill Southern's Minelab outing in Arizona, and listening to Debbie Smikoski from Minelab as she demonstrated the machines, I was VERY impressed with the Gold Monster 1000, and the Equinox 800. Many folks will tell you they can discriminate hot and cold rocks. People lie, or don't realize they are also missing gold if they set their discrimination too high. Hot rocks make a distinctive sound, different from a dense metal target. If you have a chance play with your SDC over the hot rock next to a lead slug, and REALLY listen to the signal over, and over.