Garrett infinium in salty water vs Minelab Excl

[Mracquis]

Hi!

I got tired of my beloved excalibur and want to try something new, preferably a PI detector.

been researching the garrett infinium for some time and see many mixed reviews of it.

if anyone here can compare the DEPTH of infinium to depth of excalibur for gold rings, please give me your opinion.

is garrett infinium a big leap forward compared to excalibur (given the excalibur is properly used!) ?

are there any other PI detectors for salty water I should consider?

greetings and thanks

 

[Jim in MA]

I have and use both, they both have there place, pending on the amount of [size=large]time[/size] you have and if you want to spend it digging junk.
I buried a small 14k gold band 12 inches deep, the Excal 2 with a 10 inch coil could not see it in disc, and in pinpoint it may have seen it and I think only because I knew it was there and was really listening for it,I would never have found this ring searching on a beach.
I have a Excal. Blue with a Wot witch was able to see it in disc. and pinpoint but the disc. was iffy.
My Infi. with the large Mono coil hit it loud and clear truly a dig able target.
Even with the extra depth of the Infi. all the good targets I have found with it 95 % would have been found with the Excal also and I would say in much less TIME.
Jim

 

[dewcon4414]

Here in Fl the Finny could have some benifit..... but you certainly wouldnt want to be using it during recent drop periods. During that time you want to cover as much beach with the Xcal as possible. What i found that i believe i would have missed were silver chains. The coil swapping is an advantage as well as headphones. Youd be surprised how much JUNK is out there we pass over..... you get to hate the double beep of bobby pins. Better put a magnite in yours scoop too or you end up chasing a lot of those. Most of us Xcal users id say dont have the patience to hit a local beach and only finish a small part of it. You have to be willing to do that and work the area with a PI. They produce, but so does covering more beach. When the beach opens up and you start getting more targets in the water, something we like to see, then thats not the time to bring out the PI...... even more trash. As far as the Finny....its using one of the lowest uS pulses in the salt water and there are some adjustments ..... usful adjustments.... you just dont find on most PIs. I personally like the Finny and its not overly priced like the newest and greatest Garrett PI.

Dew

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I think they'll be about the same, depth-wise, when it comes to coin and ring sized targets. Especially if/when you're allowing the possibility that you can sometimes swith to all-metal (PP) on your excal, to get a little extra depth. Therefore, seems to me, that the only reason you'd want to switch over to the infinium, is if a) you've got nasty black sand minerals on your particular beach, which are giving you prob's. Or b) you want to be able to hear tinsel thin fine chains, earing studs, etc.... that the excal misses.

However, be aware: the cost of the PI's ability in the minerals, and ability as teensy stuff is this: no ability to pass nails, bobbypins, etc.... You *might* be able to guess some nails-by-sound. But not if they're bent. And trust me: Nagging doubts will have you digging a bunch "just to be sure".

So if you're beaches are touristy clean (not a lot of nails), and minerals are an issue there, then sure, give it a try.

 

[Mracquis]

I think they'll be about the same, depth-wise, when it comes to coin and ring sized targets. Especially if/when you're allowing the possibility that you can sometimes swith to all-metal (PP) on your excal, to get a little extra depth. Therefore, seems to me, that the only reason you'd want to switch over to the infinium, is if a) you've got nasty black sand minerals on your particular beach, which are giving you prob's. Or b) you want to be able to hear tinsel thin fine chains, earing studs, etc.... that the excal misses.

However, be aware: the cost of the PI's ability in the minerals, and ability as teensy stuff is this: no ability to pass nails, bobbypins, etc.... You *might* be able to guess some nails-by-sound. But not if they're bent. And trust me: Nagging doubts will have you digging a bunch "just to be sure".

So if you're beaches are touristy clean (not a lot of nails), and minerals are an issue there, then sure, give it a try.

thanks!

what about pinpointing speed/accuracy?

its pretty common for me to be a poor pinpointer for very deep targets with excalibur 10"

is infy better for it ?

gr

 

[Mracquis]

and one more q: imagine there is a very large piece of metal below the sand, lets say 1ft long, excl will give a very loud shattered signal

will infi do the same?

 

[dewcon4414]

Yes you can size a target with a pi. PPing if you use the mono coin takes some practice over the xcal because of coil halo. Using one of the dds is a little easier. Not also.... unlike vlf u get the same depth regardless of coil size. So coil amounts to coverage not target sensitivity.

 

[Mracquis]

-- moved topic --

 

[Mracquis]

thanks!

let me sum it up:

1) infinium is stable enough in quiet sea where they are no waves
2) mono coil on the infinium is deeper than the DD coil
3) the size of the coil doesnt matter, the 10x14" is just as deep as the 8"

thanks for your time!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

The pinpointing ability of the Infin, is going to be about that of the excal in all-metal pinpoint mode. In fact, the sounds (pleasant growl) of the excal's all-metal mode, is very akin to some pulse machine's sounds, in the first place.

Yes the pinpoint ability of the disc. mode on the excal is very poor. You can "x-marks the spot" (turn 45* angle), or subtly move up and back (to establish the center of the "line"). But still, the annoying long tail of the signals of the excal in disc. mode, make it a poor machine at pinpointing. However, I never bother to switch over to pinpoint all-metal mode to pinpoint. I got good enough at doing it just by sight, while in disc. mode. Thank goodness that we have the liberty to make a wide/big hole on the beach though. Doh!

 

[Mracquis]

ok last question :x

I'm not longer considering the infinium, but the atx

is the atx better than excl for fine gold? in salt water and in fresh water? fine gold being chains, bracelets and all that other stuff dreams are made of.

 

[lawsonland]

Hi,
I had both the ATX and the infinium. Not sure how big a guy you are but the ATX is heavy. The housing is over designed and with the camlocks its not ideal for use in the sand. ALSO the coil pivot point placement is just stupid. It pivots at the rear of the coil so in the water it gets knock up and its just stupid (did I say that twice). It might be great for folding it up to a small size but its not what you want on the beach. My engineering opinion is its a poor design for commercial application on a beach.

Also in my limited use the PI's were harder to pinpoint with then the excal. I also did not care for the tones on the atx/infinium

It is very sensitive I spent a lot of time digging the legs of staples. You will find a lot of stuff, just depends on how much junk you want to dig.

Unless you have a very clean beach I do not recommend a PI. I have a TDI I just got for an area of beach that is fairly clear of iron. I'll give this a try, I like the tones much better on it. It seems sensitive,

I keep going back to the excal. I just got a CTX to see how well it does, seems to be fairly deep in the wet sand. I will see how TDI does compared to the CTX. I have a thought I will probably be selling the TDI. If I was in gold country or the beaches were super clean then I would suggest the PI..

Just my opinion.

 

[Mracquis]

Hi,
I had both the ATX and the infinium. Not sure how big a guy you are but the ATX is heavy. The housing is over designed and with the camlocks its not ideal for use in the sand. ALSO the coil pivot point placement is just stupid. It pivots at the rear of the coil so in the water it gets knock up and its just stupid (did I say that twice). It might be great for folding it up to a small size but its not what you want on the beach. My engineering opinion is its a poor design for commercial application on a beach.

Also in my limited use the PI's were harder to pinpoint with then the excal. I also did not care for the tones on the atx/infinium

It is very sensitive I spent a lot of time digging the legs of staples. You will find a lot of stuff, just depends on how much junk you want to dig.

Unless you have a very clean beach I do not recommend a PI. I have a TDI I just got for an area of beach that is fairly clear of iron. I'll give this a try, I like the tones much better on it. It seems sensitive,

I keep going back to the excal. I just got a CTX to see how well it does, seems to be fairly deep in the wet sand. I will see how TDI does compared to the CTX. I have a thought I will probably be selling the TDI. If I was in gold country or the beaches were super clean then I would suggest the PI..

Just my opinion.

that's the whole thing here.

in low season I hunt in fresh lakes and closed bays in the sea and they are all "empty", I can find some stuff when I really push the excalibur, those 5+ gram wedding bands from deeper than 1ft, so I'm looking for a deeper machine than the excl.

also: these lakes/bays have a long history of swimming and are saturated with deep gold, it happens a lot that I dig a deep lets say pulltab only to find a faint signal below it, which when pulled up is sometimes gold..

so I'm looking for a machine which is at least a few inches deeper than the excl.. garbage is not a problem, I know how much trash excl doesnt pick, I have experience hunting with waterproof tesoro tejon in fresh water lakes, so I' m aware of all the tiny foil pieces, hair pins etc.

if ATX is more or less considerably depeer than excl for rings AND is more sensitive for smaller gold then i'm a buyer.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

mracquis, it seems like you are looking for the "miracle" detector. Because on the one hand you say ou want a machine that finds the

" .... fine gold being chains, bracelets ...."

Ok, that would knock out the excal, as you know. It will not find tinsel thin chains. But next you switch to depth (on everything gold imaginable), when you say:

....so I'm looking for a deeper machine than the excl.....

Thus the excal will find standard rings equally as deeply as a variety of pulse machines (ATX being an example) IMHO. So we're back, therefore, to the criteria of fine chains.

You claim that junk isn't a problem. Ok, fine. But as Lawsonland has so excellently told you ..... be prepared. I know it's easy for anyone to claim/think he'll be patient and "doesn't mind digging junk", but ....... when push comes to shove, you may be surprised how much cost you're paying for those "tinsel thin chains" (& earing studs, etc...). Perhaps I'm wrong, and your beaches are touristy-clean lacking iron. Perhaps your ability and desire to "strip-mine" the beach of all the bread-twistie ties and bobby-pins is very sincere. If so, knock yourself out. I just know I've seen scores of persons in my area try that. And ...... after a few doses of reality ....... you don't see them around any longer making their bold claims.

I don't doubt there's certain people, or certain beaches, where this is do-able. But at a lot of other beaches, the "Las Vegas odds" of target demographics (how your time is best spent) will indeed catch up with you.