Infinium or Sea Hunter Mk II

[CIRCLEHOOK]

I want a PI to use in the wet salt sand beach and salt water knee deep.
What advantages, if any, does the Infinium have at twice the price of the Sea Hunter?

 

[Crumble]

With the Infinium you can just dig High-Low tones, which all gold jewelry I have tested rings up as, and just cherry pick low conductors. The only PI that can do that. If you have hot ground the Infinium has a clear advantage in being able to be ground balanced, I live in California with some super hot black sand beaches, and the Infinium runs with a rock solid threshold, other PIs around here have a very unstable chatty threshold, or in the case of the Sand Shark, cant be used at all on some of my beaches.

Thhose are the 2 clear advantages. Plus I think it runs at a lower pulse delay, which gives it added depth across the board.

 

[Fishers Ghost]

The Sea hunter is easier to use than the Infinium for salt beach work but will find some Iron rich black sand to be tough going. Actually any Iron rich ground will be difficult for the Sea hunter.
any difference in detection depth between the two detectors is minimal but in favour of the Infinium.
The infinium will not have problems with Iron mineralisation and black sand.

the Sea Hunter will be less stressful than the Infinium and will give you years of HH but once you have figured out the Infinium you will be glad you bought it.

 

[therover]

I have an Infinium and I think it is one of the best PI units out there for beach hunting. But I did not buy the Infinium as my first PI. I had several years under my belt using PI units before I got an Infinium.

You have to be aware that the Infinium was designed as a gold prospecting unit first. Because of that, it has features that some of the other standard, simple beach hunting PI units ( ie, Sea Hunter, Whites PI's, Detector Pro, Tesoro Sand Shark) do not have. One is the ability to ground balance ( ie, set up the unit for the soil/sand conditions). Another is the ability to go through a frequency check to find the best frequency to run in that area....this mitigates any EMI problems that may occur. None of the other PI units to my knowledge, have this ability.

One more is that the threshold and discrimination ( pulse delay ) features work in conjunction with each other to set up the unit to be stable. Hunting a salt water beach with an Infinium takes some work. You have to set it up correctly, and also have to know the subtle nuances of how a PI unit runs. The latter comes only with using PI units for a while. You can't run an Infinium at optimal settings day one....it will drive you crazy.

If you do decide to get an Infinium, one of the most unique features as mentioned, is the hi/lo and lo/hi signals it gives on targets. These signals, when repeatable, allow a hunter to make a better educated guess as to not only what the target may be, but is it an actual target or a false signal. REPEATABLE hi/lo and lo/hi signals are almost always some type of metal. There is no mistaking them vs. a false signal. Be aware however, that iron can signal as either a hi/lo or lo/hi. Iron is STILL a PI's worst enemy.

One thing you should also be aware of when using the Infinium in knee deep ocean water ( or any salt water environment where there is current or waves running over the coil from 6 inches to 2 feet, is that you MAY get a threshold change when the waves run over the coil when running close to optimal settings ( that is, settings that are the most sensitive to gold...as well as salt water conductivity). If the coil is deeper, where the waves and currents do not affect it as much, the threshold changes are less.

In my opinion, the advantages the Infinium has over other PI units is well worth the price. The thing is, it is not an entry level PI and without some basic PI experience, it may not be a good first choice.

 

[ToddD]

Yes, what the rover said... I have one and it's my first PI unit, I think it's awesome but I'm far from having it dialed in. Glad I got it though..