Newbie with Infinium.... Over my head?

[twilli]

Hello from a new forum member. I have always wanted a metal detector. Well, my wife surprised me with an Infinium for Christmas. Probably not what I would have purchased as my first detector, but don't want to upset my wife so I am trying to figure this machine out. After three weekends of frustration and a couple of calls to Garrett, I think I am getting the hang of it. But, after several visits to several lake parks and beachs, city parks and play grounds I have found nothing of value. Not one penny. I have found lots of pull tabs, bottle caps, beer cans, jar lids, wire, tent stakes etc. These have been found from just below the surface to 12". But, can't figure out why I am finding no coins or for that matter anything I would want to show someone. Any help would be appreciated. I am actually now thinking I am in over my head with this detector and maybe need to trade it in for something different.

 

[Fishers Ghost]

Well your wife has given you a serious and powerfull metal detector.
Not my choice for parks and gardens if it is fitted with the 10 x 14 DD coil because it will signal on everything from the surface to a couple of feet down and prks tend to be chockers with junk targets. also it will be messed up by local elec interference if you are in a suburban type area. The 5 x 10 DD is better for these places. because it will limit the detection depth and be less effected by elec interference.

The big DD is good for beach and gold field work.

Do some bench testing on various coins in order to learn the responses to different types and also for common junk items.
Cannot say why you are not finding coins other than there maybe has been none where you are detecting.

keep your sweep speed slow at around 1 to 1.5 foot per sec if you want to detect everything and quicken the sweep up to reduce depth on small or deep targets.

The Inf has a steep learning curve if you have not used a PI before and at first it is best to dig most signals until you have figured out what effect each of the controls has on target response.

 

[therover]

At this point the bottom line is, where will you be hunting the most and for what.

If you are going to be park hunting for coins (even beach hunting for coins), the Infinium is not the optimal unit for that type of hunting.

However, if you are going to be hunting in the water and on salt water beaches, in search of gold jewlery, it's a killer unit.

It's a tough unit to use in trashy parks. Can be done, but the first thing is you need a smaller coil. Either the 5x10 DD or the 8 inch mono.

Whatever you do, don't give up. Read the forum posts and get as much info as you can.

Main thing to remember with the 'Finny' is that is has to be set up properly, and don't run it too hot ( ie, low discrimination setting) at first. Get used to the hi/lo and lo/hi tones of shallow ( 1-6 inch deep) clad coins. Bury some, up the discrim to 3-4 and listen to what clad sounds like and what tone it makes.

Then, go to the park and ONLY dig that tone sound. Don't think all the low conductors will be gold ( you know, the pull tab tone). Just concentrate on clad first, to get an idea how to pick those targets off in the parks.

This way you will get to have some fun and at least find change to start.

 

[twilli]

Thanks for the advise. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me. A smaller coil may be the answer for the areas I am hunting.

 

[jamesinwesttexas]

Try what therover said about the lo/hi tones. Just dig those for awhile. You should get coins, silver jewelry and unfortunately larger iron so use a strong magnet to help get the iron quickly. At a beach, tot lot, sports field, etc. get the gold by concentrating on the hi/lo tones. It's a matter of trying to stack the odds in your favor and some places are better for coins, some for gold, some less trash, etc. No one detector does it all so you will probably eventually want a good coin detector. Even the lowly Tesoro Compadre [$100 used] is great on coins. I'm hoping to learn the Infinium so well that I may not need the others but that's going to be awhile. Good luck.