Would the Infinium win?

[seahunter34]

People tend to praise the machine they like and use. Even if it is not the deepest. Plus no matter how deep your machine is, one still has to put the coil over the target! But still, I want to know? For average saltwater beach/shallow water hunting conditions, which goes deeper on a medium gold ring? The Infinium with 14 mono, The Whites Dual Field or the DetectorPro PI with 11 inch coil? I'm guessing the Infinium, with the DF a close second. But this is just my guess.

If one went to an average saltwater beach with the 3 machines and a gold ring tied to fishing string, then buried the ring around 15 inches or so in the wet sand, which detector would pick the ring up the best? Which detector would hit on the ring the deepest? Or would there be a 2 or 3 way tie? I would think one would be the clear winner- which one?

I know that the DetectorPro and DF go deep. But I think I would put my money on the Infinium. Why? Because it is first a PI designed to find gold nuggets in tough ground. Gold rings should be a piece of cake for the Infinium compared with odd shaped nuggets? There is no way the DF would fare as well as Infinium in the gold fields! But I hear the DF hits rings at some 20 inches in the wet sand! That's pretty deep!

I ask which is the deepest because that is the PI I want to buy for the beach. I want to know that I'm using the best of the best water machines realistically available. Talk is cheap and sometimes the truth hurts. The current price of gold is a good reason to discover the truth. So side by side which of the above 3 is the deepest on gold jewelry in average saltwater beach conditions? That's the PI I want! Then bring on the competition... the Excaliburs, the CZ21s, TDIs, Aquas, the WOT/Sovereign combos and those Minelab gold PIs! Although land machines would get ruined at the salt beach eventually.

I prefer the Infinium design. I like the claimed depth of the DF and know the DP PI is the easiest to swing. But just like the Super Bowl someone has got to win? So Infinium users, what do you think?

 

[seahunter34]

Well, looks like the post prior to mine nearly covers my question! So the Infinium may very well be the deepest beach machine for gold jewelry? Use the 14 mono for deep larger gold rings and then the 8 mono in the shallows for thin diamond rings!

Then next week hunt for nuggets and burried loot in the hills! All with the same machine!

 

[therover]

I stated it in my previous post as well. The Infinium is a tricky beast sometimes, and there are times when you just have to run it noisy and listen. Hunting that way can make you a bit frustrated and chasing signals...stopping and sweeping more to investigate. I don't do that nearly as much when using my other PIs' ( HH PI, Goldquest SS V2, TDI). But like I said, the tone ID does make it a bit easier to distinguish falses from potential targets.

Tell you one thing....whatever unit you get, for beach hunting, make sure it's waterproof. I always get leary when using my TDI near the water and although my Goldquest is weather resistant and can take some abuse, a dunking would still kill it.

If you do get an Infinium...2 things. Gotta get a straight shaft. Gotta get the 10x14 mono ! I have used the other coils, and for me personally, I think the 10x14 mono is the best coil. Great coverage, super deep, pin points very well and it is very sensitive to small targets.

Whatever you end up getting, dig it all and HAVE FUN. Don't second guess your decision because if you do, you won't give the unit you got a chance.

JC

 

[Fishers Ghost]

The Ausie Infinium Forum is slowly getting back on its feet and Phil is gradually uploading most of the old post (it will take a while) that are a minefield of information. There are not many posts there yet but if you have any questions re the Infinium you could drop in for a chat. Sorry I cannot put the link up, which is a bit sad because it was through links on other forums that I was able to find this great forum.
If anybody wants the link, send me a PM.

 

[metalhead]

Sea Hunter MKll has them all beat for depth. Much more stable in the surf than the Infinium, too. However, you have to dig everything.

 

[Lake Hunter]

Sea Hunter MKll has them all beat for depth. Much more stable in the surf than the Infinium, too. However, you have to dig everything.

I second that. Sea Hunter hands down.

I have the Infinium also and the Sea Hunter is just way more stable in the surf, waters edge, even when the waves hit the coil.
Put the 10X14 on it and get ready to dig really deep. I dig every signal on the beach anyway so I don't miss anything.

 

[ivanll]

The Ausie Infinium Forum is slowly getting back on its feet and Phil is gradually uploading most of the old post (it will take a while) that are a minefield of information. There are not many posts there yet but if you have any questions re the Infinium you could drop in for a chat. Sorry I cannot put the link up, which is a bit sad because it was through links on other forums that I was able to find this great forum.
If anybody wants the link, send me a PM.

The old biased forum died in the West for a reason, wishfully it'll stay that way.
My old hard drive contains saved posts from there in case references may be required.

The new forum now in an earlier time zone show no signs of improvement.

ivanll

 

[therover]

I would think based on the Infinium not having salt water balanced out (hence the reason salt water can make it 'un-stable), it would be more sensitive to gold jewelry.

Plus, for me, the tone ID is becoming more valuable the more I use it. It allows me to distinguish falsing via repeatable hi/lo or lo/hi signals as opposed to signals where they do not repeat that way.

I never tried a Sea Hunter, but I bet soon enough, I will !

 

[Fishers Ghost]

The Ausie Infinium Forum is slowly getting back on its feet and Phil is gradually uploading most of the old post (it will take a while) that are a minefield of information. There are not many posts there yet but if you have any questions re the Infinium you could drop in for a chat. Sorry I cannot put the link up, which is a bit sad because it was through links on other forums that I was able to find this great forum.
If anybody wants the link, send me a PM.

The old biased forum died in the West for a reason, wishfully it'll stay that way.
My old hard drive contains saved posts from there in case references may be required.

The new forum now in an earlier time zone show no signs of improvement.

ivanll

Speaking of "Old Hard Drives"
Jeez Ivanll, that forum was packed with very helpfull info re the Infinium and metal detecting in general.
Show me a forum that is not biased in some way towards the detectors they push to the front... with the exception of the AT Pro forum, there seems to be a lot of knockers there. Now there's a detector that started off on the wrong foot but is advancing quickly.

The old Aussie Inf Forum was strong but began to waver when garrett failed to back up the detector with more coils and other advancements and I agree that unless it can get an injection of life then it is probably dead in the water.

I do not understand posts such as in previous posts here that suggest that the Infinium does not work in salt water. Yes the Sea Hunter is quieter but I use the Infinium in saltwater at up to waist deep most of the time and it is fine and in my opinion it detects deeper than the Seahunter.

With carefull setting of the disc control the Infinium can be made to operate very smoothly on any beach.
I have only detected the South Coast beaches but I have yet to find a beach where I have not been able to get the machine to run smoothly.


So it makes a bit of noise now and again, so does my Sov and it is a magic beach detector. The Seahunter can get a tad noisy in the water at times and it also is an excellent beach detector.

Just my opinion, each to his own.

 

[ivanll]

I do not understand posts such as in previous posts here that suggest that the Infinium does not work in salt water. Yes the Sea Hunter is quieter but I use the Infinium in saltwater at up to waist deep most of the time and it is fine and in my opinion it detects deeper than the Seahunter.

With carefull setting of the disc control the Infinium can be made to operate very smoothly on any beach.
I have only detected the South Coast beaches but I have yet to find a beach where I have not been able to get the machine to run smoothly.


So it makes a bit of noise now and again, so does my Sov and it is a magic beach detector. The Seahunter can get a tad noisy in the water at times and it also is an excellent beach detector.

Just my opinion, each to his own.

It's quite understandable why so many hunters have trouble when using the Infinium LS near or in salt water; they follow the set-up procedures outlined in the User Manual, Forum and Field reports, not forgetting the Info Videos and they all have something in common and that is the use of "Ground Balancing" and that in turn is very much needed when prospecting on a hot ground Gold field .................... but not when beach/water hunting, with the exception of some Black Sand beaches.

I have never seen a written and published set-up procedure for using an Infinium LS in an ocean beach/water environment; but they do exists and is very much in use up this end of our big island...................the procedure was never posted on the old AIF as such suggestions were usually frown upon, if they had been posted I would have saved it on my hard drive.

As you say..........each to his own.

ivanll

 

[Fishers Ghost]

HI Ivanll,
I know that I posted on at least 4 forums the method I use to tune up my Inf for salt beach work, it works for me so I thought it might be helpfull to others.
On the other hand it is not realy any different for all other areas. For myself it just entails carefull setting of the disc adj. If I remember correctly I think it states in the owners manual that the disc control may be used to quieten the detector down in difficult ground. I treat the disc control like a low range Pulse Delay (whether it is or not I wouldn't have a clue).
But there it is, the Inf is still out there after many years in the marketplace and people are still asking the same questions now as they did in the early days.
The detector was designed as a gold detector that would work best in heavy iron mineralisation but could be set up to work well on salt beaches with a bit of fiddling. The trouble was that most buyers wanted to use it at the beach simply because it is a PI and as we all know PIs were originally designed for salt beach work and Scuba.work and you didnot have to make any adjustments to them, but when they got the Infinium they were all a bit miffed because they couldn't simply turn it on like a conventional PI and start detecting with a perfectly tuned machine, it had to be tuned up a bit which resulted in people complaining that it would not work at the beach.
I know the Inf was touted as an All Terain detector, but All Terain is not necessarily All Purpose. A similar thing happened to the TDI; Instead of using it in the gold fields everyone wanted to use it at the beach and as a coin and relic detector and now we have the TDI Pro for our goldfield conditiions which I hear is working quite well but I donot know how it performs at the beach? If it is anything like the Infinium it will be good at the beach but better in the goldfields.

 

[bearkat4160]

Yes if your doing all three of those then the Infinium is the ticket.

Just the surf, I'd go with the Sea Hunter...

Alan

 

[bearkat4160]

I tell ya Adrian...I can't believe Garrett has waited this long to update or improve the Infinium especially with all the updates/new models Minelab has come out with since the Infinium came out in 2002. And now the TDI has had 3 updates or more already and will beat the Infinium on small gold nuggets.

Garrett is just way to slow on their improvements or mods.

Still love my Infinium though and is my primary prospector.

Yes I believe that is also why the Aussie Infinium forum died...no new blood from Garrett.

Alan

 

[ivanll]

Yes if your doing all three of those then the Infinium is the ticket.

Just the surf, I'd go with the Sea Hunter...

Alan

Dead set spot on!

Using an Infinium LS on a salt water beach or in the water with the Disc. set above 0 has NO depth advantage, .....I've seen Disc. settings of 3, 4 even 6 mentioned...........forget it!

I'm just being polite, actually the more Disc. people use the better it is for us which do not use Disc.

ivanll

 

[ivanll]

The Infinium LS did have upgrades, one was for using mono coils and one for OZ conditions.
TDI had similar upgrades for OZ conditions and an OZ mono coil.

What the TDI have going for it is the vast amount of light weight after market coils.
The Infinium apparently had 3 light weight 10" coils for prospecting but they were not widely available and hard to get.
If they made a few sensitive coils of different size and light weight like the present 10x5"DD just for prospecting, perhaps even a dual field type then there might be renewed interest.

As for the Inf. forum it was closed and a new one established in a new location with better control.
A forum require support from members but the forum admin also need to support it's members or there will be an equilibrium, having a vault with posts from an old defunct forum by none existing members is not an inspiring attraction.

Good part is, for some of us no forum is needed to have a good time and success with an Infinium LS; it's all up to the owner/user.

ivanll

 

[Ron Lord]

Frist put your coil flat on the ground do not move it ,turn your detector on,put the automatic ground track on Fast let the coil sit still flat on the ground for about 30 - 45 sec.or until the coil runs quiet.set your threshold and set your disc between 2-3. These setting are for salt water .Yes I know the manual say different,but Trust me this works better.