Menu
What's new
Find's Treasure Forums

Welcome to Find's Treasure Forums, Guests!

You are viewing this forums as a guest which limits you to read only status.

Only registered members may post stories, questions, classifieds, reply to other posts, contact other members using built in messaging and use many other features found on these forums.

Why not register and join us today? It's free! (We don't share your email addresses with anyone.) We keep email addresses of our users to protect them and others from bad people posting things they shouldn't.

Click here to register!

Need Support Help?

Cannot log in?, click here to have new password emailed to you

Changed email? Forgot to update your account with new email address? Need assistance with something else?, click here to go to Find's Support Form and fill out the form.

Garrett Infinium LS - Problems?

K

kmantzouranis

New member
MY APOLOGIES TO THE MEMBER I SENT THIS AS A RESPONSE TO HIS THREAD - MY MISTAKE - I AM NEW TO THIS!!!
THIS IS FOR ANYONE WHO HAS ANY IDEA WHAT THE @#~!^*& IS GOING ON..................
I have a question for everyone (I even have an audio of this thing)
I purchased the unit NEW from "Metal Detectors for Less". I am experiencing some "weird" tones. It seems that calibration does NOT work.
* ENVIRONMENT: I am in my living room in an urban area two-story townhouses, with underground power cables, overhead lights (turned off) and the detector propped on a chair with the
coil positioned vertically, 3 feet off the wooden floor. HOWEVER, I have tried this in other rooms and that also happens (crazy tone once occurred around 4.5)
* When I switch the Freq. Adj. on with Discrimination to "0" I get some faint whispering low/high tones. When I attempt to "stabilize" the tone (according to instructions) I get the following:
NOTE: I turn the knob quarter turns, for example, I start from Zero (0) and turn it a quarter turn (0.25) towards the value of 1, (to reach "1" I need to turn the knob FOUR times)
I have recorded the whole thing on audio, so if anyone is interested hearing it, I can email it to you. Since it's not fun listening to the whole thing, I listed the time-frames of the discrepancies. "TIME" in capital letters indicates the crazy thing that goes on...
====================================================
Discrimination from 0.00 - 1.50 (tone is faint but rapid high-low)
Discrimination from 1.50 - 1.75 (tone is faint but high-low slows and increases slightly)
Discrimination from 2.75 - 2.75 (tone gives a loud hi tone and continues usual tone variation) Time: 0:51
Discrimination from 3.00 - 3.00 (tone gives a sharp low, high... continues usual tone variation, then loud low-high followed by faint rapid high-lows) Time: 0:53 - 0:57
Discrimination from 5.25 - 5.50 (between those two values, tone gives constant WILD LOUD high-low signals) WHAT THE HECK GOES ON HERE?!?!??? TIME: 1:30 - 1:39
Discrimination from 6.00 - 6.00 (tone gives constant same WILD high-low signals, but not as loud as before) TIME: 2:12 - 2:18
Discrimination from 6.25 - 6.25 (tone gives constant same wild high-low signals, but not as loud as before)
Discrimination from 6.50 - 7.00 (same as discrimination around 1.00 - 1.50)
Discrimination from 7.25 - 7.50 (after about half second tone gets louder but unbelievably rapid highs-lows) Time: 2:34
Discrimination from 6.75 - 8.75 (same as discrimination around 1.00 - 1.50 with one low tone)
===================================================
ANY HELP FROM ANYONE WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED

FILE NAME: LS100130
 
You have to get out of your house and maybe out of town where there is little electrical interfernece. Probably nothing wrong with it. I had same problem in my house or in my yard until i got out of town in the woods or beach or dry lake bed or out in the field prospecting. Good luck!

Alan
 
Thank you VERY MUCH!!!
It's just that having the machine going ballistic at the 5.25 and with the same filtering performance at "0" and also "9" got me worried. I pretty much considered the frequency adjustment/discrimination like a squelch on a two-way radio. (I am new in this ==> clueless) I was planning to take it out to a beach in the near future. However, the beach is at a residential area. Power sources must be about a 100-200 yards away. From your experience, do you think I would get the same signals?
THANKS AGAIN!!!
 
I woud imagine that it has to be better than inside a house....give it a try.
 
Since I documented a "problem" I am going to make regular updates as to whether the problem persists. Garrett contacted me and advised me the same thing. This is a GREAT forum. Thanks
 
Hey Kman,

I bought an LS last year and found two things that made a difference in learning how to get the most out of it. First haunt the forums for info. Everything you need to know is out there if you take the time to look.

Second, pad the earphoine ear cups to mute the blast of sound so you can begin to make sense of the signals. There are posts about that too. Your machine is the best there is and all you have to do is patiently learn how it works.

GL&HH Fellow hunter,

Cupajo
 
Hi Cupajo,

I started thinking of buying a detector about a couple of years ago. I then started checking all the forums and THAT'S how I ended up with an LS. Being a total beginner, I choose this one despite the common wisdom of purchasing a VLF. I made up my mind that for the first couple of years, I will be either finding junk or nothing. However, I got spooked when discrimination was giving my CRAZY signals all the way up to "9". I was aware of turning the machine on inside my livingroom (surrounded by electrical cables ==> eddies that could make a pulse machine go crazy. This Sunday, I am heading out to a beach (in the city) but with the closest power source about 200 yards away. If I still get signals, I must then find a place out in the woods (it seems that in Massachusetts everything is either private, a state park or off limits) Anyway, I'll keep everyone posted and again a GREAT SITE!!!!
Kman
 
Hi kman,

There are very few places where you will be unable to re-tune the frequency adjustment so you can hunt!

The proceedure is simple and well discussed in this and other forums so I won't try to rehash the subject.

You will find that your machine is perhaps more versatile than you know!

Good luck and keep searching, because the effort is worth it!

HH,

Cupajo
 
I have been detecting over 20 years and purchased the Garrett (Infinium LS) as my latest detector. If you are new to detecting this unit has a steep learning curve make sure the coil wire is tightly wrapped to the rod or you will get false signals. The unit is very sensitive and be prepared to dig trash. I use it on Florida beaches and dig every thing......... so far it is was a good buy.
 
also since it has not been mentioned yet, slow down that swing and listen very closely to the threshold. deep signals can be very faint. if the threshold changes at all recheck that spot with a few sweeps slowly and cover the spot well.
 
Brad contacted me from Garrett and like the rest of you asked me to "FIELD TEST" it and get back to him... These are my findings! It seems my machine is "out-of-synch", i.e. something may be DEFINITELY wrong with it... My message appears below: If any of you guys can read this and let me know what you think... It behaves weird...

Brad,
I followed your advice and took the detector to two sites, close to a fresh water river and also the beach by the sea. The problems persisted; however, the erratic loud tones continued; moreover, non-ferrous metals gave ferrous metal HIGH-LOW signals - more below
=========================================================
Unit purchased as "new" on 17MAR09 from "Metal Detectors for Less"
=========================================================
FIELD TEST #1: Magazine Beach: Wet dirt by the fresh water river
FREQUENCY ADJUSTMENT: There was lightning at that day, so I kept the factory settings (max sensitivity I presume) I could always hear faint erratic noise; however, discovered items gave a loud signal (nails, wires, and other junk.
(two heavily corroded - unidentified ferrous items) HIGH-LOW
(one heavily corroded non-ferrous item) LOW-HIGH
NOTE: Erratic sounds are heard from "1" to "9" with those sudden loud noises around "2", "4"-"5"(very loud) and also close to "7" So I kept it at its factory setting.
==================================================================
FIELD TEST #2: South Boston Beach: Dry & Wet Sand - CLEAR BLUE SKIES
FREQUENCY ADJUSTMENT:
at 1 it faintly gives erratic tones (all the way to 9)
AT NO POINT do erratic high-low tones disappear into a steady tone
EXCEPT FOR THE FOLLOWING:
at 2 it gives a VERY LOUD high-low tone that will not stop
at 4 it gives a high-low FAST tone that will not stop
at 6.8 - 6.9 it gives a high-low VERY FAST tone that will not stop
NOTE: I attempted the adjustment at different places at the beach, and those erratic tones occur at the same spot.

FIELD TEST - South Boston Beach:
* I put an 18K yellow gold bracelet in a zip-lock bag and
- dropped it on the sand - INFINIUM gives a LOW-HIGH tone
- buried it about 2 inches - INFINIUM gives a HIGH-LOW tone

* I put five silver Morgan dollars in a zip-lock bag and
- dropped it on the sand - INFINIUM gives a HIGH-LOW tone
- buried it about 2 inches - INFINIUM gives a HIGH-LOW tone

* I have a very light 14K golden earring, about 1.5 inches diameter
INFINIUM does NOT detect it at ALL - even when earring contacts the coil

* My Omega Seamaster Stainless Steel watch, gave LOW-HIGH tone on
surface and at depth of 2-3 inches in zip-lock bag

FIELD FINDS:
* A nickel at 2-3 inches gave a LOW-HIGH tone
* Aluminum tabs in both salt water moist sand AND dry sand create a
HIGH-LOW-HIGH-LOW loud tone that spreads around a square foot.
Signals sound identical to signals reported in different blogs from
Infinium users when iron items are badly rusted and rust has seeped
to the ground, thus causing ghost images below the sand (both dry
sand and wet sand (saltwater)
* One aluminum tab caused a HIGH-LOW faint tone, about five inches below
the surface (wet sand)
* A Duracell AA battery at almost 10 inches, gave a faint LOW-HIGH tone
in wet sand (at ten inches, the battery was immersed in water. I
located it with a pin-pointer probe
* Bottle caps invariably gave HIGH-LOW tones
* Stainless Steel screw gave LOW-HIGH at about 2-3 inches in sand

PS. The four beeps (that signify that batteries are charged) are not always heard when unit is turned on. If it doesn't I try it again and it usually comes up with the four beeps. Does this signify a problem? A lot of "strange" things are happening to this machine. Having paid over $1,000 I kind of feel bummed by all these anomalies. The unit I have does NOT behave at all like the unit on the DVD issued by Garrett. Do you recommend that I ship it to you for an inspection? By the way, when I received the unit, the batteries were already inserted! Are the batteries, already inserted when detectors are shipped?

Thanks for your earlier reply and I am awaiting for your advise. If I must mail it to Garrett, do I just mail the control unit, the coil and the headphones (minus the stem) or the whole thing?
 
YES!!! I did read about those on the forums... They are really snug; however, I have also read about defective connectors (coil & headsets) that can wreck havoc on those signals. However, it didn't hurt to read that reminder of yours. I am afraid that Garrett may have to come up with an explanation (and hopefully a repair option)
Thanks!
 
Hi kman,

One thing you can count on is that Garrett will make it right!!

It concerns me though that we have to be bothered with these problems after paying so much for a machine that has been around for a while.

It seems as though some one, somewhere is dropping the ball!. (seems to be common these days)

The learning curve of these machines is worth the effort, but throw these issues into the mix and it can be overwhelming!

Another thing you can count on; when you do get the critter working right you'll be so damned happy with it you will forget all the stuff you had to put up with!

Hang in there!

GL&HH Friend,

Cupajo
 
I did some more experimenting with my problem. Tried new batteries twice, with no change. Symptoms of high and low tones are the same in lock,fast or slow track. Also no matter where threshold control is set at, the high low tones are the same volume and rate. Appears like it is trying to ground balance all of the time. It worked fine last year and until yesterday when I was experimenting with nuggets and different coils. I have the large and small mono, and dd coils. They all were working fine on the bench in my basement. After changing to another coil and using it a short while it suddenly went to making the hi/low tones. This is the exact same problem I had after I bought the unit new. It worked fine with all coils except one(which Garrett found to be bad). It seems that changing coils puts the unit in a condition that it cant recover from sometimes. Anybody have any ideas?
 
n/t
 
The LS is very sinsitive to background electrical frequency interference.

This can come from an electric train passing a half mile away or any number of other sources!

Could your problem come from that?

Folks at Garrett have been great at figuring these things out if you're not able to.

Good Luck,

Cupajo
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top