A
Anonymous
Guest
Garrett Infinium - what can you say. Superb looks and build quality from the neat little logo on that impressive 14 x 10 black coil,the silver shaft with larger than normal stainless steel armrest and the neat little waterproof control box.
Headphones have more than adequate volume and exceptional insulation against exterior sound.
To nit-pick the settings round the ground control knob are not to clear (i'm old) and the bright blue headphones jar a little.
The opposition,a two year old Deepstar and a rather ancient Beachscan. Both plastic construction and a little old-fashioned looking.(I would have liked to compare the S.S. but we don't see them in the U.K. yet do we Eric. Hint,Hint).
Test items - 9ct,18ct and silver rings,ringpulls,foil and various copper/silver/alloy coins.
Method used - a long dowel notched at the end at 45 degrees. Hammered in at that angle the target presents its full face to the coil and no ground disturbance is caused.
RESULTS:
Reverse discrimination worked as well on the Garrett as any other P.I. that allows this type of discrimination.
Foil response,or rather the lack of it matches the other machines. A 1/2" ball almost touching the coil is needed to give a signal.
The tone discrimination unique to the Infinium gives either a sharp high tone with a low tone dragging off behind to indicate gold (or pulltabs) or low followed by high for iron and many coins. This works very well for gold ring hunting on the beach but a 10" ring in black sand only gave a weak signal where the tone could not be distinguished. A larger ball of iron,same area but slightly deeper did read correctly so if its not a positive reject signal you have to dig.
This method of discrimination is a real step forward and also the major drawback. This machine is HEAVY,coil heavy,stem heavy. The coil design may be the key to the tone feature,I don't know but it does make it impossible for me to use for any extended period. Hip mounting can't cure a heavy coil. The other problem created is that target signals close together merge as the low tone can drag behind the coil for a couple of feet on a large or near surface target.
As for "in wet sand" performance depth was lacking compared to the Deepstar which in all areas and on all targets was 4 or more inches deeper. The Beachscan could pick up all the targets the Garrett found but the Infinium could not respond on everything the Beachscan located. Depth difference could be as little as 1/2" but ground response,or rather lack of it, magnified the advantage of the cheaper detector. The same applies to the Deepstar to an even more marked degree. It ran with a totally smooth threshold on the black sand allowing the really deep faint signals to shine through. The Beachscan though not as stable has a threshold variation that does not mask out smaller signals. The Garrett I'm afraid to say was noisy especially if a sloppy sweep lifted the coil. Switching between locked,fast and slow tracking made little difference though an increase in the discrim.(reject) to 7 improved matters slightly but at the expense of depth on good targets.
I feel that Garrett have tried to make "one suit fit all" and thats a big mistake.
The weight helps the diver...it certainly won't be bobbing up to the surface to quick but then the coil is to large. On the beach and inland its to heavy and noisy. The great tone innovation says so much digging yet can be a real pain in use. The simple solution would be a switch to allow normal P.I. signal response then a quick flick into tone discrimination to check out the target.
What is needed is the depth and stability of the Deepstar with the Infiniums tone mode in a package with the weight and balance of the Beachscan....perhaps one day.
Well I'm off to a Rally for a few days away from the sand. Back Monday.
Several coins were found as the tests were made but only one ring, with the Deepstar.
Headphones have more than adequate volume and exceptional insulation against exterior sound.
To nit-pick the settings round the ground control knob are not to clear (i'm old) and the bright blue headphones jar a little.
The opposition,a two year old Deepstar and a rather ancient Beachscan. Both plastic construction and a little old-fashioned looking.(I would have liked to compare the S.S. but we don't see them in the U.K. yet do we Eric. Hint,Hint).
Test items - 9ct,18ct and silver rings,ringpulls,foil and various copper/silver/alloy coins.
Method used - a long dowel notched at the end at 45 degrees. Hammered in at that angle the target presents its full face to the coil and no ground disturbance is caused.
RESULTS:
Reverse discrimination worked as well on the Garrett as any other P.I. that allows this type of discrimination.
Foil response,or rather the lack of it matches the other machines. A 1/2" ball almost touching the coil is needed to give a signal.
The tone discrimination unique to the Infinium gives either a sharp high tone with a low tone dragging off behind to indicate gold (or pulltabs) or low followed by high for iron and many coins. This works very well for gold ring hunting on the beach but a 10" ring in black sand only gave a weak signal where the tone could not be distinguished. A larger ball of iron,same area but slightly deeper did read correctly so if its not a positive reject signal you have to dig.
This method of discrimination is a real step forward and also the major drawback. This machine is HEAVY,coil heavy,stem heavy. The coil design may be the key to the tone feature,I don't know but it does make it impossible for me to use for any extended period. Hip mounting can't cure a heavy coil. The other problem created is that target signals close together merge as the low tone can drag behind the coil for a couple of feet on a large or near surface target.
As for "in wet sand" performance depth was lacking compared to the Deepstar which in all areas and on all targets was 4 or more inches deeper. The Beachscan could pick up all the targets the Garrett found but the Infinium could not respond on everything the Beachscan located. Depth difference could be as little as 1/2" but ground response,or rather lack of it, magnified the advantage of the cheaper detector. The same applies to the Deepstar to an even more marked degree. It ran with a totally smooth threshold on the black sand allowing the really deep faint signals to shine through. The Beachscan though not as stable has a threshold variation that does not mask out smaller signals. The Garrett I'm afraid to say was noisy especially if a sloppy sweep lifted the coil. Switching between locked,fast and slow tracking made little difference though an increase in the discrim.(reject) to 7 improved matters slightly but at the expense of depth on good targets.
I feel that Garrett have tried to make "one suit fit all" and thats a big mistake.
The weight helps the diver...it certainly won't be bobbing up to the surface to quick but then the coil is to large. On the beach and inland its to heavy and noisy. The great tone innovation says so much digging yet can be a real pain in use. The simple solution would be a switch to allow normal P.I. signal response then a quick flick into tone discrimination to check out the target.
What is needed is the depth and stability of the Deepstar with the Infiniums tone mode in a package with the weight and balance of the Beachscan....perhaps one day.
Well I'm off to a Rally for a few days away from the sand. Back Monday.
Several coins were found as the tests were made but only one ring, with the Deepstar.
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