Hi Dave,
I found a 1.2 dwt nugget at about 4 inches (pictured below).
I dug numerous small iron and lead targets. I tried to id everything, but then dug it all.
I found the disc system to do as I expected. In other words, not all that well for nugget detecting. I can see how it would be useful for jewelry hunting and such, however.
It's just your basic reverse disc system as is found on most diving pi units. Turn up the knob and turn up the conductivity required to keep getting the target. There are also different tones for low conductivity and high conductivity targets, but the end result is about the same.
But I found small iron trash that read good at low con settings. The Infinium particularly likes wire and small nails. Conversely, my tests with 1-3 ounce gold nuggets revealed that they will not tune out, and so if in big nugget country using reverse disc will cause one to walk away from a large, shallow nugget.
In areas where I would bet on not finding nuggets over 1 ounce I'd rely on it more to id large iron targets.
The deepest item I dug was a 4" diameter jar lid at a measured depth of 26". It read good until I was less than 10" from it. So the idea I've heard that the disc system works to full depth on the Infinium is untrue. I'm sure this surprises nobody on this forum.
But I must say I really like the Infinium. I own an SD2200D, and like it also. It's not an either/or choice for me. I like the Infinium for it's compact and light weight design, and because it is waterproof.
The depth issue has not been a big one for me, as I've assumed from the start that my SD2200D with 18" coil will give me more depth than the Infinium with 14" coil. Coil size does make a difference, and Minelab simply has larger coils available. So much of the debate on that issue has been lost on me.
I have not been able to get into some bad mineralization yet to do real depth comparisons on the two units when run with similar size coils. In my low mineral ground the PI units barely do any better than good VLF units. It's bad ground where you see the PI advantage. So I've been watching Australia reports as much as anyone to get an idea how the Infinium performs in bad ground.
The Infinium 14" DD coil is fairly sensitive, and I'm guessing realistic capability to hit 1/2 dwt nuggets. Maybe smaller but they'd have to be dead center and right under the coil. I'm sure the 8" mono coil is the way to go for smaller items.
Anyway, I'm certainly going to get an Infinium to add to my collection. The final street price will end up around $1000 after numbers start appearing ($1250 list) so why not? Compared to the $4000 I invested in my SD2200D and extra coils, etc. it's a trivial purchase!
Steve Herschbach
1.2 dwt nugget found by Steve with Infinium LS
