New Infinium LS

[jamesinwesttexas]

I just ordered [arrives Monday they say] a new Infinium LS. I've been downloading and reading as many posts as possible from this forum for the past few weeks. Thank you all for the information you have provided. I was leary of buying this detector after reading about all the problems yall have suffered with it, mainly coils, but I feel I am going to need the waterproof capability along with the prospecting ability. I have been using the Sov GT and the MXT and still not sure I can part with either. I had an ancient Master Hunter to trade in so Garrett gave me the 40 per cent off on the Infinium LS with stock coil [I told them I may never use it but they insisted I take it] and the 8 inch mono. Look forward to learning this interesting machine and hope I can count on your help as I am sure I will need it, but it may be some time before I can get to a salt water beach or gold field. I value any advice and experience you can share. Thanks. James

 

[therover]

I think you will like the unit once you get familiar with it. The newer ones have the thicker coil cables and I believe improvements in the shielding/guts of the machine so they are much more stable than the first batch of units.

Just be aware that the threshold and discrimination knobs are used to adjust the sensitivity and stability of the machine and can be used independently or in tandem to settle down the machine if it's gets to erratic (at least that is what I have experienced). I am only speaking when beach hunting because that is all I use my Infinum for.

I use the 10x14 mono coil exclusively and I think that is a great coil for the wet sand and salt water. The 8 inch mono is a great coil too and probably a better nugget hunter. I preferred the bigger 10x14 mono for beach coverage.

Good luck with your unit and I am sure it will pull up the gold stuff ( both jewelry and nuggets).

 

[jamesinwesttexas]

Thanks therover for the encouragement. I don't have a web connection so haven't seen your post till now. I've been playing with the Infinium since receiving it last Monday. My first impression is that it's not that complicated to operate at least here in my volcanic soil. It really did help to have been reading the posts in this forum as the owner's manual has a lot to be desired. That coil connection to the control box and the headphone connection really had me worried for awhile. But everything seems to be working. One thing I really wanted to find out was how it would reverse discriminate the gold objects so I tested [on top of the ground] a couple of small nuggets [don't know the weight but a small fraction of a penny [maybe 1/20th?]. It will get the smallest one barely and the slightly larger very well at maybe a couple of inches. In reverse, I think both were silent. A thin gold ring and a thicker gold ring I believe were both hi/lo and subdued hi/lo in reverse. A 1/2 ounce old gold coin was a pronounced lo/hi and not too subdued hi/lo in reverse. I'm not sure how much I'll wind up trusting those indications but in trashy areas I can see resorting to it. I read a report by Steve in Alaska who seems to think the discrimination control is mainly a sensitivity knob [turning it up to reverse simply reducing the sensitivity] and that a piece of gold big enough and shallow enough [or otherwise conductive enough] will always give a lo/hi normal and reverse. My very unofficial test of the half ounce coin did not show that but a bigger piece of gold might. Regardless, I believe that function is useful. I sure look forward to taking the Infinium to a beach or gold deposit and will probably use the GT or MXT mostly until then. Thanks for all the help. James

 

[Fishers Ghost]

Just My Opinion:

Any coins refered to are Aussie coins.

To cut a long story short, this is what you should do to get the best chance of finding gold with the Infinium.

!!!! DIG ALL SIGNALS !!!!!

If you must pick and choose then dig all signals that are hi/lo at zero disc and are hi/lo at a reduced signal level in rev disc. or that fade out completely.
Gold can be either hi/lo or lo/hi. (Large nuggs are likely to be lo/hi at zero disc.) All hi purity gold will be hi/lo in rev disc)

Dig all signals that are lo/hi at zero disc that change to hi/lo in rev disc.

Don't walk away from any signal that is hi/lo in rev disc at any sort of reduced signal level no matter how slight the reduction.

To find silver. (.925 or better)
Dig all lo/hi tones . Silver alloyed with other metal can be hi/lo

Most aluminium cans are also lo/hi at zero disc and rev disc. as are iron tent pegs, coat hangers, clean nails and larger nuts and bolts.

Bits of sparkler wire and other soft iron items give a LO/Hi tone in both modes and are of almost equal strength signals. One and two dollar coins give a warbled HI/LO LO/HI in normal and change to HI /LO at a disc setting of approx 3 or 4. Of all Aussie coins the one and two dollars detect at lesser depths at zero disc than our other coins due to the poor conductivity of the metal. i donot recomend trying to ID targets other than gold from iron.

I have found as a rough guide, that any strong HI/LO signal in normal mode that all but disappears in Rev disc at the beach is very often a steel screw cap. A strong signal from gold or silver will not disappear in rev disc but it will reduce somewhat.

So from this maybe you can see why I say Dig All Signals.

The discrimination on the Infinium is not ment to be a wide range discriminator, it is designed to separate gold from iron in gold field conditions. If you must use the discrimination to try and identify other targets like coins and various items of jewellery then you must experiment with a wide range of coins and other targets to get an idea of how the Infinium responds to different items at different settings of the discrimination dial.



This is how my Infinium (2004 Model)responds to small gold in air test.
Later models seem to be not as sensitive as reported by other operators.
Vol control set 1/3 up from minimum so that max was not too loud.
Threshold at 4.

Headphones used: Standard Garrett HPs supplied with the Infinium.

Sound level meter weighted for flat frequency response between 100hz to 10,000hz.
1/4 inch from HP speaker element.

Nugget= 4.7gm solid.....80db (max voume) at 8cm.

60db (75%) at 17cm.

54db (65%) at 22cm.

0.55gm solid................62db (77.5%) 3cm.

54db (67.55%) 8cm.

0.14gm solid flatish.......58db (72.5%) 3cm.

53db (66.25%) 4cm.

below 50 db............ 6cm.

Using the db meter eliminated any errors due to hearing loss.
I will see what running the HP vol at max does and also setting the threshold high.
I will try a set of more sensitive HPs later and see if there is a noticable difference.


The following shows the infiniums response with 3 different sets of headphones with differing sensitivities\ and impeadance. detector threshold at 6 and disc at zero.

1 Standard garret land HPs supplied with the Infinium
2 Garrett Clear Sound
3 Scaler - 30B

STD:
4.7 gm nugget....... 96db max at 9cm.....86db at 15cm.....23cm detection limit (nil signal)
0.55gm nugget.......90db at 6cm......80db at 10cm......15cm detection limit.
0.14gm nugget.......80db at 4cm......76db at 6cm........7cm detection limit

Clear sound:
4.7gm nugget.......84db max at 10cm.......80db at 12cm......23cm detection limit
0.55gm nugget.....80db at 4cm.......70db at 10cm.......15cm detection limit
0.14gm nugget.....70db at 4cm 7cm detection limit

Scala 30B:
4.7gm nugget......102db max at ......10cm.......90db at .....14cm.......23cm detection limit
0.55gm nugget.....92db max at 4cm 82db at 6cm....... 15cm detection limit
0.14gm nugget.. 80db max at .....4cm.......74db at ......6cm..........7cm detection limit.

So from this it can be seen that for each particular nugget the maximum detection limit remained the same irrespective of the HPs that were used. which of course is correct because after a particular distance no detection signal will be produced because there is nothing to amplify.
if you notice an increase in detection depth when you use a more sensitive set of headphones it is due to a certain degree of hearing loss of the operator being compensated for when the more sensitive HPs bring any remaining or existing signal up to a level that overcomes the hearing loss, not because the Infinium is detecting any deeper.

Of course if you use a set of high power HPs that require a high voltage input signal above what the infinium is capable of, then you won't hear anything at all.






Last edited by Adrian SS on Thu Sep 08, 2011 7:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.

 

[controlfreq]

That is interesting, I knew Garrett would take older Garrett detectors on trade in, but I didn't know they took competitors too. Good to know (and good business practice.) I just traded in an old coinhunter w/ groundhog coil on a new AT Pro (w/ Spring Special) to compliment my Infinium. I have had a lot of fun with the Infinium down on South Padre Island beach hunting. I would suggest getting a long handled shovel; I don't think you can bury a pull tab too deep for the Infinium to find it...

Have fun.
John

 

[jamesinwesttexas]

Thanks Fisher Ghost, I value all your advice. I think after long practice one may learn the language of the Infinium. Certainly helps to hear what others have found out. Thanks again and good luck.

 

[jamesinwesttexas]

Thanks controlfreq, I did get a good deal with that trade in but had to pay the state sales tax. I too hope to get to south Padre one day, maybe after spring break. Good luck.

 

[controlfreq]

Oops... I misread your post; didn't realize that old "Master Hunter" was a Garrett. So you too, traded in a Garrett for a Garrett...

Anyway, good luck and have fun.

John

 

[jamesinwesttexas]

Thanks John, It was a really old one I traded, one I had been given by a friend in his late 80's and never thought I would get any use from.. I would have never thought of trading that if it had not been for this forum. Garrett gave me the 40 percent off the detector and the extra coil.
James

 

[billybones]

do you think they would take a whites coinmaster in trade for aifin ls?