New infinium user needs help...

[spdnj]

Hoping some people here can help me out. I purchased an Infinium a few weeks back (my first pi machine, have experience on the vlf side). I have been using it exclusively to hunt the NJ beaches, which I will admit is something I do not have allot of time with. I ma finding a good amount of red coins and for this time of year that is pretty good especially since we are sanded in.
I am very happy with my progress using the machine. I have about 30-40 hours on it and have gotten pretty good at telling a good target vs a bad target. I have always been a display hunter and this machine has taught me an entirely new aspect in detecting by sound quality only and I actually can not wait to carry that over to my land detectors.
My main hunting has been in ankle deep water up to the top of the wet sand line. I am saving up for a dry suit to get out deeper.
My problem with the machine is occurring with very deep/faint targets. I am talking about those targets where you know there is something down there but can not get a good crisp signal on it. You may get a signal one direction, and no signal the the other direction. Or the type of signal that you can get it very faintly when you are really scraping the coil against the ground. I know some of these are targets that are just at the edge of detectors capabilities but I can not ever, and I mean ever get one out of the hole.
I have had ones that I start scooping, the signal will get stronger, but once I get a few good scoops out I completely loose it. I have swore to myself I am not leaving until I find this target and dig and dig and dig but never get one. Once I get into the water deeper this is only going to get more difficult.
My pinpointing is improving on with the unit, I still have some issues on those deep bobby pins that don't give the double tone until you get them out of the ground.
Any help on this topic would be greatly appreciated.
Some final secondary questions: What size scoop do you guys use? How deep do you go before you give up on a signal?

 

[Bence]

Hi there. I would suggest getting a mono coil - that's the best thing about the Infinium, you can use mono's!

 

[Adrian SS]

It's a rare metal target that signals in one direction only.
A small shallow target can give the same signal as a large deep target with the infinium (weak and short) and if the target is small it may be slipping through the scoop perforations and dropping back into the hole making you think that the target is deep. When it disappears it may have drifted away a bit when you empty the scoop, small corroded pieces of pull tabs do this because they are light and get carried away with the wave action when the scoop is emptied.
I have chased many signals that seem to keep going deeper and most have turned out to be small split shot sinkers, stud earring clips and bits of wire or remnants of fish hooks. I have chased strong signals down at least two feet in the water before giving up because by then my back is killing me.
If you are getting a signal in one direction only then it is likely to be a false signal, you can check these signals by sweeping across the target in two directions at 90 degrees to each other, if it still does not repeat then there is probably nothing there, also remember that bits of wire and chains that are lying flat in the sand can give a reasonable signal when they are scanned parallel to the long axis of an elliptical coil and a weaker signal when scanned parallel to the short axis.
From my own experience, most signals that do not repeat in two directions of sweep are usually ground noise or hot rocks and I do not chase these types of signals for very long. Sometimes rather than using the scoop all of the time when chasing weak signals on a sandy bottom in the water it is a good idea to fan the sand away with your hand, wait for the water to clear and check the hole, if the target is small and near the surface it will become visable to your eye and if it is light like a piece of foil or a pulltab it will move and the next sweep of the coil will show that it has moved and you can then decide if you want to keep on trying to find it.

I do not know if this has been of much help but make of it what you will.
Cheers,
Adrian

 

[bearkat4160]

Hey Spdnj,

The threshold knob doubles as a sensitivity setting. As you can test for yourself...try detecting a coin at 3-4 threshold settting then move it higher and you will get louder tones and more depth which means machine is operating at a more sensitive setting. Here is what I do when I have a very week signal and one that only beeps one way....I usually have threshold set at 5 - 5.5 on normal hunting. When I get a weak signal as you mentioned I turn threshold to 8. Then detect target. You should get a stronger signal enough to tell you to dig or not. Try this as it should help at the beach. Do some testing with this before going to the beach to get familiar with playing with the threshold. Good luck.

Alan

 

[spdnj]

WOW Alan I did not know that. I am going to have to give that one a try!! I have to say with the learning curve for this machine is now where near as bad as what people make it out to be. I can see where it could be a nightmare in some some places but where I have had it so far it has been great.
I just got a straight shaft for it but still need to get a coil cover

Thanks I hope that helps!!!!!!

 

[Bence]

Yeah, the Infinium is definately one of those detectors that likes a strong threshold. I have mine at 5 but I should do more tests at the beach and will try a higher setting.

 

[erikk]

Get a good magnet for your scoop I have a K & J 2 x 1/4 earth magnet with the hole in the center bolted to my scoop. Epoxy will eventually come lose from digging. If U get the earth magnet cover it with epoxy (several coats) until its is completely encapsulated because the salt water will cause them to eventually break up. It will catch the small bits of iron, fish hooks and the like that would usually go through your scoop and cause you keep chasing it

 

[diggindirt]

Get a good magnet for your scoop I have a K & J 2 x 1/4 earth magnet with the hole in the center bolted to my scoop. Epoxy will eventually come lose from digging. If U get the earth magnet cover it with epoxy (several coats) until its is completely encapsulated because the salt water will cause them to eventually break up. It will catch the small bits of iron, fish hooks and the like that would usually go through your scoop and cause you keep chasing it

I also added a small but very strong magnet into my scoop and it sure helps with the little pieces of metal!!!

 

[Cupajo]

When you start working the deeper water you may want to consider using a floating sifter screen.

It will help you catch many of those pesky small targets that can waste a lot of time for you.

The sifters don't work well when the water is rough, but when they can be used they pay dividends in time saved.

There are quite a few designs to be found in older posts.

A good hand held pin pointer is very handy too.

GH Friend,

Cupajo