What About The Garrett Infinium For gold Prospecting?

[Hard Prospector]

I've been using my Whites TDI for some time now and have been very pleased with its performance but have always wondered about the Garrett PI detector. Any input, opinions and experience with the Infinium would be appreciated. Thanks....Rob

 

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[Bearkat]

Regarding the Infinium for finding gold nuggets...well it is my main nugget machine. I paid for it with gold nuggets in its first 4 months. Could not have done that with the Minelab GPX. The smallest nugget I found with it is .4 grams. The dirt is very hot out here. I also use my Garrett AT Gold. It makes up the difference in the small stuff the Infinium will not get (anything below .3 gram). It (AT Gold) will easily get .1 grammers and a bit smaller of you are on your game.

This to me is the best combo and is still cheaper than the GPX stuff. And anything that my AT Gold will not get, my dredge will make up for with thousands and thousands of tiny bits of gold...Here is my first nugget found with my Infinium just 2 weeks after owning it:



Now that being said, if Garrett would update the Infinium for more sensitivity to find .1 grammers at the same price they have now, then they would have a huge hit on their hands...I don't think they believe this though.

 

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[Hard Prospector]

Nice find

 

[dbsmokey]

"Best thing is, buy one of each"

I do, I do! Sometimes more than once!! I am talking myself into another GMT at the moment. I will try to be patient for the waterproof TDI but from the moment I ran the prototype in Hawaii I have been wishing for one. I have never had a detector behave better for me on Kauai than the TDI and it was killing me standing on the beach wishing I could jump in the surf with it.

I wish I had a waterproof TDI last year in Kauai. The hot rocks at Ke'e Beach and on the shores of Hanalei bay killed the Sand Shark's "performance." I got a false on every swing. I dug and dug "targets" near the reef that ended up being hot rocks. I am also considering an Infinium as I impatiently await the arrival of a waterproof TDI.

 

[Treasure finder]

To Bearkat,
I also have an Infinium and love its performance.
I noticed you using the stock 10X14 DD coil. Have you used any of the other coils on those small nuggets and how did they work?
Rich

 

[NJnuggetpirate]

Don't worry Charlie! Steve and Reg think I'm a moron, and I think they're wrong. Gold prospectors have this type of friendly debate all the time. At least on the forum is doesn't evolve into a physical debate It's all good.

So do political fanatics but that doesn't always end friendly

 

[Aka Nameless]

Interesting thread...

I owned the Sand Shark in the past, and my current PI machines are the Infinium, and the Minelab F3 mine detector. I am a person that is on a never ending search for the most sensitive waterproof PI for my beach hunting endeavors...

I mainly beach hunt for gold, but do so in Southern California on some very highly mineralized black sand. As an example of how hot the sand is, half of the beaches in my area the Sand Shark saw the whole ground as a target... no amount of tweaking the settings allowed me to swing over the ground without an overload signal... ground balance on a PI is useless Terry?.. The Infinium and F3 run flawless on these same beaches with completely stable thresholds and seemingly unaffected depth... after ground balancing of course.

Also as hinted at by others in this thread, the Sand Shark is not nearly as sensitive as the Infinium or F3. The depth difference is most noticeable on the smaller gold, <2 grams, but there is an obvious difference across the board, target size wise. Where my Infinium hits a 1 gram 10k gold ring at around 9", the Sand Shark hit it at about 4"... The Infinium hits a .5 gram 10k ring at around 6", I doubt the Sand Shark would even see the ring (found it after selling the Sand Shark..). After some testing the F3 seems to be slightly deeper (<1") than the Infinium across the board.

Unfortunately, Terry is a stubborn New Yorker, and no matter how many facts you throw at him, he is always right. It's just sad how many mediocre Sand Sharks are sold to new detectorists because of his bald-faced lies.

Also, apparently he has over 200 hours on every machine... he said the same about the Infinium and Dual Field in another thread when claiming the Sand Shark is better than both...

With all that said, IMO the Infinium and TDI are not overpriced, when considering how much better they perform than a $600 PI like the Sand Shark. If I was to get into gold nugget shooting, I would either buy a GPX5000, or use a Gold Bug 2 + Infinium/TDI.

Terry comparing the high operating frequency VLFs to the PIs just shows his ignorance... very different animals.

It is sad to see a thread with so much good information, from so many experienced and knowledgeable people, get thrown off topic by Terry's dribble.

 

[dbsmokey]

Don't worry Charlie! Steve and Reg think I'm a moron.

I wonder how such very intelligent men reached that conclusion?

 

[rjtyree]

Thankfully most of us can spot idiosyncratic BS a mile away

I do however believe that Terry has a purpose here other than educational ...he makes for good self deprecating 'Soap opera' !

Thanks for that Terry!

Cheers!

Tye

 

[charlotte49er]

Unsolicited reviews of the Infinium worldwide.

Garrett Infinium LS Reviews, Price and Specifications

1 good, 2 not so good.

 

[glabelle]

3 samples, from unknown sources, with no supporting detail, is hardly something to base an intelligent conclusion upon.

George

 

[Bearkat]

To Bearkat,
I also have an Infinium and love its performance.
I noticed you using the stock 10X14 DD coil. Have you used any of the other coils on those small nuggets and how did they work?
Rich

Yes; the 8" mono is my fave...once I put it on I rarely take it off. Its the most sensitive coil for the Infinium.

 

[Terry Soloman]

There will always be folks that disagree with me. I'm down with that. I don't believe the Infinium or the TDI are worth the money being charged for them, and I believe the Sand Shark - at $600.00 is just as good or better than either of them on the beach. The TDI and the Infinium CANNOT compare with a Minelab SD, or GPX machine. Blowhards will blow, and this stubborn Arizonan - transplanted to New York, understands that as well.

 

[BadM0nkey]

Yes; the 8" mono is my fave...once I put it on I rarely take it off. Its the most sensitive coil for the Infinium.

I agee, there are not too many reasons to use the 10x14 DD if you have the 8" mono. At least in air tests, the 8" and 10x14 DD are nearly identical.

 

[Hard Prospector]

There will always be folks that disagree with me. I'm down with that. I don't believe the Infinium or the TDI are worth the money being charged for them, and I believe the Sand Shark - at $600.00 is just as good or better than either of them on the beach. The TDI and the Infinium CANNOT compare with a Minelab SD, or GPX machine. Blowhards will blow, and this stubborn Arizonan - transplanted to New York, understands that as well.

Friends of mine who are experienced and accomplished nugget detectors (much more than myself) compare the TDI DIRECTLY to the Minelab SD series as far as depth and sensitivity. They all swing GPX4500-5000s.

 

[nuggetshooter323]

So between the two, I know the TDI Pro has the fine and course GB, is the gain on the Pro greater than the SL?

Friends of mine who are experienced and accomplished nugget detectors (much more than myself) compare the TDI DIRECTLY to the Minelab SD series as far as depth and sensitivity. They all swing GPX4500-5000s.

 

[Hard Prospector]

So between the two, I know the TDI Pro has the fine and course GB, is the gain on the Pro greater than the SL?

As I understand the machine, the SL is engineered to give a smooth and constant threshhold in funky highly mineralized ground at a slight loss of gain compared to the Pro. However, I have found that by switching to quality built mono loops I am able to run my gain high or even maxed at times(without the chatter) which I feel makes up for that small difference in gain between the two. Now I am not an electrical engineer so I may be wrong here but it seems to work for me.

 

[nuggetshooter323]

Thanks, I've been considering getting one of the TDI's or another VLF. I like the idea of the smooth threshold of the SL, but I'd be willing to deal with a warbly threshold to keep some gain inherant in the unit.

 

[Treasure finder]

We got a little off track on the Infinium for prospecting. I just want to mention that it's waterproof features come in handy when nugget
shooting in rainy weather or in river prospecting
Rich

 

[Hard Prospector]

When I talked to the people at Whites recently, they mentioned that they are having issue with the TDI PRO in that the batteries for the unit are becoming more expensive(made in Australia) and they were trying to figure out which direction go.

 

[nuggetshooter323]

I'm thinking about getting a PI, but the new Minelabs are out, the used ones that are decent price are few and far between, plus their used. So the Infinium and the TDI's are my next choice. Both have the right price range and a decent amount of coils. It seems that after market companies and Garrett are not willing to make any more coils than are on the market right now. It would sure be nice if Coiltek or Sunray came out with some Infinium versions of the coils they already make for the Minelab PI's and VLF's. I know there's a following in Australia for the Infinium, but I just don't see good after market support. I've seen some Australian companies making some after market coils, but that was three or four years ago and I'm not sure how they did in the market.

I like the fact that the Infinium is waterproof to 200', I'm a diver and that could be useful in the future, but this summer I was thinking about hitting the Arkansas river for underwater metal detecting. There are areas not dredged at all, and a lot of ground that hasn't been touched since the 1800's. I don't see any dredging going on in the areas I frequent so I think the river might hold some decent nuggets. Colorado doesn't have big nuggets, but I've seen some nuggets dredged from the Arkansas that would easily pay for this detector and all my prospecting expenses this summer. I think I might have just talked myself into the Infinuim, I just need to research the after market coils, if any.

We got a little off track on the Infinium for prospecting. I just want to mention that it's waterproof features come in handy when nugget
shooting in rainy weather or in river prospecting
Rich