Pulse Induction Nugget Detectors

[MXT SNIPER]

Minelab has ruled the nugget shooting PI detector world for some time and done a good job, Garrett has recently offered the new PI Infinium LS at a decent price, and it seems to be a good one by what I have read, I am surprised more detector companies have not jumped on the PI nugget shooter bandwagon. Seems to be a good area to research and develop for companies like White's, Tesoro, and Fisher. Auto microprocessor ground balance, tone or meter iron Id is a must for this style detector. And a retail price under 1K, hehe. I bought the vlf White's MXT so I can both coin shoot here in the valley plus nugget hunt in the Sierras, but I am going to buy a PI detector eventually for the real hot ground that one encounters in some places. I would just like to see more of a brand selection at more competitive prices with PI detectors designed for nugget hunting. Anybody heard of any new prospecting PI detectors under development

 

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[bakergeol]

I have heard about two from Australia.? Of course US companies usually very quickly put new models on the market without any advance warnings. It would be interesting to see what will be introduced this spring.

There is the Titan Project- go the Finders forum(Australian) and also there is the Detector Systems detector. While the Titan Project is real and ongoing-who knows about Detector Systems claims for a discriminating PI?(It has not been introduced and will it ever be introduced?)

You would think that more US companies like Fisher would take a stab at a high end prospecting PI. After all a lot of folks will pay $3000 for the deepest PI out there.

Yep, Minelab rules with the PI nugget crowd. Unfortunately, the Garrett Infinium is usually made fun of by the Minelab? PI nugget hunters as it lacks the depth and sensitivity of Minelabs Extreme and GP3000. However, at a third of the cost- the Infinium never was meant to directly compete with the high end Minelabs and has received a bad rap. You will also find that brand loyalty is incredible with the Minelab folks. In my opinion any new prospecting PI that is introduced by a US company must be compatable in depth with the GP3000. If it is not it probably will be trashed by a lot of folks(Hey a lot of folks have a lot invested in Minelab) like the Infinium.

The "Holy Grail" of course is a true, reliable, discriminating PI( eg Pulse Devil). Can it be made?- A lot of folks say no. However, the first company that does produce a PI with discrimination equal to a VLF will make chump change out of the competition. It will be the first high end cross-over nugget/coin/relic machine with superior depth, discrimination and ground handling abilities. If someone can make one- you can take your high end VLFs and use them for boat anchors. The Pulse Devil (a true discriminating PI) is being worked on by Dave Emery here in the US. Incredibly Dave has been working alone on this project for many years under the most adverse conditions. Actually, I hope and pray that Dave is the first to develop one as he certainly desires it.

George

 

[MXT SNIPER]

George, thanks for the reply and your thoughts, I found the writeup on the pulse devil on a tech forum, very interesting, sounds promising and just what I am looking for for my hunting area, I hope he gets it in production soon too. Seems maybe he and eric could profit quickly and longterm by turning this project over to a major detector firm to produce for retail after its been perfected, if they could hammer out a decent contract. Kind of like what was done with the Shadow detectors, first Tesoro produced the X-2 then Fisher produced the X3 and X5. Just an example.

 

[Willy]

Hi y'all! I have an Infinium waayy up here in B.C. The ground I hunt is extremely hot & full of iron (nails), at least where I'm hunting right now. At present it's too cold to prospect up in the mountains, so I'm breaking up the ice on the lake & detecting for rings, coins, etc. One thing I've found with the Infinium is that it's excellent for detecting in these conditions. The mineralization is so extreme here that anything deeper than abt. 5" reads as iron. I've used many detectors here (MXT, LST, GTI 1500, Toltec 2, Golden Sabre, Pantera, CZ 6a, Sovereign, Cobra 2, Goldstrike, and more) and it holds true regardless of VLF make. Either I dig up the deep iron, or just stick with surface stuff. Enter the Infinium. I've been using it now for a couple of weeks & have been making deep finds in areas that, to use that old chestnut, "have been pounded". No joke; I've been finding stuff in places which see up to 5-6 detectorists EVERY DAY during the summer. My latest find being a buffalo nickle at about a foot. The nice thing about it is by advancing the disc. to about 4 and digging the hi/lo tones I'm pulling up way less Iron than the VLF's and finding things that the VLF's have passed over. I'll be using it for prospecting in the spring and, for the type of nuggetshooting I do, it should be superior to the Minelab PI's. A friend of mine was also using an Infinium up in Alaska's Brooks range (highly mineralized with a ground reading of 86 on the MXT) & he found some fantastic nuggets. From what I've seen (limited to the SD 2200d & Infinium), I've been more impressed by the Garrett unit, which is why I've laid out the beans to buy one. I think it's more of an all-purpose unit than the Minelab PI's & a more than capable nugget machine, especially now that the optional coils are available (I have all 5). The interesting thing I've found is that, with the disc. (delay) advanced to around 6, silver dimes will respond with a low tone without losing thinner gold rings. Yet again, this I'd will hold at depth. All current Canadian change will I'd as a low conductor at about 4 while knocking out small foil, large iron (low/hi tone), and some really small iron. This while retaining sensitivity to thin gold rings. If a person already has an MXT, I'd say "Get an Infinium", you'll then have a detector combo for almost all situations (especially highly mineralized) including diving (nuggets/other). End of diatribe... Willy.? ? ? ? ? ?

 

[bakergeol]

Hi Willy
I am always tempted to obtain an Infinium and do some experimentation. As I mentioned previously, I own a Ferrous Hound and wondered how well it would work with the Infinium. For US coins just dig low/high tones only and then you could eliminate the big iron with the mag. You would eliminate lower conductive targets including nickels and gold but you would not be digging aluminium. Using the mag and low/high tones only you would only be digging copper and silver. Just think of it- never having to dig aluminium again. Perhaps? the Infinium/FH combo? could be used in high trash sites? where you are looking for deep silver( Spanish reales) out of the? depth range of VLFs.? However, the problem with the Ferrous Hound is that it is really insensitive to thin, flat iron(1943 steel penny at 3" max).? Thus, I wondered if? large, thin, flat deep iron would be detected as deep with the Ferrous Hound as with the Infinium.

I guess like all detectors- learn your machine for best performance.

Good Luck
George

 

[Willy]

Well George, I'll have to do some experimenting. Right now I'm basically going for the low conductors. I do notice that very shallow targets of coin size or deeper large targets will cause the secondary signal to drag on for, seemingly, forever. this might be a way to differentiate between the two. Maybe lifting the coil on a shallow target will reduce the secondary sound drag &, on a large one exhibit no change. from what I can see so far, the Infinium with an experienced user, could probably be used quite effectively for coinshooting (or rings). Granted it wouldn't be as easy to use as a VLF, but it would have some advantages re. iron, especially in highly mineralized ground. One thing though... get a smaller coil. My favorite one so far is the 5x10". It goes REALLY deep & is decent in trash. In fact, it's the one I found the buffalo nickle with (at about a foot deep). Doesn't sound like much eh? Well consider that a vlf is lucky to get 6" here & it will read as iron. This nickle ID'ed as a low conductor with a strong signal; exactly what I'm looking for. Remember, decent sized iron (nails & stuff) read as a high conductor to a PI. Just as an experiment, I've taken it along the beach where the packing house once stood. This area is CARPETED with nails from innumerable pallets that were filched & then burned on the beach. I've yet to swing a VLF there that doesn't read a lot of them as good targets. The Infinium was noisier than all hell, but was ID'ing the iron. True, there might have been the odd silver coin in there, but the ratio of iron sounding good to decent targets is literally 1000:1. Sorry, my back can't handle that kind of digging for, most likely, a penny. With my Infinium I was down to something like 20:1. Nice thing is.. next to no pennies. Sure, there are definitely masked targets, but this beach is more of my "trial by fire" patch than anything else. Maybe one day I'll sweet talk a buddy into doing the digging & tear up the beach. Yea..right. I tried once and quit after about 30' & at least 100 nails. Later..Willy.? ? ?

 

[Lanny in AB]

MXT Sniper,

If you want a PI that roots out the nuggets, that you won't have to pay a fortune for, buy a good used 2100--I've seen them advertized for around a thousand bucks, and they'll find nuggets in absolutely horrid ground, especially with some of the new coils, like the NF 16" round DD--that baby has the unbelievable ability to totally ignore some of the worst hotrocks on the face of the planet, North, or South.

I've used the 2100 to tease nuggets out of graphite schist--now that stuff it hotter than the hubs of hades. I've never found hotter bedrock than that stuff (unless it's bedrock impregnated with lots of native iron), yet the nuggets in that schist had to give up their hiding places.

As far as the Infinium goes, I've never tried one yet, but I'd love to, as they sound like they've got some excellent abilities, like detecting the bedrock after I've finished dredging.

Zip up to Alaska Mining and Dive Supply (or get the link off of the Alaska Gold Forum site) and read Steve's tales of his exploits with the Infinium--it may be what you're looking for, you know, to team up for that knock-out punch with the MXT.

All the best,

Lanny in AB

 

[wayne]

mxt sniper - why did you start looking for a new detector so soon? i thought that the mxt was supposed to be the cat's meow to all metal detecting. i haven't been on the net for about four days and i find your post. i bought a new mxt yesterday and tried it out today - on coins. it sure is a lot hotter than my 5900 and i sure hope that i can get used to it. i'll be looking for nuggets in a few more weeks when i can get to the gold country. all kidding aside, you have a real good post. wayne

 

[Darren in NC]

Lanny, would you think much has changed since this thread in lieu of new detecors? You have more experience now, but this thread was in 1998...

http://www.treasurenet.com/forum/prospecting/archives/19980606/messages/9606274233.shtml

 

[oldestjim]

Hello Willy--- glad to see your not snowed in. My Best,