Steve & Others, Got The G2, How About The Infinium?

[Rod K]

Getting a Garrett Infinium PI unit from a fella. Is the Infinium a decent nugget hunter? Never have used a PI machine so it will be a new experience.

[Steve Herschbach]

The Infinium lacks horsepower if compared to any Minelab PI and so gets a bad rap from many nugget hunters. However, I prefer to focus on what detectors can do and compared to a VLF the Infinium will easily ignore ground mineralization and hot rocks that will drive your G2 nuts. Use the G2 when you can as it will hit smaller gold than an Infinium and you do have iron disc at your disposal. Use the Infinium when ground noise and hot rocks make using the G2 problematic.

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Infinium http://www.detectorprospector.com/gold-prospecting-equipment/garrett-infinium-ls-pulse-induction-metal-detector.htm

[Rod K]

Thanks Steve. I went ahead and picked up the Infinium. Got the detector with a straight shaft and S rod, land and water headphones, 2 rechargeable battery packs, wall and car charger, and a belt pouch for using it on your hip for $640. I guess that was a fair price for it.

[Steve Herschbach]

Killer price!

[Rod K]

Thanks Steve. I love hearing that.

[Rod K]

Steve, will if detect gold as small as .3 gram? Maybe with the 5"x10" or 3"x7", if not the 14"?

 

 

[Steve Herschbach]

Yes, the Infinium can hit a 0.3 gram target but do not expect much depth. You may need to nearly touch the gold with the coil. That will depend on the nugget shape and purity. Round and pure gold is good. Prickly low purity gold the same weight may be undetectable. 

PI detectors do not really get hotter as coil size gets smaller quite like a VLF. Even a large PI coil will be very hot right up against the coil winding. A mono is hotter than a DD because the same winding transmits and receives - in a DD one winding transmits and the other receives. A large round mono is like a hot hulu hoop with the best tiny gold sensitivity around the edges and less in the middle. By making the coil smaller the windings all draw closer together pulling the hot areas closer together, while reducing ground effects.

Running a 14" mono on the Infinium will give you a double blip on a shallow small target as one edge passes over the target and then the other edge. It is a way of knowing you have a tiny surface target (true of other PI detectors also).

Blah, blah, blah. Long story short the stock 14" x 10" DD is not half bad and has good ground coverage but the 8" mono generally goes as deep and is a tad hotter on small stuff, especially around the edges. The small DD coils have some advantages for being able to get into small spaces getting the coil closer to the target, which is half the battle. In my experience the 3"x7" is not any more sensitive than the 5" x 10" but will get in tighter locations.

[Rod K]

Thank you very much for the info Steve. I appreciate it.