Infinium LS question

[Pitchfire]

Does the Infinium have a provision for altering the pulse delay? If so how is it accomplished?

I am just trying to choose a PI machine. It's between the Infinium and the Dual Field so far.

Thanks for tolerating a novice question like this. I just can't seem to find the answer after watching the instructional video etc... The DF has a knob for it so that's pretty straight forward unless the "pulse timing" knob does something other than adjust pulse delay?

[deftone]

Google findmall and scroll down to infinium classroom,
There you will find more information than you could ever
Use.

[Terry Soloman]

It operates at 730 pulses-per-second.

You can subtly adjust the operating frequency to
reduce interference caused by other detectors or
power lines if needed. To adjust frequency:
Turn the Threshold dial beyond “MAX” to “Freq.
Adjust” and you’ll notice that the audio threshold was
increasing and then abruptly dropped back to a lower
level. The detector is now in a "Frequency Adjustment
Mode".

You can now adjust the operating frequency using
the Discrimination knob. Incrementally adjust the
Discrimination knob, pausing after each adjustment
to listen, until you obtain minimum interference. There
are 32 different frequencies to choose from
so turn the dial in very small steps.

Once you obtain the quietest frequency, return
the Threshold knob to your normal setting and the
frequency will lock at the chosen value. You can then
return the Discrimination knob back to your normal
setting. When the detector is turned OFF/ON, it will
always return to its factory default operating frequency.

[Pitchfire]

From that I gather that the discrimination control does control the pulse delay (as per a post by crumble). Is that correct? Kind of correct?

[Crumble]

Yes, Discrimination is pulse delay, same with Elimination on the Sea Hunter. Not sure why companies dont just call it pulse delay.

As for which to buy, if you have hot ground like on the west coast, I would lean toward the Infinium for the ground balancing, on the east coast with the mild ground, I would probably opt for the dual field, mostly because it can be swung at a faster speed.

[Pitchfire]

I am in coastal AK (think British Columbia coastal). I am leaning towards the Infinium for the waterproof depth (live on the ocean and it rains all the time), the detatchable wire bits, the voice (gleaned from Youtube videos) and the adjustability to conditions. It will also be my only machine since ridding myself of the Explorer and GP Extreme to my everlasting shame and regret. Just wanted to make sure I know what I am comparing. Thanks!

[Bobbypin Bill]

Originally Posted by Pitchfire

I am in coastal AK (think British Columbia coastal). I am leaning towards the Infinium for the waterproof depth (live on the ocean and it rains all the time), the detatchable wire bits, the voice (gleaned from Youtube videos) and the adjustability to conditions. It will also be my only machine since ridding myself of the Explorer and GP Extreme to my everlasting shame and regret. Just wanted to make sure I know what I am comparing. Thanks!

I know the Infinium, but would not make a comparison with the DF...never having used one, however one person I know has extensive experience with both is Cupajo...He's on this and other forums and is in my mind a consummate hunter with many years experience. He's also inclined to share his wealth of knowledge....I'd ask him what he thinks....HH Bill

[Terry Soloman]

Originally Posted by Pitchfire

I am in coastal AK (think British Columbia coastal). I am leaning towards the Infinium for the waterproof depth (live on the ocean and it rains all the time), the detatchable wire bits, the voice (gleaned from Youtube videos) and the adjustability to conditions. It will also be my only machine since ridding myself of the Explorer and GP Extreme to my everlasting shame and regret. Just wanted to make sure I know what I am comparing. Thanks!

Why don't you just get a Tesoro Sand Shark and be done with it? Just as good, deep as the Infinium, Sea Hunter, Dual Field, and the ONLY one with a lifetime warranty. All the controls are on the outside of the box, and it costs less than all the others.

[jarid]

I have the infinium and I agree with Terry

[Crumble]

Originally Posted by Terry Soloman

Why don't you just get a Tesoro Sand Shark and be done with it? Just as good, deep as the Infinium, Sea Hunter, Dual Field, and the ONLY one with a lifetime warranty. All the controls are on the outside of the box, and it costs less than all the others.

Not this again... Sand Shark doesn't have a pulse delay (the most important control on a PI)... or a sensitivity control... and it doesn't work well on hot ground (because of no pulse delay to adjust for bad ground). If you ask for a discount from a forum sponsor, I'm sure you can get a Sea Hunter for less than a Sand Shark, and it has the controls a PI needs.

Dont make me link to the videos proving the Sand Shark isn't as deep as any of the other PIs... the warranty is the only place the Sand Shark beats the other PIs.

I have owned the Sand Shark in the past, it was unusable on some of my beaches with super hot ground, and had poor performance on small gold.

P.S. You can get a discount on any of the other machines, but not the Sand Shark, the Sea Hunter probably ends up costing less, and in the Dual Field's case only $100 or so more than the Sand Shark, my Infinium was only 50% more than a Sand Shark after discount.

[SingingSandcrab]

I have owned both, liked both... The DF may have a bit more of a learning curve for setting up in certain conditions. Have yet to have a beach in So. Cal. I cannot hunt. That is hunting in rough water, waist deep, black sand.

I personally like the DF more, but will not say the Infid. is a bad choice. Either way you are getting a good machine...

Luck with your decision...

SSC

[lilsin_805]

If you are using it solely for the beach u would go with the sea hunter mark ii I had a bad one the first time, but garret fixed it and I love it. It works great on california and is super deep. There is no volume adjustment and it is very loud, so I hunt with a beanie on to lessen the sound. You get the option of removable coils and headphones.

I have never used a sand shark so I can not Speke about it.
I used a buddy's bhid300 but it does not work all that well. So I was turned off by it.

I haven't used the infinium but I am considering purchasing one in the future bases upon how much I like the sea hinter mark ii

[therover]

There are features the Infinium has that some of the other water proof PI units do not have.

Frequency check
Ground balancing
Tone ID
Ability to change coils

Some may have one or two of these features, but none of them have all of these features.

One has to remember that the Infinium was designed with gold hunting abilities, so when using it in salt water conditions, you have to tune it to run it for the conditions you are hunting in. Some hunters never learned this.

Since the Infinium does not have it's pulse settings adapted to cancel out some of salt waters conductivity, it has to be adjusted because running at the most optimal settings, the unit will react to the salt water. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, but to me it's a good thing because conditions change, and I can adjust my Infinium to run at the most optimal settings for the environment I am hunting, and have it set to be the most sensitive to gold jewelry for each hunt.

You really have to put time in a LEARN the Infinium. That's not 2 or 3 hunts...more like 25-30. But once you do learn it, I don't think you will go back to any other water proof PI.

Just my opinion, and I have used a lot of different water proof and non-water proof PI"s on the NJ beaches in the last 25+ years. These being:

Whites Surf PI, PI Pro, DF, TDI
Tesoro Pirahna, SS
Detector Pro HH PI
Eric Foster Goldquest SS v2

[CanSlaw]

I have the Sea Hunter and I DON"T agree with Terry.

The SH has interchangeable coils and can go up to 14 inch in coil diameter, or down to 8 inch for tight spaces

The SH has interchangeable headphone and can be upgrade buy simply connecting another pair.

The SH HAS true pulse delay.

Garrett stands behind their machines no matter how long you own it. I was the second owner of a GTI 1500 and Garrett replaced it at no charge.

I shopped around on the internet and bought a SH for a better price than a Sand Shark and the SH comes with a "free" hip mounting gear.

The Sea Hunter was the detector of choice for the $400 Million dollar discovery of the Achoia by Mel Fisher and is still in use by his company today. I think that is a pretty good unpaid endorsement.

For the same price the Sea Hunter has several features above the San Shark and I would be happy to compare the depth.

[Pitchfire]

Being my only detector for some time, I would of course want to use it as a gold machine in addition to a water machine. I have a placer stream pretty close and lots of prospects. Most things here are in and around the water or just up the shoreline in the trees, so waterproof is good. Being almost entirely unhunted, it's likely very trashy in spots and extremely clean in spots. That I don't mind as I'm interested in the trash and treasure around here (people dig in the old dump sites every day for bottles and things).

My list includes an old ski hill that closed after a few decades many decades ago, an old cannery site over the tide flats, an old popular lake for swimming or two, an old ice skating lake (seperate from the other two), a few small islands that used to have fox farms and homes, an old light house site, a placer stream, a few unnamed small creeks, a lot of mossy covered ground that has never been hunted nor the rocks seen beneath the moss, miles of shoreline where camps were temporary for hundreds of years, and then some...

I really want a PI machine and it has to be waterproof. For the versatility I need and may find I want down the road, it would seem like Infinium territory to me. I was leaning strongly towards the Dual Field until watching the videos and reading the Infinium/PI forums.

I can see the learning curve, but it seems pretty straighforward to me (not unlike the Minelab GP Extreme).

[CanSlaw]

Pitchfile,
For what you are stating your needs to be, especially tuning for placer gold, I think you are looking at the right machine with the Infinium. Ground balancing becomes a big factor for placer hunting and that is where the Infinium shines. Having owned several Garrett's in the past, I cannot say enough good about their customer service. Thankfully, I have never had any of my machines in for repair, only shipping damage. My hunting partner had a coil go bad, Garrett FedEx him a new one and a return label to send his old one back. He was back hunting in 18 hours from the time the phone call was made to Garrett.

[Right Brain]

Originally Posted by Crumble

Dont make me link to the videos proving the Sand Shark isn't as deep as any of the other PIs

I'd like to see it, do you have a link? I've never seen that before.

[Crumble]

Originally Posted by Pitchfire

Being my only detector for some time, I would of course want to use it as a gold machine in addition to a water machine. I have a placer stream pretty close and lots of prospects. Most things here are in and around the water or just up the shoreline in the trees, so waterproof is good. Being almost entirely unhunted, it's likely very trashy in spots and extremely clean in spots. That I don't mind as I'm interested in the trash and treasure around here (people dig in the old dump sites every day for bottles and things).

My list includes an old ski hill that closed after a few decades many decades ago, an old cannery site over the tide flats, an old popular lake for swimming or two, an old ice skating lake (seperate from the other two), a few small islands that used to have fox farms and homes, an old light house site, a placer stream, a few unnamed small creeks, a lot of mossy covered ground that has never been hunted nor the rocks seen beneath the moss, miles of shoreline where camps were temporary for hundreds of years, and then some...

I really want a PI machine and it has to be waterproof. For the versatility I need and may find I want down the road, it would seem like Infinium territory to me. I was leaning strongly towards the Dual Field until watching the videos and reading the Infinium/PI forums.

I can see the learning curve, but it seems pretty straighforward to me (not unlike the Minelab GP Extreme).

Sounds like you are mostly hunting freshwater? PI machines can be painful on land, and in freshwater lakes, you dont realize how much trash there is under the ground, but then again there are a lot of guys who use PI machines for relic hunting.

May want to have a look at a machine like the AT Gold, it's a VLF machine, so it doesn't get the extreme depth of a PI, but its waterproof, runs at a high frequency so can pick up small gold better than a PI, and most importantly, has discrimination, so you can avoid digging tons of rusty nails.

A lot depends on where you live, I'm in San Diego, Ca, big city, tons of trash in the ground, I wouldn't dare use a PI on land, I've tried it in my back yard, I get like 5-10 beeps every sweep of the coil. If I lived in Arizona or somewhere less populated like that, or a place that the iron targets could be interesting old goodies, a PI may be an option for me on land.

[Crumble]

Originally Posted by Right Brain

I'd like to see it, do you have a link? I've never seen that before.

Brace yourself, lot of arguing in that thread. The Infinium video is on page 2 or something, but the rest are in the first post.

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=114331

[Right Brain]

Originally Posted by Crumble

Brace yourself, lot of arguing in that thread. The Infinium video is on page 2 or something, but the rest are in the first post.

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=114331

Thanks, sometimes it's good to throw the cat amongst the detectorists.