Infinium Field Test

[Adrian SS]

There is a new Infinium LS Field Test at. http://www.goldminingcentre.com.au/md/articles.html
jackinthebox

 

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[Adrian SS]

HI Jim,
The Infinium is a great detector.
Thanks for your positive comments. I use the mono coils a lot mainly because they go deep and the big DD is Heavy.
The TDI has not taken off Here in Australia and I do not know anybody here who has one. It sounds like a good machine.
The ML 2200v2 is a good machine. I cannot comment on the TDI but with either the ML or the Garrett you couldn't go wrong as far as gold detecting is concerned.
Cheers,
Adrian SS

 

[Adrian SS]

Yes Jim, the Field Test is mine.
Don't let this field test sway you from looking at other units, each machine has individual characteristics which you should consider carefully and then decide which detector best suits your purpose.
Cheers,
Adrian SS

 

[Adrian SS]

HI Jim,
Yes certain targets can reverse their tone as the disc control is advanced, some may fade out completly at a particular disc setting.
You have to do a bit of experimenting to find out what does what.

The paragraph re the rusty tin lids and nails is confusing and I wish I hadn't included it in the test.

These items often give a strong hi/lo tone at zero disc but can fade out in rev disc, If the tone is still present in rev disc I have found it to have changed to lo/hi. Discrimination being what it is, this may not always be the case and that is why It is necessary to dig any target that reduces significantly in signal strength or that changes to hi/lo when selecting rev disc if you want the best chances of finding gold.

I have found most non rusty iron nails, tent pegs and bolts produce a lo/hi tone in normal and rev disc at almost the same signal strength

For gold, you will only ever get a hi/lo in rev disc.
For small gold that produces a weak signal either lo/hi or hi/lo, the tone in rev disc will be hi/lo. The signal from gold that fades out in rev disc can often re-appear as a weak hi/lo tone as the coil gets closere to the nugget as you chase the signal down into the ground.
A lot of large gold nuggets can often produce a lo/hi tone in mormal mode but in rev disc the tone will be hi/lo at a reduced signal strength. If the nugget is large and producing a strong signal in normal then the signal strength may not be so reduced in rev disc but it will be hi/lo

Not sure if this has helped much or just added to the confusion .
Cheers,
Adrian SS

 

[Adrian SS]

HI Jim,
As much as it pains me to say it but generally speaking the ML is more sensitive to small gold than the Infinium but along with the extra sensitivity you have more ground noise in extreme mineralisation.
The Infinium runs quieter than the ML in tough conditions. The end result is that there will be situations when the Infinium will outperform the ML and other times when the ML will beat the INF.
I think when choosing between these two machines it comes down to how much you want to spend, how often you will be gold hunting and the type of ground you will be searching in. Both of these detectors are top line gold machines, the Infinium has the advantage of being waterproof and being able to discriminate iron from gold at significant depth and will perform very very well in all natural ground conditions. Th ML is an excellent gold machine and will handle most ground conditions with the possible exception of saltwater beaches. Both of these machines were designed from the ground up to be gold detectors in extreme iron mineralisation but the Infinium can be used for SCUBA and salt beach detecting and in the rain.
I might add that for small gold don't forget about machines like the VLF Goldmaster series or the Gold Bugs or Supa Traq and others that are designed to find the very tiny bits of gold near the surface. Combine one of these machines with the INF or ML and you will be set for any type of gold metal detecting.
Cheers,
Adrian

 

[kando]

Adrian SS And Jim H..... I know this is not about the Infinium but do either of you know about or could tell me about the Garrett Scorpion Gold detector ? Kando

 

[Adrian SS]

Hi Jim,
Great Post mate,
I was particularly Interested in your photo's and quite surprised at how such large silver ore samples could register at such low conductivity levels. The silver in calcite is very low conductivity. Is the silver in metallic form.?
I have gold in Qtz samples where the gold is protruding from all surfaces of the sample that give a condutivity reading in the high pulltab range; When an electrical resistance meter is connected between various points on the sample I get continuous good conductivity readings indicating that the gold is running in contiuous veins throughout the sample. Other samples that give a reading in the high iron range do not show a lot of continuous eletrical condutivity indicating that the gold is more granular or in disconncted patches through the rock. I use my resistance meter to get an idea of (roughly) the density of gold through the sample.

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[Adrian SS]

HI Jim,
Likewise mate, thanks for the chat, it has been very informative.
Cheers n HH
Adrian

 

[kando]

Jim , thanks for you input i was looking at the Scorpion and the lobo Super Traq. I think i will go with the Lobo ST . The reason is the auto ground tracking and almost auto ground balance. Thanks again for your input........................ Blake

 

[Detector Wars]

Hi Jim, I had just done some tests with my Infinium, one of the things I try to do with certain items is try to find the warble zone. Reading your posts I would say that some silver nuggets you would be able to get a warble out of, indicating that the detector is signaling both high conductivity and low (it's torn between the two, so it does not know what to signal). In my quick tests, I founs that a dime and a 1 cent US coin will warble on just below the "8" discrim setting. I don't know if this will help you but the point that I'm making is that sometimes you can use the discrim knob to identify targets, sometimes only if they're close range.

 

[Detector Wars]

Hi Jim,

It all depends on how much time you want to save and on what probabilities you're working on. As a general rule of thumb,

the Infinium in reverse disc will:
1 give a low-high signal on medium to large pieces of iron,
2 give a high-low signal on small bits of iron,
3 give a high-low on large gold nuggets (unless deep, than it is unlikely to give any signal at all because you loose a lot of depth in reverse disc)
4 give no signal or a very faint signal (a blip type of signal) on small gold.

In trashy areas, because there's so much junk around, you probably only want to use the Infinium to search for targets that give a faint high-low or no signal at all in reverse disc. There will be too many signals that will give a strong high-low signal (large gold or smallish iron) and low-high signals (large iron) in reverse disc! But that's where most of the large gold is left behind, so it depends on how much time you have. I've never used any other detector in trashy areas other than a GP 3000 and the Explorer SE (I didn't give that too much of a go in these areas) so I'm only generalising, the 3000 wasn't too good in trashy areas but I was still able to find small gold, you just have to dig the good signals. I have never hunted for silver.

The other thing is, you can't walk around with the Infinium in reverse disc. You put it in rev disc when you want to check the target then decide, then put it back to your normal setting and move on, whereas with VLF discriminating detectors, you can. But VLF's struggle in goldfield type grounds, they loose a lot of sensitivity - so I suppose VLF's will still be alright for larger pieces. They do very well with silver, I know that.

I have heard of people using (one guy I think) an Excalibur in trashy areas and doing well, I can understand why, but I think a BHID would be better, though may be noisier - it just goes on and on

PI's do however give you info just from the target response, and the Infinium will do that and then will give info in rev disc - that is - it will allow you to analise the signal yourself, and in reve disc it will allow you to analise the some more - where the VLF's will analise the signal for you.

The knob that you use to put the Infinium in rev disc is the same knob that you use for "discrimination". It is numbered 1-9, and where 10 would be is reverse disc. If you're looking for silver, it would be wise to use a sample that you found in the same area, (wave it over the detector) and try to find the point on the discrim knob where it will give you a signal that's both high-low and low-high. I call this a warble and it is a very distinct sound. You won't be able to find this setting for most items (so it wont be affective to look for them this way), but I tested a dime and a US 1 cent piece and I found that in the 7 and three quartes setting on the discrim knob the signal warbles. The reason I mention this is because the silver nugget in the third pic that you posted in this thread will give you a warble (a very recognisable signal) on a setting of 7 and three quarters on the discrim knob - BUT, you will be loosing a lot of depth. The higher you turn the discrim knob the more depth you loose, so those nuggets would have to be shallow for you to identify it this way.

Silver (at least the ones I have at home, like silver rings and other assorted trinkets) in rev disc will give a fairly good signal still (mostly high-low but a large ring gave a good low-high), but you will loose some depth although not nearly as much as with other items that aren't iron. (when you put it in rev disc).

I haven't used a Whites TDI but I think it has a similar feature as the Infinium's disc knob and it might even have a wider range (which would be good).

I'm not sure if I've answered all of your query, but if I were you, I'd also look into using a Sovereign gt (same as Excalibur) or a Whites BHID. The Sovereign will probably be quieter but you'll be able to search faster with the BHID - in theory!

 

[Detector Wars]

Hi Jim,
I'm just not familiar with the other gold hunting detectors that you've mentioned, so they might well and trully be better detectors for that situation. I have heard of people using Sovereigns and Excaliburs in the goldfields so I thought to mention them, I think (and it's only a few people who would use these) they might like the fact that they will go over iron and completely ignore it, null out on the signal. They are not as sensitive or go as deep as the Minbelab gold PI's but they are looking for large surface stuff anyway, so that would work for them. However, I would definately have look at the other VLF's especially the MXT, that seems to be very sensitive as well.

As for turning the discrim knob higher to ignore iron and hopefully still get the target, I don't know, junk/iron is usually found right on the surface so it's too close to ignore. I think of the disc knob as a bit like a depth adjustment, by turning it higher will decrease the depth, but on the other hand I haven't done any tests or had enough experience to noticed that non-iron low conductives might drop-out before small iron.

For some reason I don't get a lot of iron signals. I get more iron signals with the Excalibur in all metal, than with the infinium, it may be that the Infinium doesn't go too deep on iron? But all that sort of trash will be on the surface for you so I don't think you'll be able to discriminate out the small iron too well, I hope I'm wrong, anyone?

 

[Adrian SS]

To cut a long story short, this is what you should do to get the best chance of finding gold with the Infinium.

!!!! DIG ALL SIGNALS !!!!!

If you must pick and choose then dig all signals that are hi/lo at zero disc and are hi/lo at a reduced signal level in rev disc. or that fade out completely.
Gold can be either hi/lo or lo/hi. (Large nuggs are likely to be lo/hi at zero disc.) All hi purity gold will be hi/lo in rev disc)

Dig all signals that are lo/hi at zero disc and change to hi/lo in rev disc.

Don't walk away from any signal that is hi/lo in rev disc at any sort of reduced signal level no matter how slight the reduction.

To find silver. (.925 or better)
Dig all lo/hi tones . Silver alloyed with other metal can be hi/lo

Most aluminium cans are also lo/hi at zero disc and rev disc. as are iron tent pegs.

So from this maybe you can see why I say Dig All Signals.

The discrimination on the Infinium is not ment to be a wide range discriminator, it is designed to separate gold from iron in gold field conditions. If you must use the discrimination to try and identify other targets like coins and various items of jewellery then you must experiment with a wide range of coins and other targets to get an idea of how the Infinium responds to different items at different settings of the discrimination dial.

Adrian SS