Help with Infinium at Culpeper, Va

[Life Is Good]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience using the Infinium in the hot ground in Culpeper, Va
I have taken mine several times and I can't seem to get the deepth that I've heard that some have been getting.
My brother-in-law has a Minelab gpx 5000 and he was digging bullets at 10 -12 inches. I would check the same spot before he dug the bullet and I didn't even get a whisper.
I used both the stock 11 x 14 dd and the 8" mono. I have read that the larger mono coil works well, but I'm not ready to spend anymore money at this time for the larger mono coil.
I usually run with the disc on 0 and the threshold on around 4 or till I'm just able to hear it.
I'm hoping that someone that has been using the Infinium in Va. could give me some advise.
Would I get more depth if I turn the threshold up to 6 or 7 and tone the volume down with the headphones?
Thanks for the help.

 

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[Adrian SS]

Stop trying to compare the Infinium to the 5000, they are two very different detectors.
Expect the Infinium to achieve approx 60% of the depth that the 5000 gets on any given target with a similar size and type of coil. although this can vary quite a bit either way depending on ground conditions, type and shape of target etc.

What type of bullet are you refering to?
I would expect the infinium to be able to detect a 10mm diam solid lead ball at 8 inches or better using the 10 x 14 mono and 8 inch mono and 10 x 14 DD in fairly tough ground

Running the Infinium threshold low will reduce the clarity of weak signals and if you suffer any hearing loss they may not be heard at all. Raising the threshold volume to 6 or 7 will sharpen weak signals but not cause the detector to detect deeper. If you do get what you interprate as an increase in depth it is due to the signal that is already there but below a level you can hear, being raised into your hearing range thereby giving an APPARENT increase in detection depth.
So try running the threshold a bit louder without it being annoying.
Turning the threshold up loud and setting the HP vol down to where you can still hear the tones clearly as you suggested does work OK

 

[Keppy]

I would expect the infinium to be able to detect a 10mm diam solid lead ball at 8 inches or better using the 10 x 14 mono and 8 inch mono and 10 x 14 DD in fairly tough ground

I would think that the infinium would go deeper than 8 inches being a PI detector........ Could be some one could clear that up for me.........I see PI detectors going 12 & 14 inches for a small peice of metal. And i am not talking a $5000.00 detector so leave that one out of this...

 

[mineron]

I detect here where there is plenty of hot ground. I've dug dimes that deep, you should be able to easily detect a bullet. When I had my Gold Stinger I used a ferrite rod to tune it for checking ore samples in TR mode, the ferrite acts as a hot rock. I use the same ferrite rod to ground balance the Infinium. Find a no-target spot and lay the ferrite rod there to ground balance to. Set the threshold where you like it. With the coil in the air turn it on and ground balance in slow mode. Raise the coil and turn to lock. Turn to fast and ground balance the fast mode. Turn to lock, put the ferrite away and go detecting. The soil really has to be messed up and changing every few feet to use the slow or fast mode after balancing this way. Did your brother in law step away or turn his machine off when you tried the target, were you getting rf or power line interference and need to adjust the frequency, head phone connecting in good shape, coil wire secured and not flapping around? I have the 11x14 dd and the 8 inch mono also. The 8 inch mono goes not quite as deep, but is better pin-pointing smaller targets, it should be able to detect a bullet at those shallow depths also. What year was your Infinium manufactured in? Call Garrett and check to see if yours needs the factory tune for using both coils. In any case, if your machine continues to work that poorly you should think about sending it in for tuning-adjustment. Probably need to send in the unit and both coils. Mine is one of the first production runs and needed the factory adjustment with my coils, sent it in years ago. If I remember right it was done at zero charge. Garrett has excellent customer service, just give them a call.
You can take a ferrite rod out of an old radio, they are used as the antenna core. Just strip it down to the bare rod.
Detecting is 80% operator and 20% machine, put it helps to have an Infinium.

 

[Keppy]

I detect here where there is plenty of hot ground. I've dug dimes that deep, you should be able to easily detect a bullet. When I had my Gold Stinger I used a ferrite rod to tune it for checking ore samples in TR mode, the ferrite acts as a hot rock. I use the same ferrite rod to ground balance the Infinium. Find a no-target spot and lay the ferrite rod there to ground balance to. Set the threshold where you like it. With the coil in the air turn it on and ground balance in slow mode. Raise the coil and turn to lock. Turn to fast and ground balance the fast mode. Turn to lock, put the ferrite away and go detecting. The soil really has to be messed up and changing every few feet to use the slow or fast mode after balancing this way. Did your brother in law step away or turn his machine off when you tried the target, were you getting rf or power line interference and need to adjust the frequency, head phone connecting in good shape, coil wire secured and not flapping around? I have the 11x14 dd and the 8 inch mono also. The 8 inch mono goes not quite as deep, but is better pin-pointing smaller targets, it should be able to detect a bullet at those shallow depths also. What year was your Infinium manufactured in? Call Garrett and check to see if yours needs the factory tune for using both coils. In any case, if your machine continues to work that poorly you should think about sending it in for tuning-adjustment. Probably need to send in the unit and both coils. Mine is one of the first production runs and needed the factory adjustment with my coils, sent it in years ago. If I remember right it was done at zero charge. Garrett has excellent customer service, just give them a call.
You can take a ferrite rod out of an old radio, they are used as the antenna core. Just strip it down to the bare rod.
Detecting is 80% operator and 20% machine, put it helps to have an Infinium.

I thought that on Adrain's SS ...Infinium... There had to be something wrong with the detector or how he has it set up to only get 8 inches with the Infinium....

 

[Life Is Good]

Thanks for the advise guys.

Addrian SS, I wasn't trying to do a comparison to the gpx. So relax. I was only making a reference to it. The reason for my question is because I have read reports that seem to claim exceptional depth from the Infinium and I'm not getting the same results. I have read your article on the Infinium and found it interesting. I'm actually a Garrett fan, I have 4 Garretts.

Mineron, thanks for your input. My Infinium is only 2 years old. To answer a few of your questions.
The gpx was moved back. My Infinium was running smooth. I am aware of the cable having to be tight, so I keep that wrapped tight.
I have purchased new sunray headphones since my last trip to Culpeper. Hoping that will help with hearing signals better.
I never heard of using a ferrite rod before. Does that really work better than just balancing to the actual soil?
Thanks for the advise. Wish I knew someone with an Infinium that I could actually compare mine with.
Hoping to get back to Culpeper soon, so maybe I can try some of these things.
If I don't see and improvement maybe I'll contact Garrett about tuning the Infinium.

 

[mineron]

One thing I forgot to mention is batteries. I stopped using the the newer NiMH type and tried just regular aa's, worked ok. I then tried a new set of nicads. These worked really well with my Infinium, a marked improvement. I read that nicads can provide more amperage in bursts than other types of batteries, so may be more suitable to this type of pulse detector. Another point is that I have nicads from the mid 1990's that still work and zero NiMH over a year, few years old. I did not know how experienced you were so was just throwing ideas out there, things to check. I read about using the ferrite rod in one of Garrett's books I think. All I can say is to try it. When I sent my Infinium in to Garrett I did not really think anything was wrong with it, just needed to be set for using mono coils along with the stock coil. What was returned was like a whole new detector. Good luck.

 

[Life Is Good]

Thanks Mineron,
I'll be sure to give your suggestions a try.