Garrett LS Infinium information and questions

As a former Infinium owner, I would like to know, as I'm sure others are, how this was resolved.
Mine ran dead smooth and was a pleasure to use, once it got anywhere near the GT however, [minerlisation] it just went nuts.
Was a great unit in quiet ground and beach.

Does anyone have one ? I found a used ( taken out of box but never used supposedly) for $1200 . Any good for gold , any owners out there?
Have used the search function but looking for current reviews
Cheers

Redfin might be the best bloke to ask?
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/profile.php?id=232

I've never used one but it was one I looked at when starting out. Most reports I found said they don't handle the mineralised ground on goldfields well but a lot swear by them as a beach PI.
My opinion is that there are better used gold detecting options for that price range.
Used Whites SPP, Minelab SD series & possibly GP Extreme.

i have one and i love it but i haven't used it much in the gold bearing areas, really only at mogo and down around nerriga/oallen etc, i didnt have any problems with mineralized ground but like i said not alot of time spent there either, some people have had dramas with high mineralization, it will pick up my 0.3gm nugget i have. i dont like using it in the parks that are really trashy or too close to houses at all cause of emi

you are from Roberston did i read here somewhere? if so and you are in wollongong at all before you decide to get it or not you are welcome to come and have a go/try of mine down the beach if you like, will give you some idea if you like the infinium

Cheers Jamie , looking to get my first detector , it's doing my head in.

PM sent to you mate

Hi mate, the Infinium is a great detector but I could never get it smooth in mineralized ground, and unfortunately that is where the gold is.
Anywhere else it is superb.

Does not have a speaker, the coil and headphone plugs are Garrett specific, very prone to damage due to the design and expensive to replace.

OZDigger said:

Does not have a speaker, the coil and headphone plugs are Garrett specific, very prone to damage due to the design and expensive to replace.

Click to expand...

Garrett's proprietary plug/socket connections are only prone to damage if you don't take sufficient care in aligning them before pushing the plug into the socket. They're watertight and a rock-solid connection once fastened. Also, the Infinium and its coils come with attached plastic caps to protect out-of-use plugs/sockets from damage, dust and water - a very nice touch that other manufacturers should copy.

I had the same problem with mine when I first got it (second-hand). And yes Phil at GMC fixed it-can't remember how much, pretty cheap, seeing it needed a new main board. I suspect my issue was caused by the previous owner bouncing around with it in the back of his ute.
Also old mate had tried to force the heaphone plug into the coil socket at some stage. It also has a Inf. plug to 1/4" headphone adaptor, a booster box, and a clip-on microphone
The 10 inch mono seems to have slightly more depth with the same sensitivity as the small DD, but is harder to pinpoint. The big coil is for quiet ground only, or dumbed down for the big stuff. And you would definitely need a bungy for it.
Mine came with the belt, but not the bracket, so I made one and fitted the box under the armrest. It's a little heavy, but well balanced now, and I can swing it all day.
I also found it more sensitive with the frequency adjust near 1, so maybe in the hotter ground it would be better up near 9 ??

I found a straight shaft better, could move the box along till you get the balance right.

You've made that into an impressive unit Redfin- well done!! They do give you plenty of length on the coil cable. And with that setup even using the big coil could be made reasonably comfortable. I like the foot too.
Was the handle/bracket assembly supplied with the shaft, or did you make the lot up?
Agreed about the straight shaft, Better all round, I say.

Looks like a pluggers shaft and stand ,bet you pleased with the balance now Redfin
Got a carbon one from the states (2 piece)when my daughter was over there for my sea hunter
Great piece of kit wouldn't be with out it makes the sea hunter so balanced now

It appears that the Garrett Infinium LS has been permanently dropped from the US lineup after a long spell on the market.

There's no doubt it was getting pretty long in the tooth, and never seeed to be accepted here as a popular gold PI, nor was it very sensitive to small gold when compared to the current offerings. Admittedly mine was mainly used for beach hunting, of which it punched pretty deep, particularly with the mono coils. The S-bend shaft was a bugger to carry around for long periods, with many including myself opting for a straight shaft configuration.

It never was the most user friendly PI detector out there, and was a pretty high maintenance machine to own. My infinium was an early unit requiring the main board to be upgraded to enble it to run mono coils and also ground balance more successfully on mineralised ground. The large DD coil with the thinner gauge wiring died early on, cable strains and earthing issues were commonplace, the fiddly waterproof connectors were also prone to bent/broken pins.

Garrett should probably look at producing an ATX in conventional detector setup, preferably with a straight shaft and hip/chest mounting capability to reduce the weight of the current military style configuration. The overall cost of the ATX, especially with regards to the hefty coil prices also needs to be addressed if wanting to have it accepted as a more viable option. Especially the case considering the Infinium coils were nearly a thrid of the price of the current ATX coils - $939 for an 8" ATX mono is pretty insane pricing for a small coil.

Garrett Australia are still selling the Infinium, presumedly to clear current stock. The very similar Sea Hunter MK2 is still being retained in the Garrett lineup both here and in the US.

Here is a link to the Garrett International range of products, with PDF links or full zip file of the catalogue on the right of the page:

http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby_catalog_international_en.aspx

i love my infinium on the beach, can be a handful at times but still a great bit of kit, i wanted to get the straight shaft for it but never bothered to, mine was the later version and was good to go with the mono out of the box, not that i got a box with mine as i got it second hand lol

Sad to see the Infinium go, it found me a musket hunting a colonial site a few years ago now. It also was the last pulse machine i have owned, i now sticking with VLF but i am a coin relic hunter so they suit me best.
Below is a picture of me hunting an 1820s beach site, Tassie people will easily know which beach.

I bought the 3 x 7 dd coil for my infinium and just thought you might like to know how it performs.

The 7x3"DD works well on the Infinium LS, it's an outstanding coil when used on an ATX.

Unfortunately mine is gathering dust, haven't used it since moving away from beach detecting and even then I only used the mono coils. Both of my DD coils were also bin jobs due to wiring issues inside the coils and cable strain.

That's a shame the infinium is collecting dust Goldpick. It's to bad you chucked those coils out, i would of liked to pull them apart and see how they were wired up etc.

Your spot on about that Nesral, I was very surprised how well it runs on the infinium. It's going to be an excellent coil for the creeks and rivers, chasing small gold in tight places. The infinium with that coil is about the only metal detector out there that can be set up and handed to a complete novice without them touching a thing, just tell them go slow and dig when the thing makes a noise and it doesn't need much of a target to get a signal from that's for sure.

Have you ever ran it with the 5 x 10 dd? just curious as i have never tried that coil and your right they would be deadly on the ATX.