Help me decide

[jeffj6609]

between the Minelab Excalibur and the Garrett Infinium. I am a newbie to metal detecting but dont want to waste my money on junk. I will be using it on beaches, underwater, and very little else where. Just looking for some input from experienced people before I make a thousand dollar investment. Before everyone tries to verbally kill me I did search and read about 2 hours of reviews, but not much help from scuba users. Thanks in advance.

 

[AeroMike]

I have the Minelab Excalibur and my buddy has the Garret Infinium. I prefer the Minelab since it is a gold magnet! no really it find gold jewelry like no other. Also keep in mind the Garret is a pulse induction machine so it will find targets deep BUT......... you may end up digging a lot of deep trash. I see my buddy dig both trash and decent finds but he tends to pull out more trash.

The Minelab shoots like 28 different frequencies for better penetration. I love my Mine lab because I can put on a dive rod and I also added an Anderson rod too and it makes the world of difference as it better balances out the weight of the batteries versus the unit.

Do your research on this as both machines are expensive and you do not want to have buyer remorse. I am a member on the TreasureNet website and there are a lot of nice knowledgable people over there that can give you more info and first hand experience with both machines.

Good Luck and let us know what you decide to get.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

I have the Minelab Excalibur and my buddy has the Garret Infinium. I prefer the Minelab since it is a gold magnet! no really it find gold jewelry like no other. Also keep in mind the Garret is a pulse induction machine so it will find targets deep BUT......... you may end up digging a lot of deep trash. I see my buddy dig both trash and decent finds but he tends to pull out more trash.

The Minelab shoots like 28 different frequencies for better penetration. I love my Mine lab because I can put on a dive rod and I also added an Anderson rod too and it makes the world of difference as it better balances out the weight of the batteries versus the unit.

Do your research on this as both machines are expensive and you do not want to have buyer remorse. I am a member on the TreasureNet website and there are a lot of nice knowledgable people over there that can give you more info and first hand experience with both machines.

Good Luck and let us know what you decide to get.

Hi there AeroMike, regarding your MiniLab. I have yet to use a detector on a wreck that we have been getting gold coins from, the gold is solidified in a concreation with lots of other pieces of brass, copper and ferris metal. Do you know if the MiniLab can discriminate the gold through all this other junk or will it just scream at me with each pass of the coil?
ZDD

 

[AeroMike]

Hi there AeroMike, regarding your MiniLab. I have yet to use a detector on a wreck that we have been getting gold coins from, the gold is solidified in a concreation with lots of other pieces of brass, copper and ferris metal. Do you know if the MiniLab can discriminate the gold through all this other junk or will it just scream at me with each pass of the coil?
ZDD

From what I understand (and that may not be much lol) the different metals produce a different sound so after learning the Excalibur and the sounds of different metals I would think that you would be able to discern if you have a chunk of concretion with any gold in it. I know when I am at the beach I can tell the difference between gold versus silver versus other metals like clad coins. The MineLab Excalibur's usually run around $1200 new and you can probably find them used for around $700-900.

This is why I say I should combine my detecting and diving also, I would LOVE to dive on a wreck, even if I couldn't keep anything. It would be way cool to locate stuff.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

From what I understand (and that may not be much lol) the different metals produce a different sound so after learning the Excalibur and the sounds of different metals I would think that you would be able to discern if you have a chunk of concretion with any gold in it. I know when I am at the beach I can tell the difference between gold versus silver versus other metals like clad coins. The MineLab Excalibur's usually run around $1200 new and you can probably find them used for around $700-900.

This is why I say I should combine my detecting and diving also, I would LOVE to dive on a wreck, even if I couldn't keep anything. It would be way cool to locate stuff.

Thanks Mike, I will likely get one prior to heading out to the site again. This will be after the winter has passed due to sea conditions. Keep posted on treasure forum, the guys I dive with plan to get together and get some pics of all the gold found so far. I will post some of them but for now the name of the wreck and location must remain confidential.
ZDD

 

[AeroMike]

Thanks Mike, I will likely get one prior to heading out to the site again. This will be after the winter has passed due to sea conditions. Keep posted on treasure forum, the guys I dive with plan to get together and get some pics of all the gold found so far. I will post some of them but for now the name of the wreck and location must remain confidential.
ZDD

Dave, if you get a MineLab, I would highly suggest you purchase a book by a fellow Canadian author and great detectorist Clive J. Clynick. It is titled "Advanced Methods For Finding Gold In The Water" also maybe the book "Water Hunter: Secrets Of The Pros" by the same author. I do not know Clive personally but I have talked with him through emails and he is a great guy who will answer any questions you got and both books helped me to understand how to make the Excalibur feel like an extension of my body and not just simply a machine.

Again, good luck! and keep us posted!!!

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Thanks again Mike, I will pick up the books.
ZDD