| Author |
 Replies: 8 / Views: 3,102 |
|
|
Valued Member
United States
97 Posts |
I've never gone detecting, or used one, but have been planning on it all winter. I've researched a few good places in my area and once it gets here off I go. Just a couple questions though. Are there any quirks to the 250 to look for? how deep can it honestly read and are the optional sniper and the big coil worth thinking about? any help would be great, you all seem to find some good stuff, I just wanna try too. Thanks  |
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
968 Posts |
I've got an Ace 250 myself. It is a great beginners machine. In the 3 months I've owned it I've found enough good finds to pay for it many times over (largely due to a platinum and diamond Tiffany ring I found!). But it definitely has limitations, and I will probably be upgrading to a higher end machine by the end of the year.
Having said that, I'll be blunt about the limitations. Don't take that to mean I'm unhappy with it, I'm just being honest here.
You will probably get 6 inches at most on coins (maybe halves and dollars could go deeper). That compares to about 10" with an E-Trac or Explorer. Although you can get 6" on coins, the target ID gets unreliable below about 4 inches.
If you live near a beach (saltwater) you will see the Ace's biggest limitation. It does not deal well with salt water at all. You can search the upper end of the beach ok, but if you get down to the saturated sand the Ace will start having fits. You can turn the sensitivity down, but then you are only searching a few inches deep and you'll still get a lot of false readings. I live less than a mile from the beach, so I've already bought a machine just for beach hunting (a PI detector).
The Ace is also "all or nothing" on beeps. By that I mean that the tone you get is always the same volume, and there are only 3 sounds total (iron, silver, everything in between). The problem with that is that if there is something that might come off as a faint whisper (meaning deep) it might not react enough for the computer to know something is there. Whereas most other detectors have something of a constant hum and even a slight variation in that hum can suggest something is there.
I wouldn't bother with the bigger coil. It actually doesn't really get you any more depth on small objects like coins, despite what it says in the advertising. The sniper coil may be a good choice though. I've heard lots of good things about it and have considered getting one myself. Apparently it is really good in playgrounds where you have a lot of metal poles sticking out of the ground.
The Ace is a great starter machine and it will be a solid enough performer for you to decide if this is the hobby for you. If it is you will eventually upgrade, but until then you'll do just fine with the Ace.
Edited by Saruma
03/11/2010 01:17 am
|
|
Valued Member
 United States
97 Posts |
Saruma, thanks for the advise. I'm not near a saltwater beach so that weak point is not a problem here. Good to know on the larger coil. I'll see how things go before I worry about another coil.
The weathers getting great here, I'll soon be out hunting n will post any finds. (a plat. w/ diamonds ring would be sweet)
Happy Hunting
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
615 Posts |
I got an ACE 250 a few years ago, I look forward to when the ground is no longer frozen so I may explore :D
|
|
New Member
United States
28 Posts |
Hi guys I was looking in the older posts and found some of the ans. I needed for my Garret250 most of the tones did seem the same , and I found the beach in fl. the detector was pinging on what seemed everything ,I thought I was doing something incorrectly but Saruma did clear that up thank you 525erving
|
|
Valued Member
Canada
68 Posts |
i have had mine for just over a month.... I read alot of reviews and what not and everyone told me " great for beginners" I am not saying I am an expert now, cause I'm far from it, but I wish I would have purchased something better. The three sounds is what is really bugging me....I have a question for others that have an ace 250....
1. Do metal bottle caps & tabs always sound as coins?
2. Does relics/ jewerly setting really work?
I just use the coins and all metals around parks and sports fields!
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
5953 Posts |
I have had mine for three years and still don't think I need to upgrade. I would need to go to and $800 machine to get a significant improvement.
I tend to use Jewelry mode or custom. And no a Nickel sounds different to a pull tab at least to me it does. Bottle caps and quarters will ring the same. Check out my posts in the finds section and you will see some of what the 250 is capable of..
|
|
Valued Member
Canada
68 Posts |
can you still find coins in the jewelry setting? Also what do you set up your custom for? I appreciate any advice you may have with the ace 250!
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
5953 Posts |
In heavy trash areas I use custom more to pull out the Quarters and dimes first. Yes it will still pick up coins in jewelry mode. Be warned however the pinpoint is all metal. so if there is trash around your target the pin pointer will just as likely pinpoint that as the coin. The Ace 250 is a good starter matching if you just want to switch on and go. Its a great machine if you take the time to get to know it properly. I use the larger coil most of the time as it will go down to 10 plus inches despite what other might say. I have pulled quarters from that depth.
Every coil has a sweet spot for pinpointing, practice with yours until you know where it is. That way you will not have to dig a hole to remove your cent. Holes are bad for the hobby. Try to leave no sign you have been there. My wife uses the standard coil and she has a slight edge over me on sensitivity. Which means over the long term she finds more gold than I do as she can get closer to the jungle gym supports than I can.
I have thought about getting a sniper coil but unless you are just coin shooting I cant see the advantage as I dig all targets.
|
| |
Replies: 8 / Views: 3,102 |
|
Posted 03/11/2010 12:42 pm
