1st Detector..Ace 250 Vs Silver uMax could use some help

[overev]

n/t

 

[khouse]

What exactly do you want to know?

 

[Wirechief]

It is a hard decision because of all the features Garrett puts into the Ace 250. Notching is nice to have. It is digital and has all pushbuttons. It has other niceties too. But I never use the one I have and choose to use the Silver uMax. You have to figure having bells and whistles at a nice price is what you need. I think I will keep my Silver uMax. Ok best to you in your decision. God Bless.

John Tomlinson,CET
John's Detectors

 

[Anonymous]

I can tell you one thing, with no if's ands, or buts about it. I have been relic hunting since the early 80's, with upper level White's, one "sorry" Bounty Hunter, recently a Minelab Explorer, and now a Silver uMax as well as a brand new Cibola(see my post). My Silver is awesome! I cannot believe how inexpensive this machine is, for it's worth. I made a find the first 2 hours of using it that would pay for it. In the last couple months, I've paid for it 4 or more times(only on my second battery now, and still have 8 beeps). I was just "complaining" about my new Cibola. My Silver has "spoiled" me. One thing that is a misconception about detectors(myself included), is that the pricier, or more bells and whistles mean a better detector. I'd rather have one frequency coming out of my Silver than the 28 coming out of the Minelab. But that's just me. And you can swing a 2 pound detector all day! But I know nothing about the Garrett model.

 

[overev]

At this point am interested in mainly coin & jewelry, will be living in upstate NY. Everyone seems to rave about the Ace 250 but after reading post after post I got the feeling that it might have a depth limit of 4" to 6". It seems that it is a good machine if you are looking for clad. Now might be that is true for units in this price range, being new to hobby I just don't know but would like to get as much bang for the buck as I can. Also a lot of my hunting will be in high trash area's. Thanks for the replies and suggestions. Bells and whistles are nice but not at the cost of function. The learning curve may be slower on one machine than another but that is not as important to me as is the final results.

 

[morelic1955]

Hands down I would get the Silver Umax, It's worth the extra $39 bux!
I have had TID machines and they LIE!!! Plus the resale and lifetime warranty are a plus. Plus the Silver WILL GO DEEPER and is made better.

 

[khouse]

I know the Tesoro's a great detectors. Just to clear up the depth issue. I have dug coins 5 to 6 inches with the 4.5 inch sniper coil on the 250. The stock coil goes a bit deeper. So in good soil depth will not be an issue. I like the true notch system on the 250. But there are plusses to not having a TID. Without the TID you will usually dig more and find more. But with the 250 you can just play like it has no TID and dig good signals. Good luck.

 

[sling]

I agree!
I had Garrett 250 and it lies!!!
even explorerII lies !!!
it says silver and its aluminium.
if you notch the alu out you will loose the silver.
digital target id wont work under 4 inches and in the case of 250 not even that deep.
the 250 was out of depth in every soil!
its only a machine to pick up coins from the grass after concerts.
i dont know about the silvermax but as i know the tesoros it got to be a better machine.
I love tesoros
not fancy but really good and cheap.
we dont need digital set up combinations
we need depth and good iron reject and thats it
tesoro gives you that

 

[Anonymous]

One other thing... Aside from it's light weight, if you want to hunt in a light rain, you can take a zip-lock bag and improvise your Tesoro very easily. I always take one with me in case.

 

[Pete in MI]

ACE 250 is one of several detectors I have and use. I and a buddy went out detecting. He was using a Garrett GTAx 1250 (I previously owned it and traded it off to him) and it has the PROformance 12x10 coil. I was using the ACE 250 with the stock coil which is 9x7 if I remember correctly. He got a signal and asked me to see if I could verify it. I did.

I dug the item for him since I had a handheld pinpointer and he had none. At 9 inches I found the target. It was one of the shots out of a double aught (00) buckshot shotgun shells. So I would not say it only goes 4 to 6 inches.

I have never used a Silver Umax so I can't give you a comparison of the one machine over the other. I have a Tesoro Eldorado and haven't put it to use yet. (Weather and illness being limiting factors).

Good hunting to you for whatever detector you decide on.

 

[saginawian]

I have used both detectors extensively. They get very similar grades for performance, in my opinion. Both go significantly deeper than 4-6" in the right conditions, as the post above says. I can say for sure that I have dug objects at 10" with both, but not often. The deepest targets are usually 8" or less. Bottom line, with the target ID on the ACE you may begin to second guess yourself if you get a strong signal and it bounces around on depth and between junk and coins. Some say, well, don't pay attention to the screen - for me, that's nearly impossible b/c the temptation is always there. In fact, it is a little distracting to me. I like the Silver better because it takes away the second guessing and you just dig everything that sounds good. You would be suprised at how little junk you actually dig when you trust your ears. Personally, my finds are better with the Silver than they were with the ACE. I must tell you it is, for me, a close call and both machines will serve you well.

Ian

 

[saika]

I have used a 250 for a season but have never used a silver umax. I will say that the 250 has very good coin sniffing abilities. I was consistantly hauling out coinage that was up against nails and the like. Now, this ability vanished in hotter soil. I know that the GB is fixed and you can expect this kind of response from ANY fixed GB machine. Depth was not an issue, really. 6" plus is very regular for coins. Also the TID was as good as any TID machine, they all do their best to tell you what is under the coil. However, the 250 has another underrated quality, it gives a lot of audio information once you learn it. I was able to tell if one of those foam/foil drink lids was under the coil every time.

Why I got rid of it? I didn't like how it handled large objects it has a funny way of overloading, drove me nuts. But, I did like how you could retune it while pinpointing. I also found the display a little small for my eyesight. It is a good machine but after some more searching I am quite satisfied with how the Tesoro line works. Having an all metal, silent mode may have its advantages at the beach or kiddy pit. If you are just starting out you have to decide what you want.

Additions and features may not be for you, or they may be. You may learn a lot more by getting the silver umax and just start digging everything in the accepted disc range and learn detecting. Good luck with whatever your choice is, they are both good machines. No one says that you have to keep your choice forever either.