ACE 250/GTP 1350 comparison

[John D.]

I have owned a GTP 1350 for nearly a year and think it is the greatest. Taking the advise of a majority of the post on this forum,I bought an ACE 250 for my Grandchildren to share. I decided to do an air test comparison and I was really surprised to find the 250 picked up the coins just as well if not better than the 1350. Is an air test an accurate way to judge the depth ability of a detector or not? If so I think I will let my Grandchildren use the 1350.

PS SPRING IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!!

 

[John-Edmonton]

They both get great depth, but the GTP 1350 has many more bells and whistles, has better ID capabilities and of course can size an object to help you decide whether to dig or not. You have two powerful detectors there. Take them both with you (I do). Get the sniper coil for the 250 and use the stock coil on the GTP 1350. The stock coil can handle most of the detecting jobs quickly......the Sniper coil will get into those tight spots (roots and bushes) and work well close to playground equipment/chain link fences. You will soon discover that using the sniper coil on the 250 at full sensitivity is one powerful machine. Also, the 250 is so light, that it poses no problem carrying it along. The 250 also makes a great pinpointer too!

When you go to fix an appliance at home, you don't just take one tool to get the job done. Same thing applies to metal detecting. Why just use one machine, when two can do a much better job. I can't tell you how many times that I came home with extra finds because I brought along both machines.
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[Skillet]

Airtests, combined with target-seperation tests, mineralized soil tests and a test garden can tell you alot about the capabilities of a given machine.

Alone, naturally, airtests don't tell the full story. Generally speaking however, a machine that airtests 'deeper' will also detect deeper IN GOOD GROUND. Some machines that airtest well, won't handle mineralization as well as otherwise comparable machines. In decent ground, I seem to lose about 30% compared to airtests.

From what I've read and deduced from experimenting in wet beach sand, your 250 will likely handle minerals a little better than your 1350. I know that mine shades my 1500 in that regard. If I'm not mistaken, the 1350 and 1500 offer very similar performance.

John Edmonton would be better qualified to make the comparison between the 1350/1500 as he has both and is an accomplished 'tectorist as well.

Let us know what you discover with your testing!
Skillet

 

[John D.]

Thanks John,
What you just wrote is proving true, I am enjoying both machines and the 250 is definitely lighter. However my 1350 talks to me and I have learned to trust what it says.
I just returned from one of the "searched out " parks with a Buffalo nickel with no date and a 1909 dime. My first real coins and all in one day. I have almost 1000 clads since last June. Pretty good for a town where it seems 1 in 10 people have a metal detector.
What a hobby,I should have taken this up years ago.
John, we probably will never meet so I want you to know I have learned a lot from you and Bill Revis by reading your posts and articles I find on the web. You should write a book instead of giving away such valuable information.

 

[John D.]

Hello Skillet,
I don't think we have chatted yet. Thanks for the tips. Isn't MD a great hobby? I enjoy this forum almost as much as dirt fishing.

 

[John-Edmonton]

Thanks for the compliment John. Bill really was a vast amount of information many years ago for me. My second Garrett machine was a GTI 1500 (which I still use today)and a lot of people were giving up on it because it had such a long learning curve. I got most of his 1500 information, read it, studied it and then bought the 1500. One thing I have learned is that there are many people who never put in the time to learn their machines, so they either bad-mouth them or sell them shortly after they buy them. All the true Garrett users, who know and understand their machines limitations are just doing so well. And now Garrett came out with the ACE 250, a watered down version of the GTA/GTI version without any kind of sizing. The price is a pittance from anything else that comes close to the same basic bell and whistles. The result? Many guys brand loyal to other brands are starting to look at the Garrett line, and are ditching their machines. Just look at the classified ads. A lot of seasoned detectorists are also hanging up their brands and now use the ACE 250 as their main unit. Why? Because in most cases (but not all) the 250 gets the same job done, only it is smaller, lighter and run on 4 x AA batteries. If 90% of our coins come from the top 6 inches in the ground, how much time, effort and money are you willing to put into that last 10%?

After all, metal detecting is a hobby, and hobbies are supposes to be fun.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Air tests are not chiseled in stone but will give one a general idea what to expect in the real world. The coil is what generally determines depth on a detector and detectors using the same coil will be close in depth unless one detector is just so underpowered it can't pump a decent signal into the ground.

The 250 has a lot of hi-tech stuff packed into a low-priced machine so it can hold its own with many high dollar detectors including its brothers.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah the 1250/1350/1500 all offer similar performance aside from respective features as they are all the same machine.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

I've found that the 250/Sniper is hot on dimes and I find an inordinate amount of them. Even if I just randomly hunt any given area I come up with more dimes than usual.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Well stated John. Any successful detectorist is one who has stuck with his machine and learned it from one end to the other so that using it becomes almost automatic.

Too many people fall into the category of buying all the hype and thinking all you have to do is scan over the detector instructions slightly then run out and wave the detector over the ground and wait for the treasure to pop up. These folks are destined to repeat that over and over and never master any machine.

Garretts are as good as they come but they are not like other detectors and have their own particular quirks which each user has to learn. If you try to use them exactly like you used some other brand you are doomed from the start and this is why many Garret users fail and jump to the next machine hoping for a miracle. The people who owned a Garret, sold it right away, and bad mouth it, just never learned how to use it.

Bill