ace 250

[blowfly1967]

having just found this site ,i'm reading everything i can about my ace 250.i'm 66 yrs old my wife bought it for me on my last birthday .the 250 locates in a general area what ever is in the ground , my pinpoint is a shovel and seive ,the pinpoint on the 250 only works when it feels like it .the discriminator is a joke ,i can eliminate whatever trash i want and it still goes bing,bing when i sweep over any trash.every morning i get up early and go to one of the beaches in our area. there are seven of.for a year i have found approximatly thirty eight dollars in coins and accoupleof cheap rings plus other assorted treasures.as i live in cairns in ,in north queensland australia the centre of the tourism area of australia ,i feel i should be finding more like the lad from dubbo . i'm not game to try a park as i feel; the damage i may do may put me in the bad books with the local council and others .i'm enjoying what ever years i have left ,wish i had started earlier ,however my problem is this ,do i try to save up enough money to buy something that does do what it's supposed to do ,or suffer with this and keep on hoping to find the welcome stranger ,or put it in the back shed as a bad joke and forget about it .i would like to continue on.i must be doing something wrong .the retailer where my wife bought it doesn't seem interested in my problems ,it wasn't a more expensive minslab.hoping someone can point me in the right direction. blowfly 1967[ blowfly is the cat's name]

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

G'day Blowfly.
I remember when I first started detecting a few years back, the level of frustration that I felt, simply because I didn't have enough knowledge or someone to show me what to do.
Beach hunting is a good place to learn about your detector (due to the targets being easier to recover than from lawn). For hunting Australian coins, I strongly recommend that you hunt in Jewellery mode, as this will allow you to hear all our Aussie coins. At first, I would recommend that you only recover targets that show up in 1 notch only, as most good targets respond this way. Rubbish targets will bounce all over the place. Some 20 cent coins can show up in notch 5, then notch 8 with out showing up in the in between notches. Also practice at home with coins and other items, so that you can learn how the detector responds. Don't worry about notching out more than what has already been notched out by being in jewellery mode. It's not needed.
To learn how to pinpoint, ignore the manual and try this. Place a coin on the ground, then pass your detector over it. With the coil to the side of the target, about a foot away, press and hold the pinpoint button. Now slide the coil over the coin. Once you have it centred (when it is in the ground, look at the ground as to where the coil is, when you get the strongest signal) slide the coil back toward yourself till you lose the signal. Once the signal is lost, while still keeping the pinpoint button depressed (sorry about the choice of words) slide the coil back till you hear the signal again. Wiggle the coil from side to side and slide it back again till you lose the signal again. The coin should now be directly under the inner coil at the 12 o'clock position. This will make life a whole lot easier. After you've gotten used to pinpointing like this, start listening to how long the signal hangs on for as you lose the signal. After a while you will hear the difference between a coin and a larger target. This will save you a lot of time and build confidence in the machine.
Hunt on dry sand only for a while, till you get to know the machine better, as the wet sand is harder to work in.
If the machine you have is actually faulty, then ring up the Goldmining Centre in South Australia. The chap there, is the Garrett importer, and should be able to help you out with the machine. If you have a coil cover on the coil, then you may simply have some sand in it, which will give you grief like what you are describing. Also, turn down your sensitivity to 5 or 6 notches, as you may find that the Ace is simply over reacting to the minerals in the sand. This is called falsing, and if you are not aware it, will drive you nuts.
If you have anymore questions, then fire away, and we'll answer them as best we can.
Good luck and I hope things improve for you.
Mick Evans.
P.S. Welcome to the forum.

 

[khouse]

Blowfly,
To be perfectly honest. I think you have great with your finds! It will only get better. That's why the forum is here to share knowledge. I personally have had great finds on land with the 250. I only wish I were you playing in the sand!

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

You need a little assistance and you need to know your detector better. A higher priced detector may make things worse for you. They are generally harder to use. The only reason I know that the Ace would not be a good detector for a beginner would be if you had very mineralized ground. Other than that you have the best detector to learn on and to develop your skills. The Ace gives you so much in a simple package.
If there is a metal detecting club in your area they can teach you a lot.
Sometimes people want to sell you on their favorite brand of detector. You read the forums and you will see that the Ace is highly thought of as a beginner detector and as a good back up detector. There is no perfect detector, but you have one of the best made for a beginner.

 

[robert roy]

Hi:
Not sure I know what you mean "pinpoint only works when it feels like it." Can you discribe the problem your having with it?

If you mean the target isn't there when you dig, that is eaisly taken care of. I had problems pinpointing when I first got my Ace 250.
Now that I know where the center is located on the coil and how to detune, I never have problems pinpointing.

There is a video on the Garret website explaining the pinpoint.

Your wife got you a good detector. Just give it time to get used to. There is plenty of help here at the forum.
I'm 63 and when I first got the detector I got really frustrated with it. You'll get the hang of it soon.-)

Regards
RObert R

 

[draaiorgel]

Hey Blowfly,
Even a $1000 detector will pickup loadsa crap.
Just be patient and it'll come, remember some of these guys have been at it many years and are well practised using their machines. Yep, as we found out ourselves it's well worth persevering and remember you've got to walk over it to find it.
The 3 P's are Practice, Perseverance and Persistance.
Don't give up, this a great hobby.
If Eileen and myself can do it, anyone can.

 

[Uncle Willy]

First of all you're running your sensitivity to high. Turn it down to four bars and leave it there. When pinpointing, back the coil clear off the target, press pinpoint and move it back over the target, center the target side to side then drag the coil straight back until the instant the signal stops. Watch the cursors at the top of the display ( signal strength indicator ) and when they line up all the way across the target will be under the front center tip of the inside oval on the coil. Deeper coins will be a little further back from that point.

Practice pinpointing by taping some coins to the back of a piece of cardboard. Locate them and pinpoint them and use something with a sharp point to poke through the cardboard to see if you have hit the target dead center. Detecting takes time and practice and understanding your machine and what it is doing and why.

The 250 is one of the best machines out there and the most sold. Detecting isn't as easy as it looks or sounds. It takes patience and practice and you have to hunt where coins and goodies are. You can't find treasure where treasure ain't Keep at it and you'll get the hang of it. Getting another detector won't solve your problems and higher priced one are even more complicated. Good luck.

Bill