another Ace quirk?

[waynard]

Just how much stock should I put into the depth indicator? It seems to me that the depth changes with the tone. Sweeping the same target, often times the tone will jump from pulltab to coin, and the depth will change from 2 to 4 inches in sync with the tone change.
As well, foil will often tell me that its 6 inches deep, just to find it on or near the surface.
I find that most targets are closer to the surface than indicated. If its a solid hit, I dig anyhow. Except when I get a solid hit at 8+, then I just know that its likely a 56 Buick.

 

[JOHNMARKHAM]

i dont even worry about depth..if its there its gonna get dug weather its an inch or 8 inches..jmo.....

 

[slingshot]

The objects must have a uniform surface area and conductivity for the results to be accurate-same as with a coin on edge-hard to tell.

 

[Alan Applegate]

There's another quirk you'll notice. If you scan back and forth several times atop a large piece of aluminum, especially foil, and then continue scanning elsewhere, you'll typically hear a bong like you just found a coin. If you're using the big coil, you'll occasionally get a mid tone instead of the bong. This happens when the ACE resets its ground balance. Most folks think the ground balanced is fixed in the Ace, and that isn't the case. Both of these quirks appear more often with non-ferrous metals. And speaking of which, non-ferrous metals will always show deeper than ferrous ones, all else being equal; a result of the differential in eddy currents.

 

[cwilk]

Use it as a guide. It is somewhat accurate if you've pinpointed properly. Example. A quarter on edge at 4 inches will probably indicate differently than a quarter lying flat.

Chris

 

[slingshot]

There's another quirk you'll notice. If you scan back and forth several times atop a large piece of aluminum, especially foil, and then continue scanning elsewhere, you'll typically hear a bong like you just found a coin. If you're using the big coil, you'll occasionally get a mid tone instead of the bong. This happens when the ACE resets its ground balance. Most folks think the ground balanced is fixed in the Ace, and that isn't the case. Both of these quirks appear more often with non-ferrous metals. And speaking of which, non-ferrous metals will always show deeper than ferrous ones, all else being equal; a result of the differential in eddy currents.

Please tell me how you know the Ace's g/b isn't fixed. I am not being rude-I have heard yea and nay and would be thrilled to find out if it really isn't.

 

[waynard]

There's another quirk you'll notice. If you scan back and forth several times atop a large piece of aluminum, especially foil, and then continue scanning elsewhere, you'll typically hear a bong like you just found a coin. If you're using the big coil, you'll occasionally get a mid tone instead of the bong. This happens when the ACE resets its ground balance. Most folks think the ground balanced is fixed in the Ace, and that isn't the case. Both of these quirks appear more often with non-ferrous metals. And speaking of which, non-ferrous metals will always show deeper than ferrous ones, all else being equal; a result of the differential in eddy currents.

Now that you mention it, I've found that if I use the pp on the Ace, and then decide to re-sweep the item, it doesn't show up at all for a few seconds, and then I'll get a beep. I didn't realize either that the Ace resets the ground balance automatically. Thanks for that info.

 

[tab-nabit]

Just been reading about the GB thing. My guess - it is a preset GB but when in the pinpoint mode, the GB is out as it is not needed. Then once the GB button is released, the ACE resets to enable the preset GB to come back into play and maybe there is a delay - just guessing,

 

[Tabcollector]

I E-mailed Garrett last night and this was the response I received today. Hello,

The ACE 250 does not have a auto Ground Balance, it has a fixed Ground Balance. It is tuned to ignore up to a certain level of mineralization, it does not adjust.

I hope this information helps you, please let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,

 

[NM5K]

I really don't make much use of that. I look at it, but I don't really expect to find
the object at that exact distance. If you are hitting two tones, and two depth
readings, that is usually two close objects it's seeing.
In general the depth indication is calibrated for coins. So those will often
be fairly close, because they are the right size and conductivity.
But with other objects, all bets are off. IE: a can at 10 inches might read as
2-4 inches or whatever.. It's fooling the machine because of it's size vs a coin.
Or at least on my 250 with no size indication.
So I've always taken the depth reading with about a spoon full of salt..
I still dig whatever it is anyway, so it doesn't really effect me much.

 

[slingshot]

I E-mailed Garrett last night and this was the response I received today. Hello,

The ACE 250 does not have a auto Ground Balance, it has a fixed Ground Balance. It is tuned to ignore up to a certain level of mineralization, it does not adjust.

I hope this information helps you, please let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,

It is easy to imagine that it isn't fixed. Whenever I get a bong and it's NOT a coin, a slower resweep will be quiet and the ID will go to iron or whatever. It's almost as if the detector adjusted to the ground, target, or something. That's why I always post that I vary my sweep speeds when checking a target.

 

[Sonny927]

Excellent info thanks

 

[stick]

i hardly ever look at the screen. i run in coin mode and i dig as soon as it locks on.

 

[Alan Applegate]

I mentioned this before. Go to the US Patent office, and down load the ones covering the ACE. Decide for yourself.

Alan Applegate

 

[rifleman]

A coil laying right on the surface will often read deeper also. This had happened to me several times.

Best Regards, John K

 

[upnorth]

There's another quirk you'll notice. If you scan back and forth several times atop a large piece of aluminum, especially foil, and then continue scanning elsewhere, you'll typically hear a bong like you just found a coin. If you're using the big coil, you'll occasionally get a mid tone instead of the bong. This happens when the ACE resets its ground balance. Most folks think the ground balanced is fixed in the Ace, and that isn't the case. Both of these quirks appear more often with non-ferrous metals. And speaking of which, non-ferrous metals will always show deeper than ferrous ones, all else being equal; a result of the differential in eddy currents.

Interesting reply, thanks.