Boy am I an ignorant newbie

[gordygroover]

Greetings to all and let me introduce myself. (this is the time to get comfortable cause I can certainly ramble).
First half of my handle is my name and I live in the wet part of Washington State right on the Columbia river.
Played with a M.D. a relative had many years ago and have always been the kind of person to watch the ground while walking along rather than the sky.
Getting ready to change hobby's from salmon, sturgeon and steelhead to M.D'ing. If you are in the market for a truck load of fishing gear at garage sale prices, the big Clarence sale will be happening this spring.
While doing tons of research for an entry level m.d. I find myself leaning towards the Ace 250 and today found one on craigslist for 150.00. Typical story went with it....Couple months old, used a couple times, great shape, yadda yadda yadda.
So after putting up with my boring life history I would like to pick your brains to see if you really think this is the machine for me.
I will be hitting the tot lots and will basically be surface hunting the sands along the Columbia river, Lots of trash and foil for sure but the digging will be easy till my brain catches up with my machine.
As I am close to the Pacific ocean there will be some salt-water wet and dry sand hunting too.
My town is fairly young so most dirt-targets will be pretty shallow so killer depth is not an issue.
So dear readers.....is this the machine for what I will be needing??
Thanks for putting up with me and I hope there are a few of you near the Columbia river that would like to find some pull tabs with me some day.

 

[IndianaSmith]

Hi GG & welcome from another newbie, both to the forum, as well as to MDing. While I also chose the 250, I have read a few who claim it isn't the best beach machine. I believe this may be due to the mineral content in your area. I would give it a try & see how it does for you in the sand. I think you'll be more than pleased in the tot-lots, as well as overall performance, atleast I have been.

Many call the 250 an "entry-level" machine, as I guess I would as well, due to the cost. lol, I've seen some die-hard Ace fans that actually take offense to the 250 being called "entry level", because they're so happy with them. I'd like to someday upgrade, but not until I've "mastered" my 250 and know more of what I'll need & want in another MD. I can also tell you that I'd never sell my 250, I like it too well.

Look forward to seeing some of your finds
Smitty

 

[bottlebum]

Hi Gordygroover and welcome.
When it comes to the Garrett forum, i'm new to. I've got my first Garrett machine coming in the mail soon. I'm sure that i'll be here regularly to ask questions and hopefully, post some great finds to. Hope to see the same from you.

HH, Bottlebum

 

[John-Edmonton]

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[draaiorgel]

Welcome to the Garret forum you guys,
If there's anything to know about the 250 Ace this is the place to find it, just go thru the back posts.
Eileen and myself both have Ace 250s and we love them dearly.
We've been at this hobby for just over a year now both machines and earphones paid inside the year, also got a good mix of rings I think our total was 28 or 29 between us, intend selling some of them
Jan - Feb.
They work well for us on the dry beach, and very occasionally on damp sand although sens needs to be down to 2-3 but that's just us.There are others who can work happily on the damp I suppose it boils down to how well you know your machine and how confident you are with it.
We both look forward to reading your post's guys and don't forget some piccies as well.

 

[Neil in West Jersey]

I was so impressed with the ACE 250 that I sold my older, high end detector. I plan on funding the new high end detector with money found with the ACE.

I have found numerous coins and artifacts, the deepest and oldest being a very worn 1783 Vermont Copper coin at more than 10 inches!

 

[Uncle Willy]

The 250 is the only machine for you. I live on the other side of the Columbia. You'll love it. Somewhere I;ve got some pics of several sturgeon, one over eight feet. I'll try to dig them up and post them.

Bill

 

[NM5K]

Can't go wrong with a 250. And you can get two other coils for it too, which
is a plus. I've had mine just under two years I think, and it's good enough that
at this point I still don't really feel I need to upgrade yet. I did get both the
extra coils, which makes it more versatile and is probably why it's still good
enough at this point. And I do use all three coils.. Just depends where and
what I'm hunting. I'm quick to switch if I think one might be better for something.
The small sniper coil is a killer for plunking busy areas. Good for the tot lots..
It's not a "must have" but I do recommend getting a pinpointer eventually.
It makes finding small objects in holes soooooooo much faster and easier.
I'm still using a V2 automax I got with my 250, but there are many brands out
there. I *do not* regret spending the extra and getting that pinpointer.. Worth
every cent. If I broke it, I'd be on the horn ordering another.. I guess I'm spoiled..
:/
MK

 

[gordygroover]

Thanks for the information M.K. I will take all I can get.
since I only paid l50 for the unit I feel I can spend a few more dollars on extras. I can see a pinpointer being more important than an extra coil at this point in time so please feel free to toss any more wisdom this way.