Day 2 and 3 with 10 x 14 excelerator coil for the Ace 250

[candcantiques]

Yesterday

I was very happy with the coil in the dry sand. I didn't find much but what I did find was deep and had been there for quite a while considering the corrosion. It seemed as if the area had been searched previously as there was nothing on the surface at all, not even foil. The Ace with the DD was always correct about what the coin was and the depth was right on as well. Nickles, quarters and dimes were coming out that were between 8" and 12". I was happy to find the nickles as I usually don't find many of those. Hopefully that will mean that I wasn't passing any gold. Every once in a while I would get a really nice tone in the coin range but it would only be a one time tone. That's not something that I am used to. Usually if I get a tone in the coin range in the dry sand there is a coin there and the tone repeats. It just seemed to disappear somehow never to be heard from again. I don't know what was setting it off but I wasn't getting a silent iron signal so who knows.

While searching in the wet I had no problems except that there wasn't ANYTHING that sounded like I should dig. I kept the sensitivity around 3 notches and discriminated out the iron. I got a tone here and there but nothing that repeated over and over as I am used to. Usually if I only get a tone every 2-3 passes I don't dig. I check with the pinpoint and it normally turns out to be a large area which I figure is mineralization. I tested with a coin and a gold ring at 3" and had no problems picking them up. While pinpointing in the wet everything was making it sound off but as I came nearer to the coin and ring the tone increased in pitch so I was ok with that.

Today

Had gotten some good information on pinpointing with this coil and it seemed to work well. Was competing with a Minelab Excalibur 2 today for the same beach. I was hoping to maybe work with him and see how his machine read the sand compared to mine, however he just walked on by hardly acknowledging that I was even there so I figured I'd let him be. I feel I could have learned a lot side by side with an Excaliber 2. The beach where he was, was seriously clean and didn't find a thing. He passed us up and continued the other way and I thought he left the beach. We decided to turn around since the part of the beach that he had detected was clean and there he was about 1/4 mile ahead of us. We still worked the area hard though and did find a little change here and there but not much. My buddy still has the stock 6 x 9 coil and there were 2 instances where he missed his target because of his coil. I think the quarter was on edge and his coil would pick it up and then loose it. The excelerator however picked it up without any problems. Since the other detectorist had gone way on ahead of us it didn't seem to make much sense to follow after him with lesser machines. Personally I wanted the best shot to find whatever we could get, so we got back in the car and drove about 6 miles down the beach to another high traffic area. Searched hard for about half a mile about 60 ft wide. I found a dime and my buddy found nothing. So much for a better chance of finding stuff. Well the rain started in and we didn't want to ruin our machines. I am not sure if there are too many people detecting down here or there just hasn't been enough good weather but $1.60 for 4 hours seems light to me. My buddy only got 40 cents. Hopefully things will pick up. The coil seems to be working really well though. As I had said before it gets a little heavy after a while but I am getting used to it.

The only thing that I really do not like about the coil is the area where it fits into the stock shaft. It does not fit tight and as a result while I am swinging, the coil has a tendency to want to tilt to the front. I am not sure if this will adversely affect my searching or not but it is irritating. I am going to have to find a couple plastic or rubber washers to fit in their to stop the movement.

 

[Oakman404]

Sounds like you had a good day with the DD! I wouldn't worry to much about the "Other" guy and don't think that you have a lesser machine as it is more about the operator than the machine anyway. I gotta say I am impressed with 8 - 12 in the dry sand! That's pretty darned good for any machine. Good for you bud.

 

[candcantiques]

I think the reason why I am finding coins so deep is that there is NOTHING on the beach. I am having a hard time understanding why there is so little trash, tab tops, foil. I just don't get it, but the fact that there is nothing to interfere might be the reason. I actually used a Whites Classic 3 with a Blue Max deep scan 950 coil for a few days untill I found out that I couldn't search the wet with it. It was finding stuff, not coins, at 14".

 

[John-Edmonton]

I think you have a very powerful weapon in your hands. You make some of the competition worried.....

 

[candcantiques]

I have heard great things about minelab machines but I personally don't have any experience with them. I don't really know just how much better they are but I have been thinking if I could work side by side with one I could really learn a lot. I feel very confident with my machine finding coins to 8-10 or even 12" and I am confident at finding shallow gold and silver. I have buried gold and the machine was able to pick it up without a problem. I am always getting signals that I am not sure about though. If I bury gold 4-5 inches in the wet I get intermittent signals. Pinpoint doesn't work well in the wet when something is deep. Works great on shallow stuff but not deep. I have dug so many holes in the wet without finding a thing it's hard to know when to dig and when not to. I am good in the dry. No problems there at all. I just dig everything but in the wet it gets tough cause any intermittent signals have never panned out for me. I know that this machine can do it I just need to know how to read it properly and maybe even set it better and I believe I can learn that if I find a person willing to allow me to work side by side with them. A friend of mine and I worked the Ace 250, the New Whites Coinmaster and a Whites Prizm 2 side by side comparing signals that each machine gave us. There was never any contest. The Ace won by a mile in the wet and most of the time in the dry too. I can't afford the Minelab but side by side before a signal was to be dug would teach me a lot. Then I might actually be a challange for some guys but I would take what I learned to other areas so as not to screw the person that helped me. Anyway till then my best weapon is to get out there earlier in the morning than everyone else and stay later every evening.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah the only reason Minelabs seem to perform as they do - they come equipped with a large coil which gives it an edge. Put that 10x14 up against one and it's toast.

Bill

 

[metalhead]

The only thing that I really do not like about the coil is the area where it fits into the stock shaft. It does not fit tight and as a result while I am swinging, the coil has a tendency to want to tilt to the front. I am not sure if this will adversely affect my searching or not but it is irritating. I am going to have to find a couple plastic or rubber washers to fit in their to stop the movement.

Yeah man, KellyCo sells that loop support for around ten bucks.

http://www.kellycodetectors.com/accessories/coilcover-loopsupport.htm

Best of luck to ya.Happy Hunting!

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

I have an XS Explorer and have compared it against my Ace. The XS had that 10.5in DD coil (I can't change it) and the Ace had the 12 in concentric coil. A concentric coil is always going to get more depth than a DD coil in low mineralisation environments. I think that your coil would go to about the same depth as the 12 inch concentric coil. I found that at a normal sweep speed, the Ace has 2 inches of depth on the same target as the Explorer. If I passes the coil over the same target a dozen times, it would eventually hear it, but not the first pass. While the Minelab multi frequency machines go deep, they have be be swung real slow to do it. They will however kick the Aces but in the wet stuff. That's what they do extraordinarily well.
Mick Evans.

 

[Old Katz]

Ace has a 9x12 coil. Have you used that yet and whats your take on it.
Katz

 

[candcantiques]

I have never used the 9 x 12. I only have the stock 6 x 9 and now the 11 x 14

 

[jimmy jam]

I have one ACE with 9x12, and the other with the 6x9. I always use the 9x12, and on the beach in dry sand i hit coins to 16" i will be getting the larger coil in a few months. I have also fallowed a excal. on the beach and still found coins he missed.

 

[ohio fred]

10 x 14 excelerator coil.I like there coils noticed up here really deep coins sometimes get pulled to iron range.So in areas i would go over again in all metal mode to see if there is any deep signals that might be a coin but register as iron

 

[ohio fred]

Mine did not fit tight and tilted forward .Thought it was my washers worn out so went to ace hardware and they had a perfect fit washer that was just con-vexed a little and fit hole perfect have no problem now don't need support for coil.they cost for a package of 25 cents and work great.Ace is the friendly hardware store.Take lower rod with coil off to ace and see what will fit needs to be a little con-vexed. Also worked with all my other coils .

 

[ohio fred]

All the coils work great for the ace 9x12 will get deep good separation and runs smooth.The 10x14 runs smooth and get some depth little heavy.You should try to run the coils in all metal with most power you can to see the best benefit from the bigger coils for depth.The 9x12 is a little easier to handle on hilly ground or not so flat ground.The 10x14 is a little rough when you get into short weed grass work best on more of a flat ground were you don't get snag to much in my opinion.

 

[ohio fred]

When having a little trouble pinpointing try from heel to toe drag it back when signal stops remember that spot and walk to opposite side and pinpoint and draw back and were the two cross is were object is.Remember on some deep target if its broken and you want to recheck it pinpoint were item is at then stomp the ground with foot on that spot kind of hard couple times it will send a small tremor down to object and kind of break it loose from the dirt recheck and you should get a better signal or a different reading.I have a few different machines but one thing is usually for sure the ace is always in my car.It is a strong machine and a fun machine and will find a lot of items.it will give more expensive machines a run for the money.The sniper coil is a hot coil one of the best small coils i have used for a 4 inch coil.Try to run in all metal when you can for short times to see the total depth of a coil with no discrimination attached it is hard sometimes with bigger coils in trashy areas but some of the good items will get drawn down into the iron and junk areas when deep.And if you are set up for nickel dimes quarters they will not registrar or sound off.Talking 7 to 10 inches depends on your soil were you are at.Hope this helps some.If you have ever fished similar to first time you would get snags crows nest didn't know when a fish hit or if it was a wave or how fast to real in after a while you get the hang of it.Same with metal detecting first you dig a lot of trash and as time rolls on you start to dig less trash and more good items.Even with experiences switch machines and you start to dig a little more trash till you learn the machine though you will be a little faster at learning what the new machine is saying.hope this help some.Each different company's machine have different inherent quality some like trash some like iron some like sliver some like relics and each uses a different way to tell you what a item is everything takes time to learn then one day you go back to a site you first learned on and walk through and start pulling items and cant believe you missed all these items.

 

[ohio fred]

[attachment 155722 DSCF4343.JPG] This is rubber washer bought from ace hardware to stop 10x14 ex coil from tilting forward fits perfect and work s well with other coils for ace.Hope this help



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