depth question,Ace250.

[blade310]

I took a day off work tomorrow to hunt an area that should be interesting. I believe there may be deep targets. Can any one tell me how to get the best depth using the ace 250?. I had planned on using the all metal mode and setting the sensitivity to the highest I can sanely take it. I seem to remember something about the jewelry mode getting the best depth. I don't know where I heard that or read it, maybe I imagined it. I also remember something about the line coming from the coil being taped straight up the first half of the shaft then curled the rest of the way to get better depth. This all may be nonsense. I spend so much time trying to learn all I can about the ace 250 that I think my mind may be on over load. Is it true that if you wrap a piece of raw bacon to the shaft where it meets the coil that you can add another 6 inches to your depth?........ OK I made the bacon thing up lol. Guess I better not have another beer. I am going to be using the stock coil. if anyone has any tips,tricks,secrets on getting more depth with the ace250 please let me know. Thanks ahead of time!

 

[Tarot]

Hi Blade310

I have sent you a PM, with a link to an article in another forum. Was not sure about Findmall rules on linking to other detecting forums.

Regards Tarot (Bob)

 

[tony (Orlando FL)]

Hey Blade.... max sensitivty isnt ALWAYS the way to get max depth. Over the weekend, I was in a very trashy location and was running my sens at 3 bars. I was able to detect with ease a 1900 V nickel and an old silver spoon ring along with a lead train seal. I know had I run the sens higher, I would have missed these items because after finding these items, I was somewhat ready for more of the same targets and raised the sens. At that point, nothing more locked on until I lowered the sens again to 2 or 3 bars.

Every site will have its own MAX sens value and its up to you to find it without over doing it. Too much sens can probably be worse than not enough when it comes to detecting.

Good luck in your hunt

Tony

 

[MNCoinhunter]

I run my Ace 250 at about halfway with the sensetivity. Not sure if Jewelry mode will get you deeper. Mine is mostly set to Custom with everything under 5 cents notched out. Works pretty well for me....good luck.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Taping the cable to the shaft has nothing to do with depth and everything to do with falseing when the coil picks up any movement of the cable. As I have stated a zillion times sensitivity is not a depth control. Cranking it up does not drive the signal deeper into the ground, it merely renders the coil more sensitive to the target you hope to find but it also renders it more sensitive to every piece of junk that was ever dropped and every streak of mineralization that runs through the ground. There is no magic formula for finding anything.

Run your sensitivity at a point where your detector runs stable and not erratic. A noisy detector masks a lot of good targets. Depth is governed by soil conditions and how your coil and settings of same reacts to any given condition and nothing will change that. You have to work with what you've got and be content with it. Too much emphasis is placed on depth anyway. Most coins that are naturally buried are well within the reach of most detectors out there and not all old or valuable coins are buried halfway to China. I have dug coins from the 1700's at two inches and just a few feet away dug clad at eight inches. Your 250 will go deep enough to keep you happy and as deep as many detectors that cost a whole lot more money. Instead of worrying about depth worry about all the goodies you miss with sloppy scanning. You could miss the most valuablr coin in the world if your coil doesn't pass over it, or I should say your signal. On the surface your coil appears to be covering an area the size of the coil but at depth that signal weakens, draws in, and is covering an area the size of a quarter or half dollar. Wrap your mind around that and figure out how many hundreds of targets you are missing when you scan in your normal way.

Most coins and rings will fit into one-square inch or a little larger. If you are hunting a plot 10'x10' there are 14.400 square inches within that ten foot square or 14,400 potential targets. When you scan an area that size are you covering every one of those 14,400 square inches with your signal. Not in a hundred years. These are just some of the logistics and one of the lessons of metal detecting and what you have to deal with but never think of it in that way and why you will never find every target buried in any given area.

Bill



















































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[Uncle Willy]

Hey Tony where ya been bud. Just what I've been preaching for years about sensitivity. There are more coins and goodies left behind due to abuse of that one control than any other control on a detector. Glad you know how to use it. Congratson that nickel. Those puppies are scarce as hens teeth.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

n/t

 

[blade310]

Tarot I clicked on the link you sent me but i didn't get anywhere so I right clicked on it and clicked open.That didn't work. so I typed the whole thing into my search box and did a search for it. 4800 hits, I wouldn't know where to begin. But thanks. Tony thanks for the input I am new and learning. Mcdave I usually keep the sensitivity a notch below the factory setting and run in all metal with Iron notched out. most times though I get so tired of hitting on little bits of tinfoil that after awhile I'll notch it out too. Bill did you know everything there is to know about detecting after your first five weeks at it?? That's about how long I've been at it. you sounded a little irritated when talking about the sensitivity. that's not good for your health. I do want to thank you for saying a zillion and one times that the sensitivity isn't a depth control because now I know and I won't be concerned with it anymore. As for my concerns with depth, its because the area I am going to be searching has a very thick layer of dead foliage. I would say close to five inches. this area has been dormant for years and years and years. Its like walking on thick carpet so I am concerned with getting through that and into the ground. Now as far as my scanning technique, you are absolutely right. I have been going over this in my head all week. I need to slow my walk down and tighten up my passes with the detector. I can't deny that I have probably missed some good targets with the sloppy way I have been detecting. I was not going to search this area til I had that (100hrs) on my detector (47at present) but I've decided to get serious and step away from the easy clad in the parks for awhile. When I go back to the parks I'll still take anything I can get but I'll be determined to find better. so tomorrow will be the first day of my new approach to metal detecting. As always Bill Thank you for your time and knowledge.

 

[tony (Orlando FL)]

Hi Bill,

I lurk this forum quite often, you still run a nice tight ship here.

I would like to add another most abused control on ANY detector and it may be right up there or even HIGHER than Sens abuse. Its DISC over use. As an example, a nickel may read a solid nickel at say a depth up to maybe 6 inches in this example, however, the same nickel may want to drop one segment at a depth of 6+ inches. No matter what you do, IF the disc isnt set to allow for the slight error in target ID you just wont hear it no matter how much SENS you dial in to any detector. Id say they are BOTH important controls which are not to be over used if you are serious about older deeper items.

Here are the pics of the finds I mentioned above. None of them have been cleaned yet and were at least 6 inches down.

Later
Tony

 

[Uncle Willy]

I wasn't irritated talking about sensitivity - just stating a fact. Years ago when I ran the Garrett Classroom ( the precursor to this forum ) my biggest problem was teaching newbies to lay off the sensitivity control. That thick foliage you speak of is going to be a problem and there isn't much you can do to get around it other than removing it in some manner. If it's five inches thick that's about 75% of the depth of the 250 ( depending on soil type and condition ) so I don't know what to tell you bud. Is there any way to mash it down or compress it and is there possibly anything buried there that would make it worth the effort?

And no, when I first started detecting 45 years ago I didn't know one end of a detector from the other and was dumb as a brick about detecting and I had no one to help me back then. There wasn't any computers or the internet to help one out. You were all on your own trying to figure it out and detectors were primitive instruments then - a real pain to work with.. Coinshooting was virtually unheard of and detectors were so rare that anywhere you went you drew a crowd of people following you around asking a ton of questions and trying to figure out what you were doing with that strange instrument. But one thing about it - there were coins and goodies everywhere. Good luck on your endeavor.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Well I'm at least glad you are lurking. Yeah I've written several articles over the years on the abuse of discrimination and dialing targets out. If one is looking for older deeper coins then they should just dig everything like we had to do way back when and not miss many of them.

Bill