Discrimination/Sensitivity ACE 250

[murfar1]

I

 

[blade310]

I just went over 100 hours with my ace yesterday. I have come to realize that I cant dig every signal most hunts. cause of an awful lot of junk. but depending where I am at I might decide to dig everything but Iron signals. yesterday I was at a fairgrounds. The trash was unbelievable! I was trying to be very methodical and thorough but for every step I took I would get three junk signals. some I knew to be trash and others,well,,,,, I dug alot of trash yesterday. I dig everything that shows as a nickel, and every thing that shows as a pull tab. its the ones that bounce all around that I don't dig unless it strikes me as odd . Or if it has a good sound mixed in with bad sounds I'll dig it. Alot of times its a coin down amongst the junk. I need to carry my Sniper coil with me for these junky areas. Yesterday I sure could have used it. I'm sure I have missed some good finds by not digging certain signals when I should have but that's the way it goes.I believe that as time goes on I'll get better at deciding when to dig and when not to dig. If i am in an area with out alot of trash then I dig every signal no matter how it comes across. The ones that really burn me are the great quarter signals that turn out to be rusty nails. But I'll always dig them. I think I'll give my ace another hundred hours or so before I claim I know it as well as I am ever goin' to. Every time I grab my detector and head for the door I know I am about to do what I love to do. If I am not finding bunches of silver coins or other fine treasures that's okay because I am enjoying the "H' out of the hunt and what I am finding. When I start to sweat the load about not finding this or that then it loses the hobby aspect and becomes work. That's when I'll no longer be interested. Best of luck to you my friend what ever you decide to do.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Detectors aren't magic,not even an E-Trac. They can only do so much and they can't see into the ground anymore than you can. You're expecting too much from your machine. They operate on probability and can only report what they think is in the ground. The rest is up to you and how well you learn what your machine is telling you. It takes time.

Bill

 

[MNCoinhunter]

I definately don't dig everything. And lately I have even taken pennies out of the equation. Although they have been popping up as dimes occasionally. The only time I dig up iron is by accident. I am not a relic hunter...but will find one or three just about every time I go out.

Speaking of Minelabs....I got to try an Explorer II this afternoon. Found a '35 Mercury dime with that sucker. Nice machine, but expensive. I think that overall my Ace performs just as well if not better. And is way more affordable. I should buy a second one just to keep under my pillow.

 

[slingshot]

Well, here I go again. Get a sniper coil and run it at 3 bars where you're detecting. Also, the Ace doesn't like to have it's coil next to the ground-about an inch above it is good. Sounds like you're in a rough area to me. I've been through hell with mine and thought Bill and the others were nuts and tried to sell it 3 times. Fortunately I perservered. Fortunately also I got a sniper coil. My first success story was when I got so PO'd that I lowered the sensitivity to 2 bars in an area and started finding coins amongst the trash and could hardly believe what was happening. Checking with another machine, I found that I was searching over hundreds of tabs, not to mention iron-ore ground rocks that were fighting the signal. One last word-I have yet to find another brand with a smaller coil that will allow me to get as close to a metal playground bar as the Ace with the sniper coil. You're gonna have to learn another machine if you change, you might as well try to learn this one.

 

[oldranger]

Like all the rest of the folks have said and
have said to me on this forum learn to ]
use the machine.. Im learning and
loving it

Ron

Rangers Lead The Way

 

[murfar1]

Thanks guys for all the feedback. Didn't mean to give the wrong impression. I AM getting some good hits. Nothing to write home about but they're out there. And yes I do enjoy it. Each find I tell myself only one more dig, one more dig and I just keep going and before I know it, most of the day is gone. Makes it kind of hard to keep peace in the teepee sometimes. My main concern was the discrimination problem. I guess the most important thing I can take away from this is learn your detector. Guess I have been expecting too much out of it as Uncle Willy says. Actually, I have been using the sniper for a few hunts now and like it as it seems a lot easier to pinpoint with. Slingshot sounds like you were even more exasperated with yours than I am with mine. Perserverance pays off. Your suggestion of running the sensitivity at only 2 bars sounds interesting and I will giver a whirl when I go out today. Thanks again for the advice and words of encouragement.

 

[slingshot]

Thanks guys for all the feedback. Didn't mean to give the wrong impression. I AM getting some good hits. Nothing to write home about but they're out there. And yes I do enjoy it. Each find I tell myself only one more dig, one more dig and I just keep going and before I know it, most of the day is gone. Makes it kind of hard to keep peace in the teepee sometimes. My main concern was the discrimination problem. I guess the most important thing I can take away from this is learn your detector. Guess I have been expecting too much out of it as Uncle Willy says. Actually, I have been using the sniper for a few hunts now and like it as it seems a lot easier to pinpoint with. Slingshot sounds like you were even more exasperated with yours than I am with mine. Perserverance pays off. Your suggestion of running the sensitivity at only 2 bars sounds interesting and I will giver a whirl when I go out today. Thanks again for the advice and words of encouragement.[/quote[
Yes, I was. I run mine at 3 bars. If I hit a noisy trashy spot, I drop it to 2 bars. If I hit a normal area, I will go for 4 bars. It was when I hit that one exasperating site that I learned the most about the Ace. Whenever I hit a questionable signal, I first lift the coil and see what the display does. I then slow down the sweep speed and see what the audio does. If it seems a likely target, I then sweep up and down as a final check. This may sound long, but it only takes a couple of secs.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah the Sniper grows on you and some users never take it off. The more time you spend the better it gets.

Bill

 

[Dick from IA]

2-3 bars with the Sniper Coil ?? I was always under the assumption that a smaller coil should be operated with higher sensitivity(5-8 bars), which is how I've run my Sniper Coil. Looks like I need to rethink my thinking. Thanks all you guys!!

 

[flash5153]

Like someone else said,,sounds like your in a rough area with allot of trash items. There are allot of trash items that will ring the bell on any detector,,disrimination doesnt matter if they are in the midrange of the detector.

I set the 250 on custom and notch out everything below nickle,,, if you do this and your still picking up low tones,below nickle, then your discrimination is not working. In a trashy area,,There is such a wide range of items from nickel and up,,some may read good. Its a total toss up sometimes,most of the time, what to dig. The area,,, and what you have found there tells me whether to keep digging,, get real picky or simply leave and find another place.
If you could find a old farmhouse to detect it would straighten you out, dig everything and it WILL pay off. lol

Good Luck

 

[slingshot]

2-3 bars with the Sniper Coil ?? I was always under the assumption that a smaller coil should be operated with higher sensitivity(5-8 bars), which is how I've run my Sniper Coil. Looks like I need to rethink my thinking. Thanks all you guys!!

Sorry I was so vaque. I ran the sensitivity at 2 bars with the larger coil in a couple of rough areas while I was learning and was able to overcome a lot by doing this. The sniper coil is different in trash areas. The only time I run it at 2 sensitivity is when I'm around a playground bar and want to get right next to it.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Lot of guys run there sensitivity high with the Sniper. It can be done as long as it doesn't get squirrely but I've always been a big fan of low sensitivity as it cuts down on masking.

Bill

 

[khouse]

Once you dig a gold ring in the pull tab range you'll dig most anything. Just get fast at digging them and it's not so bad. I almost gave up once on a signal that bounced from iron to foil. It was in the sand so I just kept after it. It seemed like it took 10 minutes to recover the very very tiny childs gold toe ring. I kept thinking it was a ball of foil falling through my scoop. The Propointer finally sniffed it out.
PS: Even $1500 machines make a lot of discrimination errors. Your doing fine just keep after it.

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

and clean it out. If you have one on and don't pull it off, the loose debris can cause falsing.
Mick Evans.

 

[murfar1]

Sorry Mick, not quite sure what you mean? Clean out the hole?

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

Hi Murfar1.
I've got a bit more time to respond now. I was quite rushed earlier.
You haven't mentioned where you are hunting with the Ace. The reason that I mention this, is because it could have a big impact on what is happening to your detector. unless the circuit board has a bad solder or your coil is defective, then there are several reasons that you could be experiencing the false readings you are getting. If you are hunting in mineralised situations including, at the beach, then turn off the bottom 3 notches and you'll find that it will be a lot more stable. The Ace hates waves crashing over the coil. The other main issue is that you could be experiencing electrical interference. It could be from high powered lines, a cell phone repeater tower near by or even your own phone sometimes, if it's turned on. It can even be a CB radio or similar. Some folks have also experienced falsing occurring if the cable is flopping around loosely, so recommend wrapping it around the shaft eta.
As to your question about the coil cover. I was assuming that you had bought one and place it on under the coil to protect it from being damaged from striking things on the ground. If you do have one and don't pull it off to clean it, it can get a build up of debris between it and the coil and cause false signals to occur.
I'm off to bed now. It's after 11PM over here in Australia.
I hope you get on top of it soon and if the detector is faulty, then returning it for repair (warranty if it's under it) would be the best way to go.
Mick Evans.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Also, does he have any metal in his shoes.

Bill

 

[flash5153]

Also, does he have any metal in his shoes.

Bill

I have done that before with steel toed boots. I worked it out for the day but never again.

I just found out yesterday,,first hand ,that garretts go nuts around a invisible fence. Chatter ,chatter ,,chatter. 2500 and the 250. Friend with 2500 even changed frequencies with no results. We couldnt figure out what was going on until we talked to the land owner.

 

[murfar1]

OK, turned off my cell phone, no metal in my shoes, got the cable tied down to the shaft nice n snug with some velcro. Don't have a coil cover but checked bottom of the sniper coil and looks A-OK. To tell ya the truth, I don't know what kind of soil I'm hunting in; mineralized or not but I'm not anywhere near the beach. I'm inland about 30 miles or so and back in the day, most of this area was farmland and orchards so I'm assuming there's no unusual mineral content in it. Went back out to different section of the fairgrounds today (it's been there since about 1885) and made sure I wasn't near any high voltage lines. Notched out the bottom 3 rungs and jacked up the sensitivity to 5 which is one below max. I didn't seem to be getting as many spurious audio alerts and it turned out to be a pretty good day. Twice I was getting mixed signals, going high tone, low tone, back n forth. Dug em both and turned out to be good finds being masked by a nail and then a bottle cap. Found 5 dimes today which is a record for me, all of em deeper down and I'm sure that's due to the higher sensitivity but notching out the lower 3 rungs seems to have helped also in minimizing the false audios. I'm still getting them but I have to try and keep in mind what Uncle Willy mentioned about the detector operating on probabilities. Might help me to be more forgiving and not get so POd. Also dug several wheaties and a nickel. Only the 3rd nickel I've ever dug. Don't know what the story is there but it's not an issue, just a curiosity thing. Maybe people don't lose as many. Anyway, looks like there are still a number of adjustments to be made in the cockpit but I'm gettin there with the input/feedback from the forum.