I lent out the little Ace throughout the last year, and when it was returned the final time, I simply packed it away with my other gear at the end of the water hunting season. I then took a deliberate hiatus, digging into my other favorite hobby - scale modeling.
But, the weather has warmed now, when young men's thoughts turn again to detecting, so I hauled the Ace from it's bag today. It was still broken down into sections and the bag was covered in dust. I cleaned everything off, hooked 'er all together and checked it out - the batteries were still at four bars! That's when I remembered the last guy to use it had put new cells in. So, outside I went and headed to the back of the yard. There is a fire pit back there for burning yard waste, where the boys and their hooligan friends have been hanging out all winter.
I turned on the Ace and started swinging easily, only to be buried by beeps and audio signals. I was in ALL METAL, just checking things out and getting the feeling back. Believe me, there was plenty of all sorts of metal. Most of it was foil and iron as you might expect and not a few beer bottle tops... none of them my brand, Im glad to say.
In and among this trash, though, were the nut items seen in the pic:
[attachment 85207 DSCF00182.JPG]
I found little of value, but re-learned a few valued lessons. These things may help some of the newbs:
1. The Ace is a microprocessor controlled, motion detector.
This means you experience an analyis lag, from the time the coil passes over the signal to the time you get an audio response. This is most noticeable when you are swinging the coil quickly. Always double check and focus your sweeps over signals to give the processor time to work, but DO NOT hover your coil. As the name implies, there has to be motion in order for it to work...
2. The Ace is accurate.
Foil is foil and Zincers were just that, i.e., worthless. I did find a hoop of iron 12" in diamter that signalled as a coin... giving out about 18" above the ground! Pretty simple to determine that one wasnt a coin, but that reminds us that the Ace can be fooled, like any detector.
3. The three tone ID is nice.
In ALL METAL the three distinct tones are a boon. I did notice that targets which conduct in the zinc through Cu cent range will signal in both regimes.
Nearly all iron targets were on the dead bottom of the DISC band. What I'd love is a midrange tone from tab through zinc cent.
4. The Ace has a full coil "hot zone"
On shallow targets the entire coil, even an inch or so beyond, will register the presence of a target. This will give the newb fits on shallow targets until they realize this
5. The Ace will overload in the presence of multiple signals.
Thanks partly to the large Hot Zone, and the processor delays, this means lots of "false" beeping in a congested target matrix. You must slow down once you hit targets something and analyze each signal. A sniper coil will help in really trashy areas.
6. The Ace pinpoints easily without using the PP button
You just have to "see" the target in the center of the hot zone and work around that. Learning the old fashioned "X" Method will be an advantage with the Ace. It also helps to know that deep targets signal just in front of the notch in the middle of the coil - shallow ones will stop signaling near the tip of the coil as you waggle the coil back towards you. I add a little colored dot on the front tip of the coil to help visualize all of this:
[attachment 85208 acecoilmark.JPG]
It was fun to get back into the "swing" and I'm looking forward to hitting it tomorrow. Hope you do.
Peace,
But, the weather has warmed now, when young men's thoughts turn again to detecting, so I hauled the Ace from it's bag today. It was still broken down into sections and the bag was covered in dust. I cleaned everything off, hooked 'er all together and checked it out - the batteries were still at four bars! That's when I remembered the last guy to use it had put new cells in. So, outside I went and headed to the back of the yard. There is a fire pit back there for burning yard waste, where the boys and their hooligan friends have been hanging out all winter.
I turned on the Ace and started swinging easily, only to be buried by beeps and audio signals. I was in ALL METAL, just checking things out and getting the feeling back. Believe me, there was plenty of all sorts of metal. Most of it was foil and iron as you might expect and not a few beer bottle tops... none of them my brand, Im glad to say.
In and among this trash, though, were the nut items seen in the pic:
[attachment 85207 DSCF00182.JPG]
I found little of value, but re-learned a few valued lessons. These things may help some of the newbs:
1. The Ace is a microprocessor controlled, motion detector.
This means you experience an analyis lag, from the time the coil passes over the signal to the time you get an audio response. This is most noticeable when you are swinging the coil quickly. Always double check and focus your sweeps over signals to give the processor time to work, but DO NOT hover your coil. As the name implies, there has to be motion in order for it to work...
2. The Ace is accurate.
Foil is foil and Zincers were just that, i.e., worthless. I did find a hoop of iron 12" in diamter that signalled as a coin... giving out about 18" above the ground! Pretty simple to determine that one wasnt a coin, but that reminds us that the Ace can be fooled, like any detector.
3. The three tone ID is nice.
In ALL METAL the three distinct tones are a boon. I did notice that targets which conduct in the zinc through Cu cent range will signal in both regimes.
Nearly all iron targets were on the dead bottom of the DISC band. What I'd love is a midrange tone from tab through zinc cent.
4. The Ace has a full coil "hot zone"
On shallow targets the entire coil, even an inch or so beyond, will register the presence of a target. This will give the newb fits on shallow targets until they realize this
5. The Ace will overload in the presence of multiple signals.
Thanks partly to the large Hot Zone, and the processor delays, this means lots of "false" beeping in a congested target matrix. You must slow down once you hit targets something and analyze each signal. A sniper coil will help in really trashy areas.
6. The Ace pinpoints easily without using the PP button
You just have to "see" the target in the center of the hot zone and work around that. Learning the old fashioned "X" Method will be an advantage with the Ace. It also helps to know that deep targets signal just in front of the notch in the middle of the coil - shallow ones will stop signaling near the tip of the coil as you waggle the coil back towards you. I add a little colored dot on the front tip of the coil to help visualize all of this:
[attachment 85208 acecoilmark.JPG]
It was fun to get back into the "swing" and I'm looking forward to hitting it tomorrow. Hope you do.
Peace,
