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Frustrated, inexperienced--need advice

S

Skyscope

New member
The story--I purchased a GTA 350 several years ago. It was my first and only detector. I have used it several times (15-20) and have been frustrated to no end. Two problems, pinpointing and high mineral content soil. I built a test bed with sand and set up tests, pinpointing was dismal even when I knew where the coins were. When my wife hid them it was horrible. Also the soil around here (Oregon) has a lot of iron and clay and false hits abound. Dig forever and the hit stays where it is until it disappears and is not to be found in pile taken out or the hole left. A good example is that when I get a solid hit on my property it will have 6 or 7 hits in a 3 square foot area--dig and find nothing but little rocks. I can lose the hits by decreasing sensitivity but then never see anything. My only success is at the coast on the sand trails to the beach. I just excavate a 1 foot square area and dump it thru a screen box. Eliminates the need to pinpoint. Consequently I have not done near as much of this as I would if I weren't so frustrated.

So I figure I need a better detector, one with pinpointing capability. Have about $300 and looking at Ace 250 or Ace 350. Went to Garrett site and it does not even show the 350. Has it been discontinued? I see it is still available on Amazon. Have read several items in this forum and see some believe that it would be better to buy the 250 and an added small coil rather than the 350. But with all the high mineral soil I wonder if the 350 would be better due to iron discrimination.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
Hey Skyscope, I live in Oregon also (Medford) and this ground is hot hot volcanic stuff. A DD coil might help with your GTA350 or maybe upgrade to the ACE 350 or 250 with the new DD coil.

Yes, the GTA 350 has been discontinued also the GTA 500 will be when 2011 comes around.

Alan
 
You are going to need a detector with a ground balance feature to cope with the mineralised ground. The new green Garrett machines have a chip put in them a couple of years ago, to allow them to operate in highly mineralised ground with going into over load. I would tend to recommend the 1350 over the 1500 (if these detectors were to come up in your sights) mostly because the 1500 has 2 receive coils and will be more susceptible to mineralisation. It locks all targets into notch 4`5 when that happens. The AT Pro would be another good choice when it hits the shelves in the next few weeks. It's just gone into production on the Garrett factory floor.
While the Ace 350 has a DD coil, which will reduce the effects of mineralisation by around 70%, it does not have a ground balance feature. If Alan has one, he might be able to tell you how it copes in your ground. I have operated an Ace 250 in mineralised ground conditions successfully, but they may well be different to the volcanic conditions that you will be dealing with. Alan is quite an experienced detectorist.
I'm sure that your next detector will serve you much better. It's no fun when your dealing with frustrating conditions.
Mick Evans.
 
Alan,

Looks like the 250 with an added shooter coil or the 350 which comes with a dd are a wash price wise. I see you have a 250--which would you select if you had the choice for use in SW Oregon (Roseburg and South). I am leaning to the 350. It seems identical to the 250 except for the coil and the added iron discrimination.

Skyscope
 
Around here? "Bad ground." Many places I hunt in other parts of Oregon, Nevada and Utah? "Bad ground."

GTA 350? Bad detector. I owned one when they came out that I got for my kids to use, but it falsed all the time because it didn't handle "bad ground" and when it did sort of work, depth and performance were still terrible.

If you have only used it "15-20 times" since you bought it "several years ago," then that is also a concern. It means you just don't get out detecting enough to really learn and master a detector (any detector) .. OR .. you were just very frustrated with it. I hope it is more of the latter.

You do not have to spend the most money possible to get a good detector. You ought to consider a model, however, that has manual,Ground Balance or a good automated (self-adjusting Ground Balance) circuitry so the detector can work in a variety of sites and ground conditions. This is especially true if you use a spare search coil or two as coil changes can have an influence on the GB setting with most detectors.

Around here the Ace 250 and those I know with the Ace 350 still have problems, if they hunt in more mineralized ground. They work fine in wood-chip playgrounds and mellow sites, but not in challenging conditions. I've owned 4 Ace 250's and they have their place. The coming AT pro, with ground balance, should be a better consideration, and the current Scorpion Gold Stinger with manual GB can hunt okay in most places, too. I've had GTAx 1250's and GTP-1350 and their more-or-less preset GB suffered in many sites, and also two of them didn't work well with the 4
 
To begin with you haven't spent nearly enough time with your machine to become familiar with it. 100 hours is about the norm. Making a test bed out of sand is another bummer as most sand is mineralized and contains a percentage black sand. Also freshly buried coins are often difficult to impossible to detect. They need to be in the ground for an extended period of time. It also sounds as if your sensitivity is too high. About 50% works well in Oregon's volcanic soil. To top it off ( as Monte stated ) the GTA ain't all that grand of a detector. I had one but not for long.

Either the 250 or 350 would serve you well. Just depends on what you want to spend. The 350 has the edge in technology with the new DD coil and the iron chip installed. Both are coin magnets and should reward you well but you'll need a lot more than 15-20 hours behind one. You can't familiarize yourself with a peanut butter sandwich in only 15-20 hours. HA.

Bill
 
Id go with the ACE 350 for hotter Oregon ground. If its in the budget, the AT PRO here would be even better. My most used machine in Oregon is the Infinium due to its hot stuff rejection.

Alan
 
Bill,

FYI--15 to 20 times is not 15 to 20 hours. More like 80 to 90. Thanks for you input on the sand bed,
 
Alan,

I expect to get the AT Pro early Dec. if the dealer is correct on his guess. Want to meet somewhere in Southern Oregon to check it out and give me some pointers??
 
Yes that would be fun. Let me know with a PM here on Findmall when you get it and we can go from there. I am hoping to have one by then but I might wait till next year so ill have more Christmas cash.

Alan
 
My MXT from Whites would probably cut through all that mineralized soil with the 6x10DD but since this is a Garrett forum I'd try the AT Pro.
Not to put down Whites, I think the AT Pro is the closest if not better detector. It does in my opinion (based on reports) surpass the MXT.
Sounds like you need a new detector.
Katz
 
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