Love my Ace 250,but pinpointing is a problem?

[tvanwho]

I keep digging craters to get coins with my Ace 250.Seems they are not in the center of my coil even when using the pinpoint button? Why is this? Dimes are way off at the far end of the coil away from me. I will stick to bark chip playgrounds till I get the hang of the pinpointing?
-Thanks--Tom,ps, is the larger 9x12 coil worth having for deeper coins in less trashy areas?

 

[ohio fred]

When you pinpoint and draw coil toward you it is usually near front tip.But as coin gets deeper it starts to move a few inches backward from tip toward you because of signal path gets narrow as it goes deeper.Yes the big coil is really worth having will grabs coin deep.Hope some of this helps i hope others on the forum and give a better answer.Good luck and good hunting.

 

[brrttpaul]

hi my wife just had a 250 and she has the same prob im sure i saw a pic showing the pinpoint at the tip of the inner coil somewhere but like fred says if its shallow look to the tip if its deep then centre is more accurate hope it helps . if anyone knows where that pic is perhaps u could post it

 

[FrankG]

here are the garrett pinpoint videos.

http://www.garrett.com/hobby/techsupport/pinpointing.htm

 

[Uncle Willy]

Go to the Garrett site and there is an animation on pinpointing. You don't pinpoint in the center unless the coin is really deep. Scan side to side until you get the strongest signal then drag the coil straight back until the instant the signal stops. Shallow coins will be right under the center tip of the inside oval on the coil. Deeper coins will be back a little ways from that point.

Bill

 

[tvanwho]

I did some park hunting in the grass today, but I put a piece of red electrical tape on the inside coil in the center front and back of the coil.This really helped with pinpointing altho I seem to be off to one side or the other a couple inches now. Guess I better start using my Uniprobe PI pinpointer again.I did get 4 bucks in change in a soccer field and only dug about 3 craters. Squashed pop cans in them at 6-8 inch deep.. Is there some way to tune out square tabs abd still get the nickels?
Any tricks to telling when I have a squashed can giving me a belltone before I dig a big hole to find this out? I am also ignoring single belltones, only digging the doubles .The single, hard to repeat ones are usually trash so far.
--Tom

 

[ohio fred]

When you come to a can the depth meter will jump from say 2" to 6"or8" real fast and back. This is if the can is squashed side ways if it is stomped straight down it harder,also the pinpoint tone is longer and wider when you try to pin point the can than compared to a coin.Also raise the coil over object center and use the pin point if your coil is up 5 0r 6" and still getting long pin point Sig. then it probably large target.If you walk around target while swinging coil and watch LCD screen it will give hints like jumping around from trash to coin.Usually if its is a coin it will lock on pretty good unless hidden by rocks or small trash near by or iron or deep with stock coil 7 to 9 ".Also switching through modes sometimes will tell you like going from coin mode over target to all metal will let you hear if other object are near or content of the object.Also on small object after pinpointed and you are undecided stomp the ground hard this will send shock to object and break up matrix of soil on and around object for different Sig.But don't walk around stomping all the time people will think there is something wrong with you kind of for coins and button Sig.I do it a lot when other metal detector people are near by and then look to the sky and start to make weird noises so they think iam nuts and leave then i get it all.Well hope this helps hope others can answer you try search mode in forum. Good luck and Good hunting.Yes again the big coil is great.

 

[FrankG]

Tom,

A couple of things...

My expeience is that the "non-repeatable" single bell tone is usually trash. But swipe it in different directions before you conclude that. Coins on edge often give a single tone if swept in a different direction.

If you are off to much to the side, try raising the coil of the ground some while you are pinpointing. This will expose far less area of the coil field to the coin and may allow you to get a much more definiative signal peak when you pinpoint. Also, the shallow coins hit all over the coil and raising the coil will definitely let you pinpoint it at the center once you get the knack of it.

Another thing with identifying/separating trash from good stuff. I normally hunt in jewelry mode and when I get those iffy signals I often switch to all metal mode. Often times in jewelry mode or coin mode you only hear the brief bell tone because its a large piec of trach that momentarily jumped into the high conductivity range. Often times when you either watch the display or switch to all metal mode you will see that it's actually hitting hard on the low end of the scale (iron, etc) and is probably trash.

The pinpointing will come to you, give it time and patience and one day it'll just fall into place. Pinpointing and target IDs are all about learning the "true" behavior of the ACE (or any detector) under various conditions and there's something that can be learned from each target and dig. Don't get frustrated, have fun.

 

[tvanwho]

The 9 x 12 coil? I found a guy with a demo coil on Ebay yesterday.Coil was 60 bucks but then he wanted to tack on 21 bucks more for shipping and ins and etc.I told him I'd pay 8 bucks for Priority mail and that was it.Well, he got ticked off so I guess I am still looking. I just missed a used 9 x 12 WITH lower stem AND shipping for 60 bucks on the Findmall forum a week ago.Big K and others want around 85-90 plus shipping.
-Thanks again,Tom

 

[azdigger]

HEY thanks for the PINPOINTING tips, it sure made finding what I had beeped a lot easier.
I learn a lot from this forum.
Again Thanks guys for such great input and help.

 

[brrttpaul]

hi guys just noticed the link at the top of this page for the sunray probe for gti,s it sounds very good i like the idea that whatever mode you are in so is the probe. now the only fly in the ointment is cost,is it worth it and can i buy one in britain lol otherwise i,d have to include postage which could turn out really expensive specially if the customs have me like last time lol any suggestions much appreciated

 

[ohio fred]

n/t

 

[ohio fred]

n/t

 

[ohio fred]

n/t

 

[OzarksMike]

A&S Company, www.detection.com, has them for 79.95 with free shipping.

 

[FrankG]

Just a thought here but if you're gonna buy the large coil could save some money by using the original shaft and hardware that came with the ACE stock coil. (you can save about $20)

I can speak for others but I have all three coils for the ace and since I got the large one, I've never had the stock coil back on the machine.

I switch often between the large coil and the sniper depending on what I'm doing. I find that the large coil, sniper coil, & sun ray probe are everything I will probably ever need for my type of detecting.

 

[tvanwho]

Tell me about the Sunray probe? Any better than my Uniprobe? Uniprobe has a 2 inch range, NOT the 5 inch they claim , in my opinion anyway plus battery only lasts 10 hours which is pretty lousy. How does the Sunray probe work and does it attach to detector or wear on your belt? Does it weigh much and what about battery life? Does it detect more than an inch deep? What does it cost? Sorry for all the questions but I need to know?
What sort of depth can I expect on silver/clad dimes and quarters with the 9 x 12 coil in black dirt, low minerals? Is the sweet spot still up by the center of the inner coil?

Thanks--Tom

 

[Uncle Willy]

The Sun Ray attaches to your detector and the probe snaps into two clips on the side of your detector. It is basically a second coil at your command with a flip of a switch. The company claims three inches depth but it will do better than that if you whip the probe over the target. It runs off the detector batteries and its weight is next to nothing. Unless it's on special it's about $179.95.

The 9x12 coil will get about 2-3 inches more depth than your stock coil. The general rule of thumb - the diameter of the coil determines depth under ideal conditions.

Bill

 

[NM5K]

>The single, hard to repeat ones are usually trash so far.

That's often true when getting all the surface stuff, but
deep coins will often ring up that way also. If they are
tilted or slightly on edge, they will often one hit. The
deeper, the more likely.
I've also had the "wander off to one side" problem. I don't
really think it's a problem with the machine, but more a
quirk in the way it tunes-detunes. So what I do is to keep
resetting the pinpointer button until I get a smaller pinpoint
signal Usually, it will get stable after a few tries. Try
different sides of the object when you set the pinpointer.
Telling tabs from nickles is pretty tricky. I'm not that good
at it, but some say they can tell from the tone. I vary..
Sometimes I guess right, sometimes I don't.. So I dig most
if I don't want to pass up nickles. Also... Every tab you
pull up is one less to redetect later on a return sweep.. :/
Cans, I use the "pull up the coil" trick. A coin will not
read with the coil very high off the ground. It drops out
fast. But a can, being so big, will usually detect with the
coil up a good bit higher. If you can raise the coil up a
ways, and it's still strong, it's probably a can, foil, etc..
Remember that the depth indicator is calibrated to match up
with coins. IE: an 8 inch coin, should read pretty close to
that. But a can, being much bigger will fool the depth reading.
An 8 inch can might read 2 inches or less. In a case like that
I'd make sure I'm not passing a big coin on the surface...
IE: dollar, etc.. A few quick stabs with my coin probe will
tell me that.
MK

 

[brrttpaul]

thabk you mk very interesting and will try u methods