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My conclusions on the Ace 250 after a couple of months of testing...

A

Anonymous

Guest
Garrett is the house that innovation built and true to this heritage they have outdone themselves with the introduction of the Ace 250 - an alleged entry level machine that looks like and performs like a high dollar machine and has taken the hobby by storm with all of us oldtimers parking our big bucks machines and heading out the door with the lowly little 250.
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GARRETT'S GRAPHIC TARGET ID TECHNOLOGY
FEATURES & CONTROLS
POWER BUTTON - Turns the detector on and off, and reboots the 250 if problems arise.
DISCRIMINATION BUTTON - Use this to change your discrimination to suit your desires.
ELIMINATION BUTTON- Use this to modify your discrimination pattern or to notch out any unwanted target you encounter.
PINPOINT BUTTON - Use to locate the exact position of your target ( and detune the coil ) while watching the upper scale on the display for the signal strength. When the segments on the scale are lined up all the way across from left to right the target is centered.
MODES - The 250 is blessed with five hunting modes easily accessed via a toggle switch - Coins, Jewelry, Custom, Relics, All Metal. In the custom mode you can tailor your settings for your every desire, even to locating one specific type of target while rejecting all others, and all your settings will be saved when turning the machine off and back on.
TARGET ID LEGEND - Depicts icons of coins, metals, and trash items, you will encounter.
UPPER DISPLAY SCALE - This is where the target ID cursor is located and depicts 12 graphical segments for more precise discrimination and target ID.
LOWER DISPLAY SCALE - This is the notch discrimination scale that indicates the discrimination pattern where the detector will or will not produce an audible signal when a target is encountered.
COIN DEPTH - Consists of four depth indicators - 2-4-6-8+ inches.
SENSITIVITY - Via a toggle button and consists of eight sensitivity selections.
BATTERY INDICATOR - An LCD display that constantly monitors and displays battery condition.
TONE ID - The 250 produces three distinct audible tones ( low, medium, high or Belltone ) based on a target's conductivity.
HEADPHONE JACK - Quarter-inch jack on the reverse side of control housing.
The 250 is light as a feather, well balanced, and a ball to use. It is an ultra-sensitive detector that surprises all who pick it up and all of us wonder how Garret can pack so much power and performance into an inexpensive machine - but they really pulled it off.
The 6x9 really tough Proformance coil is the heart of this little machine and is so sensitive you will be setting your sensitivity at 50% most of the time. This coil handles just about everything quite well. Exact pinpointing with this coil is best performed by centering the target under the center tip of the inside oval on the coil by scanning side to side until the strongest signal is heard then dragging the coil straight back until the instant the signal stops and the segmants on the signal strength indicator are all lined up.
The 250 is extremely user friendly with a top notch set of controls, such as toggle buttons for adjustable controls instead of tactile pads. The target response and recovery is unreal for a machine of this price and it's nearly impossible to swing this detector fast enough to miss a target.. The ID and depth are right on and pinpointing is absolutely deadly. The depth has to be experienced to be believed. I have personally pulled dimes at eight inches plus with a strong signal and quarters at nine inches with power left over. One thing I did discover right off the bat, this little Yeller Feller will detect deeper than it can pinpoint but that presents no problem. You just have to resort to the old fashioned way of pinpointing.
Users who do a lot of saltwater beach hunting have been bowled over by the performance of this little "demon" in that area, with it out performing more expensive machines. I have yet to get down to the sea shore to check it out but am planning to.
It is also extremely sensitive to tiny objects and to gold. I air tested it on some small gold nuggets and was amazed at the depth of detection on nuggets as small as one-eight inch in diameter. Now how it would perform in a nugget environment is yet another thing to discover, but from what I've heard of its performance around saltwater nothing will surprise me.
Garrett has really raised the bar for its competition with the introduction of the Ace 250 and its less endowed sibling the 150 and if this is a precursor of things to come I can't wait. I and others have gone over areas that have been hunted to death with more exensive machines and found goodies we and others had missed.
The sales of this machine have been phenomenal with many dealers sold out. And a new 4.5 inch "Sniper" coil for the Ace series will be released soon and should make this little " Yeller Feller" one hot trash and playground machine. And I'm hoping a 10-12 incher might be on the way to give this little sizzler some real depth.
So if you're looking for a detector that is pure fun to use to satisfy your needs without hocking the farm to buy it then you need look no further than the Ace 150/250 all wrapped up in a neat little inexpensive yellow package for under the bargain price of $200.
Bill
 
Bill: Great review of the 250. I have just recently purchased the 1350 and have not--for various reasons--been able to try it to any extent yet. It sounds like I should have got the 250! How does the 250 compare in depth with the 1350? Sounds like they might be equal? Bill, I haven't gone through all the threads but do you have a review of the 1350 like the above review of the 250? Thanks for all of your expert advise on these threads.
 
wow great write up of the 250 i guess i ordered the right one after reading your feed back i know i made the right choice
 
I have to agree with you on that Yeller Feller. It is such a wonderful machine with a lot of new technology pumped into it. Garrett sure built a winner this time! I'm proud to own one.......that's for sure! <img src="/metal/html/biggrin.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":D">
 
Yeah we need to start a "Yeller Feller" club. <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol"> Hope you're finding your share of goodies. Still waiting for the rain to dry up a bit here so I can get out and play.
Bill
 
You're going to love it. Everybody else does. <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":)">
Bill
 
Yeah it's difficult to find anything to bad mouth this one about. <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":)">
Bill
 
Even though the 250 is a great little machine you made a wise choice. The 1350 will have the edge on depth if for no other reason than coil size. You can always pick up a 250 later to play with. <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":)"> You can never have enough detectors. <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":)">
I don't think I've done a review on the 1350 other than to make expanded comments on it. Maybe I should whip one up for the benefit of the 1350 users since I tested the prototype and the production model.
Bill
 
Not to rain on yours or anyone elses parade, but what would you say the 250's weaknesses are? I've never used a Garrett, so I would like an honest opinion on their weaknesses too. How would they stack up against a Prizm or a like priced detector. They look like a fabulous detector for the price...I just am a bit more skeptical, so I naturally think there is a hitch <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":)"> . What part of Oregon are you from...have you taken it to the desert, the beach, the river shores, or has it been a park detector? Thanks for your excellent report, and clean up some of these loose ends for me, if you will!
J.
 
I haven't used a Prizm but have heard from guys that own one along with a 250 and they like the 250 better. I haven't been to the ocean beach yet but other owners have and they rave about the performance of the 250. Haven't made it to the desert as it's all the way across the state. I have used it on the river beaches and it performs without a hitch.
The only complaints I've heard about it is some of them have coil wobble - mine doesn't. Also it will detect deeper than it can pinpoint. Andy Sabisch noticed that to when he tested it. I live in Portland and our soil here is volcanic so not the easiest to detect in and our river beaches have some black sand.
All in all I haven't been able to find much to bitch about with it. <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":)"> It's just a great little machine as the vast majority of owners will attest to. The guys on the TD Garrett forum are all tickled pink with it and are using it instead of their high dollar machines. One guy owns Fishers and was blown away by what the little Yeller Feller could do as opposed to his Fishers. I don't know what the whiz kids at Garrett done but they pulled one out of the hat this time. If you get a chance to use one give it a whirl and be prepared to be surprised.
Bill
 
I have to go along with Bill. The 1350 won't let you down if you have one. It's the apex of the GTA lineage. I have one and grab it first most often. The 250, though, has so much packed into its little chassis that it is astounding everyone - thats what all the hoopla is about.
David
 
I second that. It would be great to get a review from a non-biased user.
 
And biased is one thing I ain't. <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol">
Bill
 
Forgot to add that the 150/250 have an insatiable appetite for pennies, including deep ones. <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":)">
Bill
 
Yeah it has a love affair with those also. <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":)">
Bill
 
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