This is just a first impression review. I have been detecting for about four years now and have used many detectors, but only feel "a bit expert" with a few. I want to do a more comprehensive review of the Ace 250, but only after I've put in a couple of hundred hours with it.
For comparison's sake, my primary land hunting detector has been the Tesoro Compadre, which I still own and love.
What I was looking for was a smaller budget detector to use at competition hunts and for straight coin shooting during those miserable summer months when I really don't feel like digging pull tabs all day. I was steered towards the 250.
I have included a photo of my first hunt below. This is the result of about two hours hunting. Like an idiot, I pinched a nerve in my back and kept on hunting, so I have been in pretty miserable shape all week (and can't hunt this weekend; lesson learned!). But enough of my whining.
I bought the Sports Package which came with the 6x9 and 9x12 coils, but I only used the stock 6x9 coil for this hunt. I also hunted only in COINS mode.
The first thing I noticed was that the Ace 250 was definitely heavier than my Compadre, but the weight was balanced so well, my arms did not tire at all. So there is no weight problem to the 250.
So far as the bell tones are concerned, they didn't bother me in the slightest and I like the fact that the 250 had three levels of tones. That high tone is great for coin hunters! The volume adjustable headphones that came with the Sports Package were very comfortable and very helpful and I highly recommend getting a pair!
As to the performance:
The first thing I noticed was the apparent slow recovery speed of the Ace 250, especially as compared to the Compadre. Several other reviewers have noticed this. I did not find this a particular problem, but I found myself making some extra swings over the target to get a repeat signal which I was not too happy about. But for a $212 detector, can I really gripe?
I did notice that jumpy signals on the TID were almost always trash. I do not know if anyone else out there ever dug a good target with a jumpy signal. If so, please share. However, this does appear to be a nice feature to avoid trash targets.
I also found it is a good idea to turn 90 degrees and re-sweep the target to see if the target signal stayed locked. If it changed, it was always trash when I dug.
Pennies came up as pennies and dimes on the TID screen (I dug no dimes on this hunt). Given their respective composition, I did not mind this at all. I am not adverse to digging pennies.
I got the "nickel" signal more than any other, and never dug a single nickel. Be warned that the nickel signal can and often does mean many, many things and was the only notch that was 100% inaccurate during this hunt.
I was pleased that in COINS mode I dug few pull tabs. Again, I know gold rings were mostly excluded, but this is going to be my coin shooting detector because it has notch discrimination which the Compadre does not.When it cools down a little again, I'll go back to "dig it all" mode with the Compadre.
The important thing, and I say this mostly for the benefit of "newbies" to detecting, is that TID screen are guidelines only and can often be wrong. The detector does its best to interpret the signal, but just because you hunt in COINS mode, do not believe you will only dig coins. That ain't gonna happen.
So as to my first hunt, I am pleased. As time progresses and I learn the Ace 250 better (and what it is trying to tell me), I will likely dig fewer pieces of trash than I did this first outing. Garrett has sold countless Ace 250's since their introduction and its easy to see why.
I'll post future hunts as well and I'll do a more in depth review once I feel competent to do so.
Thanks for looking and happy hunting!
For comparison's sake, my primary land hunting detector has been the Tesoro Compadre, which I still own and love.
What I was looking for was a smaller budget detector to use at competition hunts and for straight coin shooting during those miserable summer months when I really don't feel like digging pull tabs all day. I was steered towards the 250.
I have included a photo of my first hunt below. This is the result of about two hours hunting. Like an idiot, I pinched a nerve in my back and kept on hunting, so I have been in pretty miserable shape all week (and can't hunt this weekend; lesson learned!). But enough of my whining.
I bought the Sports Package which came with the 6x9 and 9x12 coils, but I only used the stock 6x9 coil for this hunt. I also hunted only in COINS mode.
The first thing I noticed was that the Ace 250 was definitely heavier than my Compadre, but the weight was balanced so well, my arms did not tire at all. So there is no weight problem to the 250.
So far as the bell tones are concerned, they didn't bother me in the slightest and I like the fact that the 250 had three levels of tones. That high tone is great for coin hunters! The volume adjustable headphones that came with the Sports Package were very comfortable and very helpful and I highly recommend getting a pair!
As to the performance:
The first thing I noticed was the apparent slow recovery speed of the Ace 250, especially as compared to the Compadre. Several other reviewers have noticed this. I did not find this a particular problem, but I found myself making some extra swings over the target to get a repeat signal which I was not too happy about. But for a $212 detector, can I really gripe?
I did notice that jumpy signals on the TID were almost always trash. I do not know if anyone else out there ever dug a good target with a jumpy signal. If so, please share. However, this does appear to be a nice feature to avoid trash targets.
I also found it is a good idea to turn 90 degrees and re-sweep the target to see if the target signal stayed locked. If it changed, it was always trash when I dug.
Pennies came up as pennies and dimes on the TID screen (I dug no dimes on this hunt). Given their respective composition, I did not mind this at all. I am not adverse to digging pennies.
I got the "nickel" signal more than any other, and never dug a single nickel. Be warned that the nickel signal can and often does mean many, many things and was the only notch that was 100% inaccurate during this hunt.
I was pleased that in COINS mode I dug few pull tabs. Again, I know gold rings were mostly excluded, but this is going to be my coin shooting detector because it has notch discrimination which the Compadre does not.When it cools down a little again, I'll go back to "dig it all" mode with the Compadre.
The important thing, and I say this mostly for the benefit of "newbies" to detecting, is that TID screen are guidelines only and can often be wrong. The detector does its best to interpret the signal, but just because you hunt in COINS mode, do not believe you will only dig coins. That ain't gonna happen.
So as to my first hunt, I am pleased. As time progresses and I learn the Ace 250 better (and what it is trying to tell me), I will likely dig fewer pieces of trash than I did this first outing. Garrett has sold countless Ace 250's since their introduction and its easy to see why.
I'll post future hunts as well and I'll do a more in depth review once I feel competent to do so.
Thanks for looking and happy hunting!