New Garrett user questions.

[jamescpittman]

Just got my Garrett 250 Ace for Christmas. This unit replaced my Radio Shack unit that quit years ago. I read my manual, watched the Garrett videos, then took my unit for a test run at a college that was part of an old southern plantation with plenty of giant oak trees. Here are my questions. When searching I often get a hit sound that will show a coin 6" deep. I swing over the same place and no signal. No more signals at this spot. Can grass interfere with the signal? What does this indicate?
Second question. My unit came with a cover that fits over the coil. Is this cover for storage, or does it stay on during hunting sessions? I hunted for about 15 minutes and uncovered several coins, but had a lot of those one time hits. Any help you can give a new user?
Thanks
jamescpittman

 

[Yard Scrap]

The coil cover is to protect the coil. It should be on all the time, take it off to clean crap out like sand and dust on a regular basis.
What setting are you using, (zero, coin,etc and what sensitivity ect)?
I would suggest you go out in your own yard and throw down various coins and items (silver,gold,tabs, bottle caps, nails, gum wrapper etc)and see how the detector reacts and sounds.

 

[Orion42]

If the coil wire isn't wrapped snug, hitting the grass with it can cause a false hit.

John

 

[slingshot]

You're gonna have to give your settings. For instance, the default setting of 6 bars sensitivity is too high for most places and 4 bars is a mix of stability and depth. At 6 bars you're gonna get some false signals in some areas.

 

[jamescpittman]

Yeah you are right. I didn't give enough information for a good analysis. I was using the coin mode for a few minutes, then the jewelry. I set the sensitivity back two bars from full and then back one more bar which helped some. It did seem to me that when I hit grass, I would get a nuisance beep. Could I have been moving the coil too fast? I'm just trying to get a quick grasp of this thing, as I have two grandkids with shovels in their hand wanting for Paw Paw to find them some treasure.
Thanks for your replies.
jamescpittman

 

[John-Edmonton]

A lot of units will false if you hit a stationary object like a tree. And, as previously mentioned, a loose coil moving above the coil will also cause it to beep. On the plus side, getting a beep only once on a target while still swinging the coil over the target defines the target as non-existent, so you don't need to dig it. Try slowing down on your swings. That might give you some over-all stability with less falsing.

The ACE 250 is one heck of a good machine. Once you get comfortable with it, you will find amazing targets at very good depth.

 

[jamescpittman]

Thanks John for your comments.
I thought you were finished answering me, so I posted another question for you or someone. This should get me going well enough to not bother you guys for a while.
Thanks
jamescpittman

 

[SteveP(NH)]

If the false signals are coming at the end of your swing then the cause is that you are lifting the coil off of the ground at the ends of your swing. This is called penduluming and is a very common technique error of new detectorists.

 

[jamescpittman]

Thanks,
Great advice. You guys are shortening my learning curve big time. Appreciate your comments. P.S. went out for about 15 minutes today. Found some old washers used in plumbing years ago. They were solid lead. Man lead makes strange sounds.
jamescpittman

 

[slingshot]

Yeah you are right. I didn't give enough information for a good analysis. I was using the coin mode for a few minutes, then the jewelry. I set the sensitivity back two bars from full and then back one more bar which helped some. It did seem to me that when I hit grass, I would get a nuisance beep. Could I have been moving the coil too fast? I'm just trying to get a quick grasp of this thing, as I have two grandkids with shovels in their hand wanting for Paw Paw to find them some treasure.
Thanks for your replies.
jamescpittman

The Ace is unique in that the faster it's swept the deeper it goes-so sweep speed isn't too great a factor unless it causes you to not overlap your sweeps or any other good detector habit. A user with slow, methodical sweeps can use higher sensitivity without as much falsing. I have a moderately fast sweep, so my 4 bars setting can approach depths at 6 bars of a more methodical user at 6 bars without all the falsing. Whenever I'm field hunting where trash isn't so abundant I raise the sensitivitity, which is called "burning the coil" for greater depth.

 

[sandtrout]

I do a lot of "cherry picking" at local parks. Started with the ACE 250 and have stayed with it for ~7 years now. The parks here aren't very old so I don't go deep 6"+ but stay in the 4" range. ALL of my jewelry has been on top to ONLY 3" deep. I hunted a small section of a park and did pretty well with the standard coil but there were 5 sections that were TOO BUSY for that coil so after I finished with the standard coil I went back over just those section with the sniper coil...problem solved...and cleaned out those sections. You'll know when it's time to get another (not a replacement) detector...it will be when the change you've saved PAYS for it. My ACE has pain for 1. a propointer, 2. Sniper coil, 3. headphones, 4. and a Tesoro Vaquero (which paid for a 2nd propointer. The ACE is my cherry picker. The LAW is for when I'm in an area sher I'm going deep like old homes, farms, ranches, hot soils like I run into out-of-state. Like J. Edmonton said, "the ACE 250 is a great machine". I'll get another when this one has had it.