New to forum....plus questions?

[steamer70]

Hi,
Everyone i am new to the forum,I bought a Ace 250,I have had for about a week....I went out to a tot lot today,and found some junk a 1954 nickle and a few earings.
What I wanted to know is,I was in jewlery mode and I found a few pennies that showed up 2-4 inches deep,but they were lying right on top of the ground,in jewlery mode does it pick up coins at wrong depths?
The nickle was about 4 inches and was spot on,plus I dug somethings that was not even there lol....also sometimes it shows a penie or dime when in fact it was pulltabs...is this normal?
I hate to sound like a idiot but i am a newbie,and i bought the detector off craigslist for $100 bucks,the guy only used it once and lost interest,it was still in the box with instruction book and everything...oh ya I had sens set to 3.
Well I am sure i am just worring over nothing...also i am looking for a cheap pinpoiter if someone has one....
Thanks guys,
Everett

 

[dahut]

Hi,
Everyone i am new to the forum,I bought a Ace 250,I have had for about a week....I went out to a tot lot today,and found some junk a 1954 nickle and a few earings.
What I wanted to know is,I was in jewlery mode and I found a few pennies that showed up 2-4 inches deep,but they were lying right on top of the ground,in jewlery mode does it pick up coins at wrong depths?
The nickle was about 4 inches and was spot on,plus I dug somethings that was not even there lol....also sometimes it shows a penie or dime when in fact it was pulltabs...is this normal?
I hate to sound like a idiot but i am a newbie,and i bought the detector off craigslist for $100 bucks,the guy only used it once and lost interest,it was still in the box with instruction book and everything...oh ya I had sens set to 3.
Well I am sure i am just worring over nothing...also i am looking for a cheap pinpoiter if someone has one....
Thanks guys,
Everett

First, welcome aboard Everett!!

The depth gauge on the Ace can best be considered an estimate. There are far too many variables, from your own swing style to the minerals in the ground to consider it anything but an approximation. The mode should have little to do with it.

The old fashioned way to determine depth, back before we had so-called "depth gauges," was to raise the coil. As you sweep over the target, you simultaneously lift the coil, sweeping evenly - but ever higher. If the target disappears right away - it is deep, small, or some bit of insignifcant trash. If it lingers as the coil goes up, it is either large or shallow, or both. I suggest you get accustomed this method, rather than relying on the rather fallible "depth reading."

It is also normal for the Ace to mis-identify items and/or "false." This is especially so when there is trash around, but this is not exclusive to a trashy environment. Again, the 12 segment TID display on the Ace is best considered an ID range approximation.
For the record, I find it no better than most digi-tectors in it's price range... and not vastly different than those higher up in price.

There is a certain lag time with all real time digital signal processing, including low-cost detectors. So when there are multiple targets beneath the coil like trash, mineralization, variations in the soil, etc... well, the detector can become 'confused'. Nine times out of ten, there is some little item of trash or mineralization causing the problem.
Often it is deeper iron, or iron off to one side, which you cannot discern becasue of your discrimination setting.
More on that in a second.

Keep in mind that most detectors are designed around American coins, which are smooth and symmetrical. This includes the Ace. Trash, on the other hand is raggedy, jaggedy... or worse. So trash targets like foil, canslaw, bits of wire and aluminum roofing splits, etc, etc, etc, scatter the signal from your detector and make it look something else. People complain at how well their detectors find pulltabs. But pulltabs are dead easy to ID, compared to most trash targets. SO take heart you pulltab hounders - your detector is working properly!

There were 3 things I found helpful with the Ace when I was still using it:

1. Hunt in "No Disc" mode for a while. The Ace doesn't have a true all metal mode, but it has what can effectively be called a zero discrimination mode. The good thing about this is it includes an iron ID tone. I think you will find that much of the time when you are getting falsing, "weird" audio and instability of the ID cursor ... there is iron in close proximity to the coil. Iron masking as a problem lies unidentified when in higher levels of discrimination, and is therefore overlooked.

2. Hunt with fairly quick sweep speeds, but slow down and get "twitchy" over targets. Once you have found a target, focus in on it with short, focused sweeps that are at a moderate speed. Not too fast, not too slow. It is even helpful to "twitch" the coil over the target. This helps the processor identify the item better, by providing it with consistent information about only THAT item.

3. Accept misidentified items as par for the course.

 

[big john]

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

 

[steamer70]

WOW David thanks alot,you explained alot dead on....in "No Disc" with this detector do you mean all metal mode?
Thanks again,
Everett

 

[dahut]

WOW David thanks alot,you explained alot dead on....in "No Disc" with this detector do you mean all metal mode?
Thanks again,
Everett

Yes. I called it a "zero discrimination" mode because that is what it really is.
It isn't all metal, in the proper sense, although Garrett labels it as such.

Using this no discrimination/"all metal" mode as a tool - instead of seeing it as a bother - is the important note.
It can tell you how much iron is present and if you are experiencing iron masking in your search area. Such masking can wreak havoc with most discriminators, to the point where you may think something is wrong.

 

[Stix]

I find the swing depth gauge wrong but when pinpointing its alot more accurate.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Thanks bud. You saved me a lot of explaining


Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Welcome aboard and good luck with your new toy. David pretty well explained things so I won't go into it much. When he mentioned "twitching" this is a procedure to help identify those iffy signals. You center the coil over the target then whip the coil side to side rapidly about two inches each way. If it's a good target you wil get a good signal. Your detector is a "motion detector" and as such it goes deeper and discriminates better the faster you swing the coil over a target.

As for pinpointers - don't buy cheap as that is what you will get for performace.

Bill

 

[metalhead]

Welcome to the forum!This is a wonderful community and a great place to share info!Welcome to the hobby of metal detecting!Feel free to ask for advice at any time!That Ace 250 is a coin magnet!Great advice given by DavidBest of luck to ya'Happy Hunting!