Opinions please. Prizm 2 or Ace 250 for the beach?

[candcantiques]

It seems that the Whites Classic 3 that I have been using on the beach may have a problem, having the improper search coil, so I am left with either my Ace 250 or a Whites Prizm 2 that I have never used before. Is there anyone out there that thinks that there is a possibility that the Prizm might be better? Thanks in advance for your opinions.

 

[Monte]

First, please keep in mind that this is coming from a detectorist who hasn't been too thrilled with the Prizm series in general, who has owned a couple of Prizm IV's and has a Coinmaster, and has owned a few Garrett Ace 250's. I am of the opinion that I'd prefer to tackle the beaches, or most any other place, with a model that provides me with some form of ground balance control as well as a wide-range, variable Discrimination. The likes of a modified Classic III SL, IDX Pro, or an M6 or MXT, for example.

A lot will depend upon the GB setting of the detector. I have had less than desired performance on beaches from the Garrett Ace 250's that I had. So, if I had both of those models, I'd anticipate better performance from the Prizm, but I'd take them both and compare them, side-by-side, on the same targets in the same conditions.

I haven't taken the Coinmaster out into the "wet zone" at the beach yet as I prefer better (warmer) beach weather and that will come in a few months. Give them a try and report back to us one YOUR experiences.

Monte

 

[Old Katz]

n/t

 

[candcantiques]

Well my hunting buddy and I went to the beach for a few hours today. This is what happened pitting the Ace 250 side by side against the Prizm 2.Keep in mind any time his Ace went off I scanned it BEFORE he dug. If The Prizm went off he scaned BEFORE I dug. Settings on both machines were as much the same as we could make them.

Dry sand- No discrimination (lowest possible) sensitivity high as it goes.

Prizm went off said it was a penny. Ace confirmed penny. It was a penny. Tie game

Ace went off said it was foil. Prizm said nothing at all. It was a ketchup packet. Ok Prizm wins. I don't like digging ketchup packets.

Nothing for quite a while till we turned around to head back up the beach in the wet sand.

Wet sand--Ace no discrimination, sensitivity at 3 bars showing. Prizm had to discriminate out nails and foil for it to work at all. Otherwise the entire beach was one big piece of metal. Sensitivity set at 4 bars showing

Prizm got the first hit but was intermittent. Sometimes penny sometimes foil silently. Would "ding" every other pass. Ace "ding ding ding" EVERY time Penny. It was a penny. Ace wins

5 feet later exact same scenario on both machines it was another penny. Ace wins again

Up to this point we had not tried to use the pinpoint feature on either machine.

Back to dry sand again. Reset setting same as before in dry sand.

Ace goes off says dime. Prizm Says Penny. Pinpointing set the spot 1 1/2" different from each other. Ace was right on target and it was a dime. Ace wins

2 feet later exact same thing again. Ace was right on target and was right about the object. Prizm was wrong again about object and spot.

Now I sit here and wonder what I might have missed because I didn't take my Ace 250.