Questions about Ace 250 from a new detector

[Mom2Jack04]

Hi everyone, this is my first time here. I've only been metal detecting with my son about a month. Just recently got my own detector, a Garrett Ace 250. I've been practicing out in my yard with it since the weather is finally nice here in WNY, but I'm getting a little frustrated. I've watched several videos including the instructional and I'm scanning my yard in coin mode for now and it will find a coin, I'll pinpoint the location, dig a plug, and it just seems I rarely find what it's saying is there. It may show a 2-4 inch depth and I feel like I'm digging a huge foot deep hole, and still not finding anything. Meanwhile the Ace 250 says it's still in the hole. I do believe from the amount of iron and such it will show, and how my son's Bounter Hunter Gold Digger will essentially "freak out" on one side of our yard and in the neighbors yard that the mineralization be be causing interference, but it just seems extreme. I've found some really nice things in our yard with his Bounty Hunter, a bunch of change, a 3 Merry Widows Tin and a 1920's era Ponds Cream Lid, but so far I've only successfully found 1 penny with the Ace 250 and dug up about 10 other holes where I got frustrated and gave up. Do I just need a deep breath and keep swinging the detector to get a better feel for it, or can environment factors really make it inaccurate?

We do plan on going to a local park later today and hitting the beach this weekend, so I'm sure I'll get plenty of practice. Just wish I was finding the targets a little easier.

Melissa

 

[detectin4fun]

First don't give up just keep working at learning you new detector. I will make a guess your sensitivity is too high. I run my 250 at around three or maybe four bars sensitivity I find that is a good level for most detecting. Sometimes my Ace will call something wrong. Just the other day I found six or more different whole smashed pop cans down about 4 to 5 inches. Five or so indicated dimes one was a nickle. Today I dug a few dimes, pennies and a quarter with all indicated corectly. Along with nails with the low tone sound, pulltab that was showing nickle. Pop cans, bottle caps, gum wrappers can fool some very expensive detectors. Pinpointing coins is easier if my sensitivity is not maxed out. When you pinpoint try lowering the senesitivity some and see if it helps. In pinpoint mode watch the strength bar increase and see it go fully to the right and the volume intensity increase when you over the target.
The first days out with my detector were frustrating being new to detecting I was thinking maybe I had made a mistake. Then I began finding some coins and I was hooked. Today I found coins and some junk. You will almost always find some trash with the good targets and somedays it is all trash. Put some coins out on the ground and listen to the sound through your headphones and watch the screen. See if it is showing you correctly the coin your over. Hold the pinpoint button and learn where the detector coils rests when the sound and bar strength graph indicates the coin should be under you coil. Videos are good but the best teacher is experience. You should get out swinging your detector over good targets so put coins down and see what it sounds like. After awhile you will hear the tone that makes me smile the sound of a coin under your coil.. Heard that today uncovered it and smiled to myself. Good luck keep at it you will soon be finding coins. Dont give up stick with it. Good luck.

 

[slingshot]

3-4 bars sensitivity to start with as former poster said. The factory default of six bars is WAY too much for trashy areas, much less those with heavy minerals. Save that for better conditions or when you get used to the machine. When a signal is encountered, raise the coil and either sweep or use pinpoint. Just use common sense-a dime (where most large trash hits) is not gonna give a loud signal when the coil is 6-8" above the target! Which brings up another point. Raising the coil when starting to pinpoint gives a much weaker signal that will show beneath that little arch in the center of the coil. It is KEY to learning to pinpoint with the Ace-that from 8 years using it! It is so important I can raise the coil and pinpoint in MOTION!
The pinpoint mode is a valuable tool in learning AND sizing the target. If I had one last tip, the Relics mode is an awesome mode that can give a lot of info and you can actually WATCH the icons "dance" all over the screen on large trash while possible good targets only move an icon or two.

 

[Dancer]

Mom2
When your at the park. Scatter some coins etc. in a small area. Maybe 20x20 feet. Hunt them out with the ace. Should have headphones too. For a couple of reasons.

 

[slingshot]

Mom2
When your at the park. Scatter some coins etc. in a small area. Maybe 20x20 feet. Hunt them out with the ace. Should have headphones too. For a couple of reasons.

With volume controls, for a couple of reasons!

 

[Dan-Pa.]

I like the idea of scattering coins and raise your coil a bit to simulate depth...Another trick is to put a piece of cardboard on the ground and put a coin under it and practice pinpointing as you may be missing the coins when pinpointing. Good tool to learn and start with a half and work down to a dime..Be patient as it takes time and we all have been rookies and went thru the same learning period.

 

[jd88047]

I believe those two machines are manual ground balance.One trick I learned on is to turn on the detector with the coil on the dirt I'm hunting. You also may be off on your pin pointing and the target is in the side of the hole. I don't know if this will work as I own the bounty hunter but not the Ace 250.

Sensitivity does effect depth, but so does masked targets in hot soil. As said, start off low and work up slowly to high gain(sensitivity). You can always turn up the sensitivity to check a weak target.

In trash and iron you will dig till your arms give out. You will dig a lot of trash, but wont take you long to learn to avoid those areas unless you just want a lot of pain. I haven't seen any detector not dig trash. Some do better. The beach and park are hard hunts. I keep a running total of trash targets to good targets in my head when hunting. It takes time to get the good targets ratio up.

A small coil and research of a area will help. Just go where people go. I like parking areas I do better there and find rings every now and then. If its really trashy just cherry pick. Bottle caps and pull tabs will fool most machines at least part of the time. But go for the hi tones, just know you will miss nickles and rings. If you dig the pull tabs and bottle caps and foil, you will eventually dig a ring.

You may have noticed some folks post some awesome finds and can do it almost every day. They know the detector and they have a spot that has those finds. I sure hope I have helped you a little here.

 

[upnorth]

I walked around dumber than a stump when I got my ACE. If I were you I"d leave it in ALL METAL, forget the screen and listen to the tones at first. It will slowly come together with time and use. Check out wood chips and or sand play set areas in parks. Later when the tones start to make more sense, you can cross check with the screen. They are never 100% accurate, but many signals are consistant enough with the display to give you a good gut feeling. Walk, swing, listen. High good. Low not as good. That would be a start.