TWO questions on the Ace 250.

[John 'n' W.Va]

I use my Ace 250 in Fl. The sand here is low in minerals. The Ace works great. I am really very happy with it's performance. I don't care to up grade to another land detector while I live in Fl. If I was to get another detector, it would be one that could go into salt water. That way I feel I would have all bases covered here in Fl.
When I went to WV. last summer, I seemed to noticed a difference in performance. It was also my first experience with hot rocks with the Ace. I didn't get to use it that extensively to really tell the difference. I think, it would take a person that Md in low and high mineral soil to tell the difference in the performance of the Ace 250. Not just saying, hay it works great here. To me it works unbelievably well in Fl. It makes me think does one Ace works a little better than another Ace or are all Aces the same? Back in the 70's I know one CB. of the same brand, preformed better than another. Evan though they were the same. A friend of mine had the same motorcycle, same year and my bike out performed his.
The question is: Are all Aces the same and is there a noticeable difference in their preforming in mineralized soil?

 

[Aussie Chris]

John,
as a prospector for 25 years, one imutable fact has been over that time is "no two detectors are the same". We have a saying over here when a piece of equipment doe not work as well as it should, "Must be a late Friday afternoon or early Monday morning build". You may be aware of it ? It basicaly means that production is different from day to day, componants are different, the factories tolerances allow for a difference etc.

The second imutable fact over that time is that no two pieces of ground are the same. I have been in places with my GP3000 nugget hunter were I could hardly put the coil to the ground because it is so mineralized. Then go to another place a couple of miles away and not touch the ground balance the whole day !

I have an Ace 250 as well and usuallly run it on 3 bars sens as our ground over here is very ordinary. Yesterday at the beach I had it up to 7. Even with the sens at 3 I still get very good depth with it.

HH
Chris.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Some detectors of the same brand work a little better than others - for the reasons Chris explained. Ground is different all over, which is why Garrett and other companies send out units to testers all over the world. WV has some pretty hot ground in different areas so your performance would change some or drasically depending on where you were. There is no universal detector. If there was we would all own one.

Bill

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

I know one MDer can't do it all. The main factor I was thinking of was the ground mineralization. I understand if the ace had GB it would be a killer MD. It doesn't have GB. I would think in mineralized ground, it would not do very well. It seems that people are using it in mineralized ground. Are they doing that well with it or are they cheating themselves by not buying a detector with GB.

 

[tab-nabit]

I agree with the other replies - I also have one spot where I must lower the sensitivity - change to the sniper coil and I can can run the sensitivity back up. Grounds are different, and the machines have plus/minus tolerances in components/manufacturing.

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

n/t

 

[tab-nabit]

I'm not all sure... but the first time I tried the sniper coil, I started the afternoon using the stock coil. I could only run the sensitivity at 4 max. If I went up any more, it got erratic and falsing. I then soon switched to the new sniper coil. I was then able to run the sensitivity at 5 and mostly 6, and sometimes up to 7 in the cleaner areas. That's nearly flat out.
I don't have too much experience with the 250, but have been MDing over 25 years. To me, the sniper coil ran hot and stable, and is a must for trash areas. Less masking in trash areas over the stock coil. I was also impressed with the depth of the little sniper.
After all the other machines I had and currently use, the ACE 250 with the little sniper coil is somewhat a different league. I found that I just leave the sniper coil on.
As far as the soil condition, maybe the answer is somewhere else in this or another forum. I know the GB is factory preset and the machine runs VLF.

 

[khouse]

John,
Basically a smaller coil will see less of the ground. That means it will be more stable on the same ground where a larger coil is not. That's one reason you can crank the sensitivity so high without falsing on the sniper. So the answer is yes. The sniper is better on mineralized ground compared to the other two coils.

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

n/t

 

[Aussie Chris]

n/t

 

[khouse]

n/t

 

[Uncle Willy]

The soil here in Oregon is volcanic and the 250 works good here. I think Garrett must have tweaked it a bit.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

I pull coins in the bark chips at six inches with the Sniper. It's an over achiever.

Bill

 

[tab-nabit]

I didn't measure ( I never measure-up), but it just seems to hit an estimated 5". I read elsewhere some say 6". For a 4.5" coil to hit that 4.5" mark or a little more, is hot. The pimpointing always seems dead center too. Dig a plug, and it's there. I like running it in the hard to swing areas too - old fallen oak tree branches, exposed roots, up along creek banks holding along straight out to a bit above head level etc.

 

[Uncle Willy]

It will work some better because it's not taking in as much ground as a bigger coil so sees less mineralization. Picture mineralization like the thick grain in a piece of hardwood.

Bill