I am compiling useful info I find on how to properly use the garrett ace line, it is a very hard machine to get used to considering it does not tell you a conductivity number. I am just starting to use metal detectors and want to share what I learn and put it all down here in one post so that it may benefit somebody else! enjoy.
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"The easy way to ID bottle caps is to watch what happens to the audio visual when the tip (or any other part of the outer edge) passes over the target. Even though a bottle cap can give you a positive reading when it's under the center of the coil, it will give an iron reading when it passes under the tip. It does it with both DD and concentric coils.
Mick Evans." ...
...I verified this statement myself, a pop can I dug would consistently ping as a quarter. I tried swiping the detector from in front of the target toward myself and it would consistently ping as a pull tab.
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"On the ones that don't dig, try raising the coil up off the ground a few inches, and
see if it still goes off. That can sometimes help show if the object is really large or not.
IE: large cans, etc.. A coin, being small, will vanish as you raise the coil But a large
object will often still ring with the coil raised.
The depth circuit is calibrated for coins. It will be unreliable for large objects.
I don't pay too much mind to the depth reading.. I'll note it, but I don't think of the
object as automatically being at that depth. It's only really accurate for coin size
objects. Or at least with the Ace machines anyway..
IE: a quarter at 4 inches might show 4 inches, but a rusty can at 12 inches might
also show as 4 inches.. It's deeper, but large enough and conductive enough to
fool the circuit into thinking it's a quarter at 4 inches.
Some of the machines with size detection might have a better chance of telling
the difference. But the Ace machines don't have that. "
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One that I learned myself, when you hit a target instantly put it on pinpiont then raise it above the ground 4-6 inches and if it still pings strong it is big junk, if not next try to pinpoint the size of the item, pop cans and large iron rods ect. will have a larger radius than a coin or ring. If you can extend the pinpoint outside of the circle you can bet that it is not a coin or ring. Pinpoint can be as useful as the discrimination. Very short pings in pinpoint mode indicate bottle tab or coins ect.
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"The easy way to ID bottle caps is to watch what happens to the audio visual when the tip (or any other part of the outer edge) passes over the target. Even though a bottle cap can give you a positive reading when it's under the center of the coil, it will give an iron reading when it passes under the tip. It does it with both DD and concentric coils.
Mick Evans." ...
...I verified this statement myself, a pop can I dug would consistently ping as a quarter. I tried swiping the detector from in front of the target toward myself and it would consistently ping as a pull tab.
___
"On the ones that don't dig, try raising the coil up off the ground a few inches, and
see if it still goes off. That can sometimes help show if the object is really large or not.
IE: large cans, etc.. A coin, being small, will vanish as you raise the coil But a large
object will often still ring with the coil raised.
The depth circuit is calibrated for coins. It will be unreliable for large objects.
I don't pay too much mind to the depth reading.. I'll note it, but I don't think of the
object as automatically being at that depth. It's only really accurate for coin size
objects. Or at least with the Ace machines anyway..
IE: a quarter at 4 inches might show 4 inches, but a rusty can at 12 inches might
also show as 4 inches.. It's deeper, but large enough and conductive enough to
fool the circuit into thinking it's a quarter at 4 inches.
Some of the machines with size detection might have a better chance of telling
the difference. But the Ace machines don't have that. "
__
One that I learned myself, when you hit a target instantly put it on pinpiont then raise it above the ground 4-6 inches and if it still pings strong it is big junk, if not next try to pinpoint the size of the item, pop cans and large iron rods ect. will have a larger radius than a coin or ring. If you can extend the pinpoint outside of the circle you can bet that it is not a coin or ring. Pinpoint can be as useful as the discrimination. Very short pings in pinpoint mode indicate bottle tab or coins ect.
