ACE 250 verses Fishers 2 or 4

[Alimo88]

Seem a lot of people get the ACE 250 over say an F2 or F4. Am I missing something???? Why would you want 8 display Zones over 99 display zones.
What could be the reasoning in their thinking?
any comments appreciated
F2 owner

 

[bthom]

It would be interesting to have a go with one, It may be a case of good marketing timing with the ace, then a sort of self propelling masses thing where people looking see everyone else has bought one so they must be the best. Though when I looked to buy it seemed pretty obvious what to go for ..

 

[backacheUK]

My Pal uses an Ace 250 & does pretty well with it & seems very happy with it, Although to me its recovery speed lag it has from one target to the next when they are a few inches apart is to slow & would be an issue to me as you only hear one target.plus the bell tone is loud and annoying after awhile lol "the Yellow Doorbell" Oh yeah & I dont think I could live without my ID numbers & 4 tones

 

[kydigger]

I just got into detecting in January. I knew nothing about the hobby, including what to buy. So, Before I bought a detector, I did tons or research on the net. Early in my learning curve, I thought for sure the Ace 250 was the unit I would buy. I'm glad I didn't rush in. After a little more studying, I learned about TID numbers which the Ace doesn't have. I got lucky and found a Discovery 3300 at a pawn shop. After a couple of months, I came across a great deal on an F4 in the Finds detector classified form. So a sold my 3300 for a nice profit on Craig's list. My TOTAL cost for my F4 with 3 coils was $215. That includes the original $90 I paid for the 3300.
I haven't used an Ace but I'm sure that people who do, dig more zinks than I do, thanks to the TID numbers. When i'm coin shooting, if a target bounces between zink and copper/ dime and the TID is around 61, its a zink. If the TID is in the 70s, then I know I'm going to dig a copper or dime. In fact, if I'm in an area with mostly newer coins, I usually dig a dime.
This is just one example of the advantagesof an F4 over an Ace 250. Another important difference is that there is no DD coil for the Ace.
I know the a new F4 costs more than a new Ace 250. However, I believe in buying used so I get more bang for my buck. I'm glad I didn't jump right into buying a detector just because of its popularity.

 

[bugg]

I used a Whites detector that used 8 segments. It was a nice machine, but I did not like the 8 segments. I use a tek now, and love the 99 numbers. It just gives you that much more info before you dig.

 

[Hwy 395]

Seem a lot of people get the ACE 250 over say an F2 or F4. Am I missing something???? Why would you want 8 display Zones over 99 display zones.
What could be the reasoning in their thinking?
any comments appreciated
F2 owner

Garrett's are built better and run more stable, in my experience/opinion. Those 99 display zones don't mean much when they jump from 20 to 90 back to 60 up to 80 then down to 10 over and over. Garrett's also don't have a big EMI issue like the First Texas detectors do.

 

[Alimo88]

I could understand that but my F2 VID is rock solid on most reasonable targets. Numbers seem very stable to me. Thanks for your input

 

[BH_Landstar_]

I had the Legacy 3300 (AKA the Discovery 3300), both are coin hogs, they will find coins all day.

The DD coil on the F4 works very well. I never really found many silver rings with the Legacy, only 3, and the gold was zilch, big fat zero.

Within a week of having the F4 I found 6 silver rings and 1 gold ring plus more clad than the Legacy 3300 would find in the same 2 / 3 hours I was out per day. My clad total shot up from $7 to $12 and above using the F4, also, the F4 is a dime / quarter sniffer, finds them and is spot on.

I like the TID numbers, like others have said, it gives you an idea of what you might be digging up.

The only problem I have found so far is the DD coil see's them darn bottle caps as quarters, dug more of them since I got the F4 !

As for the Ace 250, never used one so I can not compare the two.

 

[Alimo88]

Why does a DD coil see a bottle cap as a quarter?

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

It's to do with the shape more than anything else. Concentric coils see them as iron, however, for whatever reason, a DD coil sees a round disc and is more easily fooled. They generally hit above our goldies. They do show up in the same area, but tend to be jumpy (on the numbers) and usually as less consistent signal (with a DD coil on). That's what you look for when wondering what the target is. That's why US hunters prefer concentric coils. I wish we could eliminate screw caps as easily as they can with crown caps.
Mick Evans.

 

[rick in mi]

I agree my f4 is dead on with dimes and quarters,and yes i to dig alot of caps,but they do have a tendacy to bounce the numbers abit.My problem is any thing 60 and higher,if stable,i dig.I will find some pennies and copper objects but very few nickels mostly because of the lower tones and tid numbers i am reluctant to dig. But in allmetals mode this machine is deadly accurate,i have dug objects like a small caster wheel down 11 inches,and hair pins as deep as 10 inches.IMHO the f4 shines for a midrange machine.

 

[Aces High 333]

When I see a newbie or some one with a low-mid range detector ask about getting new detector. Here come the Ace250 herd. Now don't get me wrong the 250 has made many hunters happy, great. Instead of pushing a model ask what unit do you have now? Budget? What do you like to mainly hunt? Do you want a simple machine or like to tweak you settings. I've tried a 250 and didn't like it, I didn't like the LCD screen, the unit looked kiddish and cute, but that's me. I'm using a BH Discovery 3300 which is close but not the same as the F4. The numbers jumping is the machine trying to tell you something, usually it's trash and how it's position in the ground. It's good to have a test garden with coins and trash to see how your unit operates. I always recommend a test garden.
Personally, I'm looking at the F5 and I'm here reading what the users are experiencing. I enjoy what I'm reading on the "F" forum.
I don't dare say I'm upgrading, I'll get told get a Ace 250.
HHing,

 

[Alimo88]

Not many convincing arguments for the ace 250 yet. The BH 3300 looks quite nice too. I just don't get the ACE brigade. Maybe great marketing or a perception that Garrett make a better detector than Fisher????
thanks for your input

 

[BH_Landstar_]

I'm guessing here on this, but it might just be that there are a lot of people that have a metal detector (any name brand) that use it a few times and finds very little and then ends up putting the thing back in it's box and then places said box into storage to collect dust !

Would be great to have some sort of stats on who owns what and how often it gets used, it's not like a car that gets used every day unless your really hooked on the hobby and can dedicate 2 - 3 hours every day. Some people just don't have the mindset to stick with something for very long if it's not working for them.

Me, I'm having a ball of a time, collected loads of $$$ (over $300.00) in coins along with 12 rings and other jewelry since Jan of this year.

All I need to do now is find a ring with some ice in it to add to the collection.

 

[Alimo88]

Carat for carat I think Ruby's are the most valuable???? only guessing

 

[Shambler]

Garrett's are built better and run more stable, in my experience/opinion. Those 99 display zones don't mean much when they jump from 20 to 90 back to 60 up to 80 then down to 10 over and over. Garrett's also don't have a big EMI issue like the First Texas detectors do.

I never had an ounce of trouble out of my F4 with EMI that wasn't easily mitigated with settings. It's a great detector. The TID bounce is more a result of the DD coil than the detector. There's a code in those numbers that will help you decide to dig. The DING DING on the 12 TID stops of the Garret just seems not jumpy because it's averaging. It's terrible at target ID unless you're digging clad at the tot lot. If that's you're gig, get the ACE. If you're looking for old coins or relics, you can't afford one of the expensive machines, and you don't want to dig 20 holes per 1 good target, the F4 is a good choice. Before some ACE user chimes in with his 500 silver dimes, we ALL know it's a metal detector and if you swing over 2" silver dimes at a virgin spot, it will go DING DING DING and you'll find a dime. However, don't try to tell me you used it in a challenging environment and it out performed ANY other detectors.

As for build, the only nice thing I saw with the ACE250 was the coil connector. It screws on instead of pushes in. Other than that, the ACE is poorly balanced and does not offer a DD coil. It's a beginners unit.

That being said, it's not really fair to compare the F4 to the ACE250 since they are in different price ranges, but if I was facing that decision, it would be NO contest.

 

[Hwy 395]

Garrett's are built better and run more stable, in my experience/opinion. Those 99 display zones don't mean much when they jump from 20 to 90 back to 60 up to 80 then down to 10 over and over. Garrett's also don't have a big EMI issue like the First Texas detectors do.

I never had an ounce of trouble out of my F4 with EMI that wasn't easily mitigated with settings. It's a great detector. The TID bounce is more a result of the DD coil than the detector. There's a code in those numbers that will help you decide to dig. The DING DING on the 12 TID stops of the Garret just seems not jumpy because it's averaging. It's terrible at target ID unless you're digging clad at the tot lot. If that's you're gig, get the ACE. If you're looking for old coins or relics, you can't afford one of the expensive machines, and you don't want to dig 20 holes per 1 good target, the F4 is a good choice. Before some ACE user chimes in with his 500 silver dimes, we ALL know it's a metal detector and if you swing over 2" silver dimes at a virgin spot, it will go DING DING DING and you'll find a dime. However, don't try to tell me you used it in a challenging environment and it out performed ANY other detectors.

As for build, the only nice thing I saw with the ACE250 was the coil connector. It screws on instead of pushes in. Other than that, the ACE is poorly balanced and does not offer a DD coil. It's a beginners unit.

That being said, it's not really fair to compare the F4 to the ACE250 since they are in different price ranges, but if I was facing that decision, it would be NO contest.

I'm not a Garrett user.

I wasn't really talking about the F4, I should have mentioned that. It's not a fair comparison at all. Between the Ace 250 and F2, I would take the Ace 250, because the F2 was very unstable for me in my ground.

 

[pescadore]

I don't believe you are missing a thing. I have owned an ACE 250 and I currently use a F5. The lack of information that you get on the Garrett is really a disadvantage in my opinion. I much prefer the numbers versus the little icons and that bell tone is annoying.

 

[blacktoe]

I had an ace 250 and an F4 at the same time. I still have the F4, the Ace 250 is gone.


blacktoe

 

[BH_Landstar_]

I had an ace 250 and an F4 at the same time. I still have the F4, the Ace 250 is gone.

I guess that answers that question on .... Ace 250 v's Fisher F4.