questions about metal detecting with the ACE 250

[hellgrammite123]

Helllo everyone!

My name is Matt and I am new to this forum. I have been using a metal detector for many years. Last month I bought an ACE 250 garrett metal detector. I am enjoying using the detector while I still can since the ground is not frozen yet. I have a few questions about using the detector and I have been unable to find answers in this forum to them.

First, I go detect over an area and the detector beeps and reads a penny 4 inches down. So I dig a hole about 4 inches. I then go over all of the dirt that i pulled out of the hole and finally check the hole to see if the target is still in there. But for some reason the detector reads that the target has moved to the perimeter of the hole. So i dig that side and the target moves to the perimeter of the hole again. Now I can not find the target. Am I doing something wrong? Why is this happening and is there a way to correct this?

Second, is there a good sensitivity for finding coins? I dont think that any minerals in the soil I am detecting would have an affect on it. I put the sensitivity low and i cant find many coins and miss alot of targets. If i put the sensitivity high, then I get alot of signals and they are all over the place. I have found out that older coins (pre 1900) are more easily detected using a higher sensitivity. Which area in the sensitivity range do you think would work best?

Thanks for answering my questions in advance. i really appreciate it.


Matt

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

Hi Matt. welcome to the forum.
Having that happen can be frustrating. A couple of thoughts of what might be going on. It's possible that you may have a bit of junk under the coil, or deeply buried larger object. If you have a coil cover on, take it off and check for loose metal debris floating around inside it. Check your cable from the coil. If it's flopping around, it could cause some false signals. If you have a mobile phone, turn it off and see if that makes a difference. also check you battery terminals for a clean connection. If they are playing up, then it can show up with sypmtoms similar to what you have described. It can drive you nuts! I had that happening to me when my X-terra did that a few years ago. I felt like putting it under the front wheel of the car. Once I found out what was going on and fixed it, I was much relieved.
If the problem continues, then contact your place of purchase or Garrett's directly, and I'm sure you'll get some resolution.
Good luck and let us know how you get on with it.
Mick Evans.

 

[cwilk]

That happens to me once in a while on deep old coins especially wheat cents. My normal recovery time if a coin is less than about 6 inches deep is about 15 seconds. Every once in a while I get a target that takes me minutes to find. First its on one side of the hole then ist on the other. Sometimes it's two targets. Sometimes its a tiny piece of dirt colored metal that I'm moving around. Sometimes its just a deep coin or an even deeper piece of large junk. Rusty iron is a problem too. You might break up a pocket of rust with your digger causing a signal to vanish. Poof.

Believe it or not very shallow targets are my biggest problem when I use my large coil. Much harder to pinpoint accurately for me. Luckily my Pro-Pointer sniffs them out in seconds!

I read you have years of experience so I assume you are skilled. Try lower sensitivity for a while and bump it up as you go. I use several Garrett machines and find that lowering sensitivity does not reduce depth all that much. I have found plenty of deep coins with my GTI 2500 with sensitivity set at 6 (half.) My experience is that those tough signals like coins on edge benefit from higher sensitivity more so than deep coins that are relatively flat. I change my sensitivity all the time, as many as 20 times during a 2 hour hunt. I set it low enough to get very little falsing. If its working good I bump it up a notch. I do this until I find the right sensitivity for ground conditions that day. If I move to a trashy area I have to do it all over again. This process only takes 4-5 minutes and I am digging coins throughout.

Finally. I asked your exact question about 2 or 3 years ago. I found that the more I detected with my Garretts, the less it happened. I'm sure once you've used your 250 for a few more weeks, maybe a month, you'll not be having this trouble. Everytime I get a new coil I go though another learning curve. Sometimes it takes a week, sometimes only an hour or less to get used to my new gear.

Chris

Welcome aboard.