Tips Please!

[DJR]

Hi all

New to the forum. I would like to get some user tips for the ACE250. We have watched the DVD and read the book and I have been reading alot of forum info but figured what better forum to ask then the Garrett one!! My wife and I just got 2 ACE250 units for an early Christmas presents to each other. They came with the standard coil and the 9X12. We tried them out at a HEAVILY USED swimming hole in a river here in Fl. ALOT OF TRASH but some money was found nothing of significance found. I had what I think is 2 good hits that 1 registered in the Gold reading an done that went off the scale in the Silver (I heard the wife's go off several times with good hits but she had no luck as well). I had the sensitivity at about 3/4. What ever had triggered the tones were not to be found. I dug and dug (in water) could not get it to come to light. We will be visiting this place again as I know that there is jewelry waiting for us in this hole. i have 2 locations pegged out here in Fl an old late 1800's early 1900 home site that I am waiting to get permission to hunt on and another old site that I found that all that is visible is an old cistern/well? Can't wait to get the OK for either of these sites.

I live here on the west coast of FL and I have been doing ALOT of historical research in this area that has alot of history that needs to be found! Everything from old abandon RR lines (station sites), pirate stuff, Spanish American War areas, Old wagon/military roads,1800's ship wharf areas, civil war sites (minimal but I think may be hot spots),and old ghost towns (not much left).

SO...if anyone has any tid bits of info on how to use these nice machines so we can get to enjoy them to the fullest we sure would appreciate it.

Thanks

Don

 

[gordygroover]

You are pretty much doing everything right so Congrats to you and your wife.
All of us (wether we really like to admit it or not) will have targets that just dissapear once we start digging. Probably a lot of reasons for that so just accept the fact that some targets just scramble away better than others. Often times I will not find my target and return a few weeks later and uncover it with no problem. I chalk it up to just being a better hunter than I was a few weks before. (yeah, suuure)
Hunting in water is a lot tougher than on land in regards to getting your target into your hand. keeping the control box dry and digging by feel are pretty tough obstacles to overcome at any stage in a detectorists learning curve. Are you hunting in sand or dirt???? If in sand get a scoop. It is like hunting with a shotgun. Bigger area covered with each attempt so a bigger likleyhood you will center the target quicker. If you are hunting in a dirt type bottom the cloudy water will really make finding your target tough.
Sounds like the both of you are right on par with your sucess with the rest of us in the beginning.

 

[khouse]

What are you using to retrieve your water targets?

 

[Joel-Winnipeg]

Welcome to the forum. You invested in good starter detectors in the ace 250.
If you hunt in the water be careful not to get the housing wet . Any kind of water gets in and you can write the ace off.
Set the detector at four bars sensitivity and coin mode and you should do well.
I'd say dig everything to learn what the ace is telling you. Fill out you holes as if no one has been their.
Good luck and post some of your finds when you can

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

For one, you got a great detector for Fl. I lived in DeBary Fl. near DeLand.

Save the big coil for the beach or field. For old sites you really need a sniper coil. That's the small one. It can detect in between the trash and pin points dead on. I used it most of the time.

You need to invest in a sand scoop to get the targets in the water. Very hard to chase down with a hand digger. Your hand digger will just let the target slip away.

I did a lot of historical research When I lived in Fl. It really pays off. If there is new construction at the site, don't give up. Metal detect the easements, old dirt roads and anywhere there is bare ground. The Fl. sand is easy to dig and good things will pop up.
Lake Helen Fl. is an old community in Fl. with lots of old homes. I knew most would not let me MD their lawns, so I MD'ed the sand road that inundated that community and did very well. People came out to see what I was doing. Be friendly. Some will let you md their lawns. I think most got to know me there. Especially the police dept. That was good, I wanted them to know me. It will get you into more places with favor.

Look at county essayer's maps on the Internet. They will tell you who owns what property and their address. Good for old abandoned homes. I had the cops in one town try to chase me away when I was MD'ing an old train station. I knew who owned what property and that I was walking on a public street. It looked like a dirt bike trail. Some one had called them on me and they were just trying to use a scare tactic on me to make the caller happy. The caller thought I was doing illegal dumping. A big problem on old roads in Fl. The cops left me alone.

Stay out of the national forest, state parks and Federal land.


Salt water tips on Daytona Beach for the Ace:

sensitivity..4-3 in wet sand
use all metal mode
PP is very vague,detune pp works good
Fast moving water makes it false..sen. 1...no good cure
swing level
You can hear and learn a false hit from a good hit
YOU CAN notch out below penny and eliminate most falsing and all gold
Pennies 4" and quarters at 6" in wet sand
Stay in the dry sand and you can beat them all(well, it seems like it)

Summer treasure comes from tourist. Winter treasure comes from the sea.

Your best bet is the dry sand when the tourist pick up their stuff around 4 or 5pm. Lots of loot and competition.


Practice, practice, practice and learn your detector. Start off with tot lots first. They are easy. Run to the Toddler's swings, they are a gold mine. Dig everything foil and up at the swings. You will find gold. A little weak signal could be an 18k gold chain. I have found a 18k gold ring and chain in Fl. this year that read foil.

good luck!

 

[dahut]

... it sure is encouraging. You are inspiring. Welcome!

With your water site, I suspect there was some deeply buried hunk of junk that triggered the false signals. The thing to do is turn down the SENS to 1/2 - if it still signals it is either a pirates treasure chest or a hubcap!
And whether you realize it or not, you have learned two valuable tips already:

1. There is a lot of junk out there that masquerades as good targets.
You cannot escape that fact. It is immutable and you will learn to live with it.
2. The Ace is easily fooled. In fact, my only quibble with is that it lacks finesse and smooth responsiveness.
Turn up the SENS in the wrong place, especially a trashy, iron infested or mineralized site, and it will drive you crazy. Andy talks about this further down in this post.
When in doubt, revert to the all metal mode and see how much iron (low tones) is around.

The "gold area" as you put it, is also smack dab in the TRASH ZONE.
Gold nestles right into the broad midrange, depending on it's alloy. Coincidentally, so do all foil wads (small and large), nickles, pulltabs, chopped up aluminum can bits (canslaw), soft dink screwcaps, Vienna Sausage tops, old shower curtain rings.... well, the list is endless.
Purer gold, like 18K, is lgenerally around the nickle/aluminum foil range. Lesser purity, with more copper alloyed in, will be higher around large square pulltabs and even screwcaps.

You can go a long way hereafter, just by putting that DVD in a drawer and digging whatever gives a solid, repeatable signal. Garret makes a slick video, but it is overhype and gratuitous. Luckily, they make a good detector, and the Ace 250 is a good choice.

---

As for the Ace, let me give a bunch of tips:

Ace 250 tips, from THE One and Only Bill Revis:

"... run your sensitivity at four bars to start with. Target response and recovery is lightning fast so it's virtually impossible too swing to fast to miss targets. This makes the Ace 250 a great candidate for competition hunting.

Also, if you whip the coil it will go somewhat deeper. Careful scanning still works best, though.

Let me add here that my testing corroborates the info given on fast swing speeds. In fact, deep targets are often picked up more reliably by fast scanning than with slow swings. On my wedding band, which is 14K and thus just above nickels in conductivity - that is to say a weak conductor - the only way to pick it up at anything over 5

 

[slingshot]

1. Run sensitivity between 3-5. I run mine at 3 in school yards and tot lots as I don't expect coins deeper than 6"
2. Make sure the coil cable at the detector housing is not in a bind or too tight as every time you sweep the coil it could pull on the cable and make false signals-rare, as I seem to be only one of a few to have this happen.
3. Learn to LIFT the coil a lots. If you raise it 8-10" before you pinpoint, pinpointing's easy and the object is usually right in the arch on the coil. Also, you can get an idea of the SIZE and DEPTH of the object by lifting the coil.
4. On iffy targets, learn to WATCH the graph and what the icons do as the target is scanned. Checkable items usually lock on or just move one icon to the side, while questionable items usually go beserk over the graph.
5. While it will detect deeper at fast sweep speed, SLOWING the coil down some helps with false signals or objects near each other. In other words, at higher disc settings, you may miss some targets close to trash if going too fast.
6. The Ace will sometimes detect deeper than it pinpoints-so if you get a signal that doesn't go all over the graph but you can't get a pinpoint on it, "X" the target for the most probable location and look at least 8"
7. Most large, deep targets that are iron will lock on "dime", so if you get a "dime" reading AND still get a good signal as you lift the coil- it's usually a large overload target.
8. On HIGH trash areas, I have lowered the sensitivity to 2 and cherry picked in coins mode. With the sniper coil, you could raise the sensitivity to normal, but it's truly amazing how this works with the standard coil.
9. Finally, (whew!) I use the cheap little headphones and keep them BESIDE my ears (enough to hear clearly) and am still able to hear the sounds clearly AND any intruder that may be unwelcom.
10. Have FUN!

 

[Uncle Willy]

Go through the archives on this forum. It's loaded with tips and videos on the 250.

Bill

 

[cwilk]

Pick out a big box to keep your sway in and then buy the next larger size. Loot is going to pile up faster than you can imagine. Watch khouses 250 pinpointing vid. This made my life a whole lot better. It will show you how to detune too. It's easy to find by searching the archives. It gets posted at least once every 3-4 months.

Chris

 

[DJR]

Thanks All!

Wow. You guys are intense and respond very well may I add! I thank you all for responding.

Well first off I see alot of typos and a messed up message. I meant to say ...Spanish Galleons, American Indian Wars (Seminole), etc...You know you can read something at least 3 times and still have errors. One thing I forgot to say that I found was a lead ball that at first looked like a lead fishing weight...however upon further inspection it looks as though it has been fired from a gun as the sides of this round ball has what looks like barrel striations. It also has a thin ringed indentation/groove around one end.However it looks too new to be a musket ball and it was not oxidized of course being in the water it may not have had air contact. Any ideas on that? I might be able to send a photo.

Now I will to try to repond to everyone...WOW...

Gordy and khouse I am digging in sand (most of Fl is sand) and I do have a scoop that the wife was using I was using the digger blade. The water was very clear most of the area rivers have some spring influence and when it hasn't rained is crystal clear with a white sand bottom things are wonderfully visible.

Joel we have the protector covers and the important part does not get anywhere near the water. Hell no!


Thanks John I will be using the units in saltwater soon. One of my target spots is an old sponge shipping area near Tarpon Springs. Nothing visible reamins as far as "most" people see All of the rest of you especially dahut thanks, thanks, and more thanks!

I did play with the sensitivty quite a bit to see how it would react with all the targets it was picking up and with time we should get the hang of it. I tried all the settings for awhile but all metal was used the most after all it was our maiden voyage! I had absolutely no problems using the Pin Point and as one of you said if you lift the coil up it will register the target better and I also found that if you hit the PP twice it will lock on much better as well (I believe some one else said that to)

The 2 "hot targets" that I hit on the Gold and the Silver were below 8" so thiose of course were the ones I could not find. They were small targets as I PP them a few times and it would PP in the same spot everytime (no wide range or off by inches...they PP dead on) I remember one tone that was a very faint "good tone" that was toning so low I had a hard time hearing it...necklace maybe? And as someone said the machine was bouncing different targets all over the spectrum. I dug it all!

And whom ever trashes this machine is just not doing things right! I had no problems with the unit and I am extremely pleased from the few hours "I played with it" You can't please some people go figure!

Tahnks again all

Don

 

[khouse]

Don,
Something to try when you think your target is going through your scoop. First scoop your target area. Then gently move your scoop to the side. Rescan your hole to see if you have it in your scoop. Then slowly take your scoopful of sand to the bank or beach and spread your material out. Then locate your find. This may not be easy if your sand just falls through your scoop. But if you do have soft sand that simply falls through your scoop just line the inside with 1/4 inch mesh hardware fabric. You could also make a floating sifter with 1/4 inch mesh and dump your material in that while your in the water. There are sometimes a floater target that moves around. This could be foil, beaver tail or a foil lined bottle seal etc. You'll want to make sure your not hunting a floater all around in the water. Most of the time you can see them swimming around.
Here is a picture of a fresh water jewelry grabber. You might recognize it?

 

[khouse]

Another water tip. Tie a cord from your belt to your detector. This way it won't hit the water if you drop it. Plus you can simply hang it there while using two hands to admire your gold!