Garrett Ace 400i Information and Questions

[Nugget]

As many of you are aware, I very recently gave up on gold prospecting (for good) mainly due to logistics and lack of finds, so I've just purchased myself a new Garrett ACE 400i to hit the local parks with the young fella.

With any luck I should have it here buy the end of the week, and when it turns up I will get straight into doing some air and field tests which I'll share the results with you guys

Anyway, I'm looking forward to catching up with some of the coin and relic guys in the near future.

 

[rocketaroo]

You should join us on a hunt sometime soon.

 

[Wally69]

Welcome to the dark side Nugget

They are great for finding burried arrows too :lol:

 

[Ramjet]

Shame you had to give up the gold hunt. Hopefully you can get back to it sometime in the future.
Be interesting to see how the 400 goes. You will clean up with it. Agree with Rocket, we'll have to catch up for a swing. I haven't been in your neck of the woods in a for months.

 

[Heatho]

Hey Nugget, awesome! Looking forward to seeing your finds and also looking forward to see what you think of the 400i. I'll come up to Newy again if there's another group detect on, last one was a great day out, had a ball meeting the fellas.

 

[Goldpick]

Looking forward to your findings on the Ace 400i, seems to have a much improved recovery speed over the outgoing EuroAce & 250.

 

[Nugget]

Thanks guys, I'm looking forward to getting back into the coin and relic side of things, at least I know I won't come home empty handed every outing :lol:. And the beauty of the 400 is I've swung a couple Garrett detectors in the past (AT Gold and ACE 250) so it should only be a matter of assemble and go.

I'm definitely interested in organising or attending a local catch up sometime, so I'll let you guys know when it arrives

 

[Nugget]

The 400i arrived on Friday. I've taken it out for a couple of quick test runs and here are my thoughts so far.

First of all the 400i is a very responsive machine, I reckon with an 8x5" DD it would match that of my old AT Gold in terms of recovery speed. It loves a very fast sweep speed, I discovered that some deep or smaller targets would disappear if you swung too slow, so swinging fast is the key to success with this machine (at least with the stock coil).

Target separation is also very good thanks to the DD coil, although in really high trash areas like the ground I've test so far, an 8x5" coil would be my preferred option and I plan on getting one very soon.

Pinpointing is a piece of cake and extremely accurate. The controls are about as simple to use as they come. Weight, you hardly even know you've got a detector attached to your arm :lol:.

All and all I'm quite happy with the purchase and I'm sure it'll pay for itself in no time.

 

[Heatho]

Onya Nugget, geez if that bracelet was gold it would have already paid for itself.

Is that bracelet gold??

Looking forward to seeing how it performs for you over the next few months.

I admit too, I have trouble getting away gold detecting, the logistics are very difficult. If I lived in the goldfields I'd be out there everyday, makes it hard living so far from any decent gold areas.

 

[Ramjet]

Nice work Nugget. I don't suppose the At Pro coils will fit on the 400? I have an 8x5 you could test if they did fit.

 

[Jaros]

Thanks for the review Nugget. How deep was the $1-00 coin?

 

[rocketaroo]

the goldies will add up quickly, trick is avoiding the aluminium caps that sound the same.

 

[Nugget]

Onya Nugget, geez if that bracelet was gold it would have already paid for itself.

Is that bracelet gold??

When I pulled it out of the ground I almost peed a little, but unfortunately she's not gold :lol:

Nice work Nugget. I don't suppose the At Pro coils will fit on the 400? I have an 8x5 you could test if they did fit.

I don't believe they're interchangeable mate but I appreciate the offer. I absolutely loved that coil on the AT Gold, I could weave my way around the most trashy places while others just gave up.

Thanks for the review Nugget. How deep was the $1-00 coin?

There's two in the photo and I think they were only like 4 or so inches under. In my air test a $1 coin picked up at just over 10 inches, but obviously that number is no indication of real world potential. Once I've finished the air tests, I'll post the results for air to air comparison.

 

[Nugget]

The 400i is proving to be quite a machine, uncovering a sterling silver ring spill in this afternoons 45 minute hunt with the young fella. These 3 beauties put up a 91-93 on the display and were all found within a 1mtr radius of each other at between 4-6 inches deep

 

[Ramjet]

Ka ching kaching, bling bling.

Great little hunt Nugget.

 

[Nugget]

It was Ramjet, the funny thing is my young fella kept telling me "Dad, there's no treasure here, lets go play on the equipment", but I showed him that perseverance pays off in the end, AND he even got to play on the equipment at the end :lol:

 

[Ramjet]

Win Win

 

[Jaros]

Going real well. What does the "i" stand for, not Pi is it?

 

[Nugget]

As in the "i" after the 400? International, it just differs slightly from the US version.

 

[Heatho]

Nice ring spill mate, is the one with the stone a Pandora? I've found a couple of similar ones.