Garrett Euro Ace information and questions

[MORPH]

Hi folks, i am a newbie to the forum and to prospecting. On the week end i went out and bought my first metal detector a EURO ACE 350 and now trying to understand how to use it..I took my 2 kids out on Sunday to the beach and found nothing but rubbish but i am putting it down to the user and not the detector..What i did find was the smiles on my kids faces every time we found a bottle cap or tin can and the fun my kids had find it,which to me was priceless.

So now i ask is there anything i should know about this detector that i haven't read about in this forum or maybe haven't been told by the salesman..I would like to try and find gold nuggets with it but its manily for coins and relic's around the Gold Coast area including our hinterland..thanks..

 

[NavyBob]

Hi Morph,

Yes it just takes practice to get to know your machine.

One spot you could try on a blowy not so pleasant day is the seats around the playground and right up to the safety fence at Surfers main beach. Last year in three days I got just over $50 in coins and six gold rings and two stainless silver rings and a "toe ring", not bad for a showery/windy three days, oh and half a shopping bag full of junk each day(cotton bag outer plastic bag inner and is easy to carry there).

Bob.

 

[MORPH]

Cheers Bob will give that ago...

 

[Stranded1]

Dear all, new to everything, have been doing some research. Currently live in Maroochydore near the beach and about to declare what I want for Christmas. Seems in my price range the Garrett Euroace is the way to go @ $520 including backpack, & cover, all the reviews so far have been favourable even when compared to machines costing more. Any comments on this unit and does anyone living within say an hour of Maroochydore likely to want to catch up with a view to heading out in the future.
Cheers :/

 

[Goldpick]

Another detector that will be in your price range is the Minelab X-Terra 305, which is probably designed as a direct competitor to the Garret product. Two distinct advantages it has over the 350 include the ability to adjust the ground balance vs fixed on the 350, plus you can run different frequencies simply by changing to a different coil - aftermarket coils are also available for it (Coiltek, Nel).

It will probably suit beach detecting better than the Euroace simply due to the fact that you can ground balance to cope with salty conditions or ground mineralisation (still not the best detector for beaches, especially wet sand.

I'm not saying that the Euroace is a bad machine, in fact it is very popular worlwide, just that there are other options out there that may make life easier when detecting, plus have better flexibility to be use over all sorts of ground. Anyway, check out as many you tube and online reviews as you can to make an informed choice.

 

[willo1]

Anyone have or used a Garrett Euro Ace. There is one for sale down this way for $350. Is it any good for gold or is it just mainly for coins and that?

The Garrett website states that it is 'highly recommended' for coin/jewelry etc but also states that it is 'recommended' for prospecting/ ghost town hunting and Cache hunting.

Thanks
Jason

 

[BSellin]

The Ace range are just what they say they are. Coins and relics. I have a 250 and was going to get a euro but settled with this. Overall I have found coins and heaps of objects. Ie rings, tent pegs, wire, caps etc, thus does what it says and I am happy as I have lots of beaches and parks to wander through compared to me ever seeing a gold field.

 

[willo1]

Thanks BSellin, just thinking that it might be a decent one to grab for the kids to muck around with. Garrett had them listed for $520 new, so I was thinking that $350 was a fair price.

 

[wadeo]

I recently picked up a near new Ace 350 for a similar price. It seems like a great value machine. I've managed to run around on wet sand although I did have to drop the sensitivity to around 3. Still gives hits down to around 6-8 inches. As long as you don't go whacking the coil on the sand it runs pretty well on the wet sand with minimal falsing. The only difference between the 350 and the Euro Ace is the 350 shows the USA coins. I'm just looking forward to hitting some busy beaches and popular parks to find a few more things. My 10 year old manages around 15-20 mins at a time before his arms get tired and he needs a break.

 

[Goldpick]

Have a look at this, it has a few interesting points to learn about the Euroace and Ace 250.
http://bodhi3.wordpress.com/2012/12...-euroace-vs-garrett-ace-250-the-final-battle/

Seems one of the major depth and recovery speed improvements over the 250 come down purely to the DD coil, over the stock concentric on the 250, plus the higher freqency is a little more sensitive to gold jewellery items.

The Ace350 and EuroAce do differ, the EuroAce has an expanded iron range to cater for commonly found European relics and artefacts that would have been otherwise discriminted out on the 350 under its smaller iron range. This may be the same case with gold, with an expanded iron range, you have more notches to play with, considering gold may fall part way into the iron range, although it still isn't an ideal machine for prospecting with such a low frequency and no ground balancing.

The coin indictors from the 350 have gone altogether, you simply get ferrous or non ferrous vs any Oz currency, which is a bit of a pain. Would have been good for garrett to test out our currency, and apllied new markings on the detector to suit, but we really aren't a big enough marke to justify doing this.

 

[willo1]

Well from the sounds of things the Euro Ace might be a good buy for the wife and kids to muck around with.

Thanks for the advice and info.

Jason.

 

[Goldpick]

I just bought an Ace 250 with the extra 8.5x11" DD coil for my partner, should be good for her being light and easy to use, with some welcome discrimination abilities so she doesn't dig up so much junk. She tends to wander around in the dry sand on the beach, whilst I spend most of my time in the wet with the Infinium, she nearly always finds more coins than me!

 

[Nugget]

Just for comparison sake

 

[Goldpick]

Has anyone actually worked out an equivalent Australian coin scale for the Ace 250/350, preferably done in a test pit versus air testing, which can differ from inground results?

 

[Wilko]

Hey guys just wondering if anyone has or has used a Euro Ace, and could give any tips on some settings to use. Every time I go out I seem to get false signals no matter how low I have the sensitivity.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks WILKO.

 

[downhalo]

Sounds like a dud unit, Was it purchased new? if so, take the bugger back..
I guess it could be the coil..

try sitting the machine on a table, then pumping the coil (if it falses) you have your answer..

 

[Wilko]

Yeah it was bought new. I might give the guys I bought it from a call see if they can give me any information on what the deal it.

 

[downhalo]

I've got an Ace350, basically the same thing and it works great.. well it did the last time i fired it up..

 

[Nugget]

It shouldn't be falsing like that unless the ground is extremely trashy OR there's some sort of environmental interference going on.

If the machine's falsing non stop all the time, try the following.

• Replace the batteries with brand new high quality ones. Don't skip this step because I know of several cases where constant falsing was resolved by simply replacing the batteries.[/*]
• Check the coil and coil lead for damage, and ensure that there's no broken pins (on the plug) and that it's securely affixed to the control box.[/*]
• Make sure the coil cable isn't flopping about against the detector shaft, also try not to have it too tight.[/*]
• Factory reset the detector by holding down the power button for around 10 seconds until you hear 2 beeps.[/*]

If the above doesn't work, see if you can borrow a coil from someone to test otherwise I'd be contacting Garrett.

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers,
Nugget

 

[Wilko]

Cheers Nugget, I will give that a go. Looking at it my lead may have been a tad loose but I will have to run to the shops to get some more batteries. The batteries I am currently using we're the ones that came in the box so who knows how old they are.

The pins look to be in good knick and there is no visible damage to the lead, so with any luck the batteries will do the trick.

WILKO