Night park detecting with the Ace 250

[Goldpick]

I have a choice of deep or fast recovery, or both. Usually try running fast due to the sheer amount of targets in the ground (deep for beach). Running in all-metal you can sometimes pick out some part high tones from amongst the iron/foil signals, but in reality the stock coil is not really the ideal coil for junky areas. I was just too lazy to change over coils on the night to the small eliptical coil, plus wanted to see how the stock coil could do in that area junk/depth wise.

I always knew the learning curve on this detector would challenge me a bit, but that's half the fun of detecting I reckon.

 

[Goldpick]

If you want a good battery for your FBS machines I would highly recommend one of these.

http://rnb-innovations.com/

I bought one for my E-trac mid last year. The last time I charged it was just before I broke my arm (almost a year ago). I used it 2 or 3 times back then, and have now used it 3 times recently, each trip about 5 hours detecting. It still has not lost 1 bar on the battery indicator. It is also Lithium, so there are no memory issues if you don't drain it fully before recharging.

Paul.

Hi Paul, yes I saw those when browsing ebay, the 3100mAh battery has replaced the previous 2900mAh battery, should last for ages. I wasn't sure whether they would be able to ship those to Australia, but that was probably only if going via air freight. Anyway, I've three battery packs now, including the AA battery pack with rechargables in it, so should be ample.

 

[Goldpick]

I had withdrawal symptoms from not touching the Ace 250 this week, so I dusted it off for another fun hills run. I had a look at a couple of spots, checking out some play areas which produced a few goldies, then progressed out onto the grass to find some cruddy coins and a big twisted piece of lead.

The last spot visited has a bit of history behind it, but still only managed a few overlooked 10c & 5c pieces. I tried detecting along a creek bank lining the park, and picked up a solid belltone thinking it was another $1 coin, turns out it was a 1913 silver shilling literally only a couple of inches below the surface. The shilling is pretty scratched up and worn on one side, but silver is silver.

God I love my Ace 250, this detector has got to be one of the best investments I have made out of all my detectors, it just keeps producing.

I think I will be revisting this site with the Explorer once I get my head around it, might be a few good deep targets laying about the place if the shilling is anything to go by.

 

[slipped disc]

hi GP. shilling looks good, it is 101 years old ya know the ace 250's seem to do the job all right going by many posts. danged if I could find much with the ace 350. tried everything,yet soon as I got the m/l 305 away we go. odd. the site may be a goer. must be more.

 

[Goldpick]

Funny thing is that I did the opposite, used to have a 305, got rid of it and bought the Ace and haven't looked back since. The key is to use the pinpointer button to scan for deeper targets, and then check with the discrimination, or simply dig all targets with coin like response. If you rely on running in purely in discrimination mode, it will most likely mask out some good targets.

As I have mentioned previously, the biggest downfall of the Ace is slow recovery time after passing over multiple targets, especially if you have notched out several targets, and are only accepting coin targets. Best off running with at just iron notched out, or accept all targets. The sniper coil is probably the best coil to run if you want to run with several items notched out in junky ground, and that is purely down to the small foot print of the coil allowing better target separation. It also allows the on board processing to do its job without having a hernia when several targets pass under the larger coils at any one time.

When using the sniper coil in open ground, despite not having a large foot print, if you scan in pinpoint mode you can catch the edge or "halo" of a target, you don't have to be directly over it. Then hone in on the centre of the target, drop out of pinpoint mode, then check the target for a bell tone/good repeatable resonse. If you wish, use the discrimination to check for a junk target. Happy hunting!

 

[silver]

There are times that I also hunt entirely in all metal with the ACE250 as this allows me to take a mental sound image of the area so that I am hearing that there was a lot of activity even if it's only iron and you're not digging it up.It is still going to help let you know what's going on under ground around you.

 

[Guest]

After researching 3 high end detectors I have narrowed this down to one for my purchase where I can remove about 25%
of targets that should not be dug. This includes metal screw caps and aluminium screw caps. How successful this
is going to be I have no idea but most detectors purchased limit you unless you have the ability to alter the
detector to suit your detecting area.

For those interested I will keep you updated if this moves towards the next stage of actually making the purchase.

The first thing though that needs to be done is tested at home in a test bed.

Bottle metal screw caps and aluminium screw caps that are squashed are the biggest issue followed by pulltabs.

In some cases on old sites the biggest issue is can slaw.

 

[Paulmarr]

I know you guys are in love with your Garrett Ace detectors - I used to own one too. I am not doubting that for the $$$ they are an excellent detector. But I think you only need to look at the entire target collection from hunts with the Ace versus hunts with a more capable detector and you will see the difference. Goldpick you haven't had the Explorer out enough yet to tell - but when I look at what I used to find and compare it to what I find now there is quite a bit of difference.

The main difference is the targets in the zero to four inch range versus targets in the 4-12 inch range. I believe the quality of the deeper target is better - I am not finding pull tabs and bottle caps at 6 inches down - a beaver tail maybe but nothing from the last 10-20 years. Assuming most "old" targets like silver coins and rings settle down via gravity over time - logic would dictate that the deeper your detector can go the more successful you will be.

For searching parks where you don't want to dig that deep it is a perfect machine but at the beach or properties which are quite old - I would rather have a more capable detector.

Some of the downfalls of the Ace are inaccurate depth readings - and the three (I call it red/yellow/green) tones it gives off. The Sovereign for instance has many tones and variations to assist in target identification where the Ace is red/yellow/green only. One thing I noticed with the Ace is you dig a lot more junk than I do with the Sovereign and find a lot less interesting targets (less silver and gold) but find more surface modern coinage. I guess it comes down to what targets you are wanting to find? I would often ask Bogan not to dig his target until I ran my Ace 350 over the spot - and most of the time didn't detect the target at all.

The Ace also does not like water or wet sand which is limiting in my opinion - but certainly a great detector to start out with!

 

[Goldpick]

No you are right Paul, it is not intended to be a deepseeking pre-decimal hoover, that's not what I bought it for, nor is it the Ace's forte. It was bought as a cheap, lightweight modern coinage detector for parks, tot lots and dry sand detecting, with the odd pre-dec thrown in for fun, I don't think I nor it pretends to be anything else, and you can't expect so for the pricing.

I now have the Explorer to be able reach deeper targets, plus to have some sort of discrimination ability on the beach, and why you both now run the CTX and Sovereign, different tools for different tasks.

I do like to mix my detecting up including beach, parks, tot lots, and the odd prospect in the hills, whereas you guys mainly now concentrate on the beach side of things. The Ace is very effective for the tot lot sides of things, and the reason why I won't be moving it on any time soon. Using the Explorer for tot lots would be like bringing cannon to a knife fight.

I also like a challenge, so to manage to find some good quality targets amongst all the rubbish and faint signals I reckon is good fun. Not everyone likes to collect rubbish whilst detecting, but I don't mind. Even if I physically see or detect foil or other junk targets, I still tend to pick them up, take them home and dispose of them - not everyone's cup of tea, but it can't hurt.

Last night one of the tot lots I detected was full of almost needle like pieces of wire, despite obviously being rubbish, I still located them all and later disposed of them. It also means I have a reasonably clean area to detect when I next visit the same spot.

So you can see we all have different priorities when it comes to detecting, as long as we are all having fun in the process, then that is all that matters in my book.

 

[Jaros]

I think it will take, unless i'm very lucky, along time to recover the difference in cost between the Ace250 and a GPX5000.

 

[Guest]

I think it will take, unless i'm very lucky, along time to recover the difference in cost between the Ace250 and a GPX5000.

2 different machines.

One is primed for coin shooting the other is for gold detecting.

 

[TTKooAu]

As you can see from my pics, it takes a lot of digging junk between coin finds, still, good practice running the Explorer in all-metal with sensitivity set manually as high as it could go with a stable threshold.

Hey Goldpick,

Did the 21 July hunt happen in a skate park? I see a few wheel bearings in your finds.

You're doing real good now with the pre decimals. Congrats.

 

[Goldpick]

As you can see from my pics, it takes a lot of digging junk between coin finds, still, good practice running the Explorer in all-metal with sensitivity set manually as high as it could go with a stable threshold.

Hey Goldpick,

Did the 21 July hunt happen in a skate park? I see a few wheel bearings in your finds.

You're doing real good now with the pre decimals. Congrats.

Cheers, I think I have been lucky on the pre decimal front consuderjng my time on the explorer, you just have to walk over them. Yes, you are indeed correct regarding the skateboards, seems to be a never ending supply of skateboard bearings from that spot. The skateboard ramps were a reasonably recent addition to an older park. I initially started to detect the area due to weekend markets, but they no longer occur unfortunately, so the coins have pretty much dried up.

 

[Sandta]

Well this thread certainly got some action this arvo... I am so stoked with the amount of information shared by all you more experienced members . When i bought my Ace, i had been reading all the posts on here for a couple of weeks prior , i decided on the Ace mainly from Goldpicks shared experiences. I was hooked even before i had a detector, but i wasnt prepared to outlay seriously big dollars without first finding out what i was getting into. Everybody has to start somewhere ,and i think we can all agree , Goldpicks finds with the Ace alone have been very impressive and inspirational especially amongst us newbies and his shared wealth of info seems to be soaked up by many of us. I certainly am under no illusions that the Ace is not the best ,but it gets results within its range and that provides encouragement and more motivation to go again and again.
As for digging rubbish ... Sure its a bit frustrating but ( for me anyway) its the only the way figure out what is actually going on under the coil. If im going to be digging lots of junk targets to learn( im not the quickest learner mind you , just read about my youth and the cambrook cord :lol: ) i want to be digging in something easy (not 12" deep and not in hard clay). That makes the playgrounds and the beach absolutely ideal training grounds. The ideal conditions , the ideal locations , the ideal detector
I'm glad i found this forum, im glad that the first thing i read on here were GP's stories with his Ace.
I love my Ace250

 

[slipped disc]

GOOD thread on the ace 250. it shows that you don't need to spend big $,s when starting out. now doubt the ace 350 is also good. I got mine used from a forum member [not this one]. I only found decs. with it in about 6 months[ trash too]. I used mainly the coin and jewellery modes.
yet it found two $2 in different holes, in 1 inch deep sea water, and they were both at least 8 inches down and the water kept filling the holes so that I nearly gave up. there have been many posts on other forums about the bounty hunter tracker 4 and the many good finds made with them. it is all a learning curve. HH

 

[TTKooAu]

As you can see from my pics, it takes a lot of digging junk between coin finds, still, good practice running the Explorer in all-metal with sensitivity set manually as high as it could go with a stable threshold.

Hey Goldpick,

Did the 21 July hunt happen in a skate park? I see a few wheel bearings in your finds.

You're doing real good now with the pre decimals. Congrats.

Cheers, I think I have been lucky on the pre decimal front consuderjng my time on the explorer, you just have to walk over them. Yes, you are indeed correct regarding the skateboards, seems to be a never ending supply of skateboard bearings from that spot. The skateboard ramps were a reasonably recent addition to an older park. I initially started to detect the area due to weekend markets, but they no longer occur unfortunately, so the coins have pretty much dried up.

I prefer the tot lots and the beach for the same reason as Sandta, the digging is easier. But yesterday I did give a skate park / playground a quick hit on the way to work and found some similar items.

I love the badge, tried to find the owner but no joy in White Pages. I'm thinking the B.N.C is a netball club.

But anyway, don't mean to hijack your thread. You keep digging GP, you're an inspiration to the rest of us snuggled up by the heater, and not giving a thought to you roaming the streets and beaches in the middle of the winter's night.

 

[Goldpick]

That's fine a TTKooau, I have done a few other skate parks in the past, and there always seems to be a few coins dropped in front of the actual ramp/s, so it's a good spot to concentrate on. Essentially any spot where there is constant activity is a good spot to have a scan over, places like around the outer edges of ovals where people park up or stand to watch footy are always good. You don't need to dig holes here, just use a probe or screwdriver to pry the coins out, as they will usually be quite shallow, plus minimal disturbance to the ground.

Probably the best advice I can give on the Ace is to totally ignore what is on the screen - both target and depth indicator, and use your ears to detect with. That is how I generally run, and it does take time to learn, but you will be more successful by doing so. Coming from using the older vlf gold detectors, you have no choice but to rely on your hearing to learn signal responses from various targets, with no onboard discrimination other than a basic iron indicator. Silver, who also runs an Ace 250, can probably concur with using the Ace in the same fashion.

I also really appreciate the comments guys, regardless of whether they are constructive critisism, or just following the thread out of interest. I'd love to get out to have a detect, but the weather here is crap at the moment - sitting in front of a warm cosy fire sounds very appealing.

At the moment I currently carry around both the Ace for a quick clean up of any play grounds that take my fancy, as it is always nice to go home with a few $$ in the pocket, and also the Explorer to detect around grassed areas for deeper targets. So far I have found the Explorer 11" Pro coil a bit of a handful in some of the more recently visited area, simply due to the sheer amount of junk targets sitting in the ground. So I will try and run the Coiltek Joey coil more often to get better target separation, and hopefully pick out some of the more conductive targets. There is always the temptation to run the larger coil for max depth, but not much point if you cannot accurately identify a good target.

Whilst It seems that it is generally recommmended to run the Explorer with an open discrimination pattern, and running in all metal with minimal iron masking, it can be pretty intimidating in junky ground with information overload. I am most likely running the gain/sensitivity too high and am picking up too many small junk targets, hence masking out any deeper ones. Lots to learn on this detector, and hopefully I can get up to the same level as the Bogan crew with some persistence and experience.

As Paulmarr mentioned, getting through the modern layer of junk to the underlying older finds is the key to being more successful on these multi-frequency detectors. Picking out good targets that read at the bottom of the depth meter sounds like something to concentrate on, as the vdi numbers can be misleading at times, as with many detectors.

 

[slipped disc]

HI GP. Good post as usual. I have raised the point on other forums in regard to how reliable are preset programs and VDI read outs.
if they are not,they must be a waste of time and you are missing out to an extent. you are then back to an all metal machine.
somewhat confusing. I guess the only real test is to hunt a gridded area in a mode, then go over it in all metal. the jaycar detecter at $59.95 has a vu meter which displays conductivity,simple. it also has tones.it works very well, tho average depth is about 3 inches,more in damp soil.the circuitry is quite complex in these units,surprisingly. I still think that detectors in general are over-priced for the build cost. IMHO.

 

[silver]

I concur wholeheartedly Goldpick.

That's fine a TTKooau, I have done a few other skate parks in the past, and there always seems to be a few coins dropped in front of the actual ramp/s, so it's a good spot to concentrate on. Essentially any spot where there is constant activity is a good spot to have a scan over, places like around the outer edges of ovals where people park up or stand to watch footy are always good. You don't need to dig holes here, just use a probe or screwdriver to pry the coins out, as they will usually be quite shallow, plus minimal disturbance to the ground.

Probably the best advice I can give on the Ace is to totally ignore what is on the screen - both target and depth indicator, and use your ears to detect with. That is how I generally run, and it does take time to learn, but you will be more successful by doing so. Coming from using the older vlf gold detectors, you have no choice but to rely on your hearing to learn signal responses from various targets, with no onboard discrimination other than a basic iron indicator. Silver, who also runs an Ace 250, can probably concur with using the Ace in the same fashion.

I also really appreciate the comments guys, regardless of whether they are constructive critisism, or just following the thread out of interest. I'd love to get out to have a detect, but the weather here is crap at the moment - sitting in front of a warm cosy fire sounds very appealing.

At the moment I currently carry around both the Ace for a quick clean up of any play grounds that take my fancy, as it is always nice to go home with a few $$ in the pocket, and also the Explorer to detect around grassed areas for deeper targets. So far I have found the Explorer 11" Pro coil a bit of a handful in some of the more recently visited area, simply due to the sheer amount of junk targets sitting in the ground. So I will try and run the Coiltek Joey coil more often to get better target separation, and hopefully pick out some of the more conductive targets. There is always the temptation to run the larger coil for max depth, but not much point if you cannot accurately identify a good target.

Whilst It seems that it is generally recommmended to run the Explorer with an open discrimination pattern, and running in all metal with minimal iron masking, it can be pretty intimidating in junky ground with information overload. I am most likely running the gain/sensitivity too high and am picking up too many small junk targets, hence masking out any deeper ones. Lots to learn on this detector, and hopefully I can get up to the same level as the Bogan crew with some persistence and experience.

As Paulmarr mentioned, getting through the modern layer of junk to the underlying older finds is the key to being more successful on these multi-frequency detectors. Picking out good targets that read at the bottom of the depth meter sounds like something to concentrate on, as the vdi numbers can be misleading at times, as with many detectors.

 

[Goldpick]

HI GP. Good post as usual. I have raised the point on other forums in regard to how reliable are preset programs and VDI read outs.
if they are not,they must be a waste of time and you are missing out to an extent. you are then back to an all metal machine.
somewhat confusing. I guess the only real test is to hunt a gridded area in a mode, then go over it in all metal. the jaycar detecter at $59.95 has a vu meter which displays conductivity,simple. it also has tones.it works very well, tho average depth is about 3 inches,more in damp soil.the circuitry is quite complex in these units,surprisingly. I still think that detectors in general are over-priced for the build cost. IMHO.

VDI's are useful, but shouldn't be taken as gospel, only used as a guide. It's like on the Explorer, you can set it to learn mode, and run it over various good targets to create a discrimination pattern. All well and good in the perfect world, but VDI's change when in the ground, and when at depth, so they really only work accurately within a certain range on detectors. When I used to have an x-terra 305, a gold nugget's VDI would read in the iron range when tested on the ground surface, but put the same target in the ground, and it would have a much higher VDI.

For example, tonight I was running the Explorer in all-metal, with minimal iron discrimination. I would listen for a high tone indicating a conductive target, then look at the VDI numbers to see whether it has a high ferrous reading as well (screen shows 2 digit ferrous reading, and a two digit conductivity reading), if it did, generally it would stay in the ground, low ferrous number and I would dig it. So I am not looking for an exact VDI figure for a certain coin or target, just using the info as a guide.

Initially I was digging everything, just so I had some idea of what to expect from different VDI numbers, some target numbers were quite accurate (mostly shallow to med depth targets), whilst others bounced around, especially when at depth or near other junk targets. So they are useful, it's just another tool to help distinguish between desirable and undesirable targets.

Discrimination is also a useful tool, used sparingly. Its handy to have in certain circumstances, but just because it is there, doesn't mean you have to use it 100% of the time. Also remember gold falls across a wide range on the conductivity scale, depending on size, purity, and if it is alloyed with other metals, so minimal discrimination means you are less likely to miss gold.