Frustrated W/ New Ace 250

[jcurt172]

I think Indy has a great point and I've experienced the same thing with my ACE. I believe, at some point, the ACE decides the target is junk and kills the tone but leaves the visual indication on your control panel. I believe detectors have their own little personalities and quirks and it takes time to get to know them. I'm thinking of giving mine a name.

[drver]

Originally Posted by Havilah

Quite a few people have said that you need to tape the cable from the coil up the shaft at least 12 inches, as a loose cable will interfere with your detector's readings. And then from there up to the machine, don't coil it TOO tight, as it will cause problems in the connector.

Don't use tape, use zip strips or better yet velcro ties. They'll both hold secure, won't mark the detector and can be moved if you change your mind or coil.

[akajester]

Originally Posted by Havilah

Dear Ricch and all,

Welcome to the group.

I copied the following pin-pointing tip from somewhere. So sorry I have no earthly idea where. (What did you say my name was?)

"I spoke to Mr. Garrett about the issue some have had with pinpointing with the Ace 250. He showed me a bench test and how accurate the pinpointer is. It was dead center of the inside hole. He DID say he left out a tip for pinpointing that will be added to new CD. After you have it pretty well pin-pointed by xing, lift the detector a few inches off the ground and very, very quickly release and then pushdown the pinpointer button. It narrows it even further to a very fine pinpoint. Every time he did it, the coin was dead center of the inner ring. Maybe that will help somebody."

I believe the best YouTube video on pinpointing with the Ace 250 is here:

YouTube - Garrett Ace 250 metal detector. How to pinpoint a target.

An awesome Garrett Ace 250 video: FYI-ACE 150, ACE 250, GTAX 550, GTI 1500 & GTI 2500 Instruction Videos

Hope this helps!

I got this in my manual, and I'm guessing it's in the manual on the website, it's called detuning and works awesome! The video taught me how to do it. Lots of good ace250 vids on youtube. thanks!

-akajester

[Zman]

Welcome to TQ!!!! Your off to a great start. As for the signals.. Pennies and nickels will blend into the soil pretty well. It could be hard to see. It could also be a BB, or a small slug and sometimes the signal is just before your flap of sod and when your pulling the clump back your resting it ontop of the target which may be putting it out of reach of the ace? Possible theory. Do you have a pinpointer? They are helpful for scanning a pile of dirt and a hole. as mentioned somtimes its such a small object, hard to find with out one. Good luck. It will come.

[Gary]

OK Havilah that eyeball is Freaking me out!

[wyeiwyr]

I had the same problem with my Infinium, It turned uit that there was steel bird shot in the ground. When I looked real good, and I found some LOL

[Titan Man]

Originally Posted by Smooz1

I have used my 250 for about 3 mos now and have not found a silver coin yet. Congrats on that. As far as the pinpointing goes there are some youtube videos out there that have helped me, along with some members that have posted some great "how to" tips on this site. I do feel you pain when loosing a signal after digging. I recently purchased a Vibraprobe 570. It makes locating finds 100 times quicker. Good luck, keep at it and search this site for ACE 250 pinpointing tips.

It appears that your sensitiviy is probably set to high. Try to lower it and see if that helps. If you get a signal each way you swing than it could be a good target. Also the speed of your sweep can cause some falsing or possibly cause a miss if it is to fast.

[Shambler]

When I pinpoint the area to dig I cut and pull back the sod flap and then dig the supposed depth and I find nothing. When I then re-scan the hole and the pile of dirt - nothing!! then I re-pinpoint and the signal moved over a little to the edge of the hole. I re-flap a new section of sod and re-dig and still nothing. Check the piles of sod and dirt and no signal.

I have an ACE250 and a FISHER F4. I really like a lot of things about the ACE250 including that it has less phantom signals. I think the more you use it the less this will be a problem. Make SURE you have FRESH batteries in it while you are learning. This might be an added operating expense, but it will make you happier in the long run. Once you're used to the quirks you'll be able to run the batteries much lower.

The ACE250 seems to misidentify targets on occasion and give you a tone on something you have notched out. Try it in a test bed and you'll see that even though you have iron notched out, some nail heads when hit at the right (or wrong) angle will tone as something not notched out. If you swing the other direction, you don't get the tone. If you pinpoint, you enter an all-metal mode that will find the iron that gave the phantom or repeated phantom tones. If your sensitivity is high and the soil is favorable, that nail might be 10" down, and you may not find it. You fill in the dirt and swing in a slight different direction and the phantom signal goes away.

Use a test bed to gain confidence that valuable items will cause the ACE to act in a very predictable manner where a piece of foil, a pull tab, and most other junk will cause it to act a bit erratic. The test bed will also help you understand where things are when pinpointing. I've found that an item 8" down pinpoints to a different position on the coil than one that is 2" down. Balancing by lifting it up and re-pressing the pinpoint button will help it be more predictable, but I figured it out without doing that.

You will really like this detector once you get used to it! Honestly, the companies making $400 units should be embarassed that Garrett can put the same functionality in a $200 unit :)

[akajester]

I usually run my ace 250 on 4 bars for sensitivity. If the area is really junky I might go down to 3 bars. When I find something I start pinpointing, each time moving a bit closer and pressing pinpoint again, to "detune" and narrow the area down. It works really well. Once I get it narrowed down I cut a plug the size of a baseball. I put down an old towel and place everything I dig on the towel. That way if it is something small, like a bb you won't lose it in the grass and dig holes all over. If the ace said it was 2" it's typically in the sod plug. I may divide the sod plug into halves and place them near the coil, to narrow the location quickly. If the ace said 4" or lower it's probably still in the hole. After I move the plug aside I scan again to see if it's in the plug or in the hole. Then I dig more, scan again, and repeat until I find the object. I've only had a few instances where I couldn't find the object or it disappeared. Most of these tips I got here or on youtube, I hope it helps you out!

-akajester

[EPC Guy]

Welcome to TQ, Rich! I do not have a 250...but I can tell you that all of us have those days when the targets keep moving! You have a great machine - and the silver and gold is calling your name...good luck and HH!!