Love my Ace 250... but a few more questions :)

[shakakka]

Hi all -

First, thanks one last time to Chuck from Treasure Hut for the great deal on my new ACE 250. This kickass MD and I have been getting much better acquainted lately, and together we've been liberating my backyard of all clad coinage.

I've learned MUCH these past few days. I can tell coin targets from junk. I can pick out quarters like a sniper. Nickles (which showed up mostly as junk on my BH1100) are targeted clearly and solidly, which is pretty ****ed cool. And although sometimes a dime might show up as a penny (and vice versa) - it's still a coin to dig up.

The frozen ground has been uncooperative, but I'm determined and have a strong back and shoulders. Still, I have a few more unanswered questions about my MD, and would appreciate any and all advice you fine people can give me. So here goes:



Question #1 - What are the "Gold Bronze" and "Silver" portion of my display for? It doesn't seem the LED can light them up, so it looks more aesthetic than functional. Not really sure what's going on there.

Question #2 - The two LED's for IRON and FOIL... do those have anything to do with the 'gold' or 'bronze' indicator I mention above? Or no?

Question #3 - In jewelry mode... what lights up if I hit a target? Does the target ID just pick the coin size relative to the ring/necklace/pendant/earring/etc... or is it based upon conductivity? Just curious. (I suppose I could toss a few rings on the ground and actually find this out for myself, now that I think about it...)

Finally, once you all find something (like a ring) or something - how can you tell if it's gold, silver, brass, etc? Aside from looking for a 14k or 'sterling' mark... do you have detectors that analyze the metal and classify it? This is something I've always wondered, because so many of you post your finds and almost automatically know what the metal is.

Thanks in advance for the help!
-Shakakka

[cchughs]

Hi shakakka,

I have a 250 and love it also. I will try and answer a couple of your questions.
#1. If the led lights up under the Gold & Bronze, then the detector is trying to tell you that it could be Gold or Bronze, the same holds true with the Silver. The problem is that if you notice like pull tabs are also under the Gold & Bronze area. So you really have no way of knowing if the target is a pull tab or a gold ring. I will tell you this, if you want to find gold you will dig a zillion pull tabs. Also I notice from your picture that you have the detector in coin mode. Notice that the little square boxes go away under the pull tab, iron etc. This is what discrimination does. The led will light up but you will not get a audio tone if you hit a pop tab for instance.
#2. See answer to #1
#3. In jewlery mode it depends if you hit gold, silver or something else. If you hit a target like a gold ring you will probably see the led light up under the pull tab, maybe just bit towards the nickel. A silver necklace will show up under the dime, quarter range. Under the <<SILVER>>.
I would highly recommend that you throw down some coins, gold rings, silver rings and the like and see for yourself where it shows on the detector.
Hope that sort of answers your questions. You have a great detector, it is not hard to learn. You will pick it up really fast. Good luck, can't wait to start hearing about some great finds.

[INDY]

CChughs did a good job in answering your questions. When I found my silver ring, it showed up as a dime target, and I was hunting in the coin mode. Just keep at it, you'll learn that Ace in know time.

[shakakka]

Thanks for the help! Good advice as always. Going to a ballfield/park tomorrow, so let's see what turns up...

[LOOKIN MAN]

so i get my mew unit and i start walkin around the edge of the lake in all metel mode , this things says there are , metel every where , and its pretty wet there ,, do you all gig at every beep ,,cause if you do ,, ill be diggin the whole shoreline up .. or do you mark a few spots and come back and dig later ....... just askin ??

[JoAnne]

Usually you can tell by the depth and the size of the target if it is worth digging or not. Look round and see if what you are picking up is pipes running into the water. Or turn your sensitivity down and try that. Good luck JoAnne

[shakakka]

Lookin Man -

I got my new Ace 250 last week and ran into the same problem you did: It beeped all the time and the target ID indicator jumped all over the place. I had no clue what to dig or not dig. But now only 1 week later I've really learned a LOT about the detector... about what targets are desirable and about when it's pointing out nails and tin cans.

Here's what you do:

Go out onto your front lawn and find a patch of clean grass where no beeps are showing up. Now throw a penny down there and sweep it a few times. See how the target shows up nice and solid? Same exact reading each time? See how it looks good from all different angles? Very *consistent*? That's what you want.

Pick up the penny and throw a dime down. Same thing, but the 10-cent indicator should be lit. Pick up the dime and throw down a quarter. Get a good feel for the quarter... it's a bigger signal and often a stronger one.

Now try a nickel. Note that the 'beep' is different - it's a mid-range tone instead of the usual bell-tone that indicates a target found. This is the same sound that will show you pull-tabs and other trash... but it's the same tone for a nickel too. The only thing to show you that your target is a nickel is that the target ID indicator is reading SOLIDLY beneath the 5-cent marker. No matter how many times you sweep it back and forth, the signal should never jump to pulltab or iron or anything else - it should read 5-cents every time. This is how you know to dig a nickel.

Get a good feel for all these coins, then start sweeping elsewhere. When you pass over an area and get a bell-tone PLUS you get a few mid-range tones, watch the screen display. Does it jump around? If so you could have multiple targets OR you could have one big target that the detector can't pinpoint the identity of. Usually if I see the indicator jump from 1-cent or 10-cents to iron or foil, I won't dig (it's probably trash). But sometimes I see the indicator jump from 10 to 25 to 50 cents, and in that case I'll dig. Sometimes it's still trash, but sometimes it's a coin or valuable target.

As anyone on here will tell you, you'll only get better with time. Practice practice practice. Digging up trash might seem like a waste of time, but if you remember what the detector told you before you dug you can remember not to dig such a signal next time. I've learned so much in just one week that I can pick out coins very easily (and when I started I didn't think I'd be able to say that), and I've found the Ace 250 is 99% accurate when identifying the type of coin, too. There were a few times when a penny registered as a dime, but for the rest of it? Pretty dead-on accurate.

Have fun,
-Shakakka

[LOOKIN MAN]

man thats exactly what i wanted to hear ,,,,, we tested on a bench and played with a little , but now tell me how deep do you dig , ???? little hole .. big hole . with a shovel or hand digger ,, and how accurate is the depth meter ,, if it says 8 in .is it really 1 foot ??..
just wanted to know before i take off sunday to my hunny hole ..

[shakakka]

The depth indicator is pretty accurate. If anything, it registers about 1 inch deeper than the target really is. But then again, that might be the extra inch or so higher my MD is over the ground before I start digging.

Good luck!