What am i doing WRONG ??

[USTiger]

Hi all i need serius help.
i went out today to an old park to use my New ACE250 ,, unfortnely there was a big family gartering at the park so i could not detect there.. i went to an old school that have been closed for 15 years i went over to the playground and set the mode to jewelry and sensitivity 3-4 .. and after about 3 minutes i got my first signal about 6 inch down i was happy finaly i could dig up something, i grap the digger and start digging.. 6 inches down still nothing,, ok i think i will expand my hold and maybe i was off a bit ,, after the hole is 15 x 15 inch and 8 inch deep i give up .. nothing there,, i go on and after 4 minutes i get a nickel signal 4 inches down ,, again i dig and again NOTHING. after about 7 empty holes i startet to get frustratet.

NOW I ASK YOU FRIENDS WHAT DID I DO WRONG ????

3 hours nothing .. on my way home i do what i allways do eyeball the road and i find 2 pennies.

HELP HELP HELP

USTiger

[rip]

Well for one sounds like you need to learn how to pinpoint.A 15x15 hole is a bit to much ! If your looking for coins and jewelry a 3-4 inch hole should be suficiant.Also mabey try seting your sencitivity higher.In an old school yard you should be getting more signals.When you get a signal cheak to see if its a solid sig.when you pass your coil over it in all directions.Set up a test site and try and get an idea how your machine reacts to different targets including say a coin and a pulltab buried close together.Hope this helps and good luck !

[INDY]

Tiger- I feel your pain, I have had many of those days. When you pull up your plug rescan your hole ANd your plug (just to make sure it is not in the plug) When I don't find the object after I've dug deep enough I also widen the hole, sometimes they are on the side( I still need lots of practice on my pinpointing too) make sure you also rescan the dirt that you have pulled out. Pay attention to what your detector is telling you, I usually hunt in the coin mode, and sometimes when I'm scanning an object, the Ace will beep and then sometimes no beep, the same thing after I dig a hole, beeps and then no beeps; Its like the Ace is telling me that it is junk don't bother. If you watch your detector readout- when it is junk it will jump around (example) between pulltab or nickle and sometimes it will beep. You just have to keep at it and pay attention to the digital readout and the beeps, I know I'm getting better because last night I only had a couple of holes dug that that I couldn't find anything ( compared to every other one) and I found 9 dimes and 2 nickles and 7 pennies !!
Hang in there and Good luck
Bobbi

[RingDancer]

I have had times where I get a signal and dig and then scan the hole and no beep and scan the plug and no beep again. Then I put the dirt back in the hole and rescanned and there is the signal again, sweeping at all directions until I finally locate my target...Then I repeat the process of removing dirt again...Sometimes I locate the target and sometimes I just give up....It happens like that sometimes...

Pat

[NB Digger]

Make sure to sweep over the dirt that comes out of the hole! There may be hot rocks or highly mineralized soil where you are digging and that can also give false signals.
Travis

[TonyinCT]

The Ace250 can be a bit hard to pinpoint with. Go to http://www.garrett.com/hobby/techsup...inpointing.htm
For some great pinpointing tips. Also , you may want to look into an electronic pinpointer such as the Vibrprobe 560. This is invaluable as a tool to find targets.If you need any more help please let ne know.

[Turtlerunner]

I have dug some embarassing holes and found nothing before. Must happen to us all!! I suspect as you get closer to the object the detector gets a better "fix" on it and then differentiates it out. Also I now use a pinpointer and I seldom dig holes without finding something. My favorite pinpointer is an inexpensive woodworking detector called Little Wizard.

[RingDancer]

Most of the time this has happened to me...I have found it to be a very very small object or a newly dropped object...Wondering if this might be from the object being turned on the side, the size or may be from lack of a halo formed yet...any suggestions? Not sure about the ones I never found!!!

Pat

[myfantasia]

Originally Posted by Turtlerunner

I have dug some embarassing holes and found nothing before. Must happen to us all!! I suspect as you get closer to the object the detector gets a better "fix" on it and then differentiates it out. Also I now use a pinpointer and I seldom dig holes without finding something. My favorite pinpointer is an inexpensive woodworking detector called Little Wizard.

where do you get the pinpointer you are talking about

I have dug holes like everyone else and can't find a target. A couple of things I have found. One is when you get a signal, turn 90 degrees and swing over it again, then turn 90 degrees and swing again and again once more until you make a full circle. I have found that if I can't get a strong repeatable signal from a couple angles I will come up with trash or empty handed. Don't know how much stuff I might be missing but I am not as flustrated as I was when I first started. I still dig a few signals that don't hit the same from a couple angles just to check, my theory still seems to hold true. Second thing I am finding is that the depth meter on the 250 doesn't mean a whole lot. I don't depend on it. I have signals that show really deep and find the target almost on the surface, and have signals that show shallow and will be deep. I have almost quit paying attention to the depth indicator. I think the ground condition has a lot to do with it. And my last bit of advice would be to spend a little extra time pinpointing before you dig. The time spent swinging the coil is a lot easier than time spent digging.
Never give up, the more you practice with the detector the more stuff you will find. Good luck.