A question for all of you Ace 250 users.

[Danimal]

CK, I believe the post about hunting in Pin Point mode was made by Danimal. It's around somewhere. One more tip on the 250 that I have wrote about here on the forums...........the Pin Pointer is an excellent tool for determining a coin from junk. Simply place the coil over where you think the target is........on a good coin, you will hear a smooth tone/whine..........on a cap or other junk, 98% of the time, you will instead hear a warbly/static like sound similar to a speaker that is blown. Try it in an air test and see for yourself. Take a few caps, hold the coil over one and press the PP'er........you'll see what I mean. Even junk that can fool the target ID normally will not fool the PP'er. The PP'er hates garbage and does not whine on it like it does on a coin. It hesitates and sounds low and warbly on junk caps and other crap.

Go look back at my older posts and find that...thanks for the mention Ricardo.
Don't ever sell the ACE short. It's far more capable than what even "experienced ACE250 users" give it credit for. The thing is that you kinda have to abandon using it the way Garrett intended. (Khouse understands this too...he modifies ACE's with a DFX pinpoint DC trigger so you don't have to hold the pinpoint button mashed)
When I was still using my ACE all the time, I almost NEVER hunted in AC /Discrim. Learn what the DC Pinpoint does...learn how the threshold shift sounds. You will begin to understand what a small-deep target sounds like.
Use pinpoint to aquire a target and determine it's depth and size (by sound). Use pinpoint to separate multiple targets in a small area (pick them apart).
Use AC/Discrim to TRY and get an idea of WHAT the target might be. Even then, the ACE is often wrong (on deeper coins). ALL VLF machine tend to indicate (whether through notched discrim like the ACE or VDI like the DFX and others) a lower reading at good depth.
That does not mean the ACE can't be used as a tool to find deep old stuff. It CAN. You just have to get used to using it "backwards".
BTW, in pinpoint, when running in DC, the ACE punches as deep as nearly ANY machine out there at ANY price level. It just can't ID as accurately. That's another reason why I liked hunting wooded areas. You could easily and quickly scrape a bit of the topsoil off the target's center and often 1/2" or so of the surface removed is enough for the ACE to get a decent ID on a deeper target.
Have fun...it's a great, durable, lightweight machine and I found a WHOLE LOT of silver with mine, hunting alongside DFX's and ML Explorers.
I use a DFX myself now. The ACE is my son's machine and still kicking.

 

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[ToddB64]

CK, I believe the post about hunting in Pin Point mode was made by Danimal. It's around somewhere. One more tip on the 250 that I have wrote about here on the forums...........the Pin Pointer is an excellent tool for determining a coin from junk. Simply place the coil over where you think the target is........on a good coin, you will hear a smooth tone/whine..........on a cap or other junk, 98% of the time, you will instead hear a warbly/static like sound similar to a speaker that is blown. Try it in an air test and see for yourself. Take a few caps, hold the coil over one and press the PP'er........you'll see what I mean. Even junk that can fool the target ID normally will not fool the PP'er. The PP'er hates garbage and does not whine on it like it does on a coin. It hesitates and sounds low and warbly on junk caps and other crap.

Hi Ricardo !

Tried your suggestion with my Ace250, using a pair of lightweight Sony Dynamic Stereo over-the-head phones, model #MDR-S101, a 1974 quarter and a bottlecap and sensitivity set at 4-5 bars.......couldn't hear any difference in the tone. So repeated the test, using the quarter and a steel nail.....still no tone difference.

Both tests were done with the items laid on top of the ground and the coil scanned approximately one inch off the ground.

My headphones checked 34.3 Ohms on each speaker channel, using a digital multimeter, so brand and Ohms-wise, I don't think they would be called "cheapies". My point being that if they were low-Ohm cheapies, they might not have enough sensitivity to produce the sound variations you described. I believe that 30 Ohms and under would be considered cheapy headphones.....correct me if I'm wrong on this.

Of course, at age 66, my hearing may be somewhat impaired, but I haven't experienced any noticeable problems.

Your comments or ideas on why I was unable to duplicate your test results would be appreciated.

Thanks Ricardo !

Todd

 

[Ricardo_NY1]

Todd, let's see if we conducted the test correctly. This works in Pin Point mode only, not in motion with the coil. If you swing over the target with the coil, and not in Pin Point Mode, I agree, you will get the same tone/ID if the object (Cap, etc) registers as a coin. What I refer to is when you are directly in Pin Point mode. Grab and old cap, aluminum cap, etc. Lay it on the ground, center your coil over it and press the Pin Point button. This is where you should hear what I am talking about. You will not get the same sound a coin makes. The Pin-pointer will either hesitate to engage, and when it does, you'll get something that sounds like a blown out speaker trying to work. This weekend I will take a few minutes to demonstrate this on video, along with some PP tips so we can have it here for reference.

Best,
Ricardo

Best,
Ricardo

 

[Colorado Kidd]

Thanks for all the great answers to my question. I've learned a few things in the last couple of days while out hunting. Sometimes you can get a real good coin tone repeatable both directions on a small piece of foil. I dug a signal that was a good coin tone side to side but jumped around going backwards and forwards. It turned out to be a 1956 wheat cent. Yesterday I found a 12" rusty spike half buried in the ground. I put a penny down touching the head of the spike and swung the coil in coin mode. Nothing. I moved the penny 1 inch away and swung again. coin signal side to side. jumped between nickel, pulltab and penny front to back. Moved it 2 inches away and got a good repeatable coin tone both ways and nothing on the spike. So the target separation seems to be about 2" with the Sniper coil. I'm sure it would be more with the stock coil. So, I guess I'll be digging more of those strong but iffy signals from now on, especially in trashy areas.

 

[kdismuke1]

Pinpointing with many of the detectors today find occasions that the target pinpoints too large. you can simply hold the pinpointer button down to pinpoint your target, quickly while over the target,release the button and immedately press and hold it down again---while over the target with just a very slight swing and you will notice the size gets smaller. and you will have a smaller hole to dig. this is how to fine tune your target. this action is called "retuning. will work on any detector that has a pinpoint button. I have tryed it with the ace 250 and garrett GTI 1500. and it works.
JUST MY OPINON.

 

[Ryan1979]

If you don't already have one , I would suggest a handheld
pin pointer. It will make finding targets sooo much quicker and
easier. I hunted a couple years with my old Bounty Hunter and
although it was no where near as reliable as my Ace it was still
a decent detector. At that time I had no pin pointer and many times
I got the ( disappearing target ) , where I'd get a good signal then
start digging then nothing. I know at times this was just an iron spot
from a rusted nail or something that was gone when I disturbed the
ground , but a lot of times I'm sure it was a target I just couldn't find
in the dirt. My eyes aren't the best these days so the pin pointer helps
me save lots of time and aggravation. For me the Ace seldom signals unless there is something there. Like many have said practice practice , you'll get much better at ID'ing targets and pin pointing before you dig and even your holes will get smaller .
Keep swinging and have fun with your Ace

Doozis

there is something there

I have had the same thing happen to me with my Bounty Hunter as well with a signal, then digging, and then nothing and no further signals. My new ACE250 should be here by the end of the week, so this is good to hear.

 

[Murph]

The ace 250 has developed a pretty solid following as it should being the best detector in its price range.

As for "high end naysayers" look at it this way. Do you really think you could get old time veterans of the hobby to put 700 to 1200 dollars into there detectors if they could get the same performance and versatility out of a 200 dollar machine? Of course not.

The ace is a fantastic machine and is doing a wonderful job of getting people into the hobby. When used for its intended purpose of a entry level coin shooter it is flawless and should actually get some kind of award for it.

But then again that's just me; I could be wrong

 

[robert roy]

Hi Colorado Kid:

After awhile you will get used the machine jumping around; you will know when to dig or just leave it. You will learn thins only after having dug alot of junk. Experience is the key here. Sometimes a penny will be dead on and not jump around....depending on when the penny was made. The new pennies seem to jump alot. Quarter, at least on my machine, don't stay on the VID as a quarter but jumps all over the place....but I have gotten to recognize the sequence it jumps in and its always a quarter. If your useing the 6.5x9 coil in a trashy area the MD will jump all over the place. Invest in the sniper 4.5 coil. You won't regret it. I'm sending a personal e-mail because there are things I can't publish here.

 

[gallileo60]

Have found several silver coins, lots of wheat, and some cheap jewelry, all using the sniper coil...It stays on full time...If I have a big area to scan, it just takes me awhile longer...Pinpointing is a breeze now that I've learned to pick the coil up away from the target before pushing the pin point button...The Ace is a great little entry level detector, hell for that matter it is better than all the mid range detectors I've had...Is a little weak on depth in the Discrim mode, but that is my only complaint......When I get my Land star out now, it feels SO HEAVY, and awkward, very unbalanced...I never noticed it before I got the Ace, just goes to show how light the Ace is.....Tom

 

[Texas Coin Hunter]

Hi wact the videos about the ace 250 that CRACKBADGER made


http://uk.youtube.com/results?search_query=ace+250


Dave

 

[ToddB64]

Todd, let's see if we conducted the test correctly. This works in Pin Point mode only, not in motion with the coil. If you swing over the target with the coil, and not in Pin Point Mode, I agree, you will get the same tone/ID if the object (Cap, etc) registers as a coin. What I refer to is when you are directly in Pin Point mode. Grab and old cap, aluminum cap, etc. Lay it on the ground, center your coil over it and press the Pin Point button. This is where you should hear what I am talking about. You will not get the same sound a coin makes. The Pin-pointer will either hesitate to engage, and when it does, you'll get something that sounds like a blown out speaker trying to work. This weekend I will take a few minutes to demonstrate this on video, along with some PP tips so we can have it here for reference.

Best,
Ricardo

Hi Ricardo !

Thanks for your reply. I've been busy looking for and buying a new house lately, and haven't had time to re-do the test. Hope to soon, maybe this weekend. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Todd