ACE 250 with large coil (pinpointing)

[NWLouisianian]

Hi everybody!

it's been a while since i have been able to post, but recently i have had the opportunity to get online more. i am having trouble pinpointing with my ACE 250 with large coil. sometimes i can find the metal object really fast, but sometimes i might did a swimming pool just to find that the penny or dime was only 2 inches deep. i think maybe there could be different factors, such as ground mineralization or my lack of metal detecting skills. the smaller coil was pretty easy to pinpoint with. any suggestions?

 

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[hollowpointred]

Hi everybody!

it's been a while since i have been able to post, but recently i have had the opportunity to get online more. i am having trouble pinpointing with my ACE 250 with large coil. sometimes i can find the metal object really fast, but sometimes i might did a swimming pool just to find that the penny or dime was only 2 inches deep. i think maybe there could be different factors, such as ground mineralization or my lack of metal detecting skills. the smaller coil was pretty easy to pinpoint with. any suggestions?

just a lot of practice. the larger coil is harder to pinpoint with. its just the nature of the beast i suppose. i guess thats one of the prices you pay for an extra couple inches of depth.

 

[MD Dog]

I had to practice with a coin taped to the bottom of a piece of cardboard. I found my sweet spot about under the center of the shaft instead of centered in window. I've also heard of others being off center in various locations. guess each coil and or machine is different.

 

[Noodle]

Hi NW La,
I'm a couple hours east of you. Also have an ACE 250. I gave up on the "general pinpointing" with the coil and bought myself an actual pinpointer (forget the name of it right now). Much much MUCH better. If you and your wife get over on the east side of the state, hollar at me. And welcome to the forum!

Noodle

 

[Monty]

Sounds like a familiar problem. I wrote something up about this several months ago when I had that same problem. Since then I have learned to rely more on Xing the target than using the pinpointer. I have a handheld that I use once the plug has been cut and often find the target on one side of the hole or the other. The pinpointer almost has to be touching the target to set it off however. To be more precise you will probably have to go with the Sunray unit that has a reach of about 2". It is expensive, but if the ACE is the only detector you have, it would be worth the investment, I think. Monty

 

[Ricardo_NY1]

Could you describe to us what your technique is NWLouisianian? X'ing without the pin-pointer may be the best way to go on this one. I've never used that coil, but can imagine what the situation might be like. I think you might get more accuracy out of the signals you're getting from the signals given when the outer part of the coil goes over the coin in terms or relative location between coil and coin than with the PP'er. In my opinion, the PP'er on the 250 is excellent for anything in the maximum of 2" depth. 3-4 inches will require a slightly bigger radius of a plug/hole on my part and things past that require the science of the 250 PP'er to be in order. Now with that large coil, I'm not so sure I'd be using the PP'er as a 100% method. It may do more to disorient than good. You may actually do better by taking the time to "Raw X<---that is what I call it".........by pretending you do not have a PP'er and going at the target from more than a few different angles focusing on where the outter coil is when you hear the signal. In my self training, very early on I noticed that when sweeping and approaching a target, the coil would have to be sweeping or swept about 1-2" inches over the target to sound off. So when I got a signal, I would back up, come in nice and slow, and wait until I heard the signal. At this point I knew the target was about 1-2 inches into the coil. I would move the coil another 2 inches forward which would put that inner circle right over. To confirm on a shallow target, I'd even grab the shaft and shake the detector.......this causes the fire alarm "Boings". Lots of bags of tricks to accumulate with the 250. Try X'ing without use of the PP'er.

 

[NWLouisianian]

Usually, i use the Xing method and pp method. i make several sweeps left and right, then forward and back. i then try to pp to see if it's accurate with the xing method. most of the time it seems to be pretty much the same, but the coil is so dad-gum big i have a hard time figuring out where on the coil. i think you are right about practice, but with this big monster i am just too inconsistent. i think i might go bury some coins today and just practice practice practice!

 

[catfishterry]

I have the large coil and haven't noticed a big difference in pinpointing. I use the method of finding the strongest signal and dragging the coil back until the signal dissappears then dig at the top of the inner coil.