finding junk

[timbobwey]

I am finding nothing but junk, and the occasional coin. Anyone have any advice. I usually turn the sensativity down in areas with a lot of clutter, and turn it up where there is less likely to be anything. I can't seem to find anything good, I have a garret ace 250.

 

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[Silver Searcher]

I'm the odd one out here so bear with me ......Best advice I've been there , take that ace 250 find somebody to sell it to , take that money an go by a good detector an you'll be ahead of the game 70% I've had 4 Ace 250's their are POS just my opinion ,I could take my ace 250 out hit a tot lot an find 2-3 pennies thats it go back to the truck get out my tesoro an hit $3 in clad an other stuff .

Just my 2 cents , machines are like women we all like something a lil different , this is just my opinion on things .

HH Tank

Ok, a newbie in comparison to you but I have found the ACE 250 good.... 1916 One Penny at just over 7" deep & a number of others bits inbetween! I think its a bit harsh to say that all other detectors will put you 70% ahead of this one! "this is just my opinion on things"

Dan

I know its a good starter from what I have read. I/Shaun7 know the Eldorado & don't rate it much, but it must better than that machine, surely

Location is the key - good location good finds, better machine in a good location means lots more good finds

I started with the 250 and found quite a lot, but one day a guy with a Gti 1500 came on the field and he left me way behind on finds. So I got the 1500 and sure enough my finds tally shot up. You know whats coming next , again on the same field and on a different day, another guy with an Xp. Same experience so I got one of those and I haven't looked back since. I can't say anything for the other machines but I think the Xp rocks .

hammered

Ohh...were getting into dangerous ground now :P the poster hasn't metioned what type of area he hunts, is it ploughed or parks the Xp while a great machine on ploughed, it certainly isn't a deep detector, and fields react different on different days, i.e dry and when wet, you might hunt one day and find nothing, go the next and have a blinder, it's the age old saying in detecting, what your search head doesn't go over, you can't find....simples

SS

 

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[hammered]

I'm the odd one out here so bear with me ......Best advice I've been there , take that ace 250 find somebody to sell it to , take that money an go by a good detector an you'll be ahead of the game 70% I've had 4 Ace 250's their are POS just my opinion ,I could take my ace 250 out hit a tot lot an find 2-3 pennies thats it go back to the truck get out my tesoro an hit $3 in clad an other stuff .

Just my 2 cents , machines are like women we all like something a lil different , this is just my opinion on things .

HH Tank

Ok, a newbie in comparison to you but I have found the ACE 250 good.... 1916 One Penny at just over 7" deep & a number of others bits inbetween! I think its a bit harsh to say that all other detectors will put you 70% ahead of this one! "this is just my opinion on things"

Dan

I know its a good starter from what I have read. I/Shaun7 know the Eldorado & don't rate it much, but it must better than that machine, surely

Location is the key - good location good finds, better machine in a good location means lots more good finds

I started with the 250 and found quite a lot, but one day a guy with a Gti 1500 came on the field and he left me way behind on finds. So I got the 1500 and sure enough my finds tally shot up. You know whats coming next , again on the same field and on a different day, another guy with an Xp. Same experience so I got one of those and I haven't looked back since. I can't say anything for the other machines but I think the Xp rocks .

hammered

Ohh...were getting into dangerous ground now :P the poster hasn't metioned what type of area he hunts, is it ploughed or parks the Xp while a great machine on ploughed, it certainly isn't a deep detector, and fields react different on different days, i.e dry and when wet, you might hunt one day and find nothing, go the next and have a blinder, it's the age old saying in detecting, what your search head doesn't go over, you can't find....simples

SS

That is so true SS, well said .

hammered

 

[Chug And Red]

Dig and Learn !!!! Dig and Learn!!!! I pulled up a kitty litter bucket full of Junk ( fresh step ) before i founds the first item worth anything!! See avatar pic approx 20 to 25 pounds of @rap to One great find!!

Keep at it and HH chug

 

[LuckyDragon]

Does your detector has a teach program?
because you can teach your detector reject crap.
I know my white's is teachable..

 

[Shadowmanflash]

Hey TBW, well I had to just chime in after reading all the posts on the Ace 250. I can only say over three years ago I started with the 150 and for two years it served me well. then I went to the 250 about a year ago. I use the smaller coils for the trashy areas and the 9x12 the rest of the time and I got to tell you haven't had any problems in finding clad, jewelry or old silver or anything else for that matter. It's a matter of learning your machine and what it does and the sounds are the most important, you have to learn them, then choose what you dig. I could buy an expensive machine, but I ve been watching and reading treasurenet posts for years and the good ones dig just as much junk as the Ace do in my opinion of course. I've dug everything from top of the ground to 12 inches with no problem. But I studied hard to learn my machine to. I operate mostly in allmetal mode and if I get tired of hearing the sound of so much junk I go to another setting. Don't get discouraged for the junk you find, it's not going to get much better, no matter what machine you get. I look at it like this the expensive ones will surley tell you if you got a better find, but you still have to make the decision to dig it or not. If you know your machine 90% of the time you will dig it anyway, just because you got to know whats under there waiting for you. I to have found great stuff on bad signals, it's just the way it is, especially with the nickels setting, usually is a pull tab or something similar. No way around it, other than avoiding it all together, but you just might miss something. Anyway, keep at it, good luck hunting, Ken.

 

[favored papa]

I agree with Ken keep at it. That ace is trying real hard to tell you what is there, you just have to learn it's language.

 

[Deepdiger60]

Hi tim have you ever seen this video on the Ace 250? its made by T-Net member Crackbadger the King of Bling its the best video ive seen on that machine ,by the way i have 2 really close friends in Kalamazoo Mich. Mike and Candice i plan on visiting this summer . Like all the others say patience !! learn that machine its a monster finding the goodies plus research helps where you hunt the older the better .Good luck Dd60

 

[diggerfororo]

I know I have to dig to find stuff, so I'm going to find some junk. I try to go to spots that are old, and where I think would be good to look. I normally dig anything that doesn't read iron. Sometimes I'll get half dollar readings, or nickel readings, and I dig and it will be a pop can tab, or foil. It gets irritating. But I know my detector works because I've put coins on the ground and it reads what they are... But when it's something underground it seems to have trouble..
My area is southwest Michigan, I live close to Kalamazoo MI if anyone knows where that is.. I don't know of a ton of good spots around here..
I know there are a lot of old houses, should I just go ask the owners?

First thing is tape over that VDU display, its pointless. No point looking at it in my opinion. Trust your ears & learn the sounds.
First rule; keep the ses. as high as the ground will allow to keep stable. Generally - low Ses = lose of depth.
Listen for the faint deeper signals
I would be researching & doing the ploughed fields for older finds brought up by the plough

You have had some of the best advice you can get. I am so happy to hear some one comment about vdi-vdu readings. THEY ARE A WASTE OF "TIME" The tones tell no lies.

Les

 

[CRUSADER]

I know I have to dig to find stuff, so I'm going to find some junk. I try to go to spots that are old, and where I think would be good to look. I normally dig anything that doesn't read iron. Sometimes I'll get half dollar readings, or nickel readings, and I dig and it will be a pop can tab, or foil. It gets irritating. But I know my detector works because I've put coins on the ground and it reads what they are... But when it's something underground it seems to have trouble..
My area is southwest Michigan, I live close to Kalamazoo MI if anyone knows where that is.. I don't know of a ton of good spots around here..
I know there are a lot of old houses, should I just go ask the owners?

First thing is tape over that VDU display, its pointless. No point looking at it in my opinion. Trust your ears & learn the sounds.
First rule; keep the ses. as high as the ground will allow to keep stable. Generally - low Ses = lose of depth.
Listen for the faint deeper signals
I would be researching & doing the ploughed fields for older finds brought up by the plough

You have had some of the best advice you can get. I am so happy to hear some one comment about vdi-vdu readings. THEY ARE A WASTE OF "TIME" The tones tell no lies.

Les

Good on you Les, I know your an extremely successful Beach Hunter

I found out quite quickly with the Cortes (top of the Tesoro range) that looking at the display just wasted time & built false hopes. I wish the manufacturers would get back to basics & forgot all the bells & whistles which basically waste your battery power. Problem is, many people like their gadgets so the market laps it up.

 

[dank]

i love my gadgets, altho i rarely look at it, its nice to have, next they will come out with a ipod adapter! whooohooo!

well here's my 2 cents,
to learn my detector i went to beaches and beauty bark for a long time, i dont think i dug a hole in grass for at least 6 months,
mostly because its easy and fast diggen, and there was no pressure to not mess up the grass.
just dig till ya find it and remember the sounds.
hang in there@!

 

[timbobwey]

First off, thank you all for all the responses. I didn't expect that everyone would be so willing to give advice and help out. You guys rock!!

So far I have hunted mostly in parks, and I've hunted an old foundation by my house that is old. But I found mostly junk there too. I have only hunted a beach once, and it is the only time I found anything really cool, a silver religious pendant. I guess I should hunt beaches more. But I really want to find old coins, and I figured you would find more of those on land by old houses, or old schools. I will start researching my area, like you all said location is key.

 

[timbobwey]

Deepdiger, if you make it to Kalamazoo, give me a shout on here, maybe get a hunt in sometime.

 

[adventureswithjim]

DITTO to most of the above!

Don't allow brand name "envy" to enter your thoughts! Learn your box, learn every tiny detail of it. I CRUSHED the silver coin count for years with POS Radio Shack Bounty Hunter. Did I miss stuff better detector could have gotten? ABSOLUTELY!

But ya know what? I had a BALL with it! Absolute, pure fun. And THAT will go farther to finding good stuff than anything. If you enjoy it, you'll dig more, if you dig more you'll FIND more.

After a few years I wanted to do a different kind of hunting, so I upgraded to a different machine.

Do not let forum posts and banner items pressure you! Enjoy what you do and the rest will come. I am sorry I don't post pics of my daily massive piles of NOTHING, it's just that it bores me to gather it all up for pics before I pitch it in the "junque" boxes (can't seem to bring myself to toss even the most screwed up pull tab...just a personal issue.) But THAT'S the nature of modern hunting...

I will suggest this: turn UP discrim to zinc penny. Yes, you'll pass over gold. But you'll find more coins, cause you're spending less time digging cans. When I find coins, even new ones, I feel much better about the day. Over time, work discrim farther and farther down.

I have dug enough in last the 25 years I work with discrim and sens flat out, no matter where I'm at. The decision to dig comes by "feel" not by VDI.

I KNOW, there's a MOUNTAIN of advice in this thread, but above all I would suggest "RELAX and DIG."

 

[Deepdiger60]

Deepdiger, if you make it to Kalamazoo, give me a shout on here, maybe get a hunt in sometime.

sure thing tim by then you will be a pro Dd60

 

[Obscurist]

I've had my 250 for over a year now and managed maybe 200 hours of hunt time... most of that in tot lots with my boy where I can turn him loose and still keep an eye on him.

I know my coin signals pretty well, understanding exactly where they "hit" in the center of the coil and using the "pinpoint" sweep from different angles and getting a nice repeating tone the right size.

I also got tired of junk and memorial pennies, especially in modern spots where I don't find any oldies, so I start with the "coin" settings and discrim out the nickels, low penny setting and high end $1, back off the sensitivity a couple of notches and keep that as my "custom" setting.

I can hit a schoolyard playground and dig a couple of dollars in quarters and dimes and very little else with these settings. Using that knowledge, I can adjust the discrim settings and go back over ground in better (i.e. older or previously unhunted) locations to start picking up pennies, nickels and the occassional bottle cap or chunk of aluminum can.

I know I'm missing out on lots of finds like this, but if you like "cherry picking" until you've assessed the site, you might not mind digging more junk the next time around if the initial finds warrant a closer look.

Just my take on this machine as a bit of a newb myself who has overcome the frustration you're having.