HELP!!!

[Nikkibridesmaid]

So I got the Ace 250 last year. My first detector. Decided to get a good one instead of starting out cheap. Figured it would pay for itself someday. My sister and I have been detecting on our beach for a good week. 3 or so hours a day! We aren't finding (censored) I don't understand what we're doing wrong. Like, we are literally digging holes 2 freaking feet deep AND wide and findng NOTHING. Not eveb trash or nails. I just don't get it. As far as we know the place isn't overhunted. It's a VERY small town pond beach. People have been walking around looking but we haven't seen anyone with detectors. I'm currently not eliminating anything. I practiced in my house and yard with coins to get the feel of it. I have no trouble detecting them. Right now, I find something and go over it a good 10 times to make sure it keeps picking it up, then I pinpoint. I'm not sure where exactly on the bottom of the detector you need to dig. Is it the rim on the front or in the middle? Either way, our 2x2 foot holes should have given us SOMETHING. We keep stopping to pinpoint again and see what it says. Either the target MOVES 5 inches or once we have our 2 foot hole it just DISAPPEARS! Nothing! We try our piles and it detects nothing we could have missed. Yet every now and then we find something without issue so it can't be a problem with the detector, right? Today we found 2 pennies side by side right where it said! Then 3 hours of NOTHING. No nails or trash or anything. We really enjoy this but it's getting to the point where it's a HUGE task and not even a damn bottle cap as a reward. We're about to give up. What do we do? What am I doing wrong?!? I've watched videos, read the manual from front to back... I am going to buy the handheld pinpointer thing to help us but is it even worth the money at this point or am I just adding to my losses? I don't care at this point if I find ALL trash! I just want to find SOMETHING :,( We look at your tiny little 1-5 inch holes you dig and then look at our freaking GRAVES we dug and just laugh because it's SO ridiculous. Help...

 

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[agflit]

Welcome to the wonderful world of MD'ing!!


Seriously...don't throw in the towel...best suggestion I can make is find someone local who will go out with you and mentor you abit...really helps get past the initial curve.

Where are ya from...is it a salt water beach area or freshwater?...so many variables..takes ALOT of time to start understanding the langauge of the "beep" so to speak.

Best of luck, maybe we can find someone in your area to help ya abit.

Ag

 

[kenonimo]

Try lowering your sensitivity as you might just be getting false readings from the ground and going on a wild goose chase so to speak. Also take some different objects with u and bury them and see how they sound and how it is finding them. Get some practice

 

[TommyB]

You can 'Pinpoint' with the center of the coil. When you get a signal criss-cross in an X pattern.
After you dig, check again with the coil over the pile of dug sad/dirt as well as the hole.
Cover all holes when done. Good hunting

 

[SBMatt]

Definitely sounds like false readings. Lower the sensitivity.

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

I have an Ace 250 as well and have used it on the beach. Wet sand works best in Jewelry mode and lower sensitivity. Most of the phantom hits go away. Dry sand no problems with no eliminations.

I have dug some big holes on the dry beach and always at least found a piece of iron. Wet beach sometimes gets phantom hits so I only dig good signals in wet.

My condo beach is well pounded with detectors and can go an hour or more with next to nothing (very clean non trashy beach). My kids and I have had more fun around the condo and pool finding clad.

 

[scruggs]

I started out with the Ace 150 in 1984 and didn't have that problem. You may want to take it back where you purchased it and have it checked out. Good luck!

 

[Nikkibridesmaid]

Thank you guys for the tips! I'm going to try everything you mentioned! It's a large freshwater pond. The deepest manmade pond in Maine! They let the water out a ways for winter so we're down by where the "tourists" go swimming hoping to find some lost items before the water comes back! I did end up buying the pinpointer and of course, quick shipping! I'm hoping that will help me in terms of where to dig. I'm going to check the cable now and make sure it's tight. I get a lot of 1 beep readings so maybe that will help eliminate some of them. I'll try out all of your suggestions and see if I can get this thing to work! I really don't want to give up. It's such a fun thing to do! I've had an interest in it since I was a little girl. Hopefully I have some better luck next time. I'll be sure to show you guys what I find if I'm able to fix whatever is causing this problem!

 

[SirWalterRaleigh]

A handheld pinpointer is a must. Never leave home without it. Also, get the Garrett carrot - the orange one. It's waterproof and worth the extra money.

When pinpointing using the 250, center the target to where the bars across the top are full, then slowly pull your machine back until it goes silent. The target should then be right in front of the front of your coil.

Turn the sensitivity down two notches and maybe try hunting your front lawn or backyard for a few hours. Make a test bed and burry some differnt things to get a feel how these things sound. Have your sis hide them and then you find them - great practice.

Furthermore, you have to give it a good 100 hours to really get familiar with your machines language. It's hard work but well worth it.

in the words of Jim Valvano - don't give up, don't ever give up

 

[Normsel]

When you find the pin point center wrap a piece of tape on the coil where the pin point center is and the coin will always be a cpl of inches one way or the other. Like others have said lower your sensitivity. Can't remember it the 250 has ground balance or not but if it does make sure you GB properly. I had a 250 and it paid for itself in less than 3 months doing park hunts. Believe me a hand held pointer from garrett or someone is worth it's weight in gold and the amount of time you save looking for stuff.

One more hint it take about 100 hrs to get proficient with any detector. I have owned 4 and just bought my 5th and each detector I was ready to trash before I learned it.

Most people hunt beaches with the hopes of finding jewelry. If you're seeking coins most likely you won't find much. I found more clad in two 2 hr hunts at a park than I did in 20 hunts at the beach

Keep reading the posts and anything you can on the 250, believe me it helps and throw some coins out in your yard and see what it does

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Anytime someone laments of "disappearing signals", ... Or anything that's sound related, then really there's only one solution: Hook up with someone proficient, and trade off flagged signals. Listen to what they're trying to isolate, versus why they'd pass certain sounds.

Because it's a common mistake for newbies to try to "chase flutters", getting confused by random beep/flutters. They don't know how to isolate and center and discern "repeatable" signals (versus flutter). So they end up chasing false signals. The best remedy is to find someone close to your area, and go out to an area prolific with easy signals. Even if that means having to go to modern boring clad parks. Once you traded off flagged signals to compare, and watched the way they swing, isolate, pass vs not -pass, THEN the "lights will go on".

 

[Nikkibridesmaid]

Thank you guys so much for your tips! I got the pinpointer a few days back and we went out for about 4 hours on 3 different days. The pinpointer is helping a ton! We're still digging pretty good size holes but at least we're finding something in them! We had maybe 1/3 of the holes with nothing found but those numbers are great compared to the other times. A lot of the stuff we found was SO tiny. We could have easily missed those items before the pinpointer even though we looked really well. We think that a good 6 digs were actually pipes of some kind cause we got down a good 8 inches and it wanted us to keep going, plus it was 2-3 holes in a line. Not sure cause we stopped digging once we caught on but it's a good chance it was piping. Unfortunately we don't have many places to hunt up here besides beach cause the ticks are TERRIBLE. No field hunting without getting 10 or so ticks, literally. So sadly we can't hunt the old fields up here which would surely have some cool stuff to find! We might try a reeaaalllyy well kept park at some point. That might be a little less overrun with the ticks. I tried attaching a pic of our findings but idk if it worked or not. Nothing special but we're proud of it cause it's a huge improvement! Just a bunch of nails and shells, couple toys. The truck is pretty old! Couple unidentified things, a washer, and some coins. Not too bad considering how bad things were last week And we've got quite the rock collection! �� Is there a way to get the crap off those coins so I can read them? My dad said sandpaper...

 

[agflit]

Nikki...nicely done!!

Keep up the good work..it's a learning curve detecting..takes practice!! There's NO substitute for putting hours in. And I'd like to point something out to you...if you aren't aware.
See that nickle?? That .22 brass?....thats tells me something...YOU...WILL..... find gold rings. Yup...If your hitting, diggin, and recovering that stuff...you are in the gold jewelry range!! Nice job!!

I suggest slow down...THINK about your signal BEFORE you dig...and start learning WHAT the signals telling you. Maybe start tweaking your discrimination a touch till ya start running hot...(falsing) than back it up just a touch. AND DON'T FORGET TO GROUND BALANCE if needed.

Best of luck, find a mentor, and keep us in the loop!!! (Where ya at anyway)?

Ag

 

[Chug And Red]

Red gets frustrated with hers I have only used it once A Gave her a Challenge today She can use My ATPro with the DD Coil And I will Use Her Ace 250 Tomorrow She wants the Ace 400 with the DD Coil we will see how it Goes if she Does it She is Stubborn HH chug

 

[MikeyMinx]

Don't ever put sandpaper to a coin ! If you have to clean them,,, Google some different ways on how to do it safely. HH

 

[SirWalterRaleigh]

Unfortunately, that machine will not ground balance

 

[Carolina Tom]

I think that your toy truck is a Tootsie Toy... look for the name inside. That's a nice find from the 1950s. I am quite partial to them.

Try to find someone near you that knows the MDing ropes. That's the fastest way to get up to speed. At least you are now finding something. It gets better, if you keep trying.

Good luck!

 

[Nikkibridesmaid]

Ooh, I didn't know that about the nickel! That's awesome! Thank you for letting me know I know with all the "tourists" swimming there over the summer that someone had to have lost a piece of jewelry at some point and I'm determined to find it! �� I'll start working on discrimination now. And I did look up how to deal with the coins LUCKILY before I touched them! Also got familiar with how to properly identify them. It's actually quite fun!
I'm so glad you said something about the truck, Tom! I actually found that at my grandparents camp about a month back and my father has been dying for me to identify it cause he thinks it could have been his when he was little. He's 65 now. I had no idea how to go about looking it up. I'll have to see if it's a match. He'll be quite happy if it is! Thank you
I'm in Hanover, Maine! Teenie tiny town in the mountains! I'll make sure to post again once I find me some gold! �� Haha

 

[MikeyMinx]

Awesome !!! You're well on your way now... Keep it up