Why headphones with Ace 250?

[aaron1whiting1]

I just got an ACE 250. I understand that some detectors give signals in such a way that a weaker signal will give a weaker sound. But the ACE 250 is a bong or a bing or nothing at all and always in a nice loud manner right? I can see using the headphones so as not to disturb others. But it seems like some people are looking for the "best headphones" for their ace 250. Anything with volume control to tone that sucker down would be just fine I'd think. Am I off here?

 

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[Stacylee926]

I can answer this because I just upgraded to my ACE 250 AND got headphones this weekend.

First, the ACE is LOUD and is super sensitive so the thing goes off all the time! I have only used my ACE for about 3 hours, but you can definitely hear the sound fade in and out better with the headphones as well as the faint tones.
Other than the machine being so loud, generally you just have more privacy. I got my volume control headphones at Radio Shack on sale for 10.00 this weekend. I had to buy and adapter too for 4.00 - but it was a great deal. The cord is 9' long (coiled) and never got in the way.

 

[Monty]

And it has been said a few times before, headphones makes batteries last longer. I can take my a ACE near a busy highway and without the head phones I can't hear the ACE half the time. Some planted competition hunts require headphones. So, if you join a club you might have to have them to participate in their hunts. Monty

 

[Danimal]

I just got an ACE 250. I understand that some detectors give signals in such a way that a weaker signal will give a weaker sound. But the ACE 250 is a bong or a bing or nothing at all and always in a nice loud manner right? I can see using the headphones so as not to disturb others. But it seems like some people are looking for the "best headphones" for their ace 250. Anything with volume control to tone that sucker down would be just fine I'd think. Am I off here?

Monty's right on the money about battery life being greatly extended when headphones are used, so that's ONE reason.

To me, the real reason why headphones are needed is because when you are in pinpoint mode, the ACE is in TRUE all-metal, non-motion mode (meaning it only has ONE tone sounding, and doesn't need to be swept side to side over a target to sound one of the three "belltones") and when in pinpoint you will hear a VOLUME increase as the coil's center is brought closer to a target. You will also see the signal strength meter increase as you hear the tone volume increase (all this while pinpoint button is depressed)
Once you become familiar with your ACE you can actually use the pinpoint to listen for DEEP target that are deep enough that when hunting normally (listening for one of the three belltones to ring off) the ACE won't trigger a belltone.
I had said this a lot before here on TNet, but I will go into a bit more detail for you. On some more expensive machines (and Garrett's more expensive machines) there are even an all-metal, non-motion mode. These more expensive machine also have two other important adjustments available:
Manual ground balance and
Threshold tone adjustment
The ground balance on those machines allow you to adjust the machine to compensate for the level of MINERALIZATION in the soil (the soil's iron content) and therefore allow your machine to hear deeper targets that might be masked by the soil's mineral content.
The threshold tone adjustment while in all-metal non-motion adjusts the background "hum" sound that is heard so that even the tiniest deep target can be heard as a VOLUME increase in that background tone.
Now how does this pertain to your ACE250?
When you depress pinpoint on your ACE250 you often will hear the threshold tone or background hum. As you move your coil towards the target to "pinpoint" it you hear the tone increase in volume. Now, sometimes, depending on the soil's moisture and mineralization, you can get your ACE250 to hold this "tone" while actually searching for targets. At times it will hold the tone for 2-3 swings and then the tone disappears. Release pinpoint and redepress it to get a tone back. Sometimes you cannot get a tone at all. Raise your coil 4" or more off the ground, depress pinpoint and lower it back down and often you then have a tone. When hunting like this you can quickly locate the exact location of a target. When you do, you can THEN release pinpoint and let your ACE try and get an ID of the target with one of it's three tones and a visual ID on it's target meter (including it's approx depth). If the target won't ID that you found while in pinpoint but has good depth, I dig it (especially if I have found deep coins in that area already)
Hunting like this (to me) is productive because I can run my ACE250 with the sensitivity cranked up, which normally (in a lot of soils) causing too much chattering and falsing requiring sens. to be turned down sometimes halfway to be able to get good depth w/out a ton of noise. Because the ACE250 has it's ground balance pre-set at the factory you will have to live with the fact that hunting in pinpoint is iffy at times. BUT, when conditions allow, it offers you the chance to get GREAT depth with your "beginner's" machine. You can also move quickly from target to target when hunting like this, bypassing ground "hotspots" that cause your ACE to ring a belltone and make you stop and swing back and forth over it trying to get a repeatable belltone when there is no actual target there in the first place.

I hope some of this made sense to you...good luck and happy hunting!!