$212-700 machine comparison

[Idaho hunter]

I have run Garretts, whites, fishers and minelabs and all of them
have been acceptable taking into account the type of machine and
the cost except the Minelab
For this post I will compare the Minelab X terra 705 and
the Garrett Ace-250, it dosen't sound like a fair comparrison but
the Minelab is lacking in overall performance in my opinion.
the Xterra has a weak signal-a short weak squeek for a signal and the
Ace has a loud signal
the Xterra has a good id on quarters and dimes-better than the Ace
the Xterra does not have an advantage in depth--the Ace matches the depth
the Ace id's penneys and jewelry better than the Xterra
the Ace seems easier to swing several hours than the Xterra

I carried both machines on several hunts swinging one machine and when
I found a target I would turn on the other machine and check the target,
then swich machines and in my opinion the Ace did a better job overall.
I know there will be quite a few fellow hunters who will disagree with
my findings, but this is one mans opinion.
Idaho Hunter

 

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[Shenandoah Digger]

Whatever works for you--if you like the Ace better then it is.

 

[Tank69]

please take this with no disrespect because I mean none , but this is another Ford / Chevy debate .


I myself will throw an Ace in the trash before I'd ever give one to anyone .....my opinion....I HATE EM their junk their a waste of plastic , don't get me wrong I'm not a Garret Hater I luv their pin pointer an a few of their upper end machines intrest me ...but I hate the ace series with a passon .once again JUST MY OPINION.

to me if you want light weight you go with any Tesoro machine , want a machine towards the upper end in the Pay scale then its a Whites MXT.


Now I can take any of the 3 machines I run an each one has its good an bad points , but those are the 3 I prefer , they may not be your choice but their mine .And everyone of us has their own "" best Machine "" an we will allways look for better .

once again this is ....ONLY MY OPINION ....an no disrespect is meant .

HH Tank

 

[lookindown]

My opinion is the Ace 250 is a $600 machine for $200.

 

[Coinstriking Michigan]

I personally think the Ace250 is garbage geared towards beginners. You ever notice that of all the good finds posted on here or anywhere for that matter,very, very few were made using the Ace250? I think that tells you something right there. Not to mention that idiotic bell tone that's enough to drive you crazy.

 

[Sandman]

The Ace 250 is a beginners detector and the low price has a lot to do with the materials it is made of. Oh, it is a decent detector for the right areas where the ground is mild but I would choose a higher end machine. I've used and sold many detector from the shop I worked at and consider the ACE models just above Bounty Hunter's. They are not versatile enough and that color marks it as a toy in my eyes.

See, I have been spoiled by the use of better detectors with more "hair."

 

[Coinstriking Michigan]

The Ace 250 is a beginners detector and the low price has a lot to do with the materials it is made of. Oh, it is a decent detector for the right areas where the ground is mild but I would choose a higher end machine. I've used and sold many detector from the shop I worked at and consider the ACE models just above Bounty Hunter's. They are not versatile enough and that color marks it as a toy in my eyes.

See, I have been spoiled by the use of better detectors with more "hair."

I think the reason some people praise the ace250 so much is because their first detector was probably a cheap bounty hunter and the ace probably seems like an e-trac to them because they don't know any better.

 

[Hosensack]

It's good enough to find targets at marginal depths, the "annoying" bell tone is rather dependable when locating something decent at those marginal depths. It is easy to use and produces enough to make a beginner very happy. Let's call it a $212 training wheel.

I've caught many trout on a zebco push button when I was younger. Does it compare to my stradic/loomis rig? Heck no. Did I enjoy catching the trout on the zebco? Probably more so than I do now. Our machines usually match the skill level not necessarily our enthusiasm level.

 

[Hosensack]

That was a "reason some like it" post not a "praise" post....reading back over it that was unclear....sorry.

 

[lookindown]

I personally think the Ace250 is garbage geared towards beginners. You ever notice that of all the good finds posted on here or anywhere for that matter,very, very few were made using the Ace250? I think that tells you something right there. Not to mention that idiotic bell tone that's enough to drive you crazy.

It is an entry level detector, but far from garbage....dont think many will agree with your garbage comment.

 

[Keppy]

I personally think the Ace250 is garbage geared towards beginners. You ever notice that of all the good finds posted on here or anywhere for that matter,very, very few were made using the Ace250? I think that tells you something right there. Not to mention that idiotic bell tone that's enough to drive you crazy.

It is an entry level detector, but far from garbage....dont think many will agree with your garbage comment.

I think it is far from garbage........... There is not a detector from any of the top brands that put out a detector........ I would call garbage...........They all do what they are made to do and that is find metal........ Could be why that is why they they are called ..Metal Detectors......... The bell tone on Garrett detectors don't bother me at all............... I don't understand why some get so upset over it....... I think they hear some one say it then they say it ....

 

[wingmaster]

Throwing the Ace 250 in with $700.00 machines is probably not very fair to say the least, you can get a MXT for $700.00 new from the right dealer.

 

[CoilFisher]

Comparing apples and oranges are we? A machine that costs $300 is not the same machine that costs $600.

 

[Keppy]

But i will say that when i had my Ace 250 and my garrett GTI1500 ..... I for sure liked the 1500 a lot better than the ACE............

 

[rws51]

Here is a list of detectors I have owned in the past and my thoughts on them. All will fit in the 200.00 to 700.00 price range and this is my opinion only. The following detectors are what I have used
over the last 30 some odd years that I have been detecting. My thoughts may differ with your experiences with the same detectors, but this is what did or didn't work for me here in mid western Illinois. Feel free to criticize or agree with me.......Roger

1. Bounty Hunter 550 D......my first detector....only good for shallow coins 3 inches or less. basically junk.
2. Fisher 1220x.....great detector, deep and good on silver and copper coins.
3. Fisher 1260x.... great detector, same performance as the 1220x basically, except had s rod instead of fish hook handle like on the 1220x.
4. Fisher 1265x.... great detector, found tons of old coins with this detector.
5. Fisher 1266x.... great detector, deepest of all the 1200 series.... a classic detector still used by many today.
6. Gold Mountain King Cobra....pretty good detector, not super deep but a good coin machine.
7. Garrett MH CXII....did not like this detector. cheaply made and no depth... maybe 5 inches on a half dollar.
8. Garrett GTA 350...no depth, only good for very shallow clad coins in a park.
9. Garrett GTA 1000...a tad more depth than the 350 but still lacking in the depth department...shallow clad park hunter.
10. Fisher CZ6A....very deep seeking detector, hot on nickels. excellent detector.
11. Fisher CZ7A Pro...very deep detector, typical cz performance.
12. Fisher CZ70 Pro....very deep detector, liked the added 4th tone.
13. Fisher CZ5....very deep detector, love the analog meter much more than digital. still own this and is my favorite CZ of all owned.
14. Tesoro Silver µmax....great detector, excellent discrimination, perfect coin hunter. one of my all time favorite detectors.
15. Tesoro Deleon....nice detector, meter was a tad small, meter was jumpy in trashy areas. decent depth.
16. Tesoro Cortes...basically same performance as the Deleon, a few more features like SUM mode, meter was jumpy in trashy areas. not as deep for a detector in this price range.
17. Teknetics Omega 8000....easy to set up and use but seemed unstable at a lot of the sites I used it on. nice large meter, seemed to lack performance and discrimination abilities.
18. Tesoro Bandido µmax....nice detector, good in iron, good coin detector.
19. Whites Coinmaster Pro....hated this detector. easy to set up and use but was stripped down so much it was pathetic. no padding in arm cup irritated my arm, no camlocks on shafts
20. Minelab Xterra 305.....felt good swinging it but it lacked depth and the meter was so jumpy that it was almost uesless. very weak signal on targets, not impressed for a 400.00 detector.
21. Tesoro Vaquero....very impressive detector for under 500.00. excellent depth and discrimination, very sensitive to tiny objects, hot on nickels and gold. hard to beat for the price.

 

[ivan salis]

i think the ace 250 is not too bad --if one is a dig it all type person * because it rings up nickle , gold rings and pulltabs in co mingled ranges together --with no real way to sort them from one another -- so to get the goodies you got no choice but to dig trash * as well.

now if one is more of a "cherry picker" type rather than a dig it all to be sure you are not "missing" anything type -- the ace 250 will drive you nuts -- if the tones don't drive you nuts first , digging the junk will --

for cherry picker --on a budget try the delta 4000 ($279) -- has a 0 to 99 "numbers range type display "--IT CAN HELP IN SORTING OUT ONE ITEM FROM ANOTHER BY THE NUMBERS DISPLAYED --thus you can "pull apart" differant types of metal finds by the various numbers displayed--- many pulltabs vs nickles & gold items --while not its not 100% perfect , nothing ever is --in my view its way better than blindly digging every bit of junk up .

ps - I do have a ace 250 and use it as a loaner / back up to my delta 4000 -- also have a tracker IV and time ranger from BH as well.

 

[lookindown]

i think the ace 250 is not too bad --if one is a dig it all type person * because it rings up nickle , gold rings and pulltabs in co mingled ranges together --with no real way to sort them from one another -- so to get the goodies you got no choice but to dig trash * as well.

now if one is more of a "cherry picker" type rather than a dig it all to be sure you are not "missing" anything type -- the ace 250 will drive you nuts -- if the tones don't drive you nuts first , digging the junk will --

for cherry picker --on a budget try the delta 4000 ($279) -- has a 0 to 99 "numbers range type display "--IT CAN HELP IN SORTING OUT ONE ITEM FROM ANOTHER BY THE NUMBERS DISPLAYED --thus you can "pull apart" differant types of metal finds by the various numbers displayed--- many pulltabs vs nickles & gold items --while not its not 100% perfect , nothing ever is --in my view its way better than blindly digging every bit of junk up .

ps - I do have a ace 250 and use it as a loaner / back up to my delta 4000 -- also have a tracker IV and time ranger from BH as well.

Are you saying that you can leave the nickels and pulltabs and only dig the gold.....thats what a newbie reading this is going to think.

 

[ivan salis]

no --let me 100% perfectly clear --- I am not saying it will sort all pulltabs * ( no machine to my knowledge will do that) --but it will help sort out a fair bit of them by the numbers that ring up on the delta 4000 -- sadly some pulltabs have the same exact "electricial conductivity" reading as gold rings and nickles -- so they ring up the same as good items --those types of pulltabs can not be avoided * --you will dig them up with any detector you use most likely -- but being able to sort out a fair bit of the pulltabs tabs vs just having to "dig it all" is vast improvement in my book.

especially since the cost of a delta 4000 is only $279

 

[lookindown]

no --let me 100% perfectly clear --- I am not saying it will sort all pulltabs * ( no machine to my knowledge will do that) --but it will help sort out a fair bit of them by the numbers that ring up on the delta 4000 -- sadly some pulltabs have the same exact "electricial conductivity" reading as gold rings and nickles -- so they ring up the same as good items --those types of pulltabs can not be avoided * --you will dig them up with any detector you use most likely -- but being able to sort out a fair bit of the pulltabs tabs vs just having to "dig it all" is vast improvement in my book.

especially since the cost of a delta 4000 is only $279

I hear what your saying.