Questions about the Garret Ace 250

[Anthony]

Just started metal detecting and picked the Garret 250 up yesterday. I know that it isn't the best metal detector on the market but I didn't want to spend too much on this hobby before I even know if I like it. Anyway, I had a few questions about it.

I put a sterling silver ring on the ground and turned the metal detector up to the highest sensitivity. I started swinging the metal detector back and fourth at about 2 feet above it. I slowly started working my way down and not until much less than 8 inches it didn't pick it up. Is this normal?

It was also picking up the silver up as foil or a pull tab. It wasn't until the search coil was less than 3 inches away that it picked it up as a coin/silver. Was really jumping all over the place. Is this also normal? It's going to be a pain in the ass digging every thing that is detected as foil. Is this also normal or is there a way to change this? How do you know what to dig if there are a bunch of false readings?

Any other advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advanced.

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[TerryC]

First, welcome to the net. The 250 is ALL the detector you will need for a long time. Second, turn that sensitivity WAY back down to NO sensitivity then work from there. 8 inches, or so, would be common for common silver rings (.925). Very large (hefty) or very thin rings will be different. Lots and lots of tips yet to get you good with the machine. Two more things.... put in at least 100 SOLID, QUALITY hours on the machine before you even consider another machine. The most expensive machines only become the best finders of quality targets when the owner has FIRST mastered the controls. And that takes time! TTC

[TerryC]

If you get so whacked out on the controls that you wish to reset them, hold the power button in continuosly until the machine beeps. You are now at factory presets.... a good place to start over. All Garrett products (detectors) hard reset this way. TTC

[Anthony]

If you get so whacked out on the controls that you wish to reset them, hold the power button in continuosly until the machine beeps. You are now at factory presets.... a good place to start over. All Garrett products (detectors) hard reset this way. TTC

Just keeping it set to jewelry or coin for now. All those iron and foil readings were driving my crazy. Digging in my yard would be much easier if it weren't filled with roots and plenty of nails and foil. Will be paying a visit to the local park later tonight. Thanks for your help.

[cactusrat]

TerryC has gave you some good advice.

I’m still learning my Ace 250 and I have found it best to keep the sensitivity down to 2 to 3 bars. You won’t miss targets by having sensitivity turned down. I get 8+ inch hits, but I don’t dig them that deep due to the ground being so hard.

I usually hunt in all metal mode and dig all targets that are 2 to 4 inches deep (deeper when we get some rain to soften up the ground down here). Yes I find a lot of nails and pull tabs/cans but I sure don’t want to miss a good find, like a gold ring.

Not just the ace 250, but all metal detectors, are not 100% accurate. It takes some learning how your md reads different metals and how deep they are.

GL & HH

[spartacus53]

1- Did you turn the detector on
2- Did you load 4 AAA batteries into that bad boy

Keep the sensitivity bars at 3, if it doesn't work you best call where you bought it from.. It's probably broken

I know I had no issues right out of the box I was able to get correct signals. You just need to learn the different tones now. Not to worry, it's easy to learn, after all I did learn it and found stuff too

[Anthony]

1- Did you turn the detector on
2- Did you load 4 AAA batteries into that bad boy

Keep the sensitivity bars at 3, if it doesn't work you best call where you bought it from.. It's probably broken

I know I had no issues right out of the box I was able to get correct signals. You just need to learn the different tones now. Not to worry, it's easy to learn, after all I did learn it and found stuff too

Seemed to magically preform much better after I swapped the batteries with new ones. Weird huh? Guess they were cursed or something.

TerryC has gave you some good advice.

I’m still learning my Ace 250 and I have found it best to keep the sensitivity down to 2 to 3 bars. You won’t miss targets by having sensitivity turned down. I get 8+ inch hits, but I don’t dig them that deep due to the ground being so hard.

I usually hunt in all metal mode and dig all targets that are 2 to 4 inches deep (deeper when we get some rain to soften up the ground down here). Yes I find a lot of nails and pull tabs/cans but I sure don’t want to miss a good find, like a gold ring.

Not just the ace 250, but all metal detectors, are not 100% accurate. It takes some learning how your md reads different metals and how deep they are.

GL & HH

Damn all the beeping would drive my crazy. I'd rather keep it in coin mode and just watch to see if anything else pops up.

[dustytrails123]

* -9 inches on a silver ring pretty normal ...your not using a dd coil like the ace350 they have alittle better depth...i never hunt with the sensitivity turned way up i prefer it 3 notches off the full mark or the machine is too erratic

[baylorhall]

I loved my Ace 250 and found a ton of good things with it. Unless you are willing to dig pull tabs and can slaw, just hunt pennies to dollars. Even then, you can find some gold. It does take some practice, but it's a great machine. Stick with it!

[spartacus53]

I always hunt in all metal mode.. You may want to consider that too

Just learn the tones grasshopper

[calisdad]

Foil and gold look similar to a detector. You have to find the pull tabs to find the gold. Just the way it is. Practice, practice, practice.

[gunntekk1]

omg if u go to all metal mode u will be to busy, put in on coin mode and u will be surprised and use it on that mose unless u go to a tot lot, than use jewelry mode and sensitivity should be set to 3 or 4, think like a coin, if i were to fall out of someones pocket where would i fall? hmmm. at a parkinglot i would fall in the grass when my friend the keys would be yanked of this pocket, lol. you get my drift. now if you goto a site that has history, i would say all metal.

[TerryC]

omg if u go to all metal mode u will be to busy, put in on coin mode and u will be surprised and use it on that mose unless u go to a tot lot, than use jewelry mode and sensitivity should be set to 3 or 4, think like a coin, if i were to fall out of someones pocket where would i fall? hmmm. at a parkinglot i would fall in the grass when my friend the keys would be yanked of this pocket, lol. you get my drift. now if you goto a site that has history, i would say all metal.

Hmmm. If I were a coin, where would I fall? First it would be a female's pocket.... and I would fall out..... onto the bedsheets! TTC

[gunntekk1]

[Anthony]

Went to the beach tonight. I wasn't aware that they actually made people leave and closed of the exit at 8 so I didn't get too much time in. I found plenty of tin foil, a bunch of bottles caps, and one shinny quarter. I started by digging every signal for the hell of it and ended up only digging the one's higher than a pull tab. At least I helped get the beach a little cleaner.

[Benjamin Linus]

What is a shinny quarter? Does it have something to do with the lower legs?

[garrettJL]

You also have to remember that not all objects fall and land flat providing a larger surface for a "hit". Coins are often upright or on an angle in the ground and will not show up the same way they would if lying flat. Different metals have different conductivity so a ring will not always show up as a ring on the target id. Try not to rely to heavily on the upper target id indicator. Learn your tones. If the hit isnt consistent and repeatable try turning yourself 90 degrees to where you received the last tone. This sometimes helps due to the orientation of the object in the ground. Practice,Practice,Practice. Good Luck!

[Jay In NewKen]

Since good starting advice was already posted, i'll just add this.

Make sure u tape the coil cord in at least 2 places. One on the lower and one on the upper shaft. Especially close to the control box, this helped me tremendously.

HH,
Jay

[calisdad]

Since good starting advice was already posted, i'll just add this.

Make sure u tape the coil cord in at least 2 places. One on the lower and one on the upper shaft. Especially close to the control box, this helped me tremendously.

HH,
Jay

Interesting Jay. Did it increase consistency?

[Jay In NewKen]

Interesting Jay. Did it increase consistency?

Hard to say. It did help with falsing in my case. I think the coil was hitting on the loose cord. And bumping the cord connection against me when swinging. The most important thing to learn is using the md to determine the size of the Target. If coin size, DIG.