Best Tip I've heard in 49 years of metal detecting.

[Texas Jay]

Probably the best metal detecting tip I've heard in my 49 years of hunting came from the late Charles Garrett when he said that you need to put 100 hours on your detector before you can really understand its capabilities. Truer words have never been spoken. Too many people, who are just starting out in this amazing hobby, allow others to talk trash about their "beginner detectors" and take their unwise advise to move up to a "deeper, better, or more expensive" metal detector before they've used the one they have for even 10 hours or less. I bought a Garrett Ace 250 several years ago but only this year decided to give it a real workout and learn what it could do. So I've let my more expensive detectors collect dust for the past few months and have used the 250 exclusively. Yesterday, I logged my 105th hour on that little detector and it has performed amazingly well. I regularly hunt with guys who use detectors that cost at least 3 times and as much as 10 times the cost of my Ace 250 and I usually come out with the best finds of the day. Let the other guys sit around at the coffee shop, bragging about their expensive detectors, while you get out in the field with yours and make some truly remarkable discoveries. Above all, have fun!
~Texas Jay

Central Texas Treasure Club

 

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[Truth]

Probably the best metal detecting tip I've heard in my 49 years of hunting came from the late Charles Garrett when he said that you need to put 100 hours on your detector before you can really understand its capabilities. Truer words have never been spoken. Too many people, who are just starting out in this amazing hobby, allow others to talk trash about their "beginner detectors" and take their unwise advise to move up to a "deeper, better, or more expensive" metal detector before they've used the one they have for even 10 hours or less. I bought a Garrett Ace 250 several years ago but only this year decided to give it a real workout and learn what it could do. So I've let my more expensive detectors collect dust for the past few months and have used the 250 exclusively. Yesterday, I logged my 105th hour on that little detector and it has performed amazingly well. I regularly hunt with guys who use detectors that cost at least 3 times and as much as 10 times the cost of my Ace 250 and I usually come out with the best finds of the day. Let the other guys sit around at the coffee shop, bragging about their expensive detectors, while you get out in the field with yours and make some truly remarkable discoveries. Above all, have fun!
~Texas Jay

Central Texas Treasure Club

Yeah but then I won’t look cool [emoji1360]

 

[ARC]

So the saying was not "it takes 100 metal detectors to understand how to detect" ? ? ?

Hmm somehow I think some got this wrong. heh

 

[Jacza]

I used my detector for 3 years (hundreds of hours) and recently found out, that I can go without problems with 100% sensitivity instead of only default 80% (which means 25% more depth). So even after a long time you can learn something new about your detector.

 

[GB1]

i used my time ranger for 2 years hunting every day excluding rain

 

[Terry Soloman]

Great! Now that you know how to use a beginner machine - and appreciate its capabilities, just wait until you get your Minelab Equinox 600. You'll be speechless.

 

[Iron Patch]

If you're new make that 1,000 hours.

 

[IDXMonster]

If you're new make that 1,000 hours.

Totally agree. To REALLY understand all that’s going on,especially if you don’t have a lot of the targets you want to find! I’ve got 300-500 hours on my CTX and I feel I’m still learning...

 

[smokeythecat]

I must be doing something wrong then. Not enough hours. Maybe I should just put my stuff back in the ground.

 

[Texas Jay]

Great! Now that you know how to use a beginner machine - and appreciate its capabilities, just wait until you get your Minelab Equinox 600. You'll be speechless.

Terry, my detecting buddy uses a Minelab Equinox 800 and I'm not impressed with it and I don't think he is either. He usually finds more modern coins than I do on each hunt but I almost always make the best finds of the day with the Ace 250. I've noticed lately that his 800 spends most of its time in the car and he uses his XP Deus that he's had for a lot longer.
~Texas Jay

 

[smokeythecat]

My best gold coin was with a $329 beep and go. You never know.

 

[against the wind]

I have been using metal detectors since 1970 so it's only been 48 years for me. I have used everything from beep and dig,,, right on up to the arsenal I currently have. The machines I have used over the years have included numerous Garretts.
To say that your ACE 250 will consistently outhunt my DEUS, CTX, E-trac, or Excalibur is a bunch of horse feathers.
I suggest that you show the guys you hunt with where the on / off button is on their machines.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Probably the best metal detecting tip I've heard in my 49 years of hunting came from the late Charles Garrett when he said that you need to put 100 hours on your detector before you can really understand its capabilities. Truer words have never been spoken. Too many people, who are just starting out in this amazing hobby, allow others to talk trash about their "beginner detectors" and take their unwise advise to move up to a "deeper, better, or more expensive" metal detector before they've used the one they have for even 10 hours or less. I bought a Garrett Ace 250 several years ago but only this year decided to give it a real workout and learn what it could do. So I've let my more expensive detectors collect dust for the past few months and have used the 250 exclusively. Yesterday, I logged my 105th hour on that little detector and it has performed amazingly well. I regularly hunt with guys who use detectors that cost at least 3 times and as much as 10 times the cost of my Ace 250 and I usually come out with the best finds of the day. Let the other guys sit around at the coffee shop, bragging about their expensive detectors, while you get out in the field with yours and make some truly remarkable discoveries. Above all, have fun!
~Texas Jay

Central Texas Treasure Club

The fact that people DONT follow this....is good to some point. Keeps the finds in the ground for us with patience. Even my hunting buddies of years have pretty much lost interest. Which sucks because I don't get to see them anymore.

But yea...my ACE 250, it took me a year or more to REALLY understand what it was telling me, same with my ATP, i don't think i ever stopped figuring out some of the little signs it was given me.

I have had the CTX now for over 2 years and find great things with it...but I surely havent "Figured It out"

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Put a DD coil on your ACE 250 and you’ll keep everything you like about it and gain another 1.5” of depth and have better separation in iron infested soil.

 

[mikebourgeois]

While I haven't been hunting for long enough to even mark 50 hours of time with either of my machines... something I think is reasonable to say is the longer you detect regardless of what machine you use... the better a detector you'll be. You can walk out with a top of the line machine or a piece of crap and if you don't know how to hunt... then all the bells and whistles or lack there of won't matter a bit. You know after a dozen hours where people congregate and what earth is going to give you the most problems because of minerals and the fact that the crowd that is on the location is going to make detecting hell cause they're that kinda crowd... the machine doesn't do anything for you there... it's all the grey matter that you've primed with hours of labour... the machine will show you what is there... but it isn't going to tell you where you're more likely to find treasure or dross... it'll just tell you something is there and if YOU are adept enough... you can read the response it gives you and tell what it's going to be. I surprised myself yesterday when out in my local school back field... I was swinging away... listening and thinking... and heard a sullen little tone... kinda on the edge of what should be a nickel but not really sure... then I shook my head and said pull tab... and I dug it up cause I might as well know if I'm passing up a nickel... but no... my intuition was correct... the machine didn't tell me anything... but my head told me what it was and time spent out there listening and learning paid off.

So spend your hundred hours knowing the machine... but don't forget the most important machine is the one inside your skull.

 

[Texas Jay]

I have been using metal detectors since 1970 so it's only been 48 years for me. I have used everything from beep and dig,,, right on up to the arsenal I currently have. The machines I have used over the years have included numerous Garretts.
To say that your ACE 250 will consistently outhunt my DEUS, CTX, E-trac, or Excalibur is a bunch of horse feathers.
I suggest that you show the guys you hunt with where the on / off button is on their machines.

I invite you to come down to central Texas and see how you can fare against my Ace 250 and me.
~Texas Jay

 

[Texas Jay]

Put a DD coil on your ACE 250 and you’ll keep everything you like about it and gain another 1.5” of depth and have better separation in iron infested soil.

Thanks for the tip, Pa-dirt. I already have a DD coin with the 250 but I really don't have the need to go any deeper. I stay plenty busy digging with the standard coil. I also have a brand new Ace 350 which has the bigger coil on it. I won it last year at a club's open competition hunt but haven't even taken it out into the field yet. I didn't really figure out how to separate the iron or pull tab signals from coin signals on the 250 until I had about 90 hours on it. When I do begin using the Ace 350, I will give it the same 100-hour workout that I've given the smaller one.
~Texas Jay

 

[johnwon2]

Terry, my detecting buddy uses a Minelab Equinox 800 and I'm not impressed with it and I don't think he is either. He usually finds more modern coins than I do on each hunt but I almost always make the best finds of the day with the Ace 250. I've noticed lately that his 800 spends most of its time in the car and he uses his XP Deus that he's had for a lot longer.
~Texas Jay

I think the 800 has a big learning curve and that's under stating things. I've hunted with a Tesoro Tiger Shark for years and have had the 800 for 3-4 months now and I am still trying to get my head wrapped around it sometimes. On the beach, it's pretty simple to operate, but when I get around an old home site that has a lot of junk in the ground I am having trouble working through the yards. The detector is really sensitive and the ID jumps around too much for me to get a good idea of what's down there at times. I always had a really good idea whether it was going to be a coin or junk when I dug with the Tesoro, so I am thinking that I may be better off using that on the two old home sites that I am working for now until I have more time to spend figuring the Minelab out on places that aren't so trashy. With the Minelab, you need that 100 hrs per mode IMO.

 

[pulltabfelix]

I have gone on several hunts with son. He is a real newbie with an ACE 250 bought just to locate property pins. I have more experience with my AT Pro. But he digs every signal and I try to limit my digging by ID and tones. He found more and better relics than I did on those hunts.

 

[chub]

So the its actually the ACE 250 thats obsoleted every other detector? Someone please call Minelab and give them the news...

chub