D
DavHut(SC)
Guest
A Little Ace 250 advice from "Yoda"...
This was from one of our new members, a green detectorist with an Ace 250, in response to a private message:
"wonderful insight!? I never really thought about "knowing the target (or at least figuring it out) before the meter does!
I was told that notching out nickles is taking most rings out of the picture.? Since Im just starting at this maybe I will return to all metal, as you know if I notch things out and start scanning that if there is a hit it will register on the ID but no tone.? I look down at the ID alot while scanning and there are "alot" of ID's that im not hearing.? Could be walking over the "relic finds".
Thanks for the words of wisdom!
Yesterday I dug a tootsietoy car from 72 in my back yard!!? I was not going to dig it cause of the scattered reading but the tones were so big that it peaked my interest.? The car was only 3" deep, if it had been 4 or more I would have missed it.
Have a good one, hope to chat with you soon."
+++ Without seeming boorish, may I offer you another tip? Grab your Ace 250 and set it for Jewelry mode. then go find your roll of electrical tape. Now, tear off a piece big enough to cover the little picture icons on your ID display - then cover them. Do the same with the depth display. Now, go detectin'
"Say what? I'll be flying blind!," you may say?
. I say, "Exactly"? 
. Just as a pilot flying on instruments learns to trust those same instruments, you will have to do 3 things:
1. Trust your detector (It's telling you a metal item is there and will try to ID it for you. Thats the limits it has).
2. Dig your targets by 2 things: sound and cursor status.
3. Learn to guage depth by coil height and tone length.
Now, you don't want to do this all the time; that defeats the purpose of the display - after all you paid good money to get it( I only do it about 1 in 5 outings - I made a little stick on mask to replace the tape). But, as a newb, you need to learn trust and listening before you do much else. When I first started this hobby , LCD displays were just coming on the scene to replace needles. I didnt have one for a long time. Now dont misunderstand, I like them and they are valuable. But TOTAL RELIANCE on them is a success killer. As you said, you wouldnt have dug that Tootsie car if you hadnt been curious.
THATS IT! That's the key!!
If you are watching the display, waiting for it to tell you what NOT to dig, your employing back-ass-wards, even defeatist, thinking. This is all about discovery and uncovering what's there. Often enough, its just common trash - just shrug and put it in your garbage pocket. But good things - especially jewelry** - can masquerade as all manner of targets - if you dont look and see what they are, what are you leaving in the ground??
[[ ** FACT: Most jewlery is found in the water. Why? Because when lost, you can't find it! When someone loses a piece of nice jewelry, what're they gonna do? That's right, look for it. 9 out of 10 times they'll find it. That's why there's more trash than jewels to be found on land. But, and its a big but, they may not find it. Fortunately for you, most of this jewlery is lost due to physical activity - and you can readily identify where that occurs. Watch on the forums where 80% of nice jewelry is found when away from the water - ballfields, parks, playgrounds, parking lots near these places, etc. Places where people are active. ]]
The nice thing about the Ace 250 is that it offers three useful tones, 5 modes and a cursor that wil either lock on or bounce around. I say open 'er up and let 'er work. Use something other than the "coins" mode. Dont worry, if its a coin, you'll know. But if its iron masking, you can tell. If its trash masking you can tell that.
Now, this discussion applies mostly to "townie sites", not to raw relic fields and woods (Youll dig everything there, regardless) and I know this sounds like "Yoda crap", but I learned this the hard way. I was with Jim, my detecting pal, at a local high school. I had a nonmetered Tesoro and he had a metered Whites detector. He hit a target and called me over to check it. "Pulltab", I said. "Yeah, that's the probable ID, but lets have a look". Out pops a LARGE amethyst and diamond mans ring, gold. The good stuff.
I was livid. I learned. If I can help another get good, then so much the better.
This was from one of our new members, a green detectorist with an Ace 250, in response to a private message:
"wonderful insight!? I never really thought about "knowing the target (or at least figuring it out) before the meter does!
I was told that notching out nickles is taking most rings out of the picture.? Since Im just starting at this maybe I will return to all metal, as you know if I notch things out and start scanning that if there is a hit it will register on the ID but no tone.? I look down at the ID alot while scanning and there are "alot" of ID's that im not hearing.? Could be walking over the "relic finds".
Thanks for the words of wisdom!
Yesterday I dug a tootsietoy car from 72 in my back yard!!? I was not going to dig it cause of the scattered reading but the tones were so big that it peaked my interest.? The car was only 3" deep, if it had been 4 or more I would have missed it.
Have a good one, hope to chat with you soon."
+++ Without seeming boorish, may I offer you another tip? Grab your Ace 250 and set it for Jewelry mode. then go find your roll of electrical tape. Now, tear off a piece big enough to cover the little picture icons on your ID display - then cover them. Do the same with the depth display. Now, go detectin'
"Say what? I'll be flying blind!," you may say?
. I say, "Exactly"? . Just as a pilot flying on instruments learns to trust those same instruments, you will have to do 3 things:1. Trust your detector (It's telling you a metal item is there and will try to ID it for you. Thats the limits it has).
2. Dig your targets by 2 things: sound and cursor status.
3. Learn to guage depth by coil height and tone length.
Now, you don't want to do this all the time; that defeats the purpose of the display - after all you paid good money to get it( I only do it about 1 in 5 outings - I made a little stick on mask to replace the tape). But, as a newb, you need to learn trust and listening before you do much else. When I first started this hobby , LCD displays were just coming on the scene to replace needles. I didnt have one for a long time. Now dont misunderstand, I like them and they are valuable. But TOTAL RELIANCE on them is a success killer. As you said, you wouldnt have dug that Tootsie car if you hadnt been curious.
THATS IT! That's the key!!
If you are watching the display, waiting for it to tell you what NOT to dig, your employing back-ass-wards, even defeatist, thinking. This is all about discovery and uncovering what's there. Often enough, its just common trash - just shrug and put it in your garbage pocket. But good things - especially jewelry** - can masquerade as all manner of targets - if you dont look and see what they are, what are you leaving in the ground??
[[ ** FACT: Most jewlery is found in the water. Why? Because when lost, you can't find it! When someone loses a piece of nice jewelry, what're they gonna do? That's right, look for it. 9 out of 10 times they'll find it. That's why there's more trash than jewels to be found on land. But, and its a big but, they may not find it. Fortunately for you, most of this jewlery is lost due to physical activity - and you can readily identify where that occurs. Watch on the forums where 80% of nice jewelry is found when away from the water - ballfields, parks, playgrounds, parking lots near these places, etc. Places where people are active. ]]
The nice thing about the Ace 250 is that it offers three useful tones, 5 modes and a cursor that wil either lock on or bounce around. I say open 'er up and let 'er work. Use something other than the "coins" mode. Dont worry, if its a coin, you'll know. But if its iron masking, you can tell. If its trash masking you can tell that.
Now, this discussion applies mostly to "townie sites", not to raw relic fields and woods (Youll dig everything there, regardless) and I know this sounds like "Yoda crap", but I learned this the hard way. I was with Jim, my detecting pal, at a local high school. I had a nonmetered Tesoro and he had a metered Whites detector. He hit a target and called me over to check it. "Pulltab", I said. "Yeah, that's the probable ID, but lets have a look". Out pops a LARGE amethyst and diamond mans ring, gold. The good stuff.
I was livid. I learned. If I can help another get good, then so much the better.
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