Ok got my Ace 350 and pro pointer....went out today and need advice

[aldta]

Hey all, so I got my Ace 350 and Garrett pro pointer last night and I definitely see why it's important to have the pointer.

This detector seems great...BUT
having never done this before I am having a hard time.

I do understand finding much junk comes with the territory, but I think what I'm concerned with is - differentiating junk from good stuff.. and knowing something isn't junk.

I have a gold nugget and i tested it against junk ...and to me it sounded exactly the same, and on the LED the gold came up on the far right as silver

When I heard something I thought sounded like the nugget I have, I dig and it's a bottle cap...
Looking at the notches ....bottle cap...
I did however find 5 pennies - nothing special about them but definitely cool to find coin regardless

This issue is, where I am hunting ...a lot of people hang out to drink...there is also a little baseball field and football field... so my logic is someone might lose a ring/necklace/bracelet with all that activity... but with all the cans of beer and bottle caps...i feel like i'll be cleaning up the park...

 

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[Ace350]

First things first. You have to read and understand the manual and watch the tutorial videos.
You have to know your machine.
Here ya go:
http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby_ace_350_library_videos.aspx
http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby-manuals/1533000_ace350_english.pdf

If there's that much trash (bottle caps) in the area you hunt you might need the 5x8 DD coil. It still goes deep but is made for trashy areas. You're still gonna get hits on bottle caps. The only thing you can do for now to completely avoid them is to take a few different ones and wave them separately in front of the coil and notch them out so they don't make a sound. You can start at that point since the area probably isn't hunted much by MDers going by all the trash in the area. That way you can just dig the easy good targets. Do that a few times to clean up the easy ones out there but keep in mind that you also could be passing up good stuff so after you hit the place a few times to keep finding stuff you're gonna have to turn off the discrimination on the caps and dig those signals too.
Happy hunting
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[the bone]

get used to it it comes with the territory you will dig a lot of pull tabs and can slaw if you are looking for gold they read similar on the metal detector so if you want gold you'll be cleaning that park too! its not so bad just think of it as helping to keep your community clean by the time your done you'll look at people who throw their bottle caps and can tabs on the ground with so much disdain!

 

[Chips]

Yea I have some parks like that in my local area where, you feel that you're playing follow up to, an alcoholics picnic ! I tried going along the sides of a foot ball fields where parents might jump up and down cheering for their kids with little luck. Though where I have scored best was on grass verges (where people park there cars) or heavy graveled car parks where people get out of there cars. Especially if its a "picnic" area, but round those picnic tables its a mine field of junk to swing through.. Good luck .. It wont take long before you find your first silver

 

[TNGUNS]

aldta......Use good headphones for a start. Don't have to be the most expensive by any means. It will help to hear the difference. If you are not going to dig pull tabs and aluminum you can discriminate it out but then no gold. Trash is a big part of it. If there is anyway possible to hook up with an experienced hunter you will learn more in a day than you can teach yourself in a month. I did anyway. Finding a place with some good targets will help you lock in on the sound you are listening for. I am not a coin hunter per say, but take friends to some parks in my area that have lots of clad when they start. If all you are hearing is trash with only an occasional good signal it is hard to tell the difference. I know we are all looking for that heavy producing place with old coins but just hearing even the more modern stuff helps. The broken signals are often not good targets so listen for the cleaner sounds but remember there is a fine line in a good sound vs. too broken and you are the only one that can determine it. Some of the best stuff you will find will give marginal signals so that is where the learning curve comes in. When in doubt dig it. Don't get discouraged. You will start getting the hang of it and get more and more productive. Do lots of research and ask lots of people especially the older timers about potential sites. You will have days when you find very little, but those good days sure make it worth it. Best of luck.

 

[Chips]

Oh yes what was said above too is very true, if you know of any experienced friends who could give you a few pointers then it will help a lot!
My neighbor who had been detecting for 20 odd years came over and, the first thing we did was to set up a " test garden" where we buried several coins at 6 inches deep and 15 inches apart. That was great practice. Later I added a few old nails an a pull tab to see what would happen (they call it a masking effect I think ). Even now, if I get a new detector or a new coil , I still go out there to see how things perform .. It gives me a "base line "..
Good luck out there

 

[aldta]

First things first. You have to read and understand the manual and watch the tutorial videos.
You have to know your machine.
Here ya go:
Garrett ACE 350 Online Training Videos
http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby-manuals/1533000_ace350_english.pdf

If there's that much trash (bottle caps) in the area you hunt you might need the 5x8 DD coil. It still goes deep but is made for trashy areas. You're still gonna get hits on bottle caps. The only thing you can do for now to completely avoid them is to take a few different ones and wave them separately in front of the coil and notch them out so they don't make a sound. You can start at that point since the area probably isn't hunted much by MDers going by all the trash in the area. That way you can just dig the easy good targets. Do that a few times to clean up the easy ones out there but keep in mind that you also could be passing up good stuff so after you hit the place a few times to keep finding stuff you're gonna have to turn off the discrimination on the caps and dig those signals too.
Happy hunting
Sent from my iPad using TreasureNet

Thannk you ACE Nice name hah
I did read the manual...but I havn't watched the video ... so I will do so...


Now,with the discrimination (when you notch things out) ...if gold reads the same as some trash...and you take the notch out, then won't you miss gold?

get used to it it comes with the territory you will dig a lot of pull tabs and can slaw if you are looking for gold they read similar on the metal detector so if you want gold you'll be cleaning that park too! its not so bad just think of it as helping to keep your community clean by the time your done you'll look at people who throw their bottle caps and can tabs on the ground with so much disdain!

@bone..I am already hating bottle cap throwers!! haha

Yea I have some parks like that in my local area where, you feel that you're playing follow up to, an alcoholics picnic ! I tried going along the sides of a foot ball fields where parents might jump up and down cheering for their kids with little luck. Though where I have scored best was on grass verges (where people park there cars) or heavy graveled car parks where people get out of there cars. Especially if its a "picnic" area, but round those picnic tables its a mine field of junk to swing through.. Good luck .. It wont take long before you find your first silver

I am in NY and sadly NY city and surrounding areas are not known for cleanliness…so yeah people have no regard for their parks or areas
But thank you

aldta......Use good headphones for a start. Don't have to be the most expensive by any means. It will help to hear the difference. If you are not going to dig pull tabs and aluminum you can discriminate it out but then no gold. Trash is a big part of it. If there is anyway possible to hook up with an experienced hunter you will learn more in a day than you can teach yourself in a month. I did anyway. Finding a place with some good targets will help you lock in on the sound you are listening for. I am not a coin hunter per say, but take friends to some parks in my area that have lots of clad when they start. If all you are hearing is trash with only an occasional good signal it is hard to tell the difference. I know we are all looking for that heavy producing place with old coins but just hearing even the more modern stuff helps. The broken signals are often not good targets so listen for the cleaner sounds but remember there is a fine line in a good sound vs. too broken and you are the only one that can determine it. Some of the best stuff you will find will give marginal signals so that is where the learning curve comes in. When in doubt dig it. Don't get discouraged. You will start getting the hang of it and get more and more productive. Do lots of research and ask lots of people especially the older timers about potential sites. You will have days when you find very little, but those good days sure make it worth it. Best of luck.

Thanks TN How about the headphones that come with the detector (at least they came with mine)

I don't know anyone who does this in my area (or at all in my circles) Most people my age would probably laugh at me if I told them I did this…not that I care…I had a few started this morning …just kept digging.

 

[Ace350]

Thannk you ACE Nice name hah
I did read the manual...but I havn't watched the video ... so I will do so...

Now,with the discrimination (when you notch things out) ...if gold reads the same as some trash...and you take the notch out, then won't you miss gold?

Yup, there's a good chance you could miss some gold! That is the conundrum.
If ya want all the gold, you gotta dig the caps.
If ya don't wanna dig the caps you can miss some gold.

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[kayden]

Spend about 100 hours with your detector & then you will pick up on what its telling you!

 

[aldta]

So i went back out yesterday to another park ....mostly bottle caps...a few coins (nothing special but better than bottle caps) - I hear the differences between certain metals but bottle caps and the bottom of a light bulb still sound like gold to me (even with headphones) - I'd feel better if i wasn't picking up tones so often ..but getting the tones every few steps and having to decide..is that something...or a bottle cap... is very frustrating I must have dug over 10 feet total and found over 20 bottle caps...
the soil is hard even rocky at points and all I have is a trowel - which broke ....
I think if i do eventually find something - i'm going a step further to invest in a detector which picks up gold specifically (i assume the ones I have seen for $500-$1000+ are price so for that reason)
Going to try and hit a beach today (cleaner and sand is better than rocky soil)

 

[lookindown]

They dont make a detector that can tell the difference between a pull tab and a gold ring...can slaw and nickels sound like gold rings too.

 

[kayden]

So i went back out yesterday to another park ....mostly bottle caps...a few coins (nothing special but better than bottle caps) - I hear the differences between certain metals but bottle caps and the bottom of a light bulb still sound like gold to me (even with headphones) - I'd feel better if i wasn't picking up tones so often ..but getting the tones every few steps and having to decide..is that something...or a bottle cap... is very frustrating I must have dug over 10 feet total and found over 20 bottle caps...
the soil is hard even rocky at points and all I have is a trowel - which broke ....
I think if i do eventually find something - i'm going a step further to invest in a detector which picks up gold specifically (i assume the ones I have seen for $500-$1000+ are price so for that reason)
Going to try and hit a beach today (cleaner and sand is better than rocky soil)

Save your money .....The more expensive detectors will not tell yah much more than you have now as far as gold is concerned.....Now for the shovel lookat getting lesche ...I just bought 1 & tried it today & what a differance in digging a target!

 

[aldta]

They dont make a detector that can tell the difference between a pull tab and a gold ring...can slaw and nickels sound like gold rings too.

so why are some so much more expensive?
and - what about these..are they false claims?
Troy Shadow X5
The Shadow X5, from Troy Custom Detectors, is a metal detector that uses VLF technology to help treasure hunters in beach hunting, relic hunting, prospecting and coin shooting. It is waterproof and weatherproof, and has a high sensitivity for finding small gold nuggets. The manufacturer's suggested retail price is $1,099.00.

Tesoro Golden Umax
The Golden Umax, from Tesoro, is a metal detector that has an adjustable notch window to let you configure precisely how to use its VLF technology to distinguish soda can pull tabs from nickel or gold, while simultaneously blocking out unwanted scraps of junk iron. The detector uses a four-tone audio metal identification system to help you get an idea of what your target is. The manufacturer's suggested retail price is $529.

Fisher F75
The F73, from Fisher, is a metal detector with a magnetic mineralization bar graph that uses VLF technology along with variable audio pitch to help hunters find their gold and other treasure. With double-discrimination modes to search in trashy areas, it is used for relic hunting, beach hunting, prospecting and coin shooting. The manufacturer's suggested retail price is $1,199.

 

[aldta]

...Now for the shovel lookat getting lesche ...I just bought 1 & tried it today & what a differance in digging a target!

where do you get one (offline)?

 

[aldta]

So yesterday I was at the beach...the experience was better because it was cleaner than the park.
So.i found more coins...few quarters etc...
I found a fake ing (like from a .25 machine)
I found an earring which was also fake
and this very tiny heart charm ..don't know if it's silver or not. - morso I found a second one further away - being that it's so small i was impressed with the way the 350 picked it up.

I also picked up ... ketchup packets...annoying....

I do see and understand the importance of practicing but I think one of my questions is, even for the experienced user....how do you differentiate junk from goods?- especially since junk sounds like goods

 

[Ace350]

I do see and understand the importance of practicing but I think one of my questions is, even for the experienced user....how do you differentiate junk from goods?- especially since junk sounds like goods

That's just the way it goes unless you cherry pick( using discriminate to notch out unwanted items) but then you can pass up good stuff. If you look in the today's finds section you will see how people will show the junk with their good finds. It's usually at least around 5 junk items to one decent find. It's kinda like playing the odds. The more stuff you dig the better chance if getting something really worth something.

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[norbyx]

Sometimes I think that the goods to junk rate is higher than 5 to 1.
There is no real way to tell a good item from a junk item 100% correctly.
What I do most of the time is dig every repeatable signal, either repeatable sound or vdi. On very jumpy sounds I pass on. I know I might have left stuff in the ground but also I am not willing to dig every single target.

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[Talon]

As for your gold nugget reading as silver, I have heard that pure gold, either nugget or 24k worked gold, will read as silver. The 18k and below reads as your pulltabs/ nickel signal. Usually when I find a gold ring it's a screamer that I have to dig. But I also dig a ton of pulltabs. I actually dig so many that I've started collecting them and I figure I can send them to March of Dimes or whatever group it is that collects pulltabs.

I have an ACE 250 and have found that if the signal is jumping all over the place, it is likely crap. If it is a coin or other decent, non-foil, signal then it will be a fairly solid and repeatable signal. That being said, the bottlecaps read as a nice big quarter every time. Nothing you can do about that unless you want to notch out quarters!

 

[Ezkilll]

I have an ACE 250 and I am still learning. I am digging every repeatable signal. I think the person that mentioned the 5 to one ratio of junk to good finds is an optimist. Mine is more like 10 junk to one good find. However, until I learn better, I am not willing to let that one good find get away because I didn't dig.

The misconception of this sport for me is that I thought it was about metal detecting. It's not, it's about digging. I spend more time digging than swinging. Learn to get better at pin pointing and efficient digging and you won't feel so bad about digging up a bunch of junk.

Besides, think of it as volunteer work cleaning up parks and beaches.
Dave

 

[steveouke]

If the 350 is like the 250 you will here what I call an iron grunt when pinpointing a bottle cap. At the edge of said bottle cap they will drop off with an short iron sound. I have tested this theory many times. I still dig the occasional bottle cap but I dug them in disappointment for 6 months before I learned about the iron grunt and it only happens in pinpoint mode. Now when I dig them they are usually deep and flattened.