Hi Boarman,
I use a Whites Coinmaster (not the Pro), full retail is 179.95 I believe. I might as well use this opportunity to review it.
I started hunting early this spring, and now I have a couple of buddies who have picked up the hobby. In short, I've been very happy with it.
Pros: Discrimination is functional, depth gives me targets as deep as I want to dig with my trowel, and battery life is awesome (2 nine-volts btw). As far as target ID, about all I can say due to experience is if it says it's a copper penny, it's a copper penny. If it burps iron, and it rarely does with discrimination on, it's a large nail or a shallow beer can. Large iron, however, will show up in the half-dollar range. I dug half a cast-iron pot the size of a witches kettle earlier this year. It's light and easy to swing for hours at a time.
Pinpoint mode is fairly accurate and response time is good (no delay when passing over target) It doesn't miss much. My best find(s) so far have been a Merc and Wheat Pennies.
Cons: Only 2 audio tones, target and iron burp. You can only discriminate from the bottom up (you can't notch out targets, I think this is functionality the Pro added). Another con is it hasn't produced more silver for me, but I think that might be my fault
Anyway, on to another detector, I've never used one but I've done a lot of research and can't recall any negatives on the Garrett Ace 250. I think you'll be digging plenty of targets with either though, if my newbie opinion matters. I have a bucket full of buckles, clasps, clad coins, pull tabs, nails, and unidentified stuff.
I won't be selling the Coinmaster when I upgrade. I'll keep it as a backup or buddy machine.
DE
