Whites vs Garrett

[YOGI!]

White's vs Garrett

I've been doing some research and I've been out with a friend doing some detecting; he has some upper end Tesoros. We went out to a soccer field the other day and in about an hour I found 5 pennies, a 2000 Quarter and a men's silver ring!

What I'm looking at is a starter model as this is not my first line hobby but I would like to do some detecting. I hunt and bird watch and I've found many interesting places that I would like to do some detecting as well. Anyway, I've narrowed my choice down to White's and Garrett. My local dealer is strong on the White's line but I've heard a lot of good on both lines. I also like the fact that both are "Made in the USA".

So the question here is two fold. . .

1. What is the major difference between the Prism II and Prism III and is the difference worth the cost?

2. White's Prism II or III vs Ace 250?

Thanks

 

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[khouse]

Re: White's vs Garrett

The only thing the 3 has over the 2 is a depth indicator. That will cost you $100.00 It is not worth it because you can tell how deep a target is by the pinpoint tone. The P2 is a good machine. But since your asking on this forum I can tell you that the Ace 250 is a lot better. It has more features for less money. Also you need to look into the Fisher F2. It's a nice machine and proving to be better than the 250. They are running a special on them where you get an additional 4 inch coil and lower shaft for $199.00 That's a great deal. Go to www.fisherf75.com and look around at the f2. I have used all three.

 

[ikes4ever]

Re: White's vs Garrett

i very curious to watch this thread. I too cant decide between a Prizm or an Ace 250. I live on Long Island with lots of sandy beaches and Like to hunt coins. I have a whites coinmaster 1000 which is 20 years old and only has 1 knob that says tuner. needless to say its been sitting for 15 years and now i want to get back into it. i cant decide between the 2.

 

[khouse]

Re: White's vs Garrett

Between the 250 and Prizm - But the 250. It's so much better! Here's some differences. prizm has 2-9volt batteries (expensive) Ace has 4- aa batteries. P has one tone. A has 3 tones. P doesn't have a true selective notch. A does. P has 8 target zones. A has 11. P doesn't have a small coil. A has a killer 4.5 inch sniper.
Also the Fisher F2 is a dandy detector. It is turning out to be a hot detector.

 

[Boilermaker27]

Re: White's vs Garrett

When you had the Tesoro in your hands you really had the best of the mid priced machines in your hands.

I would stay away from the Prism and most really devoted detectorists tend to stay away from the Garrett line. I saw a guy use a Prism once and was not impressed at all. I read many posts on both of these machines and wonder why people buy the cheaper machines and then expect to make the really great finds.

I have been detecting since 1970 and have used most of the major brands out there.

My first machine was a Relco, turn it on and go. Nothing extra. One knob and a speaker. that was in the early 1970's, found lots because had to dig everything.

Have used a Whites Coinmaster IV; Coinmaster V and a 6000di Pro. The Coinmaster V came out about the time discriminators and ground balance came out and I had that installed. The 6000 di Pro was a good machine but only fair on depth.

Used a Garrett GTA1000 and it was alright, but not real impressed. I actually bought the Garrett to replace a King Cobra metal detector which was junk.

Used a Technetics Coin Computer and got rid of it, although it is a classic detector and still sought after by many. I think it was ahead of its time.

Used a Minelab Sovereign and it was great. Used Minelab Explorer and replaced it with an Explorer II which I still use. Minelab is great but expensive, even on Ebay.

Have used two Tesoro's and both were really great machines. My Tejon which I use now pulls minnie balls out of the ground in excess of twelve inches and that is darned deep.

I can tell you that for the price you will do no better than the Tesoro Tejon. It is very deep and very easy to use. It has no meter or depth indicator. Meters are fine but don't beleive them, they lie a lot. Depth indicators are fine but not very accurate, a lot depends on the size of the object.

In short, if you really want to get into detecting and are in a great area where there are not hundreds of other persons with detectors then I would go for a high end model. If you are after Civil War artifacts the Tejon is a perfect machine and really deep. My Tejon cost about $600 from Dixie in Tennessee.

Not trying to talk you out of the Prism or Ace250, but with detectors, generally the more you spend the deeper and better machine you get.

 

[EasyMoney]

Re: White's vs Garrett

My face is blue from writing this but here is another shot at it:

The Ace 250 and Ace 150 are only simple tools with extra toys that DO NOT do well in higher than medium mineralized soil, especially in salt (or) high iron beaches. . The Aces have trouble pinpointing and do not compare to the pinpointing abilities of the Prisms at all. If someone believes the opposite, they either have not used one of the things or they would gladly buy a piece of land from me located 100 miles west of San Francisco, California.

The Aces like hot rocks too and they have more trouble discriminating iron than the Prisms. They for a fact get less depth too. They don't cherry pick well either. I own so many detectors that it almost makes my head spin, and I have owned twice that many and repaired more than 20 times that..

I've compared my Ace that I gave to my daughter, to Prisms, and nearly every other detector on the market too, new or old. Compared to cheap Tesoros and cheap White's people who tote Aces are basically playing in the wrong sandbox compared to them.

Don't bring a "knife" to a gun fight. You will get "killed".

If you want the best bang for the buck get either a Silver uMax, Compadre, or even better yet get a new F-2. I tried one out about 5 days ago and it keeps up with the new $600+ detectors of any brand. Very lightweight too.. It made me laugh when I thought about $1300 Minelabs because it got the same in-ground depth.

Would someone please post this on the bulletin board somewhere so I don't have to write it over and over again?

FORGET THE ACE! Get the F-2. Or, if you don't care about TID meters and want the lightest one on the market and the best of the best in discrimination and cherry-picking, get a Tesoro Silver uMax.

BTW, notice that I own a Tejon. Notice too that I didn't say anything about it. However, here it is in a nutshell; The Tejon is not easy to use in highly mineralized ground. It can't even be entirely ground balanced there. It goes deeper than an Explorer or a DFX with equal sized coils in moderate soil, but it's really noisey and annoying cancelling scrap iron. It's about 50% worthless on these high-iron beaches here. It's in-ground depth in moderate-to-light soil though almost matches a Nautie DMCIIb. It is light but the pole makes a lot of squeeking noises. It is one of the best cherry-pickers on the planet but is not an easy detector to master and/or use.

Will someone please post this?

Thanks

EasyMoney

 

[Willy]

Re: White's vs Garrett

Well, for the most part I agree with what EasyMoney has to say about the Ace, save that I had absolutely no problem pinpointing and that it did pretty well in iron IF, and this is a big if, a person was running with nothing disc.ed out. Basically, it was a fun little detector for scooping up surface to 3-4" stuff (where I hunt), but that was about it. Can't say much about the Prisms (except that there haven't been much in the the way of glowing reviews), or the Fisher F models, but I can comment on the MXT, Compass, and XTerra models. I have, at present, both an Xterra 70 and a Compass X-100. The Compass is my backup detector ('cause it's a heavy pig with 12 AA's) but goes as deep as any detector I've used and has maybe the best iron disc./ID I've ever seen. The XTerra70 also goes extremely deep and is, basically, a fun detector to use. I've got really, really, bad ground up here in B.C. and the XT70 does great in it.. I've used it for everything from jewelry/coin hunting in a lake (wading) to prospecting. With the 18.5 KHz DD coil mounted, it's hard to beat. The XTerras 30-50 would, probably, also be decent detectors to have and can be had for reasonable prices, especially used. ..Willy.

 

[EasyMoney]

Re: White's vs Garrett

Hey Willy. Yeah we both know about pluses with Compasses, don't we?

The thing that I didn't like when trying to pinpoint the Ace was that the signal is delayed and rings on either side of the target and not right in the middle like other detectors, save for other Garretts. That just seems wierd to me. Center means "center" to me, not (somewhere) in the middle. I suppose that some people arent bothered by this but I was, and in this garbage soil here the target was oftentimes off and up in the right upper quadrant, as in just on the outer edge at the NE part of the quadrant of a magnetic compass reading. Other people have said the same thing about the Ace and on other sites too. Maybe it's the high iron here or other places that's the culprit but I didn't like it.

Willy, I think you would REALLY like the F-2. It's a real change, tight, good depth in bad soil, and sooo lightweight! Comes with 2 coils too at $199.95

HH Willy

 

[Willy]

Re: White's vs Garrett

If I was to get anything, other than what I already have, it would be the F4. Ground balance is important to me, especially where I hunt. One thing that might be a problem with the F4 is that people have been saying that the disc. mode is a preset and the GB only affects all-metal. That kinda smacks of some Tesoro's and, to put it bluntly, it sucks the big one. ..Willy.

 

[YOGI!]

Re: White's vs Garrett

Thanks for the great feedback - can you tell me where the F-2s are made?I like the fact that White's are US made.

Thanks again.

YOGI!

Columbus, O

 

[bavarianminister]

Re: White's vs Garrett

Never had any problems with pinpointing with the Garretts!

 

[Fleeker]

Re: White's vs Garrett

I have an Ace 250 and never had a problem pinponting with it. It pinpoints right to the notch in the center of the coil unless the object is close to the top of the ground, then you may have to raise the coil up. And that little sniper coil is a killer and it sure is a breeze to pinpoint with. It's a great little detector. It hangs in there with the big dogs and sometimes even out does them. I know because I've seen it do it.