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Ace 250 Owner Finds A Gold Coin!


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I have to admit I love it when somebody scores with an inexpensive detector. These little units are 100 times better than what I started with 45 years ago and don’t deserve to be looked down on as much as they are by some detectorists. The Aces are great detectors... the Ace 250 was a price/performance stunner when it was released. There is no reason for most people to sink big bucks into detecting. Even entry level units are very good these days, and backed with research of good locations and a knowledgeable operator these detectors can do surprisingly well.

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6 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I have to admit I love it when somebody scores with an inexpensive detector. These little units are 100 times better than what I started with 45 years ago and don’t deserve to be looked down on as much as they are by some detectorists. The Aces are great detectors... the Ace 250 was a price/performance stunner when it was released. There is no reason for most people to sink big bucks into detecting. Even entry level units are very good these days, and backed with research of good locations and a knowledgeable operator these detectors can do surprisingly well.

I've grown to despise the cliche' "you get what you pay for."  I also feel strongly that the most important component of successful metal detecting is site.  At least my most successful (coin) hunts have occurred not because of what detector I was using nor of my skill level, but the fact that I was hunting a loaded location.

When I was researching detectors for one of my purchase rounds, the thing that caused me to question the Ace series was their lack of ground balancing capability.  I understand that lower frequencies (Aces are somewhere in the 8-10 kHz range) are less susceptible to mineralization, but doesn't that only get you so far?

Still, making metal detecting affordable brings in way more hobbyists (and revenue) than trying to create a detector that works in the maxiumum number of conditions.  Garrett has long known this and their Ace Series has added significant evidence.

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What a great story this is.  Love how he's been doing his historical research.

Keeping a very nice spare detector as a back up or to loan to a friend you're taking along on an outing is incredibly inexpensive nowadays.  Quality used detectors are available for so little compared to just a year or two ago.

Rich (Utah)

 

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17 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

When I was researching detectors for one of my purchase rounds, the thing that caused me to question the Ace series was their lack of ground balancing capability.  I understand that lower frequencies (Aces are somewhere in the 8-10 kHz range) are less susceptible to mineralization, but doesn't that only get you so far?

Absolutely! I sure am not asserting an Ace is as good as a high end machine per se. The thing is the vast majority of people are going to be casual detectorists, and much of the country has far lower mineralization than in the mountain areas. These detectors have a preset ground balance that serves just fine for normal coin detecting. Nugget detecting? I would not bother, though I know of a nugget or two found with an Ace. Not small ones either - they can’t detect the tiny ones.:smile:

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There is some misunderstanding about frequency. The old rule was lower frequencies are more sensitive to high conductors like silver, and higher frequencies more sensitive to low conductors like gold. The reality is more complicated. Air tests reveal that higher frequencies are just more sensitive, period. In particular, the higher the sensitivity, the hotter a detector is on smaller targets.

The catch is higher frequencies light up and see ground mineralization that a lower frequency will ignore entirely. The way I look at it is boosting frequency increases sensitivity across the board. However, in areas with mineralization, a high frequency can generate so much ground response that depth starts to suffer. The machines get chatty or outright noisy, and sensitivity may have to be reduced to compensate. A 71 kHz Fisher Gold Bug 2 air tests like crazy on all targets. Yet in bad ground the machine lacks any real depth and if not ground balanced it is horrible. A very high frequency detector with a preset unadjustable ground balance would be a very bad idea.

The lower frequencies do very well on high conductors while also inherently ignoring milder ground mineralization. This in turn means the preset ground balance covers a wider range of conditions well, as compared to a high frequency machine, which has more need to be spot on.

This double whammy, lower frequency being good for most types of coins, while also working well and quietly over a wider range of ground types, means nearly any detector with a preset ground balance is going to be running under 10 kHz in the single digits. There are many in the 6 kHz to 8 kHz range, with 6.59 kHz and 7.8 kHz being particular common.

The Ace 200 (and Ace 250) is 6.5 kHz, Ace 300 is 8 kHz, and Ace 400 rather hot at 10 kHz.

garrett-ace-250-metal-detector.jpg.36aff

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