Second Day out with Garrett Ace 250

It was my second day out in the backyard with the Ace 250. Pinpointing seems much easier this time around. I must be getting used to it. Found a bunch of stuff and disced out more trash this time..

Here are my backyard finds..

Found these 2 Keys about 2 feet from one another, under a big maple tree. Both were at about 5 inches..

This ones a key to an old Master Lock.. Looks like it's from the 60's or 70's.
This ones an old Schlage Key.. About the same age.


What are keys without a lock to go with them.. Found this old Slaymaker Lock at about 6 inches..


A twist off wine cap..


A 74 Dime..

And finally.. a 41 wheat cent.


A bunch of cool stuff.. I I havent even left my own backyard yet!

Garrett Ace 250 vs. Bounty Hunter Pioneer 202 (Quickdraw 2)

Spent about an hour today taking turns finding targets on both my Ace 250 and my Pioneer 202. At this point they seem like pretty evenly matched machines with a small advantage to the 250, for the no-motion pinpoint feature. I am, however, much more used to the Pioneer 202.. So as i learn the 250 better, i suspect its advantage will become much larger..

As a point of reference, I ran the Ace 250 in jewelry mode at about 5 bars sensitivity. The Pioneer 202 I ran at 75% sensitivity, with disc at about 25 - 30%.

Here is how they performed.

Target #1

Target found with Bounty Hunter Pioneer 202

Machine	Identified As	Depth
Pioneer 202	Quarter	4"
Ace 250	Quarter/50 cent	4"/6"
Actual	Matchbox Ford Kennel Truck 1969	5"

Winner - Garrett Ace 250

Target #2

Target Found with Garrett Ace 250

Machine	Identified As	Depth
Pioneer 202	No Signal	N/A
Ace 250	Intermittant - Foil/Pulltab	6"
Actual	Tiny speaker magnet fragment and iron screw	6"

Winner - Draw

Target #3

Target Found with Pioneer 202

Machine	Identified As	Depth
Pioneer 202	Intermittant - Penny	6"
Ace 250	Iron/Foil/5 cent	6"
Actual	Rusty Screw	6"

Winner - Ace 250

Target #4

Target Found with Ace 250

Machine	Identified As	Depth
Pioneer 202	Intermittant - Nickel/Iron	4"/6"
Ace 250	Iron/Foil/10 cent	4/6"
Actual	Aluminum Foil	4"

Winner - Draw

Conclusion

I think my findings are inconclusive at this point. I think that the Ace is performing slightly better for me, but further testing is required to make a more decisive statement one way or the other. I believe that the slight advantage shown by the Ace 250, will become more pronounced the more I learn the machine.

First day out with Garrett Ace 250

Finally upgraded my machine the other day. The machine I was currently using was a Bounty Hunter Pioneer 202. I kept hearing about how excellent these 250s were, so I figured I would upgrade.

I brought the 250 out in the yard to see how it responds. Some air tests showed me that it pinpoints a bit different than the 202. The 202 sounds off the trailing edge of the inner coil, while the Ace 250 seems to sound off the trailing edge of the OUTER coil. It also has a pinpoint button which puts it into an all-metal active mode, the sounds grows louder the closer it is to the object. The pinpoint mode does not seem very precise at first, but reading some forums over at Treasure Net, it seems that you can "shrink" the target by first pinpointing, then moving the coil off the target and releasing and pushing the pinpoint button again. this makes the target signature smaller and your pinpoint more precise. It works very nicely actually.

The Ace 250 seems to LOVE to find aluminum. My yard seems to have a bunch of aluminum scraps in it, and the Ace has no trouble finding them, which can be frustrating. But it just seems sensitive in general, and has little trouble finding the nicer things too.

In all i spent about an hour searching around the back yard. Here are some of my finds with the Ace..



6 Pennies.. (all found within about a foot square area)

A nickle and a few dimes (all from about 4 inches down)..

Miscelaneous junk - 2 iron nails ( almost 6 inches long!), lots of aluminum bits, piece of an old lawnmower..

Here's an old Tootsie Toy Wedge Dragter.. Paint's peeling pretty badly and its slightly corroded from being in the ground.. But a nice find none-the-less.

All in all, im very happy with the performance of the Ace 250 so far. Im still getting used to pinpointing with it, but another few days practice should do it.

Ill try to post a head to head comparison of the Garrett Ace 250 vs. the Bounty Hunter Pioneer 202 in a future entry. But for now.. Cheers!